Since playoffs were expanded to include the wild card round in 1995, there have been 103 starting pitcher performances that have resulted in a game score of 75 or more. That’s an average of 5.42 per year. This year’s total of 11 is more than twice the average, and is equaled only by the 11 such outings in 2010.
We’ll take a look at 2013’s 11 performances after the jump. Continue reading
Following Carlos Beltran’s heroics Friday night–which continued his history of tremendous postseason results (save one forgettable at bat in the 2006 NLCS)–I witnessed the following discussion on Twitter between two high-profile writers regarding his Hall of Fame chances:
.@JeffPassan Beltran is better, as a Hall candidate, than every BBWAA HoF outfielder in the last 20 years save Rickey.
— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) October 12, 2013
Forgive me for generalizing here, but when it comes to PEDs and the Hall of Fame, we can pretty much break everyone into two camps: those who will consider confirmed PED users for the Hall, and those who won’t. Of course, there are many sub-categories of each of these groups, but this distinction serves the intent of this post.
If you’re in the latter category–i.e. you’re against any confirmed PED user ever being inducted into the Hall of Fame–that’s OK. I’m not going to challenge that stance, but this post is not for you. Of course, I’m not trying to discourage you from reading it, but I’m going to ask some questions that can only be answered by those in the other group, the folks I like to call PED agnostics. Continue reading
In 1896, Hall of Fame shortstop Hughie Jennings batted .401 and scored 125 runs while driving in 121. That’s a pretty great season, of course, but not that unusual, particularly during the era when hitting .400 was reasonably feasible. Continue reading
For some inexplicable reason, I’m just now reading Bill James’ The Politics of Glory : How Baseball’s Hall of Fame Really Works for the first time. Early in the book, James claims the original Hall of Fame class of 1936 was supposed to include five stars of the 19th century, in addition to the five “modern” greats who were so honored: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. In fact, James goes on to say that, according to the Spalding Official Base Ball Guide 1936, the 19th-century greats were intended to be the Hall’s first five inductees. Continue reading
Milwaukee Brewers (1970- )
Seattle Pilots (1969)
No franchise that started in Seattle has ever won a World Series. The Brewers were only the Seattle Pilots for one year, but their 44 years combined with the Mariners’ 36 adds up to almost as much futility as a certain drought that ended with a “curse” being broken.
Perhaps not surprisingly, there’s not a single member of the ’69 Pilots on this all-time team. Continue reading
Dating back to Graham Womack’s Inner Circle Hall of Fame project, Bryan and I have been engaging in a friendly debate regarding a couple candidates where our ballots differed, and who received decidedly different levels of support from the project’s voters. We agreed back then to collaborate on a post where we’d debate the merits of our guy versus the other. That was back in July, so this one has admittedly been a long time coming, but Adam’s recent Hall of Stats unveiling served to rekindle the conversation. Continue reading
As I’m a bit of a Hall of Fame fanatic, and there is no shortage of discussion about the BBWAA ballot, but not nearly as much when it comes to the Veterans Committee, I thought I’d take a look at the upcoming Pre-Integration Era Ballot.
The Pre-Integration Committee will consider candidates for the Hall of Fame who made their greatest contributions to the game in the era spanning 1871-1946. This, of course, will include a number of seemingly forgotten 19th century players. Surprisingly, though, it hasn’t been that long since a 19th century player was inducted, as Bid McPhee was so honored in 2000. Continue reading
I tried to be clever with the title of the Angels all-time team post, but I’m not even going to attempt that here.
How would that go? The All-Time Brooklyn/Los Angeles Atlantics/Grays/Grooms/Bridegrooms/Superbas/Robins/Dodgers Team?
Anyway, I want to make the point that this, and every other post in this series, is an all-time team considering the entire history of the franchise. In this case, that dates all the way back to the 1884 Brooklyn Atlantics.
We don’t always agree on everything here, but there’s at least one thing we can all agree on, right? It was a travesty when Ted Williams failed to win the MVP in his 1942 and 1947 Triple Crown seasons. And, when Lou Gehrig failed to win it 1934, and Chuck Klein in 1933, and Rogers Hornsby in 1922–despite all three both guys leading their respective leagues in HR, RBI and batting average–that was pretty ridiculous too.
But, I don’t really care about them anymore. The thing I think we all can agree on is, if Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown this year, he clearly deserves to be the American League MVP.
Here’s why:
Seriously, folks. Is there anything else that needs to be said? Why is this even a controversy?