DET NYY NYM LAD MIL OF Curtis Granderson deserves a few HOF votes to justify his superior MLB career...lead-off HRs?
Ray Schalk's .253 is currently the lowest BA of those in The Hall. Granderson's .249 (only once hitting over .280) thus is pretty anemic. And yes, while BA certainly isn't the best metric for evaluating hitters.........that creates a massive barrier to overcome for voters. Sorta the same with his WAR. Not a pure death knell in and of itself.............but not enough other stuff to pull him up.
Miggy, of course, is a different story. Should be nearly automatic first-ballot.
All of which reminds me..........I came across a trivia tidbit in this realm recently: What player NOT in The Hall received the highest percentage of "yes" first round ballots?
(Hint - a "modern"-era player.)
Ok, here's another trivia tidbit very peripherally related.....
In history, only 3 batting titles have been won by players who hit 0 home runs in those years. Willie Keeler in 1897, Zack Wheat in 1918, and one "modern" player. Who?
(Hint - first ballot HOF)
Wrong on Rose (but good guess). Right on Carew. He hit. 318 in '72 with 0 dingers.
P.S. - the non-HOF guy was an NL player, tho, like Rose. I think exclusively, without looking it up.
What if the Pirates still had (their farm products) Tyler Glasnow and Gerritt Cole?
Not Bonds, but another good guess. Joe Jackson was not a "modern-era player". This guy's career mostly (not totally) overlapped Rose's.
Two more clues which should give the answer: west coast guy; and in the news recently quite a bit for something unrelated to sports.
This guy started Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS for the Brewers? I'd forgotten this sometimes-decent hurler...but since his career tanked after that loss, it must wear on him to this day...
...Jhoulys Chacin...
Yeah, we've mentioned ol' Satch a few times here in the past.....
That said.................here's a little factoid that you may, or may not, be aware of............. Being a Milwaukee guy, I'm sure you're aware of Tony Kubek, even tho he was before your time. In '57, the Braves tangled with the Yanks in the W.S. - Braves winning 4-3. In game 3 of that Series, Kubek (in his first year in the majors) hit 2 HR and had 4 RBIs. And where did that happen? In Milwaukee's County Stadium, of course! NY came back to turn the table on the Bravos the next year, also 4-3.
And altho Kubek isn't in *the* HOF, he *is* in the Canadian Baseball HOF, *and* the Polish-American Sports HOF.
And now................for the (very peripherally-related) trivia question, which you likely know.........
The Braves came to Milwaukee from Boston, where they were (of course) the Boston Braves (along with several other monikers going back in time). Later on, they moved to Hotlanta. So.....how many years were the Braves in Milwaukee - without looking it up?:
a. 13 years
b. 24 years
c. 31 years
d. 38 years
Isn't/wasn't obvious to us older folks. When I was growing up...........they were already the "Milwaukee Braves" - as if it had always been so. I remember being surprised they were only there that long. Only *much* later did I learn of the Doves, Bees, Red Caps, and even Red Stockings. As well as the odd situation of them being the host *Nat'l* League team - in Fenway - for the 1914 Series.
p.s. - I *almost* put 18-19 years, or similar, as a choice.
I want the Brewers to pursue starters Kopech and Quintana for trade deadline improvement.
Mike Marshall only got 6 HOF votes back in '87 and no more...he deserved more consideration.
Well.........maybe, but I don't think so. His (voting) stats, compared to other HOFers, are incredibly weak. Which doesn't prove anything necessarily, but I tend to think when the collective intelligence is that strongly against him, there must be something to it. And his WAR was only 18-something, less than half that of (average) HOFer relief pitchers. But that 1974 year was crazy for him. He didn't start any of the Dodgers games, but *finished* over half of them, accumulating 208 IP, more than any of their starters besides Messersmith (20 W; 13 CG) and Sutton (19 W; 10 CG). 'Course he *did* win the Cy Young that year. Back then it was nearly impossible for relievers to be considered for the Hall. It's certainly loosened up lately, but I just don't think he fully measured up. But ok - maybe he deserved like 8 (or 9) - votes...... There are sooo many who deserve more consideration - altho many of them are hitters.
I'd vote 1B Joey Votto second-ballot, Ps Kershaw Verlander 1B Pujols first-ballot, and I'd for a Yankee too:
Sometimes Elly de la Cruz looks like a young, raw Vlad Guererro to me...unreal skill set.
At least we had to wait 15 years to suffer another NYY WS.
It would help CHC to sooner rather than later realize they're "sellers" in this upcoming MLB trade dead-line (end July))...(somebody might want Morel).
Another FABULOUS loss for CHC this evening...time to get all you can for 3B/OF Morel before trade deadline, front office dingbats you.
KC SS Bobby Witt Jr.: first player with 25 triples, 100 stolen bases, and 200 RBI BEFORE 400th (390) career game since NYY OF/3B Ben Chapman in 1932 (374 games)...utterly, historically impressive.
Ben Chapman (career 42.7 WAR)
Never heard of him (Witt, Jr.). 'Course I don't follow the game much these days, until the playoffs. Was very aware of his father, of course, the pitcher (who was from a Beantown suburb). WAR of 9 and just turned 24; pretty impressive.
Likely KC won't be able to afford him three years or so from now, sadly...(I like to beat the drum for small market organizations trying their best vs. the NYY/LAD and CHCs).
But yeah, not such a "contrived" data feat, sure. What? Mays, DiMaggio, Mantle couldn't do it? Not to mention PED users...
>>Date: Mon Jun 17 00:46:32 2024
>>User: BrewCrewOldSkool
>> Message: Is Joc Pedersen the new Matt Stairs?
Being only vaguely aware of either player, I had (have) no idea about this question.
However, I recently was driving in a small town (population 4000) and saw Stairs's name and picture painted on the exterior of a diner.
Still no clue if Joc Pedersen is the new Stairs (Pedersen is not Canadian, so there's that.)
I liked Matt Stairs back when he played for the A's...left-handed power, a little overweight, very average defense...but late in games when the manager needed lefty power off the bench, he delivered often enough...I imagine he's still jacking HRs somewhere, maybe in a softball league...I just see his game when I see Pedersen's game...Pedersen will likely play for at least three more different teams...journeyman bench lefty power (almost exclusively DH, very rarely position player).
Witt, Jr.'s feat, while impressive for sure, I'll call 'mildly' contrived because of the triples aspect. That ipso facto narrows things down "right off the bat" 😅. Not to mention..........baseball history is littered with bright flashes of stardom that fade away too quickly for a myriad of reasons. In no way is that a prediction; but let's not alert Cooperstown just yet.
Bobby Witt signed a contract extension that, if played to its exhaustion, would keep him in a KC uniform until 2037. I believe he’s the real deal, but baseball can be a cruel sport.