“Seen Live” Updates and Additions

With the announcements of the major awards for the 2012 season, it’s time for me to update my list of stars that I have been lucky enough to see play live. I keep a slightly informal list, just for yuk-yuks so I can relive all the great players I’ve seen at Fenway. For this list, I don’t include exhibitions for reasons I’m a bit unsure of. But, it’s not like this list really matters. If I feel the need to include Tony Gwynn and Barry Larkin at some point since I saw them both play at the 1999 ASG, it’s not going to ruin the world or anything. In addition to the list, I have a Top 36 list to single out the best of the best. I base this list mostly on major awards and accomplishments, like Hall of Fame election or MVP awards. I do this not because I think winning an MVP makes you a better player than someone who didn’t. But, I’m using the grandchild check. My grandkids are more likely to be looking at a baseball encyclopedia at some point in the distant future and ask if I had seen any of the people on the ROY list play. It also means I can make the list without including Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera. That’s a nice added benefit. I also don’t care when I saw the player play. I saw both Eric Gagne and Dennis Eckersley play when they were with the Sox (Eck’s second stint). Even though both were well past their Cy Young days by that point, I count them on the list. I saw them play. Once again, it’s my list. Enough with the boring stuff. Let’s get started.

Of the six major award winners this season, I have seen two of them play live. I saw Bryce Harper when the Nationals visited Fenway this season. I’ve also seen Miguel Cabrera twice, once with the Marlins and once with the Tigers. I was surprised that I haven’t seen David Price yet. I seem to hit a lot of Rays games, but must have somehow missed him. Same goes for Dickey, since he spent some time in the AL. I imagine I’ll see Mike Trout at some point, just not yet. So, I get to add a Rookie of the Year winner, and a Triple-Crown winning MVP to the list. That means two people would need to be dropped from the Top 36.

A look at the previous list shows that I still have two players on there without a major award. Mike Lowell probably should have been tossed previously. He has only a WS MVP on his tally sheet. A single ROY by Harper is enough to knock him off. I also see that Josh Beckett is also on my list without a major award. His two playoff MVPs combined with his Cy Young runner up had been serving him well up to now. But, Cabrera has to take that spot from him.

How does the list look after the changes? I’m glad you asked.

Roberto Alomar

Wade Boggs

Barry Bonds

Ryan Braun

Miguel Cabrera

Jose Canseco

Roger Clemens

Bartolo Colon

Dennis Eckersley

Eric Gagne

Nomar Garciaparra

Jason Giambi

Tom Glavine

Juan Gonzalez

Ken Griffey, Jr

Vladimir Guerrero

Roy Halladay

Josh Hamilton

Bryce Harper

Rickey Henderson

Randy Johnson

Chipper Jones

Greg Maddux

Pedro Martinez

Dustin Pedroia

Albert Pujols

Cal Ripken

Alex Rodriguez

Ivan Rodriguez

CC Sabathia

Bret Saberhagen

John Smoltz

Sammy Sosa

Ichiro Suzuki

Miguel Tejada

Frank Thomas

Mo Vaughn

Not a bad list at all. Lots of Hall-of-Famers. Also, unfortunately, a lot of PED questions. But, they’re still on the awards lists, so they’re still on my list.

Who’s on your list?

Card of the Week

2010 Topps Update Bill Hall #US-28

Wow. What a card!

Let’s just jump right to the picture. That picture should be blown up and handed to every kid playing baseball in the country. Arms straight. Front leg straight. Back leg bent. Eyes right on the ball at the moment of impact. All of that captured wonderfully in the shot. Balls in the pictures on baseball cards aren’t anything new. But, to have it right there in that shot really adds something. The picture is perfectly cropped to allow us to give full attention to Hall. Fantastic.

The Design of the card works well with the photo too. The red jersey on Hall is complimented by the red sweep of the border. I really like how some of the picture is covered, but not hidden, by the border. The team name is a bit too large. But, this was the first year of the Topps monopoly. So, they were bragging a bit that their cards had logos on them. At least the team logo is also red, so it really blends into the overall look of the card. The foil player name drives me nuts. But, all the information is there. Team, name, and position. The few problems with the look of the card don’t detract enough from the overall appeal.

This is a great, well-done, card.

It’s Official!

So, yesterday the Red Sox posted a picture to their Facebook page of new acquisition David Ross. The caption exclaimed, it’s "official” that Ross was the newest member of the Sox. The picture showed a beaming Ross posing in front of Dustin Pedroia’s locker as he checked out the clubhouse. Really? Were we all waiting for word that this deal was official? Were we checking our phones every fine minutes to finally get word that the deal was done? Do they not know what transaction their division rivals were waiting to become official? We’re over here trumpeting a new back-up catcher?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the idea of posting random pictures to Facebook. A quick look at the Section 36 page shows that I do the same thing. There are pictures people have submitted posted for no logical reason other than to have something pretty to look at every day on the page. I get it. I think it would be a fine use of social media to share a picture of Ross looking around his new locker. But to have the fanfare blaring?

When are Sox going to do something worth promoting on Facebook? Soon? Other teams are making move and improving themselves. The Sox need a shortstop, but someone else just added the best one in their division. (Speaking of the big trade, I find it interesting that the Marlins are being completely slammed here. They’re a disgrace to baseball. They spit on their fans. They’re involved in a conspiracy to destroy baseball in Miami. The commissioner should void the deal. It’s interesting because they traded away one $100 million player after only one full season with the team. Last year, the Sox traded away two of them.)

It’s not even that I think the Sox should have gotten Reyes. I mean, they should have. But, dumping Gonzalez and Crawford to get Reyes would make that first trade even more foolish. I’m not swearing at them for not signing Torii Hunter either. He would have been a nice addition. But, there are several other players who would be just as good. (Please, God, not Swisher) At some point, though, the Sox are actually going to need to have a full roster of players.

Are they working on a million things behind the scenes? Of course they are. Do they have a plan? I hope so. Would I love to see them add another player who will crack their starting line-up? Yuppers. Are they working on Josh Hamilton? Hopefully. A big trade? Hopefully. Any news whatsoever? I sure hope so.

Even if it’s just to give me something to blog about.

Red Sox 1-36: 16 is for…

16 games pitched for the Red Sox by Tom Seaver

If you’re looking to put together an all-time team of players who wore the Red Sox uniform at some point in their careers, Tom Terrific is probably in that rotation. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t say “probably” with a player elected to the Hall of Fame with the highest percentage ever. But, a ton of great pitchers wore the Sox uniform at some point. So, I’m giving myself some leeway.

That’s really not the point. (Although, it would be fun to make it the point at some later date.) The point is that for the stretch run in 1986, the Sox added one of the best pitchers ever to put on a uniform. Sure, they weren’t getting the Tom Seaver of the seventies. Sure, those sixteen games with Boston would be the last sixteen he’d ever pitch. But, it was still a great pick-up. His record with the Sox was a bit misleading, standing at 5-7. But, his ERA and WHIP with the Sox (3.80/1.38) almost match those of Oil Can Boyd in 1986 (3.78/1.25), and are better than Al Nipper (5.38/1.47). Boyd and Nipper ended up starting World Series games for the Sox that year. With all the talk of Bill Bucker’s error, and Roger Clemens asking out of the game, Seaver gets lost a bit in the shuffle. What if he was healthy? (Are you allowed to ask “what if” when you’re talking about the health of a 43 year-old pitcher?) Would game six have even mattered?

You can wonder about things like that until the cows come home. Every team can do it, every season. But, it’s still interesting. For half a season, the Sox grabbed an all-time great to bolster their staff. What a great idea.

16 is for 16 games pitched by Tom Seaver for Boston.

I Scored!

April 13, 1999

The Home Opener. It’s a magical time. We get our first chance to see the team in their whites. What can we expect from them during the season? It’s all looking up on Opening Day.

The Sox were playing the Sox on this day. Bret Saberhagen got the start for the Sox. He was coming off a 15-8 season the year before. It was hoped that he could provide just enough help for Pedro Martinez to lead the Sox back to the playoffs. Things looked pretty good in this start. Almost seven innings of shutout ball, on the way to the win. Saberhagen finally handed the ball to Derek Lowe after giving up a two-out hit in the seventh. Lowe made a but of a jam, but teamed with Mark Guthrie to close it out. There was minimal pressure with a three-run lead at the time.

That lead was extended to a six-run victory by the time it was all over. And just look at that offense. Buford, Frye, Varitek, Sadler finishing off the line-up. There wasn’t even Nomar in the line-up to help things out. But, it was that bottom of the order that got things rolling for the Sox when Varitek and Sadler both walked in the third. I always though Donnie Sadler was the faster player I had ever seen…at least until Ellsbury sprinted into view. Watching him score from first on a triple is just pure joy.

Another set of back-to-back walks led to another big inning for the Sox in the eighth. In this case, Troy O’Leary foreshadowed his October performance with a three-run homer.

The star of the game? Troy only went 1-4 in the game, but I have to give it to O’Leary and his 3 RBI. The team’s goat? Damon Buford was the only player not to reach base for the Sox. Since he was batting sixth, that problem was magnified.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The also-rans in the line-up got the job done. Saberhagen gave it everything he had, and the Red Sox cruised to a victory over the pale hose.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.