A New Hall of Famer

This week the Baseball Hall of Fame released the results of the 2011 voting. There weren’t really any surprises in the results. In my eyes, the only player on the ballot worthy of election was Roberto Alomar, and he was elected. I honestly don’t know why I don’t consider Barry Larkin to be the same lock. But, I don’t. Maybe it’s just an AL bias on my part. Bert Blyleven did most of his pitching before I was really watching baseball. So, I’m willing to defer to others when it comes to his enshrinement. It’s still weird to me, though, whenever someone gets elected after so long on the ballot. Did he get better since he stopped pitching? How come so few people thought he was a Hall-of-Famer right after he retired? The only reason I could see someone being elected after so long is if something they did, that was thought to be commonplace, was actually pretty hard. Hitting .400, for example. When Ted Williams did it, I wouldn’t say it was common…but it happened. Eight players had topped the mark in the last 20 years. So, I could see it being slightly ho-hum at the time. But, now that it hasn’t been done in the last 70 years, it’s a much bigger deal. But, that didn’t really happen with Blyleven. If anything, a few more pitchers have topped many of his career numbers since he retired. My assumption is that he got the same support Rice got. The voters were pretty sure Rice and Blyleven were clean. They’re not sure if anyone who played after them was. So, they’d hate to not elect either of them and find out in five years that every player who played from 1992 to 2010 was cheating. So, they had to elect them before they lost the chance. But, that’s not the most important part about this year’s results. What is? I’m glad you asked.

Roberto Alomar’s election gives me one more Hall-of-Famer on my list of players I’ve seen live. By my count, that gives me five HOFers on my list: Alomar, Boggs, Eckersley, Henderson, and Ripken. That’s not a bad list. Plus, that’s a bit conservative. I don’t count players that I only saw live at the 1999 All-Star game. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem right. And, I saw a Royals game in 1989, and a Red Sox game in 1983. George Brett, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice probably played in those games. But, since I can’t prove it I don’t count them. (Although, I probably have the ticket stubs somewhere…I should look up the box scores.)

I saw Alomar play live five times. Two of those appearances were in the classic Pedro-Colon pitching match-ups in 1999 and 2000. The most memorable time, though, was the “sixth” time I saw him. That 1999 All-Star game. Alomar, of course, made an error on a groundball hit by Matt Williams in the second inning. That prevented Pedro from having a perfect outing. It also allowed the inning ending strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. What a memory.

Congratulations to Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven.

2011 Calendar

So, I finally got my hands on the 2011 Red Sox team calendar. Always better to grab calendars after the new year, right? I was struck by the player selection. Here is who they decided to feature.

Mike Cameron

Daniel Bard

Jacoby Ellsbury

Tim Wakefield

Kevin Youkilis

Jon Lester

Jonathan Papelbon

Josh Beckett

Marco Scutaro

John Lackey

JD Drew

Dustin Pedroia

There were a couple interesting things. First, all twelve players are still members of the Red Sox. I can only assume this wasn’t luck. I wonder if they had mock-ups of Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre ready to go just in case they came back to the team. Obviously, they don’t have the two biggest additions. They couldn’t have gotten pictures of them in a Sox uniform in time anyway.

But, I assume that these calendars are made by some central office. I assume that all major league teams are made by the same group of people. They just add the pictures and logos of whichever team they need. So, the selection of two bullpen pitchers not named Papelbon is an interesting move. Tim Wakefield was the Red Sox long relief guy last season, and looks to fill the same role this year. You mean to tell me the guy at corporate headquarters knew that Red Sox fans would want that particular mop up guy included? Wouldn’t you think a standard inclusion of the starting rotation would be the way to go? Do other teams have long relievers included? Maybe they make the assumption that most teams don’t have four starters worth featuring? Not every team would be excluding Clay Buchholz. I mean, he finished sixth in the Cy Young voting last year, and can’t get a month? Daniel bard is another interesting inclusion. I’m guessing there isn’t a standard “The set up guy will be in February” rule that the designers were following. So, it’s great to see.

It’s also interesting that both Ellsbury and Cameron are listed as centerfielders. So, either they couldn’t make up their minds, or knew they were including a back-up and just went with it anyway. In that case, though, wouldn’t you pick Clay over a guy on the bench?

So, how did they make the selections? A poll of Red Sox fans? A look at poplar google searches? How did they select which players to feature?

Because, they did quite a good job.

Blogs from Other Teams

Every once in a while, it happens. I want to read a blog from a fan of another team. Maybe I want to see what a Tampa fan’s reaction was to losing Carl Crawford. Or does a Padres blogger think Adrian Gonzalez will handle playing in Boston? Sometimes, it’s easy to find blogs of other teams, sometimes not. There are several blogs out there with rather extensive blogrolls linking to sites from all over. And, those are helpful. But, I still can’t find all the teams. And, many of the links I stumble upon are for blogs that are inactive, or just not very good. (No offense)

So, I turn to all of you for help. If you write, or know of, a good blog that focuses on a specific MLB team, leave a link in a comment so I can check it out. I’m not looking for the professional bloggers out there. I can find the Minnesota newspaper fairly easily to find a sportswriter’s blog. Plus, I may want to write and ask a specific question I have. I imagine I’d have a better chance of a response if I stuck to amateurs. (Although, if you are a professional, and want to hear from me you can certainly leave your own link)

So, who out there has a great baseball team blog? Which ones do I want to check out regularly?

Is there a blog by a Pirates fan?

Happy 36th Birthday Jeff Suppan

Jeff Suppan had two stints with the Red Sox. He came up with the Sox in 1995, and hung around until 1997. He picked up nine wins for the Sox in this stint before beginning to bounce from team to team. One of those bounces landed him back in Boston at the 2003 trading deadline. It was a pretty big pick up at the time. He was supposed to be the key to getting the Sox over the top. He wasn’t. Looking back, it was the classic case of “best available” becoming “best.” Just because he was the best pitcher on the trading block, he became everyone’s must-have. But, it still didn’t make him a difference maker. His half season in Boston was less than memorable. The only memorable thing about it, really, was the set of trades he was involved in. The Red Sox and Pirates swapped a couple players back and forth in a couple deals just before the deadline. It was a weird series of events. But, it was the role that Suppan played the following year that was the most help to the Sox.

In 2004 Suppan was a top starter for the Cardinals. As such, he found himself starting game 3 of the World Series against Pedro Martinez. Since the game was in St Louis, things were looking up for the Cardinals, despite being down 0-2. They played very well at home that year. Because of the NL park, the pitcher would bat and Suppan was more used to doing that then Pedro was. It also meant the Sox sat Kevin Millar in order to get David Ortiz’s bat in the line-up at first base. As it turned out, those advantages weren’t all they were cracked up to be. We all know the story. Representing the tying run, on third base in the third inning, Suppan was ready to score on a groundball. But the NL pitcher used to running the bases got turned around. He stopped, started, spun, danced, and didn’t score. Not only that, but the Sox’s poor first baseman gunned him down for a double play. The Cardinals didn’t score off Pedro that inning, or any inning. As often happens with an ace, you have to get them early. Pedro settled into a groove after that. The Sox never looked back.

So, while Suppan couldn’t bring the Sox a title while he was wearing the uniform, he was a big help from the visitor’s dugout. For that, he has the thanks of Red Sox nation.

Happy 36^th Birthday Jeff Suppan!

Happy New Year!

This certainly looks to be a great year for Red Sox fans. As a matter of fact, this looks to be a great year for all Boston sports fans. Could four parades in 2010 be possible?

Since January first is the usual time for making resolutions, I’ve come up with a few of my own. Since its easier to keep any resolution if other people know what it is, I thought I’d share them here. Yeah, I know. You could probably care less.

First, I resolve to watch the Red Sox win the final game of the 2011 World Series. That one should be easy to keep, with limited effort on my part.

I’m going to steal my second one from Nachos Grande. Last year, he resolved to be a larger presence in the blogosphere. (That’s such an odd word) I think that’s a great idea. I hope to leave more comments, and otherwise be involved in the blogs around me. The more ways I can share my wisdom, the better. Right?

The third one is to try to continue focusing on both quality and quantity when it comes to posts. Sure, it would be easy to pump out posts every day, just to make sure I’m at the top of everyone’s blogroll. But, I’d like to make sure that when you click on that link, it’s actually worth your time as often as not. Of course there will still be occasional posts just to get a quick thought out to the masses. But, I want to remember to keep posting things worth reading.

The fourth one is another one borrowed from NG. I want to keep filling up my wantlists through trades. Of course, I’ll need all your help for that one. But, I love getting trade packages in the mail, so I’d love to continue that.

The last one is to simply make this blog the best it can be.

Hopefully, I’m already on my way.