Weekend winners
Adrian Beltre. Dude is a first ballot Hall of Famer and most do not realize it.
Middle Valley 5/6 all stars. That bunch is legit and according to a friend, they just won the 5-6 World Series in Mississippi. (And yes, we need nominations. We’ve been in the woods for 10 days. HELP US PLEASE.)
Weekend losers
Chattanooga. On Friday we lost Porker’s Bar-B-Que. We all are worse off for it.
This is not a good look: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/20203049/officiating-group-terminating-relationship-adidas-replacement-female-referee
Braves. The Phillies suck. And heading into today’s series finale against Philadelphia, Atlanta is staring at a real chance to losing all four to the Phillies and have fallen from second to fourth in the NL East.
Ivan Pudge RodriguezBaseball Hall of Fame
OK, we’re back.
We’ve been gone a little while. The West is gorgeous. The lack of man-made stuff is staggering. (Seriously, if you get below half a tank, you need to refuel because who knows when the next gas station may pop up on the horizon.)
Well, Sunday, as we were making out way back from Salt Lake City – Major shout out to Ware and his girlfriend Maggie for recognizing us int eh SLC airport; SAL-Loot – Major League Baseball inducted a new class of Hall of Famers.
Hooray.
And go suck a lemon.
The class was the exclamation point of the clunkers and the question marks that has become the part senile/part bitter/part egomaniacal cast of unholy characters who vote on this once hallowed honor.
Look at the five folks who were enshrined.
Pudge Rodriguez is no doubt a Hall of Famer. He’s the best defensive catcher of the last 50 years and we’d argue ever. Plus, he’s a .296 career hitter.
But how are we to know if he was ‘clean’ during the steroid era? Especially considering his name was whispered in the Marshall Report and he spent overlapping time in Texas with Jose “Steroid Kingpin” Canseco and Rafeal “Finger Wagging” Palmeiro?
But he’s clear because why? He was kind to the media?
That’s outrageous and insulting, even for someone who is in the media and complains about coaches’ and players’ quotes. (To be fair, we complain about non-answering quotes and quotes that everyone in the room knows are full of crap. Be mean all you want. That’s on you. We like Saban news conferences better than Butch’s, and Butch is way nicer that Saban. But Saban at least answers the occasional question with honesty. Butch is full of cliches and memorandums that he wants to push.)
And Pudge is not the only fallacy in this class.
There’s Tim Raines, who was inducted in his 10th and final year on the ballot. Did his stats get better the last five years? Did his noteworthy numbers – or the fact that he gave Randy Johnson the glorious nickname “The Big Unit” – somehow become more impressive since he retired?
Of course not. It’s just another layer of crap that make little sense in a voting process that is so cracked Humpty Dumpty giggles at it. Now look at tow other names that were enshrined. Meet John Schuerholz, the genius GM of the Braves, and Jeff Bagwell, the slugging first baseman of the Astros.
Before we start, we’ll take our personal list of Hall of Fame qualifications off the table. We start with the simple question of “Is he a Hall of Famer?” and if you have to pause for the answer, then the answer is no.
Second rule is we never talk about Fight Club.
Questions?
Of this class, we think Raines deserved it seven-or-more years ago. Other than Rickey Henderson, he’s the second best lead-off hitter of our lifetime. That’s a level of dominance and difference-making that dignifies a date with destiny. (Hey, we were on vacation, we needed some alliteration.)
We think Pudge is a sure-fire first ballot guy. The best defensive player at the most important defensive player is a clear pick. Then add his offensive numbers and we can make an argument that he is the best catcher ever, which begs the question who in the world did not vote for him?
Bagel’s numbers suggest a Hall of Fame player, but let’s be really clear: His name was linked to whispers and rumors and all the other subtle connections to steroids. And there’s the rub.
If you are going to ignore subtle connections to the PED era – fair or not, that means guys like Bagwell, Pudge and Piazza, all of whom are Hall of Famers – then how can you not vote for Barry Bonds?
Anyone? Bueller?
Hold your answer for a second. (Hey, we’ve been on vacation, we got to make up for lost words, right?) Now let’s talk about Schuerholz for a second.
Did he have a Hall of Fame career? Absolutely. He turned the worst franchise in baseball into a model organization across team sports. Dude was a Maestro.
But did he sign players who used PEDs? Yep, at least in the voters’ eyes. Otherwise Gary Sheffield at the very least would be in the Hall. (And know this: Having been in the Braves locker room multiple times in the 1990s and early 2000s, there were several dudes who we’d have questions about.)
And then there is the fifth and final inductee. One Allan Huber Selig, aka Bud.
The former commissioner of baseball was the steward of the game during the entire PED issue.
Debate his legacy on the game – the strike, the rebirth, the All-Star Game tie, all of it – all you want. But we believe in our soul that he knew and turned a blind eye to the steroid issue because the power numbers helped bring baseball back from the cancelled World Series.
Which begs the question: “If the commissioner who ignored the PED problem and refused to end it is in the Hall of Fame, why aren’t guys like Bonds, Clemens, et al., who played the system Selig allowed to happen?”
This and that
– The Yankees dealt two prospects to Minnesota for Jaime Garcia, who the Twins acquired from Atlanta late last week. Strange times on the deadline no?
– We actually thought the Dallas Cowboys would have been a good landing point for Colin Kaepernick in theory. He’s mobile and offers a similar skill set as starter Dak Prescott. (And way more conducive than current back-up Kellen Moore.) Plus, the Cowboys are the only NFL team that cashes their own memorabilia checks, meaning that when Kaepernick’s jersey becomes the best seller in the league – and it will wherever he signs – Jerry Jones would keep than money. But Jones addressed the quarterback decisions of the offseason, and it truth, his mumbo-jumbo actually gives credence to the “Kaepernick’s black-balled” crowd. Here’s Jones’ load of bull. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jerry-jones-explains-why-cowboys-signed-luke-mccown-over-colin-kaepernick/
– Shout out to B.B. Branton, who is at Erlanger. Get well, William.
Today’s question
Weekend Winners. Weekend Losers.
You pick.
As for today, the last day of July – side question, where did the summer go? – well there are a few things that came across the inter web.
Did you know the Pilgrims departed for America on this day in 1620?
Ted Cassidy – he played Lurch in the “Addams Family” TV series – would have been 85 today.
Michael Biehn, who was sent back from the future to save John Connor’s mom in the first Terminator, is 61 today.
J.K. Rowling is 52 today.
But more importantly, Wesley Snipes is 54 today.
Yes, that Wesley Snipes, who apparently made multiple baseball movies – “Say Hey” – and would not let the camera roll while he was throwing because he could not throw a baseball from you to your computer screen.
Rushmore of Wesley Snipes movies.
Go. (And it’s good to be back. Mostly.)