Baseball Hall of Fame

I am getting married in June. I am trying to convince my wife-to-be to have us make a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame for our honeymoon. This could be a tough sell. I have been to Cooperstown, New York once in my life. I went with my dad and my brother when I was in elementary school. All I can remember about my trip there was that it was awesome. I know I loved it, but I also know I couldn't have possibly appreciated it on the level I am capable of now. I need to go. There is just so much there. Anyway, today I looked on Wikipedia at a list of everyone in the Hall of Fame and I was blown away by some of the names on there. There were dozens of people I have never heard of...and I consider myself a fan? I was also blown away by the fact that no one has received 100% of the vote ever. Not Babe Ruth, not Nolan Ryan, not Cy Young, no one. Only about a dozen players have even received 95% of the vote and most of them have been over the past couple decades. Here's a quick run down of all players to receive at least 95% of the vote. (Quick note for those not up on what it takes to get in...Players are voted in 5 years after they last appeared in the Majors, they must receive at least 75% of the vote from various writers across the country. The system for voting is lousy but those are the rules...)

-Ty Cobb (1936) 98.23%: Cobb was part of the first class inducted into the Hall of Fame. Cobb is possibly best know as a semi-literate racist. However, he was an amazing baseball player. One of two players with over 4,000 hits (Pete Rose), Cobb led the American league in hitting 11 times, batted over .375 11 times, 2nd all time in triples, 4th all time in doubles, 1st all time in batting average, and 4th in stolen bases. His 98.23% is well deserved.

-Babe Ruth (1936) 95.13%: Ruth hit 714 homeruns. Hit 60 in a season. In 1921 he hit 59 homeruns, a TOTAL surpassed by only one other TEAM that season. Once had 171 RBI in one season. Has more fairy tale's about him than any other athlete. A baseball icon, despite the fact that he was a drunk and a womanizer who died at the age of 53. No one has any clue why he only got 95%.

-Honus Wagner (1936) 95.13%: Led the NL in batting eight times, doubles seven times, third all time in triples, hit .333 in winning the World Series with Pittsburgh in 1909. Is on the face of the most valuable baseball card ever.

-Hank Aaron (1981) 97.83%: Never once hit 50 HR in a season but still managed to hit a record 755 for his career, a model of consistency. Finished in the top five in MVP voting eight times, winning once. Third all time in runs scored, first in RBI, and third in hits. As great as everyone knows he was he is a bit underrated. It will be a shame for the most important and recognized in all of sports to go to Barry Bonds. No one can dispute his 97%.

-Johnny Bench (1989) 96.42%: This one surprised me a bit. Everyone can agree he is one of the greatest catchers ever, but 96%? Seems a bit steep for a .267 career hitter. However, Bench did win 10 Gold Gloves, 2 MVPs, and two World Series. Still, he doesn't belong in the same breath as these other guys.

-Tom Seaver (1992) 98.84%: The top vote getter of all time by percentage. Seaver was one of the best of his era. Won three Cy Young awards, won 311 games, ranks sixth all time in strike outs, and perhaps his most impressive accomplishment: he played for 20 seasons and had a career ERA of 2.86. Not too bad. I put him a tad above Bench on this list but behind the others.

-Steve Carlton (1994) 95.82%: Carlton pitched around the same era as Seaver and was always on awful teams. Carlton won 329 career games, easily trumping Seaver, won four Cy Young's, and ranks fourth all time in strike outs. Here is one of the top five most ridiculously impressive statistics ever. In 1972 Carlton won his first Cy Young award. He won 27 games and had an ERA of 1.97, pretty impressive. What makes that accomplishment so amazing is that he did it all for a team that went 59-97. They were awful. Without Carlton's wins they went 32-97.

-Mike Schmidt (1995) 96.52% Another guy who played on a lot of bad teams but just stayed on top of his game. Won 3 MVPs, won 10 Gold Gloves at third base, hit 548 career homeruns before the days of steroids, and won a World Series. However, he's in the Bench crowd as far as Hall of Famer's go. A career .267 hitter who struck out a lot.

-George Brett (1999) 98.19% Played 21 years in Kansas City, gotta give him credit for that, he even brought them a World Series. Won the MVP in 1980 when he hit .390, coming dangerously close to the .400 mark. A member of the 3,000 hit club and a baseball icon. He belongs on this list.

-Nolan Ryan (1999)98.79% One of the closest to a unanimous choice, Ryan is probably best know for throwing an untouchable seven career no-hitters. Hard to believe that anyone will ever do that again. Played 27 seasons, 324 career wins, led the league in strike outs 11 times, and was the oldest players in the American league his final four seasons, a true testament to his longevity. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that he has more than 1,000 more strikeouts that the next closest in the history of baseball.

-Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr (2007) Both players were among the most respected players in the game while they were around. However, Gwynn was a singles hitter and Ripken is best known for playing in over 2,000 consecutive games. The facts are that Ripken was only a .276 career hitter and Gwynn hit only 135 homeruns in 20 seasons during a power era. They are certainly both Hall of Famers, I'm just not sure they belong on this list.

No Sympathy for the Heat

In case you haven't heard, Dwayne Wade separated his shoulder last night. A separated shoulder is a pretty big deal. Placido Polonco of the Tiger's had that same injury and missed about two months, not good. Wade's injury pretty much puts the Heat out of the playoffs. The defending champs will not make the playoffs, that almost never happens in the NBA. Usually a separated shoulder will put a guy out 8 weeks or so, as it happens the NBA playoffs start in about 8 weeks. That puts him back in time for a playoff push and defend their title. One small problem for the Heat, they haven't put their full team on the court for more than a handful of games.

Up until the all star game Shaq played in 4 games. Pat Riley coached in about half of them. The only constant was Wade. I don't really like the guy, I'm not a fan of his. But like Kobe Bryant, the guy is going all of the time. You never really see him take a play off. Sure, he gets about 10 free throw attempts too many per game just because of who he is, but he's gutsy, no denying that. The same cannot be said for the rest of the team. Shaq has become the Roger Clemens of the NBA. He's only playing at full throttle for about 6 weeks per season. A couple of years back he waited until the season started to have surgery done that could have been done in the offseason. He wanted to wait because he didn't want his summer interrupted with surgery. If someone like Terrell Owens were to do that they'd be finished. Riley is the same way. He came up late last year, then things got off to a slow start this year so he handed the team to Ron Rothstein for 25 games. The team did better under Rothstein than Riley, go figure.

My point is, the Miami did this to themselves. If they had played the first 50 games of the season at their best, like all other teams do (even the bad ones) and then they'd struggle while Wade was out but have him back for the playoffs. Now Wade is considering surgery to repair his shoulder which will end his season, even if the Heat make the playoffs. I don't think they'll need to worry about that though.

Those Lousy Lions

First and foremost, I've never really considered myself a Lions fan. Check that, I was probably a Lions fan in Middle School, maybe part of high school. If someone were to ask me now if I was a Lions fan I would say no, not really. I'm not, I'm more a fan of the NFL than a fan of any one team. However, given my place on the map, the team I watch the most, hear about the most, and read about the most are the Detroit Lions. I can remember back to getting home from church when I was young, eating lunch and then laying on the couch and watching the Lions. This past season, I probably watch parts of at least 12 games. I can't help it.

To me it's almost easy to like a loser. When the Tiger's sucked, they were still fun to watch. However, I love the Tiger's so that comparison doesn't really work. I guess it's comparable to UofM football. If they have a down year, I don't go nuts about it, I get over it pretty easy. It's sort of like that friend that we all have from high school. They were cool and everything in high school and you considered them a good friend. However, they just didn't make the cut of who you would keep in touch with when high school was over, but when they're around you'll make the effort to see them. That's me and the Detroit Lions.

This offseason has not been kind to the Lions. One of their best players, CB Dre' Bly wants out. He said he wanted to be traded and the Lions said they'd help him out. That's all fine and good, but it doesn't get the Lions equal worth. Everyone knows he's done with the Lions so they don't need to offer all that much to get him.

They have talent. Roy Williams is good/great wideout, John Kitna is a bit above average quarterback. The defense is okay, but really went to crap when Shaun Rogers was suspended for steroids and was hurt. They have not drafted well, that is no secret. They aren't much of a player in the free agent market. Which doesn't make much sense to me since in the NFL players follow the money more so than in any other league. Quick, name the last impact free agent the Lions have signed? Exactly.

So what do they do? First of all, I really have no idea. However, I think that this year I'll stop pulling for the sexy pick in the NFL draft. In the past I applauded the Mike Williams pick and the Joey Harrington pick. The Lions were very wrong on each pick. This year they should take Joe Thomas the tackle from Wisconsin. He's as can't miss as they come on the offensive line and offensive lineman aren't under the same microscope as quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. So while they could have Brady Quinn or Adrian Peterson or Calvin Johnson, they should take Thomas. Then spend money wisely during the free agency period. A six win season would be great. Will it happen? Hmm, I'm gonna guess not.

Baseball Reference Fun

Anyone who is hardcore baseball fan is familiar with the website, www.baseball-reference.com, and spends a fair amount of time there over the course of a season. You want a statistic, they've got it. If for some reason you want to know what Tom Brookens (left) batted for his career that's there too, it just has it all. One of the cool things it does is that it's creators have made a formula to compare a one player to another at every stage of their career. For example, you can go to Barry Bonds' page and see who he compared to historically at the age of 26. What it does is it compares Bonds' stats at the age of 26 with other players when they were 26 and come up with a match. Bonds match at 26? Jack Clark, good times all around. So today as I was checking out the Tigers' probably starting lineup I became curious as to how they stacked up in history. I'm not saying their the best every or anything, but on a team seemingly on the rise, it's easy to get carried away.
So, tonights project is to look at the Tigers lineup and see how the players in it stack up historically. Here it goes...(oh, and by the way, the ages come from the player's statistics from last season).

1. Curtis Granderson: Sandy Amoros. Never heard of him, he had a brief career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Other players he compares to, Joe Carter and Reggie Sanders.

2. Placido Polanco: Todd Walker. Yuck, I never really cared much for his game, others on the list include Adam Kennedy and Julio Franco (right).

3. Gary Sheffield: Jeff Bagwell. Hey, you could do a lot worse, though I'd take Sheff in his prime over Bagwell in his.

4. Magglio Ordonez: Wally Berger, apparently this guy was big for a few years in the 1930s, but I have never heard of him, a more modern comparison is Mike Sweeney.

5. Carlos Guillen: Julio Lugo. I think if you asked all of the managers in baseball who they would rather have on their team, Guillen or Lugo, they would all chose Guillen.

6. Craig Monroe: Craig Wilson. Wilson was a promising young power hitter a few years ago. He's now a platooning first baseman in Atalanta. Interestingly enough, Bubba Trammell made this list.

7. Sean Casey: Wally Joyner. I was a big Wally Joyner back in the day. I'll take this comparison.

8. Ivan Rodriguez: Ted Simmons, a great catcher in the 70s and 80s. Others on this list include Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Gary Carter, and Johnny Bench.

9. Brandon Inge: Jose Valentin. Boy, that is right on the money, although I think Inge is better in the field. So the Tigers 2007 lineup is comparable to:

1. Reggie Sanders
2. Todd Walker
3. Jeff Bagwell
4. Mike Sweeney
5. Julio Lugo
6. Craig Wilson
7. Wally Joyner
8. Ted Simmons
9. Jose Valentin

Meh, not bad, how about the pitching...

Kenny Rogers: David Wells
Jeremy Bonderman: Jon Garland
Justin Verlander: Clark Griffith (Hall of Famer, have you ever heard of him? I sure haven't)
Nate Robertson: Ted Lilly

Not too bad either.

John Amaechi

As most people have now noticed, John Amaechi has become the first current/former NBA player to openly say he is gay. Amaechi was only in the NBA for a few years, he had one good season which added up to a bad contract and he was out the league shortly thereafter. It seems everyone has an opinion on this issue, here are some of my thoughts:

-Amaechi's announcement is important, like it or not, he's paving the way for others.
-His timing really isn't that great. He's been out of the league for four years already. This has left him open to the criticism that money was a big motivator in the whole thing. However...
-After reading the reactions of players and many fans, coming out as a current NBA player would be murder. In a social climate where it is acceptable to call something or someone "gay" or "fag" or "queer" or whatever you like cannot be easy for any homosexual. Not only does this happen frequently, it is seldom stopped. It's acceptable. It's acceptable in the same way the "n word" was once acceptable and there is zero difference. None.
-LeBron James said: "With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy."
-Shavlik Randolph said: "As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine."
-Steven Hunter said: "Nowadays it's proven that people can live double lives. I watch a lot of TV, so I see a lot of sick perverted stuff about married men running around with gay guys and all types of foolishness."


If you were to take the homosexual theme from those quotes and substitute any race in there and players would be looking at massive fines, suspensions, their careers may be over. There is a huge double standard here and it's really too bad. So I don't buy the criticisms from people saying that Amaechi isn't really doing anything special because he's retired. Look at what he would have faced! Hopefully, he's just making it easier for those who come after him.

Another non-story.

According to this press release, er, article, John Amaechi is gay.

Here are my thoughts on this situation:

(1) It is pretty shameless, the way ESPN has been promoting this story, considering the fact that ESPN is also the publisher of Amaechi's book.

(2) In the article linked above it states that Amaechi felt that Jerry Sloan hated him. Maybe this was because Sloan is a demanding coach and Amaechi was one of the worst players in the NBA.

(3) The only possible angle to this story that might be of any importance is how Amaechi found himself fitting into the hip-hop culture that permiates the NBA. Anything outside this is a waste of everyone's time.

(4) Amaechi should give the proceeds of his book back to the teams he played for to make up for all the money he stole from them.

(5) He says he knows of other gay players in the NBA. Here are my guesses: Luke Ridnour, Lindsey Hunter, Primoz Brezec, Mike Dunleavey, or Al Harrington.