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All Time Batting Leaders – Through 2021

Earlier this week, we took our annual look at the all-time leaders in pitching stats for the 1007 games I’ve attended (and identified) between 1984 and 2021.  With spring training games finally starting after the resolution of the long lockout, it’s time to move over to the other side of the ball and take a look at the offensive stat leaders for those games, starting with our first category:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 93
Jose Abreu 45
Sammy Sosa 42
Aramis Ramirez 41
Derrek Lee 40
Jermaine Dye 40

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 366
Alexei Ramirez 300
Derrek Lee 255
Jose Abreu 242
A.J. Pierzynski 239

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 200
Derrek Lee 140
Alexei Ramirez 134
Aramis Ramirez 120
Jose Abreu 116

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 235
Aramis Ramirez 158
Jose Abreu 144
Alexei Ramirez 140
Derrek Lee 134

Doubles Continue reading →

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It’s Dancing Time

The NCAA tournament returns in full force after a year break in 2020 and a bubble tournament centered in Indianapolis in 2021 due to the pandemic.  I’m not in any pools this year, so these selections have no ultimate bearing on my life, aside from personal pride.  So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s selections.

Gonzaga is the overall #1 and my pick to come out of this region and moving on to the Final Four.  I did throw the occasional upset in the earlier rounds, so we’ll see how those pay off.

A bit of an upset here, as I have #3 Tennessee advancing. Continue reading →

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Against The Royals All Time Leaders – Through 2021

royalsIn the past, we’ve looked at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams.  This offseason, we will take our first ever look at those leaders against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the Kansas City Royals.

The Royals began life in 1969, joining the American League following the abandonment of the Kansas City market by the A’s following the 1967 season.  I’ve seen them play 61 times, first in 1985 at old Comiskey Park where Willie Wilson took a throw to second base off the noggin, and most recently last May, where I saw them in a 4 game series at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 8
Jose Abreu 6
Carlos Quentin 6

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 30
Jose Abreu 29
Alexei Ramirez 28

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 18
Tim Anderson 13
Jose Abreu 12
Alexei Ramirez 12

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 19
Carlos Quentin 17
Jose Abreu 15

Doubles

Name Total
Paul Konerko 5
Tim Anderson 5
Adam Eaton 4
Leury Garcia 4
Melky Cabrera 4

Triples Continue reading →

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FB8 – Week 7

Another somewhat decent week, as I managed to stay above 30,000 steps for the third straight week.  Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, as I managed to finish just over 4100 steps despite the lingering effects of a bum right foot.  On Monday, I managed to surpass 5700 steps somehow, for the week’s highpoint.  Tuesday saw a big decline, coming 20 steps short of 4000.  Wednesday was even worse, dropping down to 3800 steps.  Thursday saw a nice improvement, jumping up to 4600 steps.  Friday was the low point of the week, finishing with 3700 steps thanks to a bum left foot which popped up out of nowhere.  A night out on the town (of Hinsdale) led to 5300 step total on Saturday, despite continued pain in my foot.

Total steps: 31,336

Daily average: 4476.6

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Top 200 Albums: #107 – 119

We last counted down the Top 200 albums in my iTunes library four years ago. Since that time, the world has literally changed, and my commute has decreased from 1+ hours each way to 25 steps. So, despite the decrease in potential listening time, I figured it was time to take another look, based on number of plays from late 2007 through the morning of January 1, 2022.

We continue today with the next batch of ten albums that I have listened to the most over the last 15 years, breaking the triple digit total play plateau with three compilations, and music from the 60s, 80s, 90s, and beyond.

#119: Bangles – Bangles: Greatest Hits
iTunes stats: 103 plays
Previous Ranking: 143

Five of the Bangles biggest hits, which notched 49 additional listens over the past four years, contribute to this total for their greatest hits album.

#119: Florence + The Machine – Between Two Lungs
iTunes stats: 103 plays
Previous Ranking: N/A

A very strong introduction to this chart for the debut album from the English indie rock band, thanks to a 186% increase in listens.

#116: Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials
iTunes stats: 105 plays
Previous Ranking: 171

A 123% increase in plays over the past four years led to this 65-spot jump for the second album from Florence + The Machine, which featured prominently in my Road Trip playlist for the 2016 drive to Florida with Jeff and Val.

#116: Green Day – Dookie
iTunes stats: 105 plays
Previous Ranking: 109

The breakthrough major label debut for the California punks added 40 new plays to the five tracks from the label in my collection.

#116: Various Artists – More Music From Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
iTunes stats: 105 plays
Previous Ranking: 136

The second soundtrack album to the hit Lisa Kudrow/Mira Sorvino film takes six 80s hits, from the likes of Tiffany and Rick Astley, and raises their play total by 87.5%.

Continue reading →

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All Time Pitching Leaders – Through 2021

With the lockout finally over, today is the mandatory reporting date for spring training as teams across Florida and Arizona finally hold their first spring workouts as they prepare for a postponed 2022 season.  I guess that means it is time for our annual look at the pitching leaders in the now 1007 games I’ve attended, and identified, between 1984 and 2021.  A big difference from last year, as I passed the 1000 game plateau in late August thanks to a crosstown matchup between the Cubs and the White Sox.  So, without further ado, let’s get things started with our first category, the always popular:

Wins

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 31
Gavin Floyd 24
Carlos Zambrano 21
Chris Sale 21
John Danks 19

Losses

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 17
Jose Quintana 17
John Danks 16
Carlos Zambrano 15
Gavin Floyd 15

ERA (>= 35 IP)

Name Total
David Robertson 2.17
DJ Carrasco 2.20
Nate Jones Continue reading →
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Against The Reds All Time Leaders – Through 2021

redsIn the past, we’ve looked at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams.  This offseason, we will take our first ever look at those leaders against all 30 clubs.   We continue today with the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds began life in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association, joining the National League in 1890.  I’ve seen them play 40 times against 5 different teams at 4 separate stadiums.

Home Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 6
Sammy Sosa 3
Aramis Ramirez 3

Hits

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 26
Derrek Lee 25
Ryan Theriot 17

Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 20
Aramis Ramirez 15
Sammy Sosa 10

RBI

Name Total
Derrek Lee 20
Aramis Ramirez 16
Todd Walker 11

Doubles

Name Total
Todd Walker 5
Derrek Lee 4
Aramis Ramirez 4
Sammy Sosa 4
Geovany Soto 4
Michael Barrett 4
Alfonso Soriano 4

Triples Continue reading →

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Book 16 (of 52) – Every Last Fear

Every Last Fear – Alex Finlay

In Every Last Fear, the debut novel from Alex Finlay, an NYU student, infamous due to a streaming documentary about his family’s fight to clear his older brother of murder, has his world turned upside down when his entire family dies during a trip to Mexico.  What initially looked like an accident turns into a murder investigation, and the young student, with the help of a financial crimes FBI agent, has to figure out what’s going on and why.

I stumbled across a synopsis of Finlay’s upcoming second book, which looked interesting enough for me to track down this work.  Finlay puts together a pretty good tale, but it came off to me like more of a mystery than a thriller and the ending was fairly easy to figure out.  But, there was enough here to continue on to his new book at some point.

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Baseball Unlocked

After 99 days, the MLB lockout has come to an end.  MLB and the MLBPA have come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, leading to a mad rush to get spring training up and running and a 162-game regular season in the books.  Free agency is set to start back up again tonight at 5 PM CT.  Players will be allowed to report to spring training as soon as tomorrow, with games starting next week.  Opening Day is likely to be April 7th, with double headers and a few days tacked to the end of the season to get to 162 games.

So where do we stand?  The CBT threshold has been raised to $230 million, a 9% increase, before penalties start being applied.  The minimum salary has been raised to $700,000, a 23% rise from the last deal.  The qualifying offer for free agents will go away if the two sides agree on an international draft by this summer.  A draft lottery will be implemented to help combat tanking.  Rookie of the Year winners will get credited with a full season of service time, regardless of how much time they spent in the major leagues, in a bid to do away with service time

On the field, the DH will be coming to the NL, ending the practice of pitchers hitting.  Double headers are returning back to 9 innings.  Extra innings will also revert to their normal rules, doing away with ghost runners.  The playoffs will be expanded to 12 teams.

The full extent of changes will trickle out over the days to come, but, for right now, the important thing is that baseball is back.  Time to play ball.

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2022 Tickets – Both Sides Edition

Once again, both the White Sox and the Cubs have eschewed physical tickets for their non-premium season ticket holders, meaning that, once again, this year’s ticket package is nothing more than digital bits on a website or the MLB Ballpark app.  While this does make the actual game day use of the tickets more convenient, it does lose some of the excitement of ticket arrival day and continues to be a disappointment for those of us who collect ticket stubs.  Hopefully the lockout will end in time to actually use some of these.