December 11, 2021November 14, 2021 by admin

Against The Padres All Time Leaders – Through 2021

In 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 San Diego Padres.

The Padres began life in 1969, joining the National League along with the Montreal Expos. I’ve seen them play 21 times (would have been 24 if my trip to San Diego in May of 2020 hadn’t been wiped out by the corona virus) at 5 different ballparks, first in 1985 at Wrigley Field and, most recently, this past June.

Home Runs

Name	Total
Corey Patterson	3
Sammy Sosa	3
Patrick Wisdom	3

Hits

Name	Total
Alfonso Soriano	10
Moises Alou	9
Corey Patterson	8
Derrek Lee	8
Jose Macias	8
Aramis Ramirez	8

Runs

Name	Total
Derrek Lee	6
Moises Alou	5
Corey Patterson	5
Michael Barrett	5
Sammy Sosa	5

RBI

Name	Total
Corey Patterson	6
Michael Barrett	6
Aramis Ramirez	6
Alfonso Soriano	6

Doubles

Name	Total
Michael Barrett	3
Kosuke Fukudome	3
Aramis Ramirez	2
Alfonso Soriano	2
Jacque Jones	2
Reed Johnson	2
Sergio Alcantara	2

Triples Continue reading →

December 10, 2021December 5, 2021 by admin

Fitbit VII – Week 45

Yet another disappointing week, as I posted my lowest total since early September. Sunday was the best day of the week, thanks to a trip to the grocery store, which left me with 5600 steps. Monday was slightly worse, as I dropped down to 4400 steps. Tuesday was about the same, coming 23 steps shy of 4400. Wednesday fell back down again, down to 2900 steps. Thursday had a slight improvement, going back up to 3000 steps. Friday was the low point of the week, as my day off led to a whopping 2200 steps. Saturday jumped all the way up to 2500 steps.

Total steps: 25,130

Daily average: 3590

December 9, 2021April 9, 2022 by admin

Book 50 (of 52) – The Case Of The Gilded Lily

The Case Of The Gilded Lily – Erle Stanley Gardner

When a blackmailer is found dead in a motor lodge, Perry Mason tries to stay a step ahead of the police while trying to determine if his client, or his client’s wife, were responsible. After his client is arrested, Perry, along with Della Street and Paul Drake, have to get to the bottom of the case: who killed the blackmailer, who was his partner, and who is framing his client and his wife.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Gilded Lily, originally published in 1956, is the 50th entry in his Perry Mason series, the sixth of six novels re-released last year in conjunction with the new adaptation on HBO, and the fifth that I’ve read this year. This was not the best entry in this series that I’ve read, but does spend plenty of time in court, where Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger are much more adversarial than they are in the classic TV series. I look forward to seeing the TV adaptation from the Raymond Burr version of the show, the 34th episode of its first season, so I can compare the filmed version with the original.

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021 by admin

2021 Final Standings

The 2021 college football season, at least the regular season, has come to an end, after Purdue beat the dreaded Hoosiers last weekend to notch their first 8 win season since 2006. After going 5 seasons without a football game, I attended 3 (almost 4) games this year, my highest total of all time. I also managed to travel to two different venues, bringing my lifetime total up to 5.

**2021 Team Records**
TeamName	Won	Loss	Winning Pctg
Purdue Boilermakers	3	0	1.000
Northwestern Wildcats	0	1	0.000
Michigan State Spartans	0	1	0.000
Illinois Fighting Illini	0	1	0.000

December 7, 2021December 1, 2021 by admin

Book 49 (of 52) – Friends Like These

Friends Like These – Kimberly McCreight

When a group of friends from college reunite in the Catskills for a bachelor party and intervention. things don’t go as planned. When the police find one of them murdered with another one missing, While the officer investigating tries to figure out what happened, while dealing with new clues from her sister’s murder years earlier, the friends stick to their story, hiding what really went on all weekend.

Friends Like These, the latest from Kimberly McCreight, explores how far a group is willing to go to protect their secrets and each other, even when it isn’t in their best interests. I have enjoyed each of McCreight’s outings over the years and this one was no different. As usual, I look forward to seeing what she does next.

December 6, 2021 by admin

We’re #1

For the first time in the history of man kind, the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country calls Mackey Arena home. The 8-0 Boilermakers were a unanimous No. 1 in the poll released earlier today, moving up #2 last week following victories over Florida State and Iowa and a Duke loss to Ohio State. Prior to this week, Purdue had the second-most appearances in the AP poll, 379 weeks, for a school that had never been ranked #1, behind Maryland with 434 weeks. Purdue goes on the road this week with a Big 10 game at Rutgers on Thursday and the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational against North Carolina State on Sunday in Brooklyn.

December 6, 2021December 6, 2021 by admin

Prolific Authors – 15 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span. Today, we have our penultimate entry, with the fake television author I’ve read 15 times.

Richard Castle

Debuting in 2009, Castle follows the lives of Richard Castle, a best-selling novelist, and Kate Beckett, a New York homicide detective, as they solve various unusual crimes. As Castle, portrayed by Nathan Fillion, wrote and released Nikki Heat novels on the show, those novels were released in the real world as well, the first of which, Heat Wave, was released in 2009. The two most recent efforts, Heat Storm and Crasing Heat, were released after the cancellation of the show, though it appears unlikely that there will be any future installments.

Heat Storm – Richard Castle

The first seven books in the series were eventually revealed to have been ghost-written by Tom Straw. It is unknown if Straw wrote the final entries, though I highly doubt he was responsible for the last one, which even I could tell had a different feel to it.

December 5, 2021 by admin

The Hall Calls For Minnie

Baseball
1959 Pennant, Al Smith, Bill Veeck, Buck O'Neil, Bud Fowler, Cardinals, Early Wynn, Gil Hodges, Gold Glove, HOF, Indians, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, MVP, Negro Leagues, Tony Oliva, White Sox
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57 years after he last stepped off the field as a regular player, and 6+ years since his death, Minnie Minoso has been elected to the Hall of Fame by the veteran’s committee. He joins fellow Cuban Tony Oliva, former White Sox pitcher Jim Kaat, Gil Hodges, Buck O’Neil, and Bud Fowler in gaining entrance to Cooperstown tonight as part of the Golden Days and Early Baseball Era Committee.

Minoso, born in Cuba, came to the United States in 1945 to play in the Negro Leagues. He joined the Indians organization in September of 1948, after his contract was purchased by Bill Veeck, and he made his major league debut the following year, appearing in 9 September games for the Tribe. After returning to the minor leagues in 1950, Minoso returned to the Indians for 8 games in 1951 before being traded to the White Sox.

He became the city of Chicago’s first black player on May 1, 1951, getting 2 hits and driving in 2 runs in his White Sox debut. Minoso spent the next 7 years with the White Sox, earning 4 All Star nods, 1 Gold Glove, and 3 top 10 MVP finishes. Following the 1957 season, Minoso was traded back to the Indians, bringing Al Smith and Early Wynn, key players for the 1959 pennant winners, to the south side.

After the 1959 season, new owner Bill Veeck brought Minoso back to the White Sox. While the Sox failed to repeat as AL champions, it was through no fault of Minoso’s, as the left fielder again made the All Star team and finished 4th in MVP voting. After a sub-standard (for him) season in 1961, Minoso was traded to the Cardinals. Minoso returned to the White Sox for the third time in 1964. He appeared in only 30 games, batting .226, and was released in mid-July. At 38 years old, this appeared to be the end of the line for Minoso. Bill Veeck, however, had other ideas.

Having reacquired the White Sox in 1975, Veeck brought Minoso, now 50 years old (at least), back in 1976 to allow him to become a four decade player. Minoso appeared in 3 games, and managed to get a hit in 8 at bats. The stunt was repeated 4 years later, with Minoso going 0-2 in 2 games and becoming the first player to appear in games during 5 decades.

His number 9 was retired by the White Sox in 1983. In his later years, he became an official team ambassador for the White Sox and appeared at events and games. He passed away on March 1, 2015.

December 5, 2021December 3, 2021 by admin

By The Numbers – 29

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees. By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues. Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #29. 85 different players have donned #30 while playing in Chicago, 35 for the White Sox and 50 for the Cubs.

Jack McDowell, selected as the fifth overall pick in the 1987 draft, switched to #29 when, after spending the entire 1989 season in Triple A, he returned to the majors for good in 1990, helping to lead a surprising White Sox team to a 94-68 record and a season long battle with the A’s for the AL West crown. McDowell finished with a 14-9 record and a 3.82 ERA and nearly doubled his strikeout total from 1988 in only about 50 more innings. Expectations were high as the White Sox moved into their new stadium in 1991 and McDowell was up to the challenger, earning his first All Star game selection on his way to a 17-10 record and a 3.41 ERA, good enough for a 9th place finish in Cy Young Award voting.

1992 was even better for McDowell. He earned his second straight All Star Game nod, pitching a scoreless second inning and retiring Fred McGriff, Terry Pendleton, and Andy Van Slyke in order. He ended up with a 20-10 record and a 3.18 ERA, good enough for a 2nd place finish in Cy Young Award voting, behind Dennis Eckersley, and 19th place in MVP voting. Everything came together for the White Sox and McDowell in 1993. As the team ran off to their first division title in a decade, McDowell led the league with 22 victories and 4 shutouts, ending at 22-10 with a 3.37 ERA. He nabbed his 3rd straight All Star selection, earning the victory while throwing a scoreless 5th inning, and finally claimed his first Cy Young Award. He also finished 9th in MVP voting, behind teammate Frank Thomas. McDowell made 2 starts during the ALCS against the Blue Jays, losing both and giving up 10 runs total in 9 innings pitched.

The 1994 season again had high expectations for the White Sox and McDowell. Unfortunately, those expectations would be squashed, not on the field, where the White Sox held first place in the newly formed AL Central division, but in the boardrooms, where the end of the 1994 season and the post season were cancelled due to a work stoppage. In just 25 starts, his fewest since 1987, McDowell went 10-9 with a 3.73 ERA. In December, with the 1995 season in doubt, McDowell was traded to the Yankees, for Keith Heberling and a player to be named later who turned out to be Lyle Mouton.

On the north side of town, the Cubs were surprise contenders in the 2001 season. Looking to improve their chances of making the post-season, they acquired Fred McGriff from the Devil Rays. Wearing #29, the Crime Dog held up his part of the bargain down the stretch, putting up a .942 OPS with 12 home runs in 49 games with the Cubs. Unfortunately, the pitching did not hold up as the Cubs went 23-28 in August and September, finishing five games behind the Astros and Cardinals. At age 38, McGriff returned to the Cubs in 2002, posting a .858 OPS and 125 OPS+ to go along with 30 homers and 103 runs batted in. The rest of the Cubs, however, were butt, going through thee managers and finishing with a 67-95 record. McGriff became a free agent following the season.

December 4, 2021November 14, 2021 by admin

Against The Angels All Time Leaders – Through 2021

In 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 Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels began life in 1961, joining the American League along with the second incarnation of the Washington Senators. They’ve changed their location designation multiple times, starting in Los Angeles, changing to California in 1966, moving to Anaheim in 1997 and, awkwardly incorporating both Los Angeles and Anaheim starting in 2005, and finally returning to just Los Angeles in 2016. I’ve seen them play 38 times, including games 1 and 2 of the 2005 ALCS against the White Sox and Jim Thome’s 500th career home run in 2008.