To celebrate his 20th birthday, we go back in time to 2003, as Danny attempts to read a card at his second birthday party.
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2021 BBWAA Award Predictions
The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed shortened baseball season, which will be announced next week. It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate. Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.
American League
Most Valuable Player: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Marcus Semien
Well, one difference between my pre-season selection, Aaron Judge, and the three finalists is that Judge played in a post-season game. I would assume Shohei Ohtani will walk away with this award.
Cy Young Award: Gerrit Cole, Lance Lynn, Robbie Ray
My initial guess was that Lucas Giolito would take home the prize, but my guess is Robbie Ray, who won the ERA title and led the major leagues in strikeouts, will take home the award.
Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Kevin Cash, Scott Servais
As usual, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. I assume Mariners manager Scott Servais will win for keeping his team in contention until the final day of the season, despite his GM selling off his closer at the trade deadline.
Rookie of the Year: Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, Luis Garcia
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. Assuming Arozarena and Franco don’t split the Tampa vote, I’m going to go with Franco.
National League
Book 45 (of 52) – The Obesity Code
The Obesity Code: Unlocking The Secrets Of Weight Loss – Jason Fung
In The Obesity Code, Dr. Jason Fung looks at the obesity epidemic in the United States and explains how the common thinking about nutrition and weight loss are wrong. He examines multiple possible causes for weight gain and, at the end, potential ways to fight it.
I had seen some good reviews of this and, for obvious reasons, wanted to see what I could do to try and lose weight. There was very little in here that I didn’t already know, and many of the points are hammered home multiple times to the point of ridiculousness, but there were some tips and tricks that I want to try. Will they help? They better, because I am in a bad place and nothing else is working for me.
Fitbit VII – Week 41
Another disappointing week, helped along by trip to a football game. Things got off to a bad start on Sunday, as I finished with 3100 steps. Monday was slightly better, as I jumped up to 4100 steps. Tuesday fell off quite a bit, coming just 18 steps away from 2600. Wednesday, as usual, was the worst day of the week, as I failed to even get to 2000 steps, ending with 1900. Thursday saw a bounce back, finishing 3 steps short of 3700 thanks in part to a team lunch that sent me out in to the world. Friday was even better, thanks to a day off, finishing only 7 steps shy of 4600. Saturday was the big day of the week, as a trip down to West Lafayette to see Danny and Purdue upset Michigan State put me over 10,600 steps.
Total steps: 30,754
Daily average: 4393.4
Prolific Authors – 9 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 continue with the two authors I’ve read 9 times.
Michael Jan Friedman
Known primarily for licensed works, Friedman first entered my world in 1990, thanks to a trio of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels. There were another two in 1992 and then he reappeared in 1996 with another trio of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman tie-ins. That was it until he reappeared on my radar earlier this year, with yet another Next Gen entry.
Erle Stanley Gardner
I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years, but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair. Since that time, five entries of the series have been released. Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, a number of those books have been republished as well, four of which I’ve read over the past 2 years.
By The Numbers – 33
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 #33. 60 different players have donned #33 while playing in Chicago, 22 for the White Sox and 48 for the Cubs, including a World Series champion.
Aaron Rowand joined the White Sox organization in 1998, selected in the first round of the draft. He earned his first call up to the show on June 15, 2001 and made his major league debut the following day. He took over as the starting center fielder in 2002 following the mid-season trade of Kenny Lofton. Rowand switched to #33 in 2003, but earned a return trip to Triple A in 2003 after hitting .133 in his first 60 games. After a little more than a month, he returned to the big leagues, hitting .387 the rest of the way and ending the season with a .287 average.
2004 was a breakout year for Rowand, becoming a full time starter for the first time and setting career highs with a .310 average and .905 OPS. The good times continued in 2005, as he hit .270 with 13 home runs and, defensively, committed only 3 errors in 394 chances. Rowand went 4 for 10 against the Red Sox in the ALDS, driving in 2 runs and scoring 3 more in the 3 game sweep. In the ALCS against the Angels, Rowand managed only 3 hits in the 5 game series, all doubles. He bounced back in the World Series, going 5-17 against the Astros as the White Sox won their first title in 88 years. Less than a month after the final out of the World Series, Rowand, among others, was traded to the Phillies for Jim Thome.
On the north side of town, a rookie donned #33 when he made his major league debut on July 30th, 1983. Joe Carter would appear in 23 games for the Cubs that season, hitting .176 without a home run. He made his biggest mark for the Cubs the following June, when he was packaged, along with Mel Hall, Don Schulze, and Darryl Banks, in a trade with the Indians which netted Ron Hassey, George Frazier and, of course, Rick Sutcliffe.
Against The Diamondbacks 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 start today with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks began life in 1998, joining the league along with the Devil Rays. I’ve seen them play 16 times at 4 different stadiums, starting in their inaugural season, including the final game of their 2007 sweep of the Cubs in the NLDS and, after a 7 year drought, this past July at Wrigley Field.
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Sammy Sosa | 3 |
| Henry Rodriguez | 1 |
| Willson Contreras | 1 |
| Mark Grace | 1 |
| Aramis Ramirez | 1 |
| Paul Konerko | 1 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 1 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Derrek Lee | 7 |
| Sammy Sosa | 5 |
| Aramis Ramirez | 5 |
| Todd Walker | 5 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Sammy Sosa | 3 |
| 8 tied with | 2 |
RBI
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Sammy Sosa | 6 |
| Aramis Ramirez | 4 |
| Derrek Lee | 3 |
| Angel Pagan | 3 |
Doubles
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Neifi Perez | 2 |
| Bill Meuller | 2 |
| Kosuke Fukudome | 2 |
| Jacque Jones | 2 |
Triples Continue reading →
Fitbit VII – Week 40
And yet another disappointing week, though I did manage to celebrate another completed trip around the sun. Things got off to what passes for a decent enough start on Sunday, as I finished with 4000 steps. Monday was even worse, falling down to 2800 steps. Tuesday turned out to be the best day of the week, thanks to a night out to celebrate Val leaving work, which put me 18 steps shy of 4500. Wednesday, as usual, was the worst day of the week, falling down to 2300 steps, despite venturing out at night for a birthday dinner. Thursday saw a healthy increase, jumping back up to 4400 steps as Val and Daryl stopped by to celebrate my birthday. A day off on Friday culminated with another night out with friends, finishing only 15 steps shy of 4200. Saturday was another bust of a day, with only 3000 steps.
Total steps: 25,417
Daily average: 3631
College Basketball Tipoff
The Purdue Boilermakers kick of the 2021-2022 season tonight, meaning it’s time to take our fourth look at the results of the now whopping 17 college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to 2 games while enrolled in college. The other 15 have been post-graduation, including one new game last season, an upsetting appearance in the NCAA tournament against North Texas. With Danny now at Purdue, this number may go up with a bit more regularity, at least for the next 3 years. Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 17 games.
| Team | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Commonwealth Rams | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| North Texas Mean Green | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Butler Bulldogs | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 2 | 3 | 0.400 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 2 | 3 | 0.400 |
| Vermont Catamounts | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Long Beach State 49ers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Iowa State Cyclones | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Houston Cougars | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
Games Per Stadium – All Time
It’s been 4 years (to the day!) since we’ve taken a look at the now 27 different stadiums I’ve been to and how often I’ve been to them. With the World Series over and the off season upon us, it’s time to update that list. I’ve added 5 additional stadiums in this time, three in 2019 and two this year. As usual, different names for the same physical stadium are counted separately.
| Stadium Name | Total Games |
|---|---|
| US Cellular Field | 414 |
| Wrigley Field | 370 |
| Guaranteed Rate Field | 122 |
| Comiskey Park II | 38 |
| Comiskey Park | 13 |
| Great American Ballpark | 7 |
| Miller Park | 7 |
| Ameriquest Field | 4 |
| PETCO Park | 3 |
| Ballpark in Arlington, The | 3 |
| Progressive Field | 2 |
| Target Field | 2 |
| Tropicana Field | 2 |
| Comerica Park | 2 |
| Cinergy Field Continue reading → |