Today, we celebrate the 14th birthday of young Danny. Or, we would, had he not forgotten all about my birthday a few weeks back. In that case, we may just choose to forget all about his as well. But if we don’t, here’s a picture of him from last summer at Target Field in Minnesota.
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2016 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers
The BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2016 on Monday. The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 6th, with induction taking place next July. After Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz were elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 17 holdovers along with 15 newcomers, which may start to cause a bit of a problem. The current BBWAA rules continue to limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10, and there may be more than 10 deserving candidates, so there will be too many qualified candidates fighting for limited spots in a shorter amount of time. Once again, the BBWAA and the Hall may find themselves with a mess on their hands.
Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers.
Jeff Bagwell
Years on ballot: 5
2015 Percentage: 55.7
Bagwell bounced back last year with a small increase, but things continue to look bleak for him thanks to seemingly unsubstantiated PED rumors. I fear he’ll continue to wait for that elusive call.
Barry Bonds
Years on ballot: 3
2015 Percentage: 36.8
The all time home run champion saw his vote percentage rise for the first time last year, but not significantly. I doubt he’ll see much more support this year, leaving him on the outside looking in.
Roger Clemens
Years on ballot: 3
2015 Percentage: 37.5
Roger Clemens, he of the 354 career victories and 7 Cy Young awards, also found himself with a slight rise after his third run through the voting process. For some odd reason, perhaps by having played for more teams, Clemens continues to get marginally more support than his fellow PED poster child Barry Bonds.
Nomar Garciaparra
Years on ballot: 1
2015 Percentage: 5.5
Considered at one time on an even keel with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Garciaparra is likely to drop off the ballot after this election.
Jeff Kent
Years on ballot: 2
2015 Percentage: 14.0
The 2000 NL MVP saw his support wane in his second year of eligibility. With the number of candidates coming down the pike, the future does not look good for him.
Edgar Martinez
Years on ballot: 6
2015 Percentage: 27.0
The longtime DH for the Mariners has had plenty of support from the Internet but not as much from the BBWAA, though his percentage did increase slightly last year. His long career as a DH in the Pacific Northwest may be holding him back.
Fred McGriff
Years on ballot: 6
2015 Percentage: 12.9 Continue reading →
Mets All Time Leaders – Through 2015
With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the New York Mets.
The Mets began life in 1962, joining the National League following the abandonment of the New York market by both the Dodgers and Giants in 1957. I’ve seen them play 14 times, including Tom Glavine’s 300th career victory and, most recently, the final 2 games of last month’s sweep against the Cubs in the NLCS.
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Daniel Murphy | 2 |
| Cliff Floyd | 2 |
| 13 tied with | 1 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| David Wright | 7 |
| Daniel Murphy | 6 |
| 3 tied with | 5 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| David Wright | 7 |
| Daniel Murphy | 4 |
| Carlos Beltran | 4 |
RBI
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lucas Duda | 6 |
| Cliff Floyd | 5 |
| 4 tied with | 4 |
Doubles
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Delgado | 3 |
| Lucas Duda | 2 |
| David Wright | 2 |
| Jeromy Burnitz | 2 |
Triples Continue reading →
Fitbit Week 40
The week got off to a disappointing start, as birthday celebrations for me, Angelina, and Danny meant falling under my daily goal on Sunday. Things picked up was the work week started, and the temperatures jumped up to an unseasonably warm 70 degrees. The big day of the week was Saturday, as Danny, Michael, and I headed down to West Lafayette for Purdue’s homecoming, where they embarrassed themselves against Illinois. Thankfully, the travels across campus did not result in an embarrassing step total for me, garnering my only 10,000 step day of the week.
Early last week, I passed the 2 million step mark for the year, well ahead of my goal. If I were to not take another step for the next 12 weeks, I would still average more than my daily goal for the year. This is the first time I’ve managed to surpass one of these goals that I’ve set for myself, so yay me.
Total steps: 51,931
Daily average: 7418.7
Rockies All Time Leaders – Through 2015
With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the Colorado Rockies.
The Rockies began life in 1993, joining the National League along with the Florida Marlins. I saw them for the first time in 2002, as they came to town to battle the Cubs. Since then, I’ve seen them 12 additional times, most recently in 2012.
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Preston Wilson | 2 |
| 9 tied with | 1 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Brad Hawpe | 8 |
| Willy Taveras | 8 |
| Matt Holliday | 8 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Brad Hawpe | 4 |
| Garrett Atkins | 4 |
| Todd Helton | 4 |
RBI
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Troy Tulowitzki | 4 |
| Preston Wilson | 3 |
| Jamey Carroll | 3 |
| Jay Payton | 3 |
| Luis Gonzalez | 3 |
Doubles
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Jamey Carroll | 2 |
| Willy Taveras | 2 |
| Todd Helton | 2 |
Triples Continue reading →
College Basketball Tipoff
The Purdue Boilermakers kick of the 2015-2016 season today, meaning it’s time to take our first ever look at the results of the whopping 10 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 8 have been post-graduation. Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 10 games.
| School | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Commonwealth Rams | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 7 | 3 | 0.700 |
| Northwestern Wildcats | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| Long Beach State 49ers | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | 0 | 3 | 0.000 |
| Houston Cougars | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
#128 – Philip Humber
Name: Philip Humber
Rank: 128
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 2011-2012
Philip Humber was selected off waivers from the A’s by the White Sox in January of 2011. With Jake Peavy out due to injury, Humber got the opportunity to join the White Sox rotation out of spring training. He was surprisingly successful, leading the White Sox to move to a 6 man rotation once Peavy returned from injury. Despite spending some time on the DL after taking a line drive off the bat of Kosuke Fukudome in the face, Humber finished his first full season as a starting pitcher with a 9-9 record and a respectable 3.75 ERA.
Humber returned to the White Sox rotation to begin the 2012 season. The high point of his season, not to mention career, came on April 21, as he threw the 21st perfect game in major league history, defeating the Mariners 4-0. The unlikely no-no was his first career complete game. Sadly, he fell apart after the perfect game, giving up 20 runs in 13 1/3 innings over his next 3 starts. By July, he was out of the rotation. At season’s end, he was put on waivers and selected by the Astros, ending his White Sox career.
Humber’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
Fitbit Week 39
Another somewhat disappointing week, as I failed to top 50,000 steps for the second consecutive week for the first time since mid-June. Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, with another nice day on Monday. Tuesday I celebrated my birth, and my step total fell somewhat. Wednesday was a normal workday, followed by Thursday, which barely managed to surpass my 5500 step goal. A big rebound on Friday, thanks to a trip to the camera guy along with some other activities. Thanks to an unending rain and continued work on clearing off the DVR, I failed to cross the 5500 step barrier on Saturday, All Hallow’s Eve.
Total steps: 49,004
Daily average: 7000.1
Adios Alexei?
After 8 seasons, the Alexei Ramirez era seems to have come to an end on the south side, as the White Sox announced yesterday that they had declined his option for 2016, making the 34 year old shortstop a free agent. After having arguably the best season of his career in 2014, earning his first All Star selection and his second Silver Slugger, Ramirez struggled for much of the first half in 2015. He rebounded in the second half, but still finished the year with the lowest batting average and OPS of his career.
That said, Ramirez might get a chance to stick around. Tim Anderson, the top White Sox prospect, is at least a year away from the big leagues, so the team may try to work out a restructured deal with Ramirez for less than the $10 million he was owed under the option. If this is the end of the road for Ramirez, it leaves John Danks as the last member of the 2008 division champions on the White Sox roster.
Ramirez’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
Nationals All Time Leaders – Through 2015
With 5 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. We continue today with the Washington Nationals.
The Nationals began life in 1969 as the Montreal Expos. When the Expos missed out on their best opportunity to win a World Series due to the work stoppage of 1994, followed by years of alleged mismanagement, fan support dropped away, and the team moved to Washington in 2005. I’ve seen them play 13 times, 5 as the Expos and 8 as the Nationals, most recently on April 7, 2012.
Home Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Danny Espinosa | 2 |
| Terrmel Sledge | 2 |
| 3 tied with | 1 |
Hits
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Maicer Izturis | 6 |
| Endy Chavez | 5 |
| Ian Desmond | 5 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | 5 |
Runs
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Maicer Izturis | 3 |
| Ian Desmond | 3 |
| Juan Rivera | 3 |
| Nyjer Morgan | 3 |
| Brad Wilkerson | 3 |
RBI
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Terrmel Sledge | 5 |
| Danny Espinosa | 3 |
| Brian Schneider | 3 |
| Tony Batista | 3 |
Doubles
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Juan Rivera | 2 |
| 11 tied with | 1 |
Triples Continue reading →