Category / Baseball

by admin

Selling Your Soul Part II

The White Sox finally made their deal with the devil, CME Group in this case, last Wednesday, agreeing to add an advertising patch to their jerseys as part of a multiyear deal to make the company the team’s “official global exchange.”  The patches are set to make their on-field debut on February 20, when Cactus League action kicks off.

For the home pinstripes, the blue logo will be set against a white background and black border with “CME” in black lettering.  On the road grays, the blue logo will appear on a matching gray background, again with “CME” in black lettering.  The alternate black jerseys and the City Connects will feature the blue logo on a black background with “CME” in white lettering.

The White Sox become one of the last MLB teams to strike a uniform patch deal, worth an average of $7-8 million with the largest deals, believed to be with the Yankees and Blue Jays, worth over $20 million.
by admin

Welcoming A New Class

Two weeks ago, the attention of the baseball world turned to the small hamlet of Cooperstown, New York and to summers past as the votes for the 2026 Hall of Fame class were tallied and the results announced.  Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones join Jeff Kent, who was elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Beltran was on his fourth year of eligibility while Jones was in his ninth.

Chase Utley was the only other player to score greater than 50% of the vote, finishing with 59.1%.

Aside from Jones, who spent the 2010 season with the White Sox, things started looking up for our local heroes.  Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw another small increase in support, finishing with 38.8% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions. Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 25.4% in his fifth go-around.  Cole Hamels, who spent a little less than a year and a half with the Cubs, debuted with 23.8%.  Mark Buehrle saw a strong increase, jumping up to 20% in his sixth go-around.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, stayed stagnant with 18.4%.  Former Pale Hose Edwin Encarnacion and Gio Gonzalez nabbed six votes between them.

Eleven players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Beltran play nine times and Jones 37.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 26.

Carlos Beltran’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Giants All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With a little more than a month until regular season baseball, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants began life in 1883 in New York, before moving west to San Francisco in 1957. I’ve seen 177 players don the Giants uniforms in the 26 of their games I’ve attended live, first at their old home at Candlestick Park in 1999 and most recently this past June at Rate Field against the White Sox.

Home Runs

Name Total
Mike Yastrzemski 3
Wilmer Flores 2
Pedro Feliz 2
Brandon Crawford 2
David Villar 2

Hits

Name Total
Buster Posey 9
Pedro Feliz 8
Mike Yastrzemski 7
Brandon Crawford 7

Runs

Name Total
Mike Yastrzemski 6
Brandon Crawford 5
Wilmer Flores 5

RBI

Name Total
Pablo Sandoval 6
Mike Yastrzemski 6
David Villar 5

Doubles

Name Total
Buster Posey 3
9 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Angels All Time Leaders – Through 2025

laangelsTo paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we head into 2026, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into 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 awkwardly incorporating both Los Angeles and Anaheim starting in 2005, and finally returning to just Los Angeles in 2016.  I’ve seen 227 players wearing the various Angels uniforms in the 41 of their games that I’ve attended live, including the first two games of the 2005 ALCS against the White Sox and Jim Thome’s 500th career home run in 2008.

Home Runs

Name Total
Vladimir Guerrero 5
Chone Figgins 3
Garret Anderson 3
Juan Rivera 3

Hits

Name Total
Maicer Izturis 21
Howie Kendrick 18
Vladimir Guerrero 16

Runs

Name Total
Vladimir Guerrero 10
Maicer Izturis 8
Chone Figgins 8

RBI

Name Total
Garret Anderson 9
Howie Kendrick 9
Shohei Ohtani 9

Doubles

Name Total
Torii Hunter 5
Maicer Izturis 4
Casey Kotchman 4

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Padres All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we head into 2026, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the San Diego Padres.

The Padres began life in 1969, joining the National League along with the Montreal Expos.  I’ve seen 197 players wearing the Padres uniform in the 27 of their games that I’ve attended live at five different ballparks, first in 1985 at Wrigley Field and, most recently, this past September at Rate Field.  I had plans to take in the three-game series between them and the White Sox at PETCO Park in 2020, but that kind of fell apart for… reasons.

Home Runs

Name Total
Adrian Gonzalez 2
Ramon Hernandez 2
Mike Cameron 2
Khalil Greene 2

Hits

Name Total
Ryan Klesko 9
Sean Burroughs 9
Brian Giles 8

Runs

Name Total
Adrian Gonzalez 7
Mark Loretta 5
Ramon Hernandez 4
Mike Cameron 4
Fernando Tatis Jr. 4

RBI

Name Total
Khalil Greene 8
Ramon Hernandez 6
Ryan Klesko 6

Doubles

Name Total
Ryan Klesko 3
Adrian Gonzalez 3
Will Venable 3

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Wiping The Slate Clean

Removing the last link back to the Rick Hahn/Kenny Williams era, the White Sox shipped Luis Robert Jr., and the $22 million remaining on his contract, to the Mets on Tuesday in exchange for Luisangel Acuña, a 23-year-old infielder, and right-hander Truman Pauley, the 373rd overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.

Robert, still only 28 years old, has spent six injury-filled seasons with the White Sox, debuting during the shortened 2020 season.  He was an All-Star in 2023, when he set career highs in games played, WAR, home runs, RBI, and doubles.  He has failed to build on his success that season, as injuries have continued to keep him out of the lineup.

Acuña, the younger brother of Braves star Ronald, is a former top-100 prospect who made his debut in 2024, to limited success.  He is an infielder by trade but is expected to compete for the now-vacant centerfielder.  His greatest value, however, is through his defense and speed and playing him out of position could eat away at that.  However, he did recently become the first player to hit four home runs in a Venezuelan Winter League game.

Pauley, drafted from Harvard last July, ironically spent much of his childhood receiving personal lessons from now-former White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz.  His fastball and slider show potential, but he has a poor history of throwing either for strikes.

Most importantly, the deal removes $22 million from the White Sox payroll, which now sits at just $67 million, the lowest in MLB.  “We’ve got some financial flexibility now to continue to bring in talent,” GM Chris Getz said, although I think we all know that they won’t.

Roberts’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Rangers All Time Leaders – Through 2025

rangersTo paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we head into 2026, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers began life in 1961, joining the American League as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators after the original franchise moved to Minnesota to become the Twins.  Following the 1971 season, the team moved to Arlington, Texas and became the Rangers.  I’ve seen 255 players wearing a Rangers uniform in the 40 of their games that I’ve attended live across two states and four different stadiums.

Home Runs

Name Total
Hank Blalock 3
Ian Kinsler 3
6 tied with 2

Hits

Name Total
Michael Young 19
Elvis Andrus 17
Ian Kinsler 12
Mark Teixeira 12

Runs

Name Total
Michael Young 12
Elvis Andrus 8
Hank Blalock 6
Gary Matthews Jr. 6

RBI

Name Total
Mark Teixeira 13
Michael Young 11
Hank Blalock 8
Ian Kinsler 8
Elvis Andrus 8

Doubles

Name Total
Michael Young 7
Elvis Andrus 4
4 tied with 3

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Diamondbacks All Time Leaders – Through 2025

dbacksTo paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we head into 2026, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks began life in 1998, joining the league along with the Devil Rays. I’ve seen 152 players donning the Diamondbacks uniform in the 21 games I’ve seen them play live, starting in their inaugural season and most recently this past summer, including the final game of their 2007 sweep of the Cubs in the NLDS.

Home Runs

Name Total
Luis Gonzalez 3
Steve Finley 3
Stephen Drew 3

Hits

Name Total
Luis Gonzalez 10
Stephen Drew 7
Alex Cintron 7
Conor Jackson 7

Runs

Name Total
Luis Gonzalez 11
Steve Finley 6
Troy Glaus 5

RBI

Name Total
Orlando Hudson 7
Steve Finley 6
Eric Byrnes 6

Doubles

Name Total
Luis Gonzalez 4
Chad Tracy 3
6 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

by admin

Landing A Big Fish

With the city of Chicago focused on the Bears playoff game against the Packers on Saturday night, the Cubs tried to steal the spotlight, signing third baseman Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract.  It’s the third-largest overall contract in Cubs history, behind only Jason Heyward’s $184 million deal signed prior to the 2016 season and Dansby Swanson’s $177 million deal signed prior to 2023, but the average annual value, including deferrals, is higher than both of those contracts.  The deal also reportedly includes a no trade clause.

This is the second straight offseason that the Cubs have targeted Bregman, who will turn 32 shortly after Opening Day.  He signed with the Red Sox last year, but opted out of his contract and re-entered free agency after slashing .273/.360/.462 with 18 home runs in just 114 games. Adding Bregman to the lineup pushes second-year player Matt Shaw into a utility role, which should leave him free to attend any future MAGA rallies should, say, Alex Jones choke on a Cheddarwurst.

This move follows the acquisition of starting pitcher Edward Cabrera earlier last week, signaling that the Cubs are preparing to go all-in for 2026 after falling in the NLDS last fall and with a number of key players hitting free agency following this season.

by admin

A’s All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With a little more than a month until spring training camps open, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Oakland Sacramento A’s.

The A’s began life in Philadelphia in 1901, as one of the eight charter franchises of the American League, before moving to Kansas City in 1955, Oakland in 1968, and to Sacramento last year while waiting for a new stadium to be built in Las Vegas.  I’ve seen 235 players don the A’s uniforms in the 35 games of theirs that I’ve attended live, including two at their former home stadium in Oakland.

Home Runs

Name Total
Matt Olson 4
Jason Giambi 3
Shea Langeliers 3

Hits

Name Total
Adam Rosales 8
Rajai Davis 8
Matt Olson 8

Runs

Name Total
Coco Crisp 5
Adam Rosales 5
Matt Olson 5

RBI

Name Total
Matt Olson 7
Ramon Hernandez 5
Shea Langeliers 5

Doubles

Name Total
Coco Crisp 3
Jed Lowrie 3
JJ Bleday 3

Triples Continue reading →