Tag / Omar Vizquel

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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:

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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 →

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2026 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2026.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 20th, with induction taking place July 26th.  CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, and Billy Wagner were elected in last year’s voting, leaving fifteen holdovers along with another twelve newcomers.

Today, let’s take a look at the fifteen returning candidates.

Bobby Abreu
Years on ballot: 6
2025 Percentage: 19.5

A slight increase for Abreu, who has a long way to go and not a lot of time to do it.

Carlos Beltran
Years on ballot: 3
2025 Percentage: 70.3

A big bump in his third go-around for Beltran means the “punishment” for his role in the Astros cheating scandal might just be about to come to an end.

Mark Buehrle
Years on ballot: 5
2025 Percentage: 11.4

Buehrle keeps bouncing up and down but lives to fight another day in his uphill climb to make it to Cooperstown.

Felix Hernandez
Years on ballot: 1
2025 Percentage: 20.6

A decent debut for Hernandez, who dominated but didn’t put up the traditional numbers and flamed out rather young.

Torii Hunter
Years on ballot: 5
2025 Percentage: 5.1

A big decrease left Hunter barely remaining on the ballot for another year.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 8
2025 Percentage: 66.2

Jones keeps trending in the right direction but only has two elections left to make up the remaining 9%.

Dustin Pedroia
Years on ballot: 1
2025 Percentage: 11.9

A nice debut for Pedroia, but he has a long way to go if he’s going to make it to Cooperstown.

Andy Pettitte
Years on ballot: 7
2025 Percentage: 27.9

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Historic Games

With Vinny Capra and the White Sox falling victim to Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday night, giving him his 3000th career strikeout, I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part one, featuring six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a division title.

June 30, 1998 – Diamondbacks 4, Cubs 3

Sammy Sosa had broken the June record for home runs nine days earlier, surpassing the fifteen previously reached by Babe Ruth, Bob Johnson, Roger Maris, and Pedro Guerrero.  In the 8th inning of the final game of the month, Sosa connected against Alan Embree for his 20th home run of the month, setting the record not just for June, but for any month of the season.

September 27, 2003 – Cubs 7, Pirates 2

After winning the first game of a double header against the Pirates, the Cubs were in position to clinch at least a portion of their first Central Division title heading into the nightcap.  After the second-place Astros lost their game, a victory would give the Cubs the championship.  They jumped on Pirates starter Ryan Vogelsong early, scoring six runs in his 1 1/3 innings of work.  Dave Veres induced former Cub José Hernández to ground into a double play to wrap up the victory.

July 26, 2005 – Giants 3, Cubs 2

Following a nearly three-hour rain delay, Greg Maddux took the mound against the Giants sitting on 2998 strikeouts for his career.  In the third inning, Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel stepped up to the plate. With a 2-2 count, Maddux unleashed a sinker that Vizquel flinched away from, taking a third strike as the ball drifted back over the plate.  Maddux, who finished the game with three strikeouts, became just the 13th pitcher to reach 3000 strikeouts and the ninth to also have surpassed 300 victories.

August 5, 2007 – Mets 8, Cubs 3

On a warm Sunday night in Chicago, Tom Glavine took the mound for the Mets, sitting at 299 career victories.  The 41-year-old lefty tossed 6 1/3 innings, giving up just two runs to secure the win and his place in history.  Glavine became only the 23rd pitcher, and just the fifth southpaw, to reach the 300-win plateau.

September 16, 2007 – White Sox 9, Angels 3

Sitting at 499 home runs, Jim Thome entered the Sunday series finale, which just so happened to be Jim Thome bobblehead day, looking to reach 500 in Chicago.  With the score tied at seven in the bottom of the ninth, Thome came to the plate with a runner on first.  Having gone 0-4 to that point, Thome took Dustin Moseley to a 3-2 count before launching the walk-off milestone home run.  He became the 23rd major leaguer to reach the 500 home run mark and the third to do so in 2007.  He was the first slugger to reach the milestone with a walk-off.

September 30, 2008 – White Sox 1, Twins 0

After winning a makeup game against the Tigers to force a tie in the AL Central after 162 games, the White Sox took the field against the Twins in a tiebreaker to determine who would move on to the playoffs.  The Twins looked to strike first following a double by Michael Cuddyer to lead off the fifth inning, but a throw home by Ken Griffey Jr. nailed Cuddyer trying to score on a fly out to center field, ending the threat.  The game remained scoreless until the seventh, when Jim Thome blasted a home run to straight away centerfield.  Bobby Jenks came in to close down the game and the White Sox won their second division title in four years.

 

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A New Class Of Imortals

With temperatures hovering around four degrees Tuesday night in the hamlet of Cooperstown, New York, the attention of the baseball world turns to summer of the past now that the votes have been tallied, and the 2025 Hall of Fame class is complete.  Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Suzuki and Sabathia make it on their first try while Wagner made it in his final shot.

Just two others scored greater than 50% of the vote, led by Carlos Beltran, who came just short at 70.3% and seems likely to make it next year.  Andruw Jones rose to 66.2% with two more years to go.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small increase in support, finishing with 34.3% 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 18% in his fourth 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 17.8%.    Mark Buehrle saw a small increase, going up to 11.4% in his fifth time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former Cubs Carlos González, Fernando Rodney, and Ben Zobrist nabbed a single vote between them.

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

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Suzuki play fifteen times, Sabathia eight times, and Wagner five times.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 27.

Ichiro Suzuki’s numbers in games I’ve attended were: Continue reading →

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2025 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2025.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 21st, with induction taking place July 27th.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer were elected in last year’s voting and Gary Sheffield reached the ten-year maximum, leaving fourteen holdovers along with another fourteen newcomers.

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers next time.

Bobby Abreu
Years on ballot: 5
2024 Percentage: 14.8

A slight downward trend for Abreu, who has a long way to go and not a lot of time to do it.

Carlos Beltran
Years on ballot: 2
2024 Percentage: 57.1

A nice bump in his second go-around for Beltran means the Astros cheating scandal might just delay his entry to Cooperstown rather than derailing it outright.

Mark Buehrle
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 8.3

Buehrle keeps bouncing up and down but lives to fight another day in his uphill climb to make it to Cooperstown.

Torii Hunter
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 7.3

Despite a small increase from the previous year, things do not look good for the long-term prospects of the former Twin and Angel.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 7
2024 Percentage: 61.6

With just three elections left, Jones keeps trending in the right direction but doesn’t have all that much time left.

Andy Pettitte
Years on ballot: 6
2024 Percentage: 13.5

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Three Of A Kind

On a cold winter’s day, the attention of the baseball world turns to upstate New York and the hamlet of Cooperstown, where the votes were tallied, and the 2024 Hall of Fame class is now complete.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer join Jim Leyland, who was elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Beltre, the former Dodger/Mariner/Ranger, and Mauer, the long-time Twin, make it on their first try.  Helton, the former Rockie first baseman, was on his sixth go-around.

Four others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Billy Wagner, who came just short at 73.8% and seems likely to make it next year, his final year on the ballot.  Gary Sheffield saw a not-insignificant jump in his final election, rising to 63.9%.  Andruw Jones rose to 61.6% with three more years to go.  In his second go-around, Carlos Beltran jumped up to 57.1%.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small decrease in support, finishing with 32.5% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, dropped again, going down to 17.7%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 14.8% in his third go-around.  Mark Buehrle fell back again, dropping to 8.3% in his fourth time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former White Sox pitchers Bartolo Colon and James Shields nabbed five votes between them.

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

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Mauer play 42 times, Beltre 17 times, and Helton eleven times.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 21.

Joe Mauer’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

Continue reading →

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2024 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2024.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 24th, with induction taking place July 21st.  Scott Rolen was elected in last year’s voting and Jeff Kent fell off the ballot after reaching the ten-year limit, leaving fourteen holdovers along with twelve newcomers.

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers tomorrow.

Bobby Abreu
Years on ballot: 4
2023 Percentage: 15.4

After falling off the year before, Abreu starts moving in the right direction again, but has a long way to go.

Carlos Beltran
Years on ballot: 1
2023 Percentage: 46.5

A decent debut for Beltran, which may have been even better had he not been tainted by the Astros cheating scandal.

Mark Buehrle
Years on ballot: 3
2023 Percentage: 10.8

After nearly falling off the ballot in his second go-around, Buehrle bounced back last year but faces an uphill climb if he is to make it to Cooperstown.

Todd Helton
Years on ballot: 5
2023 Percentage: 72.2

After falling just a few votes short last year, Helton should be a lock for election this year.

Torii Hunter
Years on ballot: 3
2023 Percentage: 6.9

Despite a small increase from the previous year, Hunter once again had the lowest percentage of the vote while remaining on the ballot.  Things do not look good for the long-term prospects of the former Twin and Angel.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 6
2023 Percentage: 58.1

If voters were to stick to his first eleven seasons, Jones looks like a shoo-in for the Hall.  His last seven seasons, though, were so bad that it makes it hard to consider him.  After crossing the 50% plateau last year, he is trending in the right direction, but doesn’t have all that much time left.

Andy Pettitte
Years on ballot: 5
2023 Percentage: 17.0

Continue reading →

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More Of The Same

Last week, the White Sox made the long-necessary decision to move on from Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn.  As part of the announcement, the team plesdged to have a “single decision maker to lead the baseball operations department” and that they anticipate having this person in place by the end of the season.”  They said nothing about having an exhaustive search for said decision maker.

Today, Chris Getz, the assistant general manager who has spent the past seven years overseeing the team’s barren minor league operations and lack of player development, was promoted to senior vice president/general manager.  During his tenure, the White Sox have consistently been at the bottom of the rankings of minor league systems, aside from when sell-off trades at the big-league level have restocked the pantry.  Those prospects who have graduated to the major leagues have, more often than not, found themselves woefully unprepared and have seen struggles out of the gate.  To top things off, he was also responsible for hiring Omar Vizquel to manage at Double A Birmingham, where he has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenaged, autistic batboy.

The White Sox have long been an insular organization, and one that is very much in need of new ideas and viewpoints.  This was the perfect opportunity to interview the top candidates across the league, even if they wouldn’t ultimately take, or be offered, the job, and see how people outside the organization would attack the problems that have plagued it for years.  Instead, Jerry Reinsdorf has decided more of the same is the order of the day.  A disappointing end to what should have been a revitalizing process.

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Party Of One

The baseball world had turned its attention to snowy hamlet of Cooperstown in upstate New York, where the votes were tallied and the 2023 Hall of Fame class is now complete with one additional member.  Former Phillies and Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen scored 76.3% of the vote to earn enshrinement in his sixth election.

Four others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Todd Helton, who jumped up to 72.2% and seems like a lock to be elected next year.  Billy Wagner came in with 68.1% and has two more attempts to make it over 75%.  Andruw Jones got a big lift, jumping up to 58.1%.  Finally, Gary Sheffield, with just one election left, rises to 55% and looks unlikely to make that final jump in his last year.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox, saw a small increase in support, finishing with 33.2% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, dropped even more, down to 19.5%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 12.9% in his second go-around.  Mark Buehrle jumped back up to 10.8% in his third time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former Cub pitcher John Lackey nabs a single vote.

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

As for the newest Hall of Famer, I’ve seen Rolen play 18 times.  He joins Fred McGriff, who was elected by the veteran’s committees in December, in the class of 2023.  They will both get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 23.

Scott Rolen’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

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