Tag / Rafael Palmeiro

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The Crime Dog Solves The Case

The new Contemporary Era Committee announced the results of their vote Sunday night, inducting former Cub first baseman Fred McGriff into the Hall of Fame with 100% of the vote.  McGriff, whose 18-year career also included tours with the Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Devil Rays, and Dodgers, fell off the BBWAA ballot in 2019 after his tenth year, earning just 39.8% of the vote.

With the Cubs becoming surprise contenders in the 2001 season, they acquired McGriff from the Devil Rays.  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 fell apart 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 three managers and finishing with a 67-95 record.  McGriff became a free agent following the season.

Players needed twelve of the sixteen votes to gain election.  Don Mattingly finished second, with eight votes, followed by Curt Schilling, with seven, and Dale Murphy with six.  Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Rafael Palmeiro each received fewer than four votes.

Fred McGriff’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

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by admin

Throwback Thursday – Batting Leaders Of The 1980s

Our Throwback Thursday feature continues, as we point the wayback machine back to the 1980s and put our focus on the offensive leaders of that decade.  As a reminder, I’ve identified 14 games that I attended during this time period, when I would have been ages 5 through 14.

Home Runs

Name Total
Carlton Fisk 3
Greg Walker 2
Harold Baines 2
Eddie Murray 2
Brian Downing 2
Daryl Boston 2

Hits

Name Total
Carlton Fisk 14
Harold Baines 14
Greg Walker 12
7 tied with  5

Runs

Name Total
Harold Baines 8
Greg Walker 6
Gary Ward 5
Daryl Boston 4
9 tied with 3

RBI

Name Total
Carlton Fisk 11
Greg Walker 8
Harold Baines Continue reading →
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Against The Mets All Time Leaders – Through 2021

21st-CENTURY-METS_01In 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 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 16 times, all against the Cubs and including Tom Glavine’s 300th career victory, their pennant clinching victory in the 2015 NLCS, and, most recently, on my first post-pandemic visit to Wrigley Field on April 22, 2021.

Name Total
Corey Patterson 4
Aramis Ramirez 2
12 tied with 1

Hits

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 10
Moises Alou 8
Mark Gruzielanek 8

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Derrek Lee 5
Corey Patterson 4
Moises Alou 4
Michael Barrett 4
Sammy Sosa 4

RBI

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 7
Michael Barrett 6

Doubles

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Michael Barrett 3
Moises Alou 2
Jorge Soler 2
Derrek Lee 2
Mark Grudzielanek 2
Neifi Perez 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Franchise Four – AL West

Major League Baseball is asking its fans to vote for the four most impactful players who best represent the history of each franchise.  The winners will be announced in July at the All Star Game in Cincinnati.  Today, I will give my Franchise Four picks for the American League West.

F4Astros

The Astros, around since 1962, have 2 obvious options, and both are from their World Series team in 2005: Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.  After that, there is a bit of a drop off.  Nolan Ryan would seem to be a good pick for the third slot, having spent more years with the Astros than with any other team.  For the last slot, I’ll go with J. R. Richard, whose career was cut short due to a stroke, but still came to represent the franchise in the late 70s.

F4Angels

Despite existing since the 1961 season, the Angels have a complete lack of star power in their 8 nominees.  Garret Anderson?  Tim Salmon?  Brian Downing?  While fine players, none of them would be confused with an all time great.  Of the remaining 5, I will dump Jim Fregosi and take Chuck Finley, Nolan Ryan (again!), Vladamir Guerrero, and, despite being in only his 4th season, Mike Trout.

F4As

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by jim

2014 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

mlb_hofThe BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2014.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 8th, with induction taking place next July.  After nobody was elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 17 holdovers along with 19 newcomers, which may start to cause a bit of a problem.  The current BBWAA rules limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10, and there may be more than 10 deserving candidates.  As they start to pile up, and even more deserving candidates become eligible, 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: 3
2013 Percentage: 59.6

Bagwell is going to be one of those candidates that, I think, gets hurt due to 10 vote limit.  He would have been elected already were it not for seemingly unfounded PED rumors.

Craig Biggio
Years on ballot: 1
2013 Percentage: 68.2

Biggio was the highest vote getter in last year’s election, only 39 votes shy of getting elected.  You would think he could make up that total this year as voters who have some inane theories on when someone deserves to be elected add him to their ballot.  It would be a boost to the Astros if both he and Bagwell were to go in together.

Barry Bonds
Years on ballot: 1
2013 Percentage: 36.2

Barry Bonds, he of the 7 MVP awards and 762 career home runs, found himself on the outside looking in after his initial run through the voting process.  Due to his connection to BALCO and PEDs, he’s unlikely to do much better this year.

Roger Clemens
Years on ballot: 1
2013 Percentage: 37.6

Roger Clemens, he of the 354 career victories and 7 Cy Young awards, also found himself on the outside looking in after his initial run through the voting process.  The interesting thing is that, despite his inclusion in the Mitchell Report and his connection to Andy Pettitte’s PED confession, Clemens picked up 8 more votes than Bonds.

Edgar Martinez
Years on ballot: 4
2013 Percentage: 35.9

The longtime DH for the Mariners has had plenty of support from the Internet but not as much from the BBWAA.  His long career as a DH may be holding him back.

Don Mattingly
Years on ballot: 13
2013 Percentage: 13.2

Back in 2010, I said that “being the best Yankee in a decade of bad Yankee teams does not a Hall of Famer make.”  Nothing that has happened since then would change my, or, seemingly, the voters, mind.

Fred McGriff
Years on ballot: 4
2013 Percentage: 20.7

A very good argument could be made that Fred McGriff has been hurt by the PED users more than anyone else.  Had he stuck around to hit an additional 7 home runs, he would likely have been elected thanks to his 500 home runs.  Without them, he gets penalized for not putting up better numbers than the PED users, who are also being penalized.  Doesn’t seem right.

Mark McGwire
Years on ballot: 7
2013 Percentage: 16.9

McGwire finds himself over 100 votes behind fellow PED users Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.  Even if the voters do start to reverse track and start to vote for the convicted users, I think McGwire might still have trouble getting elected.

Jack Morris
Years on ballot: 14
2013 Percentage: 67.7

Morris enters his final year on the ballot needing only 42 additional votes to get enshrined, but with the influx of new, and exceptionally deserving, candidates,  I don’t see how he gets them.  Not that I would be too disappointed in that, as Morris, while a very good pitcher, falls short in my estimation.

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by admin

HOF Thoughts

As expected Barry Larkin got the only call to Cooperstown yesterday, joining Ron Santo in the Hall of Fame class of 2012.  As I explained earlier, I think he is well deserving and was somewhat surprised his election took this long.  Another surprising thing, as I look at the stats of the games I have attended, is that he, by far, has the worst numbers of any Hall of Famer I’ve seen play in more than 1 game.

HOF Career Batting

BA At Bats Runs Hits RBI Walks Strike Outs Doubles Triples HR SB GIDP Errors Games
0.111 27 4 3 4 5 6 1 0 1 1 1 0 7

After his .111 average, the next lowest is (again, those I’ve seen more than once) is Carlton Fisk at .302.  Anyway, let’s take a look at the overall election results and see if there are any interesting tidbits. Continue reading →

by jim

2012 Hall Of Fame Ballot

The ballot for next year’s Hall of Fame induction was released earlier this week.  Results will be announced on January 9th.  Here’s my thoughts on each candidate.

Jeff Bagwell – I think that the longtime Astros firstbaseman will eventually get in, but he may have to wait for a few years. 

Jeromy Burnitz – Ah, good old Fabe.  He has no chance, but will go down in history as the man who replaced Sammy Sosa in the Cubs lineup.

Vinny Castilla – A decent player who benefited greatly from the thin Colorado air.

Juan Gonzalez – Seemed destined for Cooperstown before injuries and his own self-importance got in the way.

Brian Jordan – A two sport star that had a solid career, but nothing more.

Barry Larkin – The leading vote getter among non-inductees last year, he should make it this year.

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