Author: The Baseball Zealot

2009 Cubs Convention Attendees list

Here’s the updated schedule for the 2009 Cubs Convention this weekend.  This time it’s complete with an attendees list.

And it comes with one glaring addition… Milton Bradley.  Since his signing he’s been added to the list.

Be gentle with him, Cub fans.  He’s a tad delicate.

Here’s the full list of attendees:

  • Ernie Banks
  • Darwin Barney
  • Glenn Beckert
  • Milton Bradley
  • Bob Brenly
  • Bill Buckner
  • Randy Bush
  • Jose Cardenal
  • Neal Cotts
  • Doug Dascenzo
  • Jody Davis
  • Ryan Dempster
  • Bob Dernier
  • Ivan DeJesus
  • Leon Durham
  • Oneri Fleita
  • Mike Fontenot
  • Joey Gathright
  • Doug Glanville
  • Kevin Gregg
  • Brandon Guyer
  • Rich Harden
  • Kevin Hart
  • Jim Hendry
  • Koyie Hill
  • Micah Hoffpauir
  • Pat Hughes
  • Randy Hundley
  • Ferguson Jenkins
  • Len Kasper
  • Crane Kenney
  • Derrek Lee
  • Reed Johnson
  • Ted Lilly
  • Carlos Marmol
  • Sean Marshall
  • Aaron Miles
  • Keith Moreland
  • Gerald Perry
  • Lou Piniella
  • Larry Rothschild
  • Rick Reuschel
  • Mike Quade
  • Jeff Samardzija
  • Ryne Sandberg
  • Scott Sanderson
  • Ron Santo
  • Matt Sinatro
  • Lee Smith
  • Alfonso Soriano
  • Geovany Soto
  • Tim Stoddard
  • Lester Strode
  • Rick Sutcliffe
  • Ryan Theriot
  • Alan Trammell
  • Steve Trout
  • Tim Wilken
  • Billy Williams
  • Carlos Zambrano

Thoughts on the Hall of Fame ballot results

The way it went today was no real surprise.  From all the possible permutations the ballot could have gone, there was probably only one other result that realistically could have happen and that was Henderson getting in by himself.  Fortunately for Rice, the BBWAA saw things his way. 

The Hall of Fame ballot results do provide an angle for the media.  Henderson, who gets in on his first try and Jim Rice who finally was deemed good enough on his last try. 

One prediction I made came true… Bloggers were out in force questioning the members of the BBWAA with some of their crazy voting.  That was a safe bet, though. 

In a way, I’m glad Henderson got in but didn’t get in unanimously.  It would be a shame if Rickey Henderson, who, let’s face it, prolonged his career to up his career numbers, got in with a unanimous ballot in his first year of eligibility while true superstars like Aaron and Ripken did not. 

And congrats to Jim Rice who certainly deserved to be voted in all along.  Rice suffered a love-hate (but mostly hate) relationship with the media while he was playing with Boston.  I would think most of that animosity had dissipated by the time he was up for Hall of Fame nomination but who knows. 

Read The Baseball Zealot’s HOF ’09 profiles of all the 2009 candidates for the Hall. 

Henderson, Rice make it into the Hall

It was announced today that Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Player 2009 Votes 2009 Percent
Rickey Henderson 511 94.8
Jim Rice 412 76.4
Andre Dawson 361 67.0
Bert Blyleven 338 62.7
Lee Smith 240 44.5
Jack Morris 237 44.0
Tommy John 171 31.7
Tim Raines 122 22.6
Mark McGwire 118 21.9
Alan Trammell 94 17.4
Dave Parker 81 15.0
Don Mattingly 64 11.9
Dale Murphy 62 11.5
Harold Baines 32 5.9
Mark Grace 22 4.1
David Cone 21 3.9
Matt Williams 7 1.3
Mo Vaughn 6 1.1
Jay Bell 2 0.4
Jesse Orosco 1 0.2
Ron Gant 0 0
Dan Plesac 0 0
Greg Vaughn 0 0

Baseball Digest online

CLuke passed on this link to a treasure trove of digitized Baseball Digest magazines going back to 1945 thanks to Google Book Search.  For baseball history buffs, it’s well worth browsing through it! 

To whet your appetite, here’s an article from Jerry Holtzman from 1960 entitled White Sox Make Glove Men Respectable Again. 

HOF ’09: We’re Done!

Well, with Teddy Ballgame’s write-up on Greg Vaughn earlier today, we’ve concluded HOF ’09, our series of profiles of this year’s candidates for the Hall of Fame.  It’s been fun and I think we’ve even learned a bit along the way.

As for me, it was an interesting group of players to profile for a couple reasons.  A big one was that most of these players were big stars while I was a teenager and young adult when I was forming my serious interest in baseball.  Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson… I have fond memories.  Not to mention that some of these players played in the era when the Chicago Cubs finally became a post season threat (I can still remember the ’84 series against the Padres… ugh). 

Also, these players came from a time when baseball had more of a balance of power, speed, and pitching.  Appropriately enough, that is reflected in the 2009 Hall of Fame ballot.  With the speed of Henderson and Raines, the power of McGwire and Rice and the pitching of David Cone, Bert Blyleven and Tommy John, this class is well represented. 

Who will get elected?  Well, we put our opinions down who we think SHOULD get the call but as to who WILL get elected is another matter.  The BBWAA has been rather stingy lately and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s very possible that just one (Rickey Henderson??) will get elected and others will have to wait.

Time is running out for some, though.  The midnight hour is chiming for Jim Rice as it’s his last ballot.  There are some (myself included) who feel that his career and contribution is worthy of the Hall. 

We’ll find out tomorrow and the chips will fall where they may.  No doubt, many bloggers and pundits will be unhappy no matter how it goes.  I’ll predict at least one writer will have his credentials questioned and will be asked to step down from the BBWAA.  Unfortunately, THAT is the safest prediction I make right now. 

All that said, here are the opinions we’ve made in the last month.  Links go to our profiles on the players. 

Thanks for reading!

Hall of Fame Hall of Very Good Why is he even on the Ballot?
Harold Baines    
Jay Bell    
Bert Blyleven    
David Cone    
Andre Dawson    
Ron Gant    
Mark Grace    
Rickey Henderson    
Tommy John    
Don Mattingly    
Mark McGwire    
Jack Morris    
Dale Murphy    
Jesse Orosco    

Dave Parker

    
Dan Plesac    
Tim Raines    
Jim Rice    

Lee Smith

    
Alan Trammell    
Greg Vaughn    

Mo Vaughn

    

Matt Williams

    

 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Teddy Ballgame and DonS for their help with his project.

Also, a lot of research went in to this.  I’d like to give props to the websites that were helpful. 

Baseball Reference:  I can’t say enough about this web site.  If there are baseball fans out there who haven’t seen this site and what it can do, you need to check it out.

Baseball Page:  Very helpful for bios and such.

Baseball Musings’ Day by Day Database:  Good for finding stats between established periods of time (and lots of other stuff).

Baseball Almanac:  another good bio site.  Good for the quotes too :)

2009 Cubs Convention schedule out

Bleed Cubbie Blue has the schedule for the 2009 Cubs Convention which is January 16-18.  The list of attendees isn’t out yet but my guess is that the usual suspects will be there.

I won’t be going this year for a variety of reasons, mostly financial.  But if you want to get a sense of what it’s like you can check out my articles and photos from the 2007 and 2008 conventions.  They were a lot of fun. 

I’d love to hear from anyone who is going and especially hear reports back about how it went this year.  Leave a comment and let us know what you did and who you saw. 

Japanese team to play in spring training in 2010?

Interesting, it’s being proposed that a Japanese team play 15 games during spring training in 2010. 

The team would play in Tucson and would replace the White Sox who have relocated to the Phoenix area. 

Tucson tourism officials are behind the proposal but say the MLB is “open” to the idea and the Diamondbacks and Rockies have been receptive to the concept. 

HOF ’09: Alan Trammell

Some interesting facts and trivia about Alan Trammell:

  • Other than Jim Rice, he’s the only one on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot who played his whole career with one team (20 years with the Detroit Tigers). 
  • He and keystone partner Lou Whitaker played more games together than any other pair of teammates in baseball history.  Not only that, the two had incredibly similar stats through 1986.  Same batting average (.281), within one point on slugging percentage (Trammell’s .403 to Sweet Lou’s .404).  They were also close on games played (within 6), homeruns (within 3), and hits (20). 
  • Trammell’s grand slam off Royals’ relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry was the first hit off the submarine pitcher.
  • Named his son after Lance Parrish.

 

Trammell Facts
  • Drafted 2nd round in 1976 by the Detroit Tigers
  • Played for Det (1977-1996)
  • 6 time All-Star, 4 Gold Gloves
  • 2nd in MVP voting in 1987

 

Does Alan Trammel make the Hall of Fame?  Find some Detroit Tiger fans and I’ll bet you’ll meet some takers.  He’s an interesting case, that’s for sure.  Comparing him stat-wise to the slugger-types is hardly fair.  He brings much more to the table.  Defense, speed, team leadership.

Trammell was brought up to the major leagues in 1977 but played his first full season the next year.  He played a solid enough season to place fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting.  Two years later in 1980, he had a breakout year with Detroit batting .300 and scoring 107 runs not to mention winning his first of four Gold Gloves. 

trammell wsmvp Trammell hit .300 plus six more times in his career.  His one chance at the MVP was in 1987 when he hit .343 with 28 homeruns, 105 rbis and 109 runs.  He placed second in the voting that year to George Bell and his 47 homeruns.  To this day, some say he was robbed. 

To make the Hall of Fame, Alan Trammell won’t do it because of his hitting.  Unless you want to count sacrifice hits, he never led the league in a single category during his whole career.  The close he came was his .343 average in 1987 which brought him 3rd place. 

In the field, Trammell was a very good shortstop… good enough to get him four Gold Gloves early on in his career.  He does deserve props for his part in bringing the Tigers to World Series in 1987 and winning the whole thing.  Trammell was the World Series MVP.

That said, I’ll give him a no vote with respect to Detroit fans.  It seems that the BBWAA is seeing that way, too.  His vote numbers have been steadily going down in recent years. 

 

  Hall of Fame

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

Antique dealer finds out the real value of baseball card

Antique dealer Bernice Gallego found out in the nick of time that a baseball card she was going to sell on Ebay for $10, was worth much more than that. 

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Photo: Craig Kohlruss- Fresno Bee

The card was a photo of ten men and was labeled “Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati”.  Not knowing much of the game of baseball, she slapped a price of $10 on it and put it up for auction. 

When she got multiple requests for info on the card mostly as to the card’s authenticity, she got a little suspicious.  After some research, it was found that it from the year 1869 and was indeed worth a lot more. 

Spooked with all the questions she was getting on eBay, she picked up the phone at 9:30 that night and called her good friend George Huddleston and asked his opinion.

“I never make phone calls after 8 o’clock at night,” Gallego says. “My mother taught me never to do things like that.”

Huddleston’s answer was simple: End the auction now. Figure out what you have and what it’s worth before selling it. Her husband, Al, agreed: “Get this thing off the Internet.”

The card is now off the Internet now.  The card’s security is at stake now so “she put it in a sandwich bag and push-pinned it to her laundry room wall.”

“If it fell off the wall, the cat would have ate it,” Gallego says. “Well, or the dog.”

Now that she knows the full value (one dealer estimates six figures), Gallego plans to put up on Ebay again.  This time with a higher reserve price, I presume. 

HOF ’09: Dale Murphy

“I’m a natural left-hander, but I bat and throw right-handed because that’s the way I learned. But, I eat left and drink left and write left. I’m amphibious.”

– Dale Murphy

 

First, how many of you remember Dale Murphy ending his career with the Colorado Rockies?  Not me. 

It can be argued that Murphy was a five-tool player.  He had speed (161 career stolen bases), power (398 homers), and was adept in the field (5 Gold Gloves).  While his career average is only .265, he managed to toy with .300 in his prime.  .

Murphy Facts
  • Drafted 1st round (5th overall) in 1974 by the Atlanta Braves
  • Played for Atl, Phi, Col (1976-1993)
  • 7 time All-Star
  • Back-to-back MVP awards in 1982-83
  • Won 5 straight Gold Gloves

 

Let me start with Murphy’s positives at the outset.  Between 1982-1987, he was one of the best if not THE best hitting outfielders in the game.  If he crunch the stats, he averaged 36 homers, 104 rbis, 110 runs and a .382 OBP over those six years.  On top of that, he played excellent defense, winning those Gold Gloves. 

dale_murphy1-full Murphy won back to back MVP awards in 1982 and 1983.  Ironically, it was in the next two years, 1984 and 1985 when he led the NL in homers with 36 and 37 respectively (His 36 homers in ’82 and ’83 placed him second).  Health and consistency had much to do with Murphy’s success in the mid-80s.   He played every game from 1982-1985 for the Atlanta Braves. 

After his great season in 1987 when he hit 44 homeruns and 105 rbis, something snapped in Dale Murphy and he wasn’t quite the same player.  The next three seasons, he suffered sub-.250 batting averages though he managed to hit 20+ dingers.  This prompted a trade from Atlanta to Philly where his offense continued to slip (.252 and 18 homeruns in 1991).  He finished his career in Colorado in 1993 after 18 seasons of service to the game. 

If I could base my decision on Murphy’s five or six years when he was at his peak, he’d be a shoo-in.  No doubt about it.  But that’s not how it works and I can’t ignore the rest of his career (I don’t want to hear any crap from anyone about Sandy Koufax either). 

CLuke, who is the Dale Murphy fan in our APBA league, sees things a bit differently.  I did offer CLuke a chance to write this profile but he’s a bit busy this week.  He did email this though:

If Jim Rice is in then Murph deserves it. (He won’t get in or even get as close to Rice’s votes due to the east coast media’s bias towards Boston/ New York players.In Bill James’ book What ever happened to the Hall of Fame- he puts Dale as having 42 of the necessary points for Hall of fame induction. Jim Rice has 43 points.

Yes, put him in.

Nice try, CLuke.  Next time, you’ll write the article. 

I’ll say it’s close but I’d vote no.

 

  Hall of Fame

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.