Author: The Baseball Zealot

HOF ’09: Andre Dawson

“No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

Hall of Fame secondbaseman Ryne Sandberg

 

Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth on the Andre Dawson question.  Lately though, I’m beginning to feel the Hawk belongs.  The votes have been close lately, receiving the most votes in 2008 to this point. 

Dawson Facts

  • Drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 11th round in 1975
  • Played for Mon, ChiC, Bos, Fla (1976-1996)
  • Seven time All-Star, Eight Golden Gloves
  • Hit for the cycle April 29, 1987
  • 438 HR, 1591 RBIs, 314 SB

 

After a brief cup of coffee for the Montreal Expos in 1976, Andre Dawson’s rookie season in 1977 pretty much summed up the kind of player he was.  A five tool athlete could hit (.282), hit for power (19 HR), run (19 SB) and field.  For his efforts, Dawson was awarded the Rookie of the Year award. 

Though his hitting dipped (.253), his sophomore year was no jinx (25 HR, 28 SB) and for that matter so were the next five or six years.  As a matter of fact, he hit over .300 three years straight.  In 1984, he did hit only .248 but managed to drive in 86 runs anyway.  Dawson’s big year with Montreal was in 1983.  That year, he hit the century mark in runs (104) and rbis (113) while cranking 32 homeruns and stealing 25 bases. 

andre_dawson_expos As part of the Expos famed outfield with Ellis Valentine  and Warren Cromartie, Dawson at least made baseball interesting to watch in Montreal. 

As a free agent, he signed with the Chicago Cubs for $700,000 in what everyone found out to be a collusion effort throughout baseball on the owners’ part.  The Cubs got their money’s worth at least from Dawson.  Despite the Cubs cellar-dwelling performance, Dawson hit 49 homeruns and 137 rbis.  He won the NL MVP award, the first player to win while playing for a last place team. 

By the 1990s, Dawson’s knees were getting the best of him and his speed had gone.  He was a smart baserunner and an instinctive in the field.  His bat still had some pop (27 HR in 1990, 31 HR in 1991) and he batted .310 in 1990. 

In 1993, he was signed by the Red Sox.  After two relatively productive years (13 and 16 HRs), he came back to the NL to play for Florida but he was pretty much finished by then squeezing out less than 300 at-bats in two years.

Pros:  If  you use the “dominate his era” argument for the Hall, you can make a good case for Dawson.  Not only is he a seven-time All-Star, he won 8 Golden Gloves.  Add to that his MVP (he came in second twice) and Rookie of the Year award, you have enough mantle metal to justify it. 

Dawson didn’t rely on one or two stats to contribute to his team.  He was a five tool player and maybe that will hurt him in the end in getting to the Hall.

Cons:  Dawson was a free swinger and thus his OBP was low throughout his career (.323).  His highest walk total for a season was 44.  His career totals don’t scream “Hall of Fame!”  He didn’t hit any of the automatic milestones (438 HR, 2774 hits… something by the way, I’m beginning to tire of).   Lastly, playing for Montreal and Chicago Cubs for the bulk of his career and therefore not getting a whole lot of postseason time (he got as far as the NLCS with Montreal in 1981, lost in the NLDS with the Cubs in 1989) won’t help. 

Maybe I’m being a Cubs homer here but I’m putting Dawson in. 

 

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.

Penn State Baseball goes Green

Penn State’s stadium has been making the news lately.  First, they made Rivals.com’s top ten list of best college baseball stadiums and now it’s number one for being green. 

Penn State University’s rag, the Daily Collegian reports that Medlar Field at Lubrano Park has become the first LEED-certified stadium in the world.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the certification deems it an environmentally friendly facility. 

Some facets of the park that helped it get certified:

Features that earned Medlar Field points include automatic lights throughout the park that turn off after five minutes of no movement and waterless urinals in men’s restrooms, McCoy said. The stadium is also connected to a gray water system, which allows for reuse water that is less refined for field irrigation and other uses.

Medlar Field is also the home to the State College Spikes. 

Influential Sports Businessmen: how do you rank them?

Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal in their special report lists The 50 most influential people in sports business.  Oh, cut the crap and just say businessmen ’cause I didn’t see any women on the list. 

George Bodenheimer, prez of ESPN and ABC Sports heads the list.  Bud Selig came in at sixth. 

Two points of contention…

I would have raised Bob Bowman,  president and CEO of MLB Advanced Media from his position of 29 on this list.  I’m not exactly a fan of Bowman with his digital rights managements issues but no one can argue what he has done for MLB in the past few years.  He’s brought video (and audio) content to the fans, developed a high quality web site for the game of baseball and now he’s going to set up a network for the game (that major cable systems will actually carry). 

Scott Boras is at 42.  Is there any business man in baseball who holds such influence in where many players play, how much they make and how long they play?  He sets the bar for the players he represents and in turn, the ones he doesn’t. Again, not necessarily a fan but I’m surprised to see him ranked so low. 

Skating at Wrigley

The Cubs with the help of the National Hockey League will host a “neighborhood skate” on January 4th, 2009.  This comes on the heels of the Blackhawks-Red Wings match on the temporay rink set up at the Friendly Confines which will be played New Year’s Day. 

Don’t bother looking for tix for the game… they’re already sold out.  It’s the first such hockey game at a baseball venue. 

As for the open skate, invites were sent to local residents and groups.  The $10 charge will go to Cubs charities.

Bleed Cubbie Blue has some photos of the construction going on for the events. 

HOF ’09: David Cone

“The Yankees’ David Cone, who could have played linebacker, is what I call a junkyard dog because he’ll knock you out of the box without blinking. He’s got a better-than-average fastball and a real hard slider. Those two pitches help set up one of the best change-ups in either league.”

Umpire Durwood Merrill in You’re Out and You’re Ugly Too

Despite not being a household name, David Brian Cone put together a pretty good career between the years of 1986-2003.  Though he missed the 200 win mark at 194 victories, his .606 winning percentage ranks among the best (95th all-time). 

  • Cone Facts
    Drafted in 3rd round by Kansas City Royals in 1981
    Played for KC (twice), NYM (twice), Tor, (twice), NYY, Bos
    Four time All-Star, won Cy Young 1994
    Pitched perfect game 1994
    12-3 postseason record

 

Cone won a Cy Young award in the shortened season of 1994 with a 16-5 record and a 2.94 ERA.  Typical of his style, his K/BB ratio was excellent that year at 132 to 54. 

One of Cone’s most outstanding seasons came in his first full year in the majors.  In 1988 for the Mets, he went 20-3 with an ERA of only 2.22.  He struck out 213 that year.  Cone’s other 20-win season came ten years later in 1998 while pitching for the cross town rivals, the Yankees.  Along with his 20-7 record, he struck out 209 while walking only 59 with an ERA of 3.55. 

coned A hard thrower, Cone led the league in Ks in 1990-91 and K/9 1990-92.   He has 2668 career strikeouts which is good for 22nd all-time. 

Mostly by virtue of playing for the Yankees, Cone had the privilege of playing on World Champion teams.  Five to be exact.  What was his World Series record?  5-0 with a 2.12 ERA.  Nice.  His ALCS record?  5-1. 

He probably won’t make it to the Hall but in my eyes it’ll be closer that people think.  Let’s face it, the idea at least in my opinion, is to induct players who dominated in their eras.  At least for a short while, Cone did that.  And the postseason performance doesn’t hurt either.  Let’s put him in the Hall of Very Good.  

 

  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.

BBWAA: The path to becoming relevant

The BBWAA is slowly dragging themselves into relevance. 

Today, they added four writers whose contributions can be found mainly on the Internet.  Congratulations go out to Will Carroll and Kristina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus and Rob Neyer and Keith Law of ESPN.com.

This is big.  Yes, it was a long time coming and it’s not enough but it’s a slow recognition that many most sports fans are getting their sports news from the web whether it be from a brick and mortar newspaper’s web presence or from a new fangly web site out there.  It’s time the BBWAA started to recognize that. 

Now maybe the BBWAA can do something about their god awful looking web site.

BBWAA_1228970267986

Want to be a pro baseball coach? Maybe Fort Worth can use you (at a price).

ebayftworth

Bad economic times force some creative methods to raise money.  The Fort Worth Cats have come up with one.

They’ve put up an auction on Ebay where the winner will become a “professional Baseball Coach” for them for a week.  The reserve price?  $1.999.  The team has an article on it on their web site.

Look at the perks!

*One Pristine Uniform to keep as a memento of your experience

*Official 1st base coaching salary of $1 per day

*One assigned coaches locker

*An official Cats baseball card in your likeness

*Guaranteed one inning of 1st base coaching per game

*Road Trip with the team, including hotel stay and bus ride

*Road meal money of $5.00 per day (to cover visiting clubby dues)

*The chance to participate in batting practice before every game

*A radio interview to be aired on Fox Sports Radio about your experience during your last home game

*A uniform retirement ceremony including first pitch and photo opportunity with friends and family

*A group outing on your jersey retirement night for 30 friends and family including field box tickets, hot dogs and sodas

I hope they do a good job vetting the winner of the auction.  At a dollar a day, who knows who you’ll get?

The Fort Worth team also promise to “retire” the auction winner’s name along with the club’s former managers and players.

Ugh, Minor League Baseball has always been in the forefront of fan participation and promotions but it sounds like they have just jumped the shark.

Thanks to Shawn Lee for the tip.

HOF ’09: Bert Blyleven

“He was as good as there was for a long time. Bert is up there with the toughest four or five guys I faced in my career.”

Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett

 

The case for Bert Blyleven comes down to the argument of era dominance against longevity.  I’ve been a supporter for Blyleven for the Hall for a while and while his case isn’t open and shut, I think he’s got a shot. 

Blyleven Facts

  • Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the third round in 1969
  • Played for Minn (twice), Tex, Pit, Cle, Cal (1970-1992)
  • 287 wins, 3701 strikeouts, 3.31 ERA
  • Holds record for most HR allowed season (50 in 1986)

 

Bly came up in 1970 with the Minnesota Twins and won 10 games in his rookie season with a respectable 3.18 ERA.  Through the next five years with the Twins, he won at least fifteen games each season including a 20-17 campaign in 1973.  With ERAs never higher 3.00, he was a stalwart in the Twins rotation but became unhappy in Minnesota toward the end of his time there.  Demanding a trade, the Twins management complied in 1976, trading him to Texas Rangers in a deal that brought Roy Smalley and Mike Cubbage and some cash to Minnesota. 

He pitched well in Texas with sub-3.00 ERAs in 1976-1977 plus a no-hitter against the California Angels on September 22, 1977.  But as was true throughout much of his career, he didn’t get much support and won 9 games in 1976 and only 14 for his full season in 1977.

bly Blyleven was part of MLB’s first 4-team trade later that year that sent him to Pittsburgh.  With them, he went to the World Series in 1979 and helped them win it all by winning two games against the Orioles.  As an aside, Blyleven set a record in 1979 for the most no-decisions with 20. 

Onward to Cleveland in which the Indians sent Jay Bell (yes, that Jay Bell) to the Bucs in 1980.  After a few lean years, Bly broke out in 1984 when he won 19 games for the Tribe.  Not only that, he broke 200 strikeouts for the first time in 10 years. 

Bert won 17 in a split season with the Indians and the Twins who he rejoined after eleven years.  After three years with double digit wins but rather high ERAs, he was traded to the Angels.  In his final hurrah in 1989, he not only went 17-5 but took his ERA down to a level he hadn’t seen in an while, 2.76.  After two sub-par years with the Angels, he retired. 

Pros:  Very good career numbers… 287 wins, 60 shutouts (9th all-time), 3701 strikeouts (5th).  Longevity counts for something.

Cons:  Never won a Cy Young award or ERA title, only one 20 win season, only a two-time All-Star.  Lots of competition in his era. 

Honestly, after researching Blyleven, it does show me how much longevity plays in his value.  That’s not necessarily bad but given all the competition for the Hall from the pitchers from his era, it doesn’t help his cause. 

A couple links I’ll pass along… First, is The League of Nations that link to a few columnists who have opined on the Blyleven issue.  Then there’s Bertbelongs.com.  Well, you know where they stand.

For Blyleven, I’m giving a very tenuous vote for the Hall.

 

green checkmark

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.