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Here’s a question for you. What secondbaseman (100 games min.) has the highest slugging percentage in the majors, right now?

Give up?

Ray Durham. With his .292 batting average, 20 doubles and 20 homers, he comes out to a .531 slugging average, ranking first among all secondbasemen.

I have to admit that was a surprise to me.

In my APBA league, Durham is my backup behind Orlando Hudson. A couple months ago while playing APBA, the guy I was playing went off on Ray Durham saying he was a “no-talent bum”. Granted, there are other secondbaseman I would rather have. But those are numbers you can’t argue with.

During a rain delay before today’s White Sox game they asked who had the highest career batting average, Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams, Darrin Jackson, or Hawk Harrelson? Below are the career statistics for each of the four players. It was kind of funny that one of the White Sox players said, “Hawk sure does talk alot bigger than a .239 career hitter”. Also Guillen said, “I was such a good fielder that people forget I could hit”.

Hawk Harrelson .239, 131 HRs, 421 RBIs, 374 runs, 53 SBs

Darrin Jackson .257, 80 HRs, 317 RBIs, 311 runs, 43 SBs

Kenny Williams .218, 27 HRs, 119 RBIs, 136 runs, 49 SBs

Ozzie Guillen .264, 28 HRs, 619 RBIs, 773 runs, 169 SBs

Every year NickyV and I go on a baseball trip. We’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Boston’s Fenway Park, the Park that Ruth Built, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Cal Ripken’s Ballpark, Shea Stadium, Old Tigers Stadium, Great American Ballpark, Jacob’s Field, PNC in Pittsburgh, and even out of the country in Toronto. This year’s trip takes us to KC to see the White Sox and the NY Yankees play the Royals. While in Kansas City we’ll take in the Negro League Hall of Fame. Not long ago I heard about a gathering of Negro League stars at a restaurant in Chicago. It turns out the place they gathered was the Negro League Cafe on 43rd street. It’s right off the Green Line, if I don’t get there before my trip to KC I’ll get there after I return home.

Frank Thomas

Future Hall of Famer & Oakland A’s slugger Frank Thomas tied Willie Stargell on the alltime list for homers 475 (also tied Stan Musial in HRs) & RBIs 1540. The 38 year old Georgian ripped his 27th home run of the season, a two run shot, that helped the A’s to a 6-0 win over Toronto. Thomas was signed by Oakland in the offseason after the World Champion Chicago White Sox let him go. There were some words exchanged as the Sox said goodbye to the greatest player in team history. Frank is having a very good year for Oakland as their DH, as they stand atop the Western Division of the American League.

Frank Thomas 475 HR, 1540 RBI, 1383 runs, .305 Avg, .425 OBP

Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell was the Captain of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pops was the oldest player to win MVP when he did it at the age of 39 in 1979, he followed it up with World Series MVP. I can still see his windmill stance as he waited for the pitch to be delivered, can’t imagine how a pitcher would feel serving it up to this mountain of a man with the game on the line.

Willie Stargell 475 HR, 1540 RBI, 1195 runs, .282 Avg, .360 OBP

Rafael Betancourt

Rafael Betancourt pitched a scoreless 8th & 9th innings for the Cleveland Indians and his efforts were good enough to pickup the win. Starter Paul Byrd didn’t make it out of the first inning as the Royals got to him for nine runs (only three earned) in 2/3 of an inning, it was 10-1 KC after one. But the Tribe came all the way back scoring four in the 9th and two more in the 10th off Joe Nelson & Andrew Sisco for the 15-13 victory. KC had 19 hits, Mike Sweeney & Mark Teahen each had four, but it wasn’t enough. Tom Mastny pitched the bottom of the 10th for the Indians to gain his 2nd save.

Shawn Green was dealt to the NY Mets to fill a big hole in rightfield. Although his best years may be behind him, his power has been down since injuring his shoulder several years ago. The Jewish star outfielder, born in Des Plaines, IL, is a consumate professional, and very solid in RF. Several years ago I got both Shawn Green & Carlos Delgado to autograph a baseball in Dunedin, FL at spring training when both were with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Arizona Diamondbacks appear to be dumping salary, even though they’re in a playoff race, as they only got a marginal minor league pitcher in Evan MacLane. Carlos Quentin should see the lion’s share replacing Green in RF for the D*Backs. The best team in the NL, the Mets, just got better. Still there are at least five AL teams better than the Mets. As CLuke said, maybe the NL should start with small goals, like winning ONE World Series game this year.

I had my tickets to all four games, my airline tickets on SWA, and hotel accomodations at the Hotel Milner (one block from the ballpark). I even had my trip to see Claliglia at the Toy Chest all mapped out in my mind. But the best made plans are subject to change and change they did, cancelled might be a better description of what happened. Three weeks ago Oma fell, broke her hip, and is recovering from surgery. This past Sunday a man with a black cape & sickle was following her around, so I decided to cancel my Detroit trip to support the Good Guys. I’m happy to report we were able to chase away the grim reaper from Oma. Maybe he’s found a more vulnerable target in my White Sox in Detroit.

In game #1 of this important four game series Jose Contreras & the Southsiders were beaten 7-1, Jermaine Dye’s homer opened the scoring, but that’s all we got. Justin Verlander’s once 100 MPH fastball only reaches the mid 90s now, but that was all he needed. How could I expect Contreras to fare better against the Tigers than he did against the Royals? KC bombed Contreras in his last outing (I game I had to leave early). It was no gamble in the 2nd game as Kenny Rogers dominated Pale Hose hitters 4-0 as Mark Buehrle took the loss. Ozzie Guillen got his money’s worth after being ejected for arguing balls & strikes when Buehrle walked in a run on a low pitch that Rogers got the benefit of a called strike three on Paul Konerko in the top of the inning.

Two down, two to go. Clearly Detroit has the Eye of the Tiger, something the White Sox need to get. It should be noted that Aaron Rowand might be out for the season after running into Phillies secondbaseman Chase Utley, earlier in the season Rowand ran nose first into Philadelphia’s centerfield wall. I still like the Sox acquiring Jim Thome, but there’s no questioning Aaron’s desire to win. I was a little concerned about my safety in Detroit and staying at the Hotel Milner, but I wasn’t worried about my heroes, maybe I should have been.

At this point it looks like the Tigers have answered the White Sox challenge. The Wild Card might be the best way for the defending World Series Chamions to make the playoffs. Currently Chicago holds a nose hair lead over the Twins. Minnesota brings its act to the Cell this weekend, but first we have to show there was at least some reason for making the trip to Detroit. At least the White Sox can’t do as bad as the Red Sox who recently dropped a five game series against the Yankees.

I took in the 3-game series at the Metrodome this weekend between the defending champs and the Twins. Just some thoughts from the weekend.

My tickets for the 3 games cost a total of $18 – parking cost $45… Most people put ketchup not only on their hot dogs but also on bratwursts. That’s just not right… The Twins fans are very knowledgeable and they cheered a ground ball to the right side to move a runner to third with no out just as enthusiastically as they did a homer. They also don’t like AJ. He was booed very loudly all weekend. I think they should give him a standing ovation every time. After all if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t have Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser… The White Sox seem complacent. I didn’t see the fire that I saw last year. I also noticed a few of them dogging it on ground balls… Joe Crede plays an awesome third base… Brian Anderson swings at the first pitch too often. I wouldn’t throw him anything good on the first pitch… Johan Santana may just be the best lefty in the game… It dawned on me that a generation of Twins fans have not seen a Twins home game outside. And many have not seen the Twins play outside except on TV. That will change in 2010 when they open their new park… The Twins are a fun team to watch. The have a bunch of scrappy players who play hard for 9 innings. Their speed and aggressiveness really pressured the White Sox defense and made them look bad… Pablo Ozuna is not a major league outfielder. His poor judgment in trying to throw out Luis Castillo at third on a hit run opened the door for a big inning by the Twins in Sunday’s game… Jose Uribe still thinks he has to swing at every pitch like he’s going to hit it 500 feet… Jason Tyner throws funny. He pauses to skip his left foot at the top of his motion. When throws on the run he does the foot thing and then throws… The Twins do a great job of promoting youth baseball. They had youth baseball promotions all weekend. There was a group they honored today that builds “Miracle Fields”. This group builds baseball fields for the physically challenged so that they can play the game and participate in a team sport… I noticed that there doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgement that the Twins franchise started in Washington D.C. as the Senators. There’s no mention of the AL or WS championships won by the Senators on the banners hanging in the dome. And not to beat the Hometown Heroes thing again, but shouldn’t Walter Johnson be a nominee for this franchise? I think so… And no article about the Metrodome and the Twins would be complete without mentioning Kirby Puckett. Kirby by far is the most popular Twin. It’s very evident by the number of 34 Twins jerseys that are worn at every game. His passing was a big loss for the organization and the Twins fans. During the 7th inning stretch right after the singing of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”, they play a moving video montage accompanied by Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World” honoring Puckett. And his number 34 is painted along both the first and third base foul lines… I’ve ripped the Metrodome in the past but after watching 5 games there this year I guess it’s not all that bad.

Major League Baseball has fanned once again in an attempt to promote the great history of the game. Their latest promotional attempt is called Hometown Heroes. Five players are nominated for each of the 30 current teams and you get to vote for one. It looks like there may have been an attempt to mix in the present with the past and for franchises that have been in multiple cities to represent each location. I don’t know who nominated the players or how they were chosen but some of the choices are real head scratchers. Some guys appear for more than one team. You can only wear one hat on the HOF plaque so you should only be able to be nominated for one team.

Conspicuously missing from the ballot are Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro. I can see McGwire not making it since the A’s have a solid set of nominees although they have some glaring omissions as well as I note later. And he didn’t play very long for St. Louis. Sammy Sosa, the only player with three 60+ homer seasons didn’t make it for the Cubs. I’m not sure who doesn’t make it in his place but he should have been a selection. Rafael Palmeiro got beat out by Rusty Greer, Mark Teixeira and Jim Sundberg. I guess since Raffy got busted baseball doesn’t want to acknowledge his accomplishments. Barry’s on the ballot, however.

I’m not going to analyze every team because some are no brainers like the Yankees and some just don’t have heroes like the Devil Rays. Here are a few that I think could be different. Let’s start with the Los Angeles, California, Anaheim, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Their nominees are Jim Abbot, Don Baylor, Rod Carew, Chuck Finley and Tim Salmon. Jim Abbot over Nolan Ryan? You’ve got to be kidding me. But Noley wasn’t left off the ballot completely. He shows up twice – for the Astros and the Rangers. His selection for the Astros apparently kept Cesar Cedeno off the ballot. And Larry Dierker was chosen ahead of J.R. Richard. The Indians or whoever nominated their players must feel that they haven’t had a good player in 47 years. The most recent player of their group is Larry Doby who retired in 1959. Where’s Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton or Jim Thome?

The Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland A’s have an interesting choice of players – Dennis Eckersley, Lefty Grove, Rickey Henderson, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson. All great and four of the five are HOFers with Rickey a sure bet to be inducted. However, I don’t know if any of them are considered the greatest Athletic of all-time. How about Jimmie Foxx and Al Simmons? Surely there has to be a spot for one them?

Whoever selected the Braves nominees obviously was high or just plain ignorant of baseball history. There’s no way Eddie Mathews should have to take a backseat to Chipper Jones. That’s an insult to one of the greatest third baseman of all-time. And where’s Greg Maddux? He only won 3 Cy Young Awards for the Braves.

The team that takes the cake for the most ridiculous and harebrained nominations is the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. Certainly Andre Dawson and Tim Raines are nominated. Wait, did I miss read the ballot? I don’t see them. I see Gary Carter, Rusty Staub, Jose Vidro, Livan Hernandez and Brian Schneider. Brian Schneider? Who does he have pictures of? His 6 year career numbers don’t even match Hack Wilson’s 1930 numbers. This is the most ridiculous nomination since Ross Perot selected James Stockdale as his running mate in 1992.

This promotion was designed to get the casual fan to take interest in baseball not to honor the greats of the game. The nominees obviously were selected based on name recognition for the younger generation of fans (except for the Indians.)

Some fans last night at the Metrodome made good use of the ballots by making paper airplanes and landing them on the field. One nosedived and stuck in the turf (the ballot, not the fan) just to the left of White Sox centerfielder Brian Anderson. Others took the time to select their heroes. One guy asked me whom I thought he should vote for on the White Sox. I said, “Are you kidding? Frank, without a doubt!” I watched over the guy’s shoulder in front of me as he made his selections. As he neared the Pirates my heart was racing to see who he’d select and much to my delight he selected none other than Captain Will. I was so moved that I almost bought the guy a beer.

Mike Scioscia

Vicente Padilla drilled Vladimir Guerrero with a pitch, Guerrero hit a homer in his next at bat, Juan Rivera was hit by a pitch, and Padilla was ejected from the game. This all happened in a game won by the Angels over the Rangers 9-7 on August 15th. The next night all hell broke loose when Texas pitcher Scott Feldman hit Halos secondbaseman Adam Kennedy with a pitch, Kennedy charged the mound, both benches emptied, and Feldman punched Kennedy in the armpit. The Rangers went on to win this contest 9-3.

Earlier this season White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen was ordered to attend sensitivity training after he ordered a reliever Sean Tracey to nail a Texas hitter with a pitch after Vicente Padilla hit A.J. Pierzynski twice with pitches in a game. Tracey didn’t hit the Ranger batter, took a tongue lashing from Guillen, and was demoted to the minor leagues.

It looks like major league baseball would rather see a bench clearing brawl rather than see the players settle things on the field. It’ll be interesting to see whether sensitivity training will be in the offing for managers Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Buck Showalter of the Rangers.