NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE HOF ANNOUNCEMENT. With voting on the early days and golden age baseball taking place this weekend, I thought I would look back on some players who had careers that were on a Hall of Fame path derailed by injuries. There will always be debates about players who are in, and those who so far have not been elected. For years I have bemoaned the…
MiLB MATTERS
Rule 5 Draft This was written before the MLB lockout. The Rule 5 Draft is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9. The Dodgers added James Outman, Jacob Amaya, Jorbit Vivas, Eddys Leonard and Michael Grove to the 40-man roster to protect them from the draft. Last Year pitchers Brett de Geus and Jordan Sheffield were taken in the Rule 5 Draft and kept on the MLB rosters by the Arizona Diamondbacks…
Baseball is in Deep Trouble
At first blush, you might think I am talking about the lockout and that certainly is what appears to be the biggest problem, but if you look deeper, you will find that baseball popularity is on the wane – that is the Deep Trouble that MLB is in. Jeff Dominique wrote about it yesterday in a masterful article. I also have a few thoughts about it. Look at this: Baseball…
MLB vs MLBPA
On August 12, 1994, the MLB Players walked off and the player strike began. The strike ended 232 days later on April 2, 1995, making it the longest such stoppage in MLB history. Who is hurting? The fans. The same people they (both sides) are trying to keep coming to games, parking, and buying concessions and souvenirs. It is hard to measure attendance due to the pandemic precautions from both…
Breaking the Barrier
In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by becoming the first person of color to play in the major leagues. But it almost happened in 1901. John McGraw wanted to sign a light-skinned Negro named Charlie Grant to play for the Giants. Now baseball back before the 1900s was filled with white players who had a deep-seated prejudice against blacks. And for years there had been a so-called, gentleman’s…
THE GOAT
One of the quickest ways to start a baseball argument is to simply say, this guy was the greatest of all time. Football and basketball fans make that debate all of the time. And the opinions vary so much from state to state. Most pundits hand the crown to Michael Jordan, his six titles, and numerous MVP awards. Football is a little trickier since you need to add not only…
Best Individual Seasons In Dodger History
I thought I would go back and see who had the best individual seasons in the history of the team. Won’t do all of the categories. That would be an incredibly long post. So I will try to stick to the main stats. WAR This is a relatively new way to gauge a player’s worth. WAR, or wins above replacement. Gives you an idea of how many wins a player…
Introducing Your 1890 Brooklyn Bridegrooms
Hello, baseball fans and welcome to the 1890 edition of your Brooklyn Bridegrooms. Coming off of a very successful 1889 campaign where they won 93 games under Bill McGunnigle to lead the American Association. The team moves out of the American Association to the newly formed National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. The Brooklyn team will be playing this season in Washington Park II. This is the second season the…
Can You See What Isn’t… Before it is?
In no way do I think I have all the answers but do get lucky a lot. I think that it is because I do not think in the box or outside of the box. I prefer to think that there is no box! Three weeks ago, I fired our COO and VP of Operations. They were nice guys and I liked them, but they had no vision. Every day…
MiLB Matters
https://www.milb.com/fans/2021-organization-all-stars On Monday MiLB released the 2021 Organization All-Star list for the Dodgers. The list was developed by Michael Avallone who apparently had some discussions with Will Rhymes, the Dodgers Director of Player Development. These are his selections for 2021. Catcher – Keibert Ruiz First Base – Matt Davidson Second Base – Michael Busch Third Base – Miguel Vargas Shortstop – Alex De Jesus Outfield – Andy Pages Outfield –…