We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to David Wing from Three Rivers, Michigan.  Dave has won an  autographed copy of my book “Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book” which is being mailed to him today.  This is our second contest in less than a year and both winners have been Detroit Tigers fans!  What are the odds?

Here’s the response I received from David this morning:

“I’m thrilled to have been selected as the recipient of your new book. My name is David Wing and am a big fan of the Detroit Tigers. My address is (……….) Three Rivers, Michigan 49093. Please feel free to use my name in any way needed.  Thanks again from an avid reader of your blog. Dave”

The contest was a drawing to celebrate this blog’s 50,000th view which occurred yesterday. The blog started only two years ago and we appreciate the response we’ve received.  Baseball fans are awesome and you Detroit Tigers fans are among the best.  Look back at our June 3, 2010, post “The Umpire ….. Toughest Job in Baseball” where I fell over backwards loving those Tiger fans.   And now with Justin Verlander the raves just keep coming.

So thanks again to all our subscribers and especially to David Wing.  We’ll do this again when we reach another milestone!

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An Opening Day Treasure … From that Other Chicago Team.

U. S. Cellular Field

It’s been 11 years and I still want to refer to the White Sox ballpark as Comiskey rather than U. S. Cellular Field.  It’s ingrained in the soul as much as Fenway and Wrigley.  But, nonetheless, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share a great read with you from this morning’s offerings.  Here’s an excerpt:

Irish Nachos

” I am of Irish descent and I have been to Ireland and let me just say that the old joke that one of the shortest books in the world is Great Irish Cooks is actually no joke at all.  But Irish Nachos defy those ugly slanders and ignominious legacy and leave you feeling happy, Gaelic, bloated and ready to burp all over the rest of the American League.  God Bless Baseball.”

Here’s the entire article written by Terry Keshner at Seamheads.com.

Chicago White Sox Opening Day:  Irish Nachos and Baroque Batter’s Box

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The Best All-time Baseball Movie? ….. You Decide!

There’s nothing better than a bucket of buttered popcorn and a good baseball movie .  I’ve seen a lot of them and up until a month ago my very favorite was probably “For Love of the Game” with Kevin Costner.  Who wouldn’t love Costner in a baseball movie?  He’s such a “guy” as Kelly Preston tells him in the movie.  It’s about the perfect game and except for some flashbacks the entire story takes place in one day on a quest for the perfect game.  I’ve seen it at least seven times and will undoubtedly watch it seven more.

Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"

But on November 24 this year I could hardly contain myself waiting for “Moneyball” to open.   I waited for it with excitement and anticipation like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Christmas morning,   especially after reading the book.  And I wasn’t disappointed.

“TOP BASEBALL PLAYERS OF PAST 60 YEARS!” A Mathematical Study.

This is the third year we’ve published this study by Dr. Don Davis.  It’s one of our most popular blogs and we’re happy to be able to share it again with you.  Be sure to link to his website  for additional information, changes and criteria he used in compiling his study.

“2011 Baseball Players Mathematical Study, written by Don Davis, Department of Mathematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA., and printed here with his permission.”

Pos’n	First team	Second team	Third team	Fourth team	Fifth team
P,1	Roger Clemens, 266.0	Tom Seaver, 181.1	Bob Gibson, 140.4	Juan Marichal, 107.9	Curt Schilling, 85.1
P,2	Randy Johnson, 202.1	Warren Spahn, 167.5	Sandy Koufax, 137.8	Gaylord Perry, 102.8	Phil Niekro, 84.9
P,3	Greg Maddux, 197.5	Bob Feller, 157.6	Robin Roberts, 136.5	Roy Halladay, 102.1	Johan Santana, 84.6
P,4	Pedro Martinez, 187.5	Steve Carlton, 143.5	Jim Palmer, 133.2	Fergie Jenkins, 87.2	Nolan Ryan, 83.7
C	Johnny Bench, 111.2	Yogi Berra, 92.9	Gary Carter, 75.6	Mike Piazza, 74.8	Ivan Rodriguez, 71.0

Veterans Day and Every Day ….. Thank You!

Arlington National Cemetery

“But the mainstay of the big leagues was the reservoir of 4-Fs – males of draft age who had been rejected on physical grounds by the Armed Forces. Not since harem attendants had gone out of style were men’s physical deficiencies so highly prized. Ulcers, hearing defects, and torn cartilages were coveted by team owners.” – Frank Graham, Jr. in Farewell to Heroes (1981)

This and the following list of Hall of Fame Members Courtesy of  Baseball Almanac.

Baseball Hall of Fame Members  who Served in the Armed Forces.

The Civil War
Morgan Bulkeley	United States Army
World War I
Grover Alexander	United States Army
Happy Chandler	United States Army

Predicting the Division Winners …… Oops!

And we're off to the races again!

Last March I wrote a blog entitled “2011 Postseason Predictions” and I’m here to say with all my opinions and wisdom in the world of baseball , I was able to correctly predict two teams, one from the National League and one from the American League.    That’s 25% folks, I say as I’m looking for those wet noodles and a carton of eggs to slather around my face.

I mean, who knew?  The only two teams that I predicted to win that actually won were the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Phillies, of course, were a no-brainer, but I was very proud to stick my neck out in prediction of the Tigers.  So be it.

If you were lucky enough to catch one or both of the games last night you were in for a real treat!   Whatta thrill!  Down to the wire!  Reminds me of last year’s Giants – Padres game, the 162nd game, 9th inning and last out.   I still get goosebumps remembering the thrill of it all.

In case you’ve been in a coma these past 24 hours or otherwise indisposed, here’s the 2011 Division Winners:

American League 

• New York Yankees, East
• Detroit, Central
• Texas, West
• Tampa Bay, Wild Card

National League

• Philadelphia, East
• Milwaukee, Central
• Arizona, West
• St Louis, Wild Card

So here we are six months later in post season.   Predictions?  I think I’ll wait a bit and get back to you on that……it’s hard to write with a bunch of egg on my face. 

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Most Valuable Player? ….. You Decide!

I watched a TV Special recently about Juan Marichal, the former SF Giants pitcher, and I was surprised to learn that he  had never won the Cy Young Award.

Justin Verlander

And then again last week a discussion was had on whether an MVP could, or should, also be named a Cy Young winner.  This was concerning Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers who holds most of the AL pitching records this season.  The reasoning was that the MVP should be awarded to a field player who’s generally on the field every day, compared to the pitcher who pitches every four or five days on a rotation.  Supposedly that’s the reason the Cy Young Award came about ~ to be able to honor the pitchers who are not visible on a daily basis.

Juan Marichal

The Marichal program was still very much in my mind when I came across an article (referenced below) about the worst MVP “snubs” in baseball history.  I found it very interesting that so many of the most popular players were slighted as MVP’s back then.  Maybe they weren’t as popular in their day as they’ve become later on, and posterity has been kind to them.   But probably not.  The MVP selections always seem to provoke some sort of controversy each year and its understandable.  Those pesky statistics always seem to get in the way of those you and I consider to be the most valuable.  Not always of course, but sometimes.

Here’s a link to the article, submitted by Tim Handorf,  10 Worst MVP Snubs in Baseball History  published at bestonlinecolleges.com .  Take a look and see what you think!

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Update: 2011 MLB Payrolls & Individual Salaries.

Courtesy TTF Baseball

Here’s the 2011 update to our 2010 Major League Baseball listing published November 22, 2010.  This comes to us compliments of USA Today.  If you’ll click the individual teams, you can access the individual players salaries.  It will be interesting to note the annual salaries of the teams that make the playoffs;  in other words, did they get what they paid for?

 TEAM                          TOTAL P/R             AVG SALARY       MEDIAN

New York Yankees	$ 202,689,028	$ 6,756,300	$ 2,100,000
Philadelphia Phillies	$ 172,976,379	$ 5,765,879	$ 2,625,000
Boston Red Sox	$ 161,762,475	$ 5,991,202	$ 5,500,000
Los Angeles Angels	$ 138,543,166	$ 4,469,134	$ 2,000,000
Chicago White Sox	$ 127,789,000	$ 4,732,925	$ 2,750,000
Chicago Cubs	$ 125,047,329	$ 5,001,893	$ 1,600,000
New York Mets	$ 118,847,309	$ 4,401,752	$ 900,000
San Francisco Giants	$ 118,198,333	$ 4,377,716	$ 2,200,000
Minnesota Twins	$ 112,737,000	$ 4,509,480	$ 3,000,000
Detroit Tigers	$ 105,700,231	$ 3,914,823	$ 1,300,000
St. Louis Cardinals	$ 105,433,572	$ 3,904,947	$ 1,000,000
Los Angeles Dodgers	$ 104,188,999	$ 3,472,966	$ 2,142,838
Texas Rangers	$ 92,299,264	$ 3,182,733	$ 1,251,000
Colorado Rockies	$ 88,148,071	$ 3,390,310	$ 2,318,750
Atlanta Braves	$ 87,002,692	$ 3,346,257	$ 1,275,000
Seattle Mariners	$ 86,524,600	$ 2,884,153	$ 825,000
Milwaukee Brewers	$ 85,497,333	$ 2,849,911	$ 1,050,000
Baltimore Orioles	$ 85,304,038	$ 3,280,924	$ 1,425,000
Cincinnati Reds	$ 75,947,134	$ 2,531,571	$ 825,000
Houston Astros	$ 70,694,000	$ 2,437,724	$ 467,000
Oakland Athletics	$ 66,536,500	$ 2,376,303	$ 1,400,000
Washington Nationals	$ 63,856,928	$ 2,201,963	$ 1,050,000
Toronto Blue Jays	$ 62,567,800	$ 2,018,316	$ 1,200,000
Florida Marlins	$ 56,944,000	$ 2,190,153	$ 545,000
Arizona Diamondbacks	$ 53,639,833	$ 1,986,660	$ 1,000,000
Cleveland Indians	$ 49,190,566	$ 1,639,685	$ 484,200
San Diego Padres	$ 45,869,140	$ 1,479,649	$ 468,800
Pittsburgh Pirates	$ 45,047,000	$ 1,553,344	$ 450,000
Tampa Bay Rays	$ 41,053,571	$ 1,578,983	$ 907,750
Kansas City Royals	$ 36,126,000	$ 1,338,000	$ 850,000

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Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book

Update:  Now available at Amazon as Book and Kindle.

Finally it’s here!  My book’s been in the works since February and  it’s being published today.  It’s available for sale here first, and will be available on Amazon.com early next week and in Kindle form  soon thereafter.

The book’s a compilation of some of my favorite blogs, some in expanded form, with a few little ditties added in and formatted in such a way you’ll hardly recognize it!  I have to admit ~ writing a book is a great experience, but it’s much easier writing a blog!

Let me know what you think but please be kind.   This is my debut you know ♥   Ronni

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MLB Bans Jim Joyce from Calling Galarraga Games!

I wrote a post last June entitled “Umpire ~ Toughest Job in Baseball“.   It was about the call Jim Joyce made on an Armando Galarraga throw to first that cost the pitcher the “perfect game”.   So when I read Craig Calcaterra’s headlines today I thought of the many games Joyce has called in the past year where Galarraga  has played and the games went without a hitch ~ smooth as silk. 

Today is the first anniversary of that infamous call and I have to say this made for a great headline!   It seems that the umpire and pitcher have entered a business venture and co-authored a book together.    The name of the book is “Nobody’s Perfect” . It was published last month and is available on Amazon

Some of the comments on Calcaterra’s blog this morning were pretty entertaining.   One mentioned an extreme dislike for a few of MLB’s umpires and suggested letting  every owner and GM in the game co-author a book and have their least favorite umpires write a chapter on the nuances of umpiring, country music, dieting, whatever, thereby eliminating them from umpiring “any” game.   After watching two really, really bad calls last night during the Cardinals-Giants game I understand what they’re saying.  Probably not a really good idea, but I get it.   Unfortunately the calls were made by two different umps so the blogger’s rationale isn’t very sound.  Eventually there wouldn’t be anyone left to call the games! 

Hmm…. you just know a movie about the two is in the works.   Wonder who’ll play Armando?   Better yet!  Who in the world could possibly play Jim Joyce?   I can see it now;  ”And the award for best actor goes to ……… Jim Joyce for playing  ………. “Jim Joyce”! 

All in fun.  It’s great to see a friendly and working relationship between these two special men, and I hope the entire baseball community will embrace this as well.

MLB Standings vs MLB Payrolls …. How do they measure?

Okay, so we’re maybe 25% through the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.  How is your team doing?  How is your team doing in relation to their total payroll?  In other words, are they getting what they paid for?

Here’s an interesting article published by Hayes & Taylor recently.  I’m always amazed at the amount of work some of these guys put into their daily blogs;  I mean who has time for this stuff?   In any event, this is a great chart and one of the better blogs and I wanted to share it with you.

“The Cleveland Indians are in first place in the AL Central. They have the fifth lowest payroll in all of baseball. Which got me thinking, how do the other teams in the MLB rank in the standings relative to their payroll. It turns out that the Indians aren’t even the best example right now.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the second lowest payroll in the majors. The are currently in first place in the power packed AL East. Ahead of the number one payroll in baseball the Yankees, the number three payroll in Boston and numbers 19 and 24 in Baltimore and Toronto. The Royals, Marlins and A’s are all over .500, and are all in the bottom ten payrolls in the league. Not to mention all are very alive in the playoff races.

If the season ended today, four of the eight playoff teams would come from the bottom eleven in payroll (Rays, Indians, Marlins, Reds). On the other side, only three would be coming from the top eight in payroll (Angels, Phillies and Giants).

What does this all mean? Talent wins in baseball and not always how much you pay for that talent. If money was how you win, the Yankees would win every year, but they don’t. That makes me very happy. I love to see underdogs win. I love the fact that some of the lower payroll teams won’t be trading away all of their talent this season to teams who will pay whatever it takes. Baseball is stronger than ever right now.

Click here to link to a chart that shows  where all 30 teams in major league baseball rank in payroll and where they are currently in the standings. Is your team over or under achieving?”

BALK OF THE YEAR?….. PROBABLY …..

Justin Verlander ~ Just one of those days!

 

Here’s Verlander’s explanation:  “I went to go pick one and I didn’t get my body turned,” Verlander said. “The way I thought — and this was all in milliseconds — if I just throw it home, they won’t call anything.”

The incident happened during a recent game between The Detroit Tigers and the Oakland Athletics.  Justin Verlander threw the unwieldy pitch behind David DeJesus and it was initially thought DeJesus was hit and he was sent to first base; however, on review, the officials ruled that a balk had indeed been committed, DeJesus had not been hit, and he was called back to the batters box.  The fellow who had been on first base advanced to second. 

“I saw the video of it and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself,” Verlander said later. “It might be the first time it happened in general. I thought nothing could happen at the plate. It was funny talking to the umpires. They gave me a hard time about it, too.”

I’m sure we’ll be seeing this play in the recordbooks for years to come; probably one Verlander would like to forget!