A fortnight ago, I had the privilege of completing the “career grand slam” of golf attendance when I traveled across the pond and spent three days at The Open at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. Sunday’s final round was, of course, one for the ages, as Jordan Spieth captured his third different major championship. As […]
I started watching the Masters at the age of 11, having taken up the game of golf a year earlier. My first Masters was the 1979 classic in which Fuzzy Zoeller defeated Tom Watson and Ed Sneed in a playoff. Since that spring morning, I’ve watched the tournament every single year. For the last seven, […]
With Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez heading to the Hall of Fame, let’s take a look ahead to 2018. Former Padres ace closer Trevor Hoffman got 74.0% of this year’s vote and former Expos and Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero netted 71.7%, so it’s very likely that there will be at least three players […]
A little over two weeks ago, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected three new members to the Hall of Fame. Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez will join Cooperstown’s inclusive club of baseball legends when they are inducted this summer. So, after the Hall of Fame shutout of 2013, the collective body of […]
On Wednesday afternoon, my favorite moment of the baseball off-season will occur: the announcement of the Class of 2017, the new inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In this piece, I’ll share the names of the ten players that I would be voting for if I had the privilege of casting a […]
He is one of the greatest post-season pitchers in the history of baseball. His career 80.7 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is 6th best of any pitcher to debut in the last 40 years. His career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.38 is the best for any pitcher with a minimum of 1,200 innings thrown since the 19th […]
You might not have noticed, but a city that hasn’t had a Major League Baseball franchise since 2004 has six alumni on the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot. Six former Montreal Expos are eligible for enshrinement in Cooperstown. That’s more alums on the ballot than for 18 other franchises. If I asked you to name […]
(updated on January 2, 2017) A year ago I penned an article entitled, “Why Writers should NOT vote for Bonds and Clemens for the Hall.” My reasoning was this: both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens had polled at 35% (of the minimum 75% needed for induction) on the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot, which means […]
(this is an updated version of an article I posted originally on December 3, 2015) In the stacked 2017 Hall of Fame ballot sit three premier relief pitchers, three of the five all-time saves leaders. Two of the three (Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner) are on the ballot for the second time, one (Lee Smith) […]
Tim Raines made two big mistakes in his life. The first is that he used cocaine early in his career, which forever tarnished his image and might even play a role in why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame already. His second mistake was to begin his career in 1979, the same year that another […]