A Large Regular

I congratulate Tim "Rock" Raines, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell on their election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. A well deserved honor in each case. My issue is how Fred McGriff has been snubbed by the same voters. No "clean" player has been hurt more by comparison to PED contemporaries than McGriff. This isn't a new issue for me.

In 2004 I compared McGriff to now Hall of Famer Wade Boggs with the Crime Dog coming off very favorable in comparison.

In 2006 I compared McGriff to Bagwell. Are you aware that McGriff has more career HR, RBI and total bases than Bagwell? Yet McGriff is on the outside of the HoF looking in.

In 2011 I made a case of how steroids using players were hurting the HoF chances of clean players. Probably the only time I can recall really disagreeing with Joe Posnanski.

Fred McGriff deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'm confused. When George W. Bush was President I kept hearing that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. Now these same people are screaming bloody murder because thousands of cops turned their backs in silent protest?... I call this one "Peaceful Protest" or "Respect is Earned not Entitled"... The word "panned" comes from the French word for "breakdowns". So in essence when a movie is panned by critics it is usually because it "breaks down" and things don't work... Just 97 more days until Opening Day in baseball... Just for old times sake - Lima Time!... If "evade" means to escape - shouldn't "vade" mean to get caught?... Once again I expect Jeff Bagwell to get more Hall of Fame votes than Fred McGriff but as I've said from the moment Bagwell retired - that's not right...

Player Comparison

I was intrigued by a comparison of two players who have been in the news these past few months:

Player A: 2150 G/ 449 HR/ 1529 RBI/ .297 BA/ 149 OPS+
Player B: 2035 G/ 473 HR/ 1512 RBI/ .280 BA/ 138 OPS+

Player A recently was up for his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility and his lower than expected vote total upset many stats oriented folks. Player B is considering a comeback but has not played in the Major Leagues since logging 26 games in 2009. Of course Player A is Jeff Bagwell while Player B is Carlos Delgado.

I was surprised by how close the numbers were for the two players (except really for OPS+ which seems close but Bagwell is tied for 34th all-time while Delgado is tied for 83rd). What has me curious is whether Delgado will get close to the support Bagwell got. Heck he may even get more since very few have ever connected Delgado with steroids allegations while that has been a constant thought regarding Bagwell.

Like I said - I just found the comparison interesting.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Jerry Crasnick makes his case for Jeff Bagwell and the Hall of Fame. Here's what bugs me about Jerry's piece - he named every player baseball-reference compares to Bagwell except Fred McGriff - why? Did he purposely make no comparison between Bagwell and McGriff because Crime Dog is considered clean when it comes to steroids and Bagwell not so much?... Jeff Bagwell a 'No' for This Hall Voter. I have to say that he has a point... I shouldn't have to do this but my awesomeness compels me to deny that I have ever used performance enhancing drugs except beer... Very cool chart of weekly 2010 movie revenues... Interesting - supposedly if Michigan waits to fire Rich Rodriguez until after Jan 1st, his buyout drops from $4 million to $2.5 million... Tim Tebow - praise be his name... One the one hand - Jeff Bagwell holds many of the all-time hitting records for the Astros so it should be proper for him to be in the Hall of Fame. On the other hand he made over $128 million playing baseball and if he did do steroids then he's been compensated already.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I am saddened by the death of Steve Landesberg. His character, Lieutenant Dietrich on Barney Miller was one of my favorites of all-time... Wow - last night's lunar eclipse brought renewed interest for Bobbie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. I was not aware that E-Street Band stalwarts Max Weinberg (drums) and Roy Bittan (piano) along with Rick Derringer (guitar) played on that song... Business term I hate most is "best effort". If not specified does that mean you're getting whatever effort the vendor feels like?... It is not fair but I can almost guarantee that Jeff Bagwell will get more Hall of Fame votes than Fred McGriff. Both players finished top 10 in MVP voting 6 times and both won 3 Silver Slugger awards at first base but McGriff has more career HR, RBI and total bases... You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch was sung by Thurl Ravenscroft who was also the voice of Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes... Like a good neighbor State Farm is there (with me minus 20 pounds). (Shit does not work in real life.)... Do you think the Yankees have called Mike Mussina just to see if he's been keeping in shape?... I imagine the $2 mil the Royals sent to the Brewers in the Zach Greinke trade was for Yuniesky Betancourt's 2012 buyout... When did Terry Bowden turn into Tim Allen from the Santa Clause movie?... The Brewers have now assembled a pretty good starting staff with the Greinke trade but they still need closer. Is Rafael Soriano next move?

Bagwell vs. the Crime Dog

Here's a look at the case for Jeff Bagwell and the Hall of Fame. The story tries to take a middle-road - neither pro nor con. Whenever I see these things though I just have to point out how Bagwell compares to Fred McGriff:

- McGriff has more career HR, RBI and total bases.
- Bagwell has an MVP Award but McGriff has a World Series Ring. Both finished top 10 in MVP voting 6 times and both won 3 Silver Slugger awards at first base.
- McGriff was a post season monster with 10 HR in 10 series and a post season batting average of .303 and an OPS of .917. Bagwell had 2 HR in 9 post season series and hit an anemic .226 with a .675 OPS.

I have to wonder why you never see articles about Fred McGriff's case for the Hall of Fame?