Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: There’s Gold in Them Thar Documents

This issue will be a preliminary report on my visit to Chicago, where, with the assistance of a SABR-Yoseloff research grant, I just spent parts of three days at the Chicago History Museum.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Notes on the Run

I am fond of saying that my favorite issue of Notes is the next one (Picasso used to say that about his paintings) — but this time, I really mean it. Because the next issue will be from the other side of three days of research in Chicago.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Pennsylvania Digging

BUT FIRST, THIS JUST IN: The documents purchased by the Chicago History Museum in December 2007 at auction for about $100,000 are now accessible! If this is news to you, see NOTES #425–426. I am planning to travel to Chicago to spend some time with them, May 26-29. I suspect they will provide material for […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: So Much to Read, So Little Time

Last issue, I mentioned that I ran across something from the White Sox bat boy in 1919. Since then, believe it or not, I found an interview of sorts with the assistant bat boy.

Manny and the Hall of Fame

Manny Ramirez has now joined those other superstars who have been tainted by the “steroids scandal.” And the obvious question in some peoples’ minds is what effect will this have on his chances for induction into the Hall of Fame.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Notes From Home and Away

This issue has been put together between and after a couple of road trips. Most of the notes from “home” arrive via the internet these days, but I still frequent my local library, too. In any case, this has been a fun issue to write, and that usually means it will be a fun read, […]

Dick Allen and Fred McGriff and Core Value

In creating the CAWS Career Gauge, I have defined a player’s Core Value (CV) to be the sum of a player’s win shares for his ten best seasons. This concept is at the heart of the Gauge. But why is a player’s CV important in determining whether he has HOF numbers?

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Cradle to the Grave

The phrase seemed to fit this issue, after the opening essay was written. Requiem for a Rookie is, I believe the sixteenth Requiem that has appeared in NOTES over the past, well, sixteen years. But they are not annual features, and never planned. Never really wanted. But they happen.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Another Openin’ (Day), Another Show

It’s a raw day here in the shadows of Cooperstown, and any team opening in central New York would likely be postponed. It will be a while before the local fields are truly playable, the grass has not reeled out its greenness yet; it is suspicious that there may be one more snowfall out there. […]

Core Value and the Hall of Fame

It is common knowledge that the Hall of Fame requires ten years of service at the major league level to be considered for induction. But I have always felt that the 10-year requirement was meant to imply more than that.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Digging It Out

HALL OF FAME HANDBOOK available for FREE

I have put together a document entitled A HALL OF FAME HANDBOOK: Who Belongs and Who Does Not. This is a 100-page MS WORD monograph which contains an explanation of the CAWS Career Gauge (Career Assessment/Win Shares) as well as a number of articles that have appeared on this site.

2013 Hall of Fame Ballot

In a post to SABR-L, Bill Gilbert wrote that in 2013 the following players will appear on the BBWAA ballot for the first time: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa and Curt Schilling. The implication is, of course, that this is a very strong group – and indeed it is.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: The Fourth Estate

If the press is the Fourth Estate for society, keeping an eye on the clergy, nobility (the wealthy), and the commoners (the rest of us) — then sports writers are surely the Fourth Estate of Baseball. They keep an eye — or should — on the players, the team owners (”the Lords of the Realm”) […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: St. Patrick’s Day Edition

The following is from Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown #125, which was first published way back in 1996.

Steroids and the Hall of Fame – Part 3

The Psychology of Voting In the previous two articles, I have stated that given the evidence supplied by Mark McGwire’s first three years of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, I do not believe that the BBWAA writers will ever elect him to the Hall.

Steroids and the Hall of Fame – Part 2

Bonds, Clemens and ARod will Never be Elected to the Hall of Fame In the case of Mark McGwire, the writers who determine who is elected to the Hall of Fame have so far sent a very clear message – If we think you did steroids, you will not get into the Hall of Fame. […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Spring Hopes Eternal

I know that title looks twisted, but we are not talking about what comes out of the human breast here. We are talking spring as in spring training. The time of year when my Pirates trail nobody in the standings, and we can all dream away.

Steroids and the Hall of Fame – Part 1

Mark McGwire – First Batter Up In 1998, Mark McGwire was the toast of baseball – perhaps the most popular baseball player since 1970. His pursuit of the season home-run crown and his battle with Sammy Sosa for the same was the feel-good story of the year. Together, they were credited with helping baseball recover […]

Jim Bunning and the Hall of Fame

Recently on SABR-L there was a discussion regarding Jim Bunning’s credentials for the Hall of Fame. It seems that at least one SABR member felt that if Bunning had not been elected to Congress, then he would not have been elected to the Hall. There followed a number of notes from different members saying why […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Time Marches On

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: A Song For All Sinners

This issue’s curious title comes from the last item below, a poem featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson, that I found tucked neatly inside a column by Grantland Rice, in the Atlanta Constitution, October 22, 1929. The poem is not Rice’s — it was penned by Eugene Manlove Rhodes, and while you can Google him, I don’t […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: A Convenient Amnesia

I think we’ve all read or heard some variation of George Santayana’s, “Those who fail to remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana, despite that name which will mean delays at the airport check-in, was a born-in-Spain American (1863-1952), who thought and wrote in the wake of the Civil War, a voice for […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Just an Idea

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Pilgrim’s Progress

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: January Thaw

The headline above is a hopeful phrase here in upstate NY, where the temperatures are heading for negative double-digits. We don’t always get a thaw, but after a while, the teens start to feel warm. The snow piled up between the roads and sidewalks can be more of a problem for drivers, especially those backing […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Return to Normalcy

Spend enough time researching in the newspapers and magazines of 1919-1920, and the phrase “Return to Normalcy” is drummed into your head. It won the presidential election for Warren Gamaliel Harding some 88 years ago, which demonstrated that candidates’ middle names need not be obstacles, and that change is a promise that usually strikes a […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Happy Holidays

This may be the final NOTES for 2008, unless I squeeze in one more … looks like our Christmas will be white and deep here in the shadows of Cooperstown … some traveling is on deck, family home for the holidays, so #472 just might kick off 2009.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Winter Stars

Feedback on my APBA simulations has been meager so far, and what little I’ve received has been split. So I suspect that I will gradually phase it out, relegating it to occasional mention here, the way it used to be.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Winter Wonderland

No, the shadows of Cooperstown are not yet falling over deep piles and drifts of snow. (In fact, I’ve guaranteed that we will have a mild winter, by buying a new snow-thrower.) Instead, this title refers to the contents of this issue — pure Fantasyland. My Sweet Sixteen tournament concludes, with the Cubs and Tigers […]

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Then There Were Two

Nothing in this issue but the two semi-final series of the “Sweet Sixteen” (APBA simulation) tournament that has been playing out here in Notes for the last several months, starting with #459. If this was an actual tournament, it would take about a month to complete — kinda like the MLB post-season with its layers […]

Mike Mussina in the Hall of Fame?

Mike Mussina retired recently after his first 20-win season in 2008 and a number of pundits began to ask the question: Does he belong in the Hall of Fame?

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Thanksgiving Doubleheader

SWEET SIXTEEN PLAYOFFS: ROUND TWO, NATIONAL LEAGUE: PIRATES VS PHILS This is the ninth in a series of reports on a simulated playoff of the sixteen “original franchise” teams. The results of the first-round American League “brackets” are in NOTES 459-461. The first results of the NL brackets are in #462-464. See NOTES #459 for […]

Hall of Fame Credentials: Jim Rice and Tim Raines

In the 2008 BBWAA balloting for the Hall of Fame, Jim Rice received 72.2% of the vote. It seems that he may be poised to be elected this year – in his 15th year on the ballot. 2008 was Tim Raines first year on the ballot and he received 24.3% of the vote.

Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown: Roots

SWEET SIXTEEN PLAYOFFS: ROUND TWO, AMERICAN LEAGUE: ATHLETICS VS INDIANS This is the eighth in a series of reports on a simulated playoff of the sixteen “original franchise” teams. The results of the first-round American League “brackets” are in NOTES 459-461. The first results of the NL brackets are in #462-464. See NOTES #459 for […]

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