The King of Baseball

Hey baseball fans! As some of you know, Masahiro Tanaka won his 25th consecutive game pitched a couple days ago for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese professional baseball league, breaking the 75-year-old record that was held by Carl Hubbell, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Giants. Some of you might be asking […]

NJBM Kids’ Hot Korner: Ryne Sandberg

Hey baseball fans! I just put up my latest post in the Kids’ Hot Korner section of New Jersey Baseball Magazine. This one is about Ryne Sandberg, the Cubs Hall of Famer. If you want to read more about Ryne, just click here. I hope you enjoy that article and thanks for reading it. Check back in a […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Rickey Henderson

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the last video in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you don’t know who it is, here’s a hint: this outfielder played in four decades and is most remembered for his ability to steal bases and score runs. If you haven’t guessed who he is, I’m […]

Kid Blogger’s Live Interview with Goose Gossage

Hey baseball fans! Here’s the latest in my series of Baseball Hall of Fame Classic live interviews. If you’d like a hint: this person is a certain Hall of Famer who is not a mammal, but rather a type of bird. If you still need another hint: he pitched against George Brett in the famous “pine tar […]

Kid Blogger Interviews Jim Leyritz Live at the HOF

Hey baseball fans! As I mentioned in a past blog post, over the next couple of weeks I will be posting the video interviews taped by the Hall of Fame’s Multi-Media Manager, Roger Lansing, of me interviewing various Hall of Famers and other retired players when I was at the Hall of Fame Classic. Today I […]

A Grooved Pitch—Hall of Famer vs. Three Game Cup of Coffee Youngster

On Sunday, May 26, 1912, the sixth place American Association Milwaukee Brewers opened a series against the second place Minneapolis Millers, facing future Hall of Fame member Rube Waddell. The eccentric Waddell is known to most baseball fans. Although on the downside of his career, he was still a pitcher to be reckoned with. During […]

Lasorda Hospitalized After Heart Attack

Lasorda hospitalized after heart attack (via AFP) Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has been hospitalized in New York after suffering a heart attack on Monday, the Major League Baseball team announced on Tuesday. Lasorda, 84, is a Baseball Hall of Famer who represented the Dodgers at the Major League Baseball Draft when he […]

Derek Jeter Moves Up All-Time Hits List

Derek Jeter moves up all-time hits list (via AFP) New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter tied George Brett for 14th on Major League Baseball’s all-time hits list with two singles in New York’s 9-2 victory over Oakland. Jeter on Saturday tied Hall of Famer Brett at 3,154 hits with a bunt single in the fifth […]

2012 Milestones (And Beyond): Runs Scored

Ten days ago I wrote that we won’t be witnessing any real milestones in wins for a long time unless Jaimie Moyer makes a successful comeback, and even that’s no guarantee.  Using Bill James’ “Favorite Toy” at ESPN.go.com (called “Career Assessments” now), I deduced that CC Sabathia has a 45% chance of reaching the 300-win […]

Rating the 2012 Hall of Fame Candidates Based on Win Shares

One of the first items of business in baseball each year is the announcement of players elected to the Hall of Fame.  This leads to lots of speculation and a little analysis prior to the announcement which is scheduled forJanuary 9, 2012. Many systems exist for evaluating player performance.  One such system, the Win Shares […]

The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach

After finishing Chad Harbach’s fine baseball novel, The Art of Fielding, on Friday night, I could not help seeing Joe Maddon astride the bow of his whaler, with Evan Longoria and the lads manning the oars behind him as their captain sinks his harpoon into the great white, pin-striped leviathan. The book stews its baseball slowly […]

The Hall of Famers: The 5 Levels of Greatness – Part 4

In this article (the last in this series), I will present the Level 5 players who posted Hall of Fame numbers during the 20th century.  In Levels 1 through 4, there were eighty-eight (88) position players who had a CAWS career score of at least 280.  In Level 5, we have the other twenty-eight (28) […]

“All In” – Starting Pitchers and the Hall of Fame

With the induction of Bert Blyleven into the Hall of Fame in 2011, every starting pitcher in the second half of the 20th century who has HOF numbers is now in Cooperstown. Let me be a bit more precise.  According to the CAWS Career Gauge, every starting pitcher whose career began after World War II […]

All Phillies…All the Time — What’s on Second?

Having previously answered the burning question, “who’s on first?” the time has come to address, “what’s on second?” The answer, unlike that given by Bud Abbott, is simple… an all-time Hall of Famer and the current best second baseman in baseball. Oh sure, there are others worth mentioning; Tony Taylor (backwards, Ynot Rolyat), Juan Samuel, […]

Hall of Famer Phil Niekro to Appear on This Thursday’s “Braves Banter”

Phil Niekro, who was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1997 after a 24-year career in which he won 318 games, will be Dan Schlossberg’s guest on this Thursday’s edition of “Braves Banter” on the Seamheads National Podcasting Network.  Join Dan and his co-host Chris Mascaro for their 30-minute chat […]

2011 AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Closer

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

Is Andy Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

As things currently stand, the New York Yankees will go into the 2011 season without Andy Pettitte as part of their starting rotation. We’ve known for some time now that this could be a real possibility as he had stated at the end of the 2010 season the same sentiment he’s made at the end […]

Is Mark Belanger a Hall of Famer?

If we grant admission to players such as DHs and relievers who were one-dimensional, then we should think seriously about admitting players who played Hall of Fame caliber defense, but were weak with the stick. And that brings me to former Oriole shortstop Mark Belanger.

“Helping Those Who Have A Greater Need Than Our Own”

What’s the measure of a person?  How do you gauge his or her character? It’s the sort of question that people have been debating for years. Indeed, no less than the founder of the American Newspaper Guild, the late Heywood Campbell Broun, once weighed in on the topic. “Sports do not build character,” he remarked. […]

Let’s Re-Elect Dizzy!

Here we go, folks–sing along with me. . . . As anyone knows who pays close attention To America’s favorite game, The announcers and writers do not have a “wing” In the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Despite all the protests of well-meaning fans And colleagues of mikemen and scribes, The announcers and writers do not […]

Unfortunately, I Was Right

In 2004, long-time Bay Area sports announcer Lon Simmons won the Ford Frick Award presented annually at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown. From that moment, Jon Miller, who idolized Simmons since childhood from listening to him broadcast Giants games, began referring to Simmons as a “Hall of Fame announcer.” Miller, I was […]

How To Be An Idol

I met a great man last month. Doug Harvey visited the Hall of Fame for the day-long orientation given new electees, including a tour of the museum and collections and a staff reception. At these receptions, the new Hall of Famer usually speaks briefly, lets his wife say a few words, and spends 20-30 minutes […]

Instants Of Clueless Clarity

I had dinner last night with a couple of friends visiting from out of town, and told two of my favorite Hall of Fame library stories. They’re dandies, so I may as well tell the rest of the world. The stories have two things in common. Both involved telephone inquiries from people who were entirely […]

So Long, Mr. Harwell

The Detroit Tigers happened to be out of town this past May 4th–playing at the new Target Field in Minnesota. Soon came the seventh-inning stretch and a picture of a smiling Ernie Harwell graced the stadium’s bright, new big screen. The news was then announced–though many fans were already privy to the inevitable: the Hall […]

Touring the Bases With…Gene Conley

The winning pitcher of the ’55 All-Star Game and the only person to win championships in two major sports, the man basically went an entire DECADE without a day off; Red Sox Hall of Famer Frank Sullivan told me that kind of streak should be in the same conversation as DiMaggio’s.  A truly remarkable and nice man….Click here to […]