What he did: For being a baseball Hall of Famer, and one of his sport’s greatest living players, Al Kaline is a forgotten man sometimes. Sure, the longtime Detroit Tiger has 3,007 hits, a .297 lifetime batting average, and a revered spot in his franchise’s lore. But ask anyone the greatest outfielder of the 1950s [...]
Archive for March, 2012
Managers with the Most Wins and Their Playing Careers Part II: Decades
Posted: 29th March 2012 by Albert Lang in Baseball Hall of Fame, MLBRecently, we looked at how the group of managers with 900 or more wins broke down globally. This piece attempts to ascertain how the attributes of managers with 900 or more wins changed or not over time. 1980s – Average playing career: 11.5 seasons – War: 20 Mgr Played in MLB WAR W L W-L% Plyof App [...]
Years ago, I had a good job that required extensive traveling. During the 1970s taking an airplane from New York to, for example, Chicago was something to look forward to. The three major airlines that served Chicago—United, American and the old TWA, offered flights that left every hour. As your taxi pulled up to La [...]
Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Andy Pettitte
Posted: 27th March 2012 by Alex Putterman in Andy PettitteClaim to Fame: Andy Pettitte was an anchor of the Yankees 1990s dynasty, rarely their best pitcher but always a reliable arm. He pitched much of the next decade with the Bombers, a three-year stint with his hometown Houston breaking up 13 seasons in New York. Pettitte has won 240 regular season games, made three all-star [...]
It’s been a long time coming, but after nearly a month, the end of voting for the BPP All-Time Dream Project is less than two days out. The polls close Tuesday at 9 p.m. PST, and for anyone who hasn’t done so already, it’s not too late to pick a nine-player lineup. As I write [...]
Managers with the Most Wins and Their Playing Careers Part I, an Overview
Posted: 23rd March 2012 by Albert Lang in Best of lists, MLBTags: great managers in baseball history, great players in baseball history, relationship between players and managers
Let’s get this out of the way: team wins are an imperfect way to measure managerial success. Throughout this series, we’ll look at different ways to ascertain a good manager. While many (from GM to utility infielder) have a hand in a win, certainly managers who stuck around long enough to manage teams that won [...]
Any Player/Any Era: Bobby Grich
Posted: 22nd March 2012 by Albert Lang in Any player/Any eraTags: any player/any era, Bobby Grich
What he did: For an even longer take on the enormity of Bobby Grich’s career, check out Graham’s Does he Belong in the Hall of Fame piece on Grich. For whatever reason, some players lack the mystique or aura of great players, while some flawed players have that “it factor” that creates an undeserved reputation [...]
Our friends over at Seamheads.com had a great post about some of history’s most famous baseball voices. Included were Ernie Harwell, Red Barber, Mel Allen, Bob Prince and Vin Scully. I’ve heard them all. None held a candle to Phil Rizzuto who for 40 years did the New York Yankees’ color commentary. For 15 of [...]
Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Johnny Murphy
Posted: 20th March 2012 by Graham Womack in Johnny MurphyClaim to fame: I’ll start by thanking broadcaster Len Berman for including a link to the BPP All-Time Dream Project in a recent mass email. The link led to votes from about 50 people, including the son of former New York Yankees pitcher Johnny Murphy who emailed and suggested I add a relief pitcher category. [...]
The Hall of Very Good, According to wWAR
Posted: 19th March 2012 by Adam Darowski in Hall of wWAR (Adam Darowski)A while back, I created an alternate Hall of Fame called the Hall of wWAR. wWAR, or weighted wins above replacement, is a modification to the WAR statistic found at Baseball-Reference. It was adjusted, or weighted, for several factors like peak performance, playoff heroics, and season schedule length. It reduced every player in history to just one [...]