Oh ya I still need to complete this. The Loser League goes out with a whimper which should have been expected.
1988 Atlanta Braves def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 0
Game 1: Braves 5, ORIOLES 3
Game 2: Braves 11, ORIOLES 1
Game 3: BRAVES 5, Orioles 4
Game 4: BRAVES 5, Orioles 4 10 innings
The series ended on a Gerald Perry RBI single off of Tom Neidenfuer (man never count on this guy in the postseason) to complete the sweep and crown the 1988 Baltimore Orioles as the
Yes, Pujols is too low but again I was conservative with players who still have several years left in their career.
#40
Jeff Kent, 2B
#39
Will Clark, 1B
#38
Carlos Beltran, CF
#37
Vladimir Guerrero, RF
#36
John Smoltz, SP/RP
#35
Tom Glavine, SP
#34
Alan Trammell, SS
#33
Jim Edmonds, CF
#32
Curt Schilling, SP
#31
Ozzie Smith, SS
#30
Derek Jeter, SS
#29
Lou Whitaker, 2B
#28
1982 Minnesota Twins def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 2
Game 1: Twins 6, ORIOLES 4 10 innings
Game 2: Twins 3, ORIOLES 2
Game 3: TWINS 7, Orioles 1
Game 4: Orioles 7, TWINS 5
Game 5: Orioles 6, TWINS 2
Game 6: Twins 7, ORIOLES 2
After dropping their first six games of the postseason the '88 Orioles made a spirited comeback but all it meant was that they forced their fans to see another home game. Eddie Murray may be in the Hall of Fame but he takes Least Valuable Playe
It's playoff time for the Loser League and remember it will be loser advances. There's only one Losertober!
1979 Oakland A's def. 1988 Baltimore Orioles 3 games to 0
Game 1: A'S 24, Orioles 4
Game 2: A'S 11, Orioles 3
Game 3: A's 7, ORIOLES 3
That Game 1 score is not a misprint as this series reminds you why Baltimore lost 21 games to start the 1988 season. Baltimore's team ERA for the series was 14.40 as the A's hit .374 as a team. No word yet if Cal Ripken will request to pu
Now we start to get to the meat of the list and I swear that's not a crack at the next player on the list.
#60
Andruw Jones, CF
#59
Bret Saberhagen, SP
#58
Kenny Lofton, CF
#57
Robin Ventura, 3B
#56
Albert Belle, LF
#55
Kevin Brown, SP
#54
Fred McGriff, 1B
#53
Sammy Sosa, RF
#52
Jorge Posada, C
#51
Jason Giambi, 1B
#50
Lance Berkman, OF/1B
#49
Larry Walker, RF
#48
Kir
Ohhhhhhh what a finish! Okay not really as all races were decided before the last day of the season. But we did have a surprise as the '03 Tigers, losers of 119 games, will not advance to the postseason as they were beat out by the '88 Orioles for the Loser Card. All the division races went to those who have been "leading" most of the year. Here are your A.L. playoff match-ups.
'88 Orioles vs. '79 A's
'79 Blue Jays vs. '82 Twins
And let's recognize those who were the best of the Lose
With a month left in the season the '79 Blue Jays have an outside chance of losing more games in the Loser League than they did back in 1979. That would truly be an astonishing feat of futility. We finally had a "lead" change in the West as the '80 Mariners eeked by the '79 A's by one game setting up what should be a thrilling finish. The '03 Tigers still cling to the Loser Card by two games over the '88 Orioles.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1
See the first entry as to why certain players won't be on the list. And I think I should be commended for my courage in putting a certain someone on this list.
#80
Rat Piece of Shit, DH/RF
#79
Tony Phillips, 2B/LF/3B
#78
Matt Williams, 3B
#77
Mike Cameron, CF
#76
Tim Salmon, RF
#75
Lenny Dykstra, CF
#74
Johnny Damon, CF
#73
Miguel Tejada, SS
#72
Dave Stieb, SP
#71
Don Mattingly, 1B
#70
Not a whole lot of movement in the A.L. as the division "leaders" are still the '79 Blue Jays, '82 Twins, and '79 A's with the '03 Tigers holding down the Loser Card spot. Only in the Loser League could Emil Brown lead the league in RBI.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
1990 NYA 63 46 A.Huff TBA .362 A.Belle CLA 30 E.Brown KCA 87
2002 TBA 56 52 E.Brown KCA .343 E.Murray BAA 26 A.Belle CLA 83
1992 BOA 56 53 R
This is something I've wanted to do for a while and have tried a couple of similar lists before but ended abandoning them. I once had an almost completed list for the top 100 players since 1986, which I consider my sports lifetime, but I ran into problems when it came to evaluating players who may have had their peak occur after 1986 but had played several years before 1986. I also felt the list I had compiled was overly subjective and I just simply was not satisfied by my results.
Now of c
Unrelated to the Loser League, I did finish my Top 100 MLB players of my lifetime list and it will be coming to a blog (this one) soon!
The '79 Blue Jays continue to be in a class of their own in the A.L. East as they now have a 10 1/2 game "lead" over the '88 Orioles and might as well start printing their postseason tickets to Exhibition Stadium. The losers of the month though in the A.L. were the '82 Twins who went a stomach turning 5-22 to move ahead/behind the '03 Tigers in the Central
The '79 Blue Jays followed up an awful April with an even worse May and now have a commanding nine game "lead" in the cellar of the A.L. East. Their year-mates the '79 A's had a brutal May as well and have committed a league worst 74 errors in 56 games.
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
2002 TBA 32 25 K.Hrbek MNA .404 E.Murray BAA 16 A.Huff TBA 54
1990 NYA 29 28 J.Orsulak BAA .363 K.Hrbek MNA 15 B.Grich LAA 49
1988 B
The Loser League is underway! See the orignal entry on how the league will work. I'll do entries for each completed month.
Through April the '79 Blue Jays are bringing up the rear in the A.L. East as they rank dead last in runs scored, highlighted by Danny Ainge who's hitting .186/.208/.229 in 70 at bats.
NEWSPAPER STYLE RECAP FOR 2008 American League Date: 5/1/2008
TEAM WON LOST BATTING AVERAGE HOME RUNS RUNS BATTED IN
2002 TBA 18 10 T.Long
Quicky entry here. First off I'm currently working on a list of the 100 greatest baseball players of my lifetime. Whether I actually finish it is another story as I've tried to do similar lists like this before and always ended up chucking the whole thing.
Hey it's World Baseball Classic time and for this entry just going to very quickly put together my own Team USA. I did this a for 2006 (LOLZ Dontrelle Willis) so might as well do it for 2009 since I need an excuse for an entry. This time
Roy Oswalt is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore!
Okay first off this is just silly. You're an active player and a very good one at that. A-Rod hasn't cost you a spot in the Majors, hell he's not even a pitcher!
So why did God let these heathens have their performance enhancing drugs? Jesus didn't need steroids to hit a curveball!
Hmm, interesting considering they've never even played in the same league together but they have faced off in three games in
Another day, another OMG BASEBALL IS DEAD story. But I'm here to help the healing begin with a distraction. It's time to decide who was the worst team of my lifetime!
In a desperate need for content for this blog I've decided to run a simulation using Strat-O-Matic to crown the worst team of last 30 years. Each MLB franchise will be represented with their worst team from the last 30 seasons. I'll be using the 2008 MLB schedule as a guideline for the league as no way I'm going to take the ti
As I've mentioned previously I love original televised footage of classic games and I recently added two more DVD sets to my collection one for the Pittsburgh Steelers and one for Oklahoma Sooners football. First off regarding the Oklahoma set, I probably should have actually looked up the scores to the games on the set before purchasing it as only one of the five games was decided by single digits (1976 Orange Bowl), but oh well. There is a bonus feature "The Best of the Barry Switzer Show" whi
In a couple of weeks we have the chance to witness something none of us have seen before (I assume we have no one in their 60's on this board) and that is see the Cardinals as champions of the NFL. This got me to wonder about how many franchises in the four major North American professional sports leagues have never won their league's championship in my lifetime. I also wanted to know who would replace the Cardinals as the most moribund franchise in the NFL (I know you will all be shocked!) and
While I'm still trying to figure out what to do next with this blog, King Kamala's post about the A's 20th straight win in 2002 in offseason thread reminded me that I recently tripped upon some old A's highlights. This past season was the A's 40th year in Oakland and they had some Top 40 Moments poll, which I didn't even realize until after the season, but I guess on MLB.com at one point they posted a ton of old A's clips. I think they've been taken down off the A's site since then but by accide
Rickey Henderson, Left Fielder
Oakland Athletics 1979-1984, 1989-1993, 1994-1995, 1998
New York Yankees 1985-1989
Toronto Blue Jays 1993
San Diego Padres 1996-1997, 2001
Anaheim Angels 1997
New York Mets 1999-2000
Seattle Mariners 2000
Boston Red Sox 2002
Los Angeles Dodgers 2003
Awards
1981 AL Gold Glove - OF
1981 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1985 AL Silver Slugger - OF
1989 ALCS MVP
1990 AL MVP
1990 AL Silver Slugger - OF
League Leader
1980: Stolen Bases
Mark Grace, First Baseman
Chicago Cubs 1988-2000
Arizona Diamondbacks 2001-2003
Awards
1992 NL Gold Glove - 1B
1993 NL Gold Glove - 1B
1995 NL Gold Glove - 1B
1996 NL Gold Glove - 1B
All-Star Selections: 3 (1993, 1995, 1997)
League Leader
1995: Doubles
Career Ranks
Doubles: 39th
Walks: 79th
Runs Created: 98th
Best Performance
July 7, 1989 - San Diego at Chicago
Goes 4 for 4 with three doubles and a home run.
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink:
Jay Bell, Shortstop
Cleveland Indians 1986-1988
Pittsburgh Pirates 1989-1996
Kansas City Royals 1997
Arizona Diamondbacks 1998-2002
New York Mets 2003
Awards
1993 NL Gold Glove - SS
1993 NL Silver Slugger - SS
All-Star Selections: 2 (1993, 1999)
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
None of note
Best Performance
July 27, 1991 - Pittsburgh at Houston
Goes 4 for 5 with two home runs, four runs scored, and four rbi.
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Bat
Ron Gant, Left Fielder
Atlanta Braves 1987-1993
Cincinnati Reds 1995
St. Louis Cardinals 1996-1998
Philadelphia Phillies 1999-2000
Anaheim Angels 2000
Colorado Rockies 2001
Oakland Athletics 2001, 2003
San Diego Padres 2002
Awards
1991 NL Silver Slugger - OF
All-Star Selections: 2 (1992, 1995)
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
Home Runs: 96th
Best Performance
July 5, 1990 - New York at Atlanta
Easy pick as he matches he career high in hits (fou
David Cone, Starting Pitcher
Kansas City Royals 1986, 1993-1994
New York Mets 1987-1992, 2003
Toronto Blue Jays 1992, 1995
New York Yankees 1995-2000
Boston Red Sox 2001
Awards
1994 AL Cy Young
All-Star Selections: 5 (1988, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999)
League Leader
1988: W/L Pct.
1990: Strikeouts, K/9, K/BB
1991: Strikeouts, K/9
1992: Shutouts, K/9
1995: Innings
1998: Wins
Career Ranks
Strikeouts: 22nd
Games Started: 99th
W/L Pct: 95th
H/9: 62nd
