I’ve wanted to do another one these for a while now and to tie it in with the 1986 TSM Baseball Simulation League (only two spots left, sign up today!) so figured I should pick a team from 1986 which is about as much thought as I put into picking the ’86 Texas Rangers for this entry, although they had a very interesting, young outfield.
The Rangers were coming of a 99 loss season in 1985 and were fielding one of the younger teams in the league entering the ’86 season. They would spend a good portion of the first half of the season in first place in the A.L. West but lost the lead for good in early July to the eventual division champion Angels. The stayed within striking distance through most of August but the Angels were able to coast to the division crown in September.
C: Don Slaught (.264/.308/.449, 14.5 VORP, 11.6 Win Shares) – Good hitting catcher but was rarely used full-time due to his poor defense. Rangers acquired him a four team deal before the ’85 season and he would be traded three more times in his career. Traded to the Yankees after the ’87 season he then signed with the Pirates in 1990 where he would have his longest tenure and best years. Signed with the Reds in 1996 but was dealt to the Angels before ever playing a game in Cincinnati, then traded in waiver deadline deal later that year to the White Sox. Signed with San Diego in 1997 but was released in May which marked the end of his career.
1B: Pete O’Brien (.290/.385/.468, 40.4 VORP, 23.9 Win Shares) – This was a career year for O’Brien during a solid four year stretch from ’83 to ’87. Rangers would trade him in a package deal to the Cleveland for Julio Franco following the ’88 season. Signed a four year deal with the Mariners after 1989 which ended up being a complete disaster for Seattle.
2B: Toby Harrah (.218/.332/.367, 3.1 VORP, 6.6 Win Shares) – Last season of a 17 year career spent primarily as a third baseman and shortstop. Had an excellent plate patience (had a career high .432 OBP at age 36 a year earlier) and hit for decent power but was very poor defensively.
3B: Steve Buechele (.243/.302/.410, 2.4 VORP, 12.2 Win Shares) – Ever have one of those players that you irrationally hated when you were younger and can’t remember why? Buechele was one of those guys for me. Pretty good defense but never much with the bat. Traded to Pittsburgh in a waiver deal in 1991 who then would trade him midseason the following year to the Cubs. Released by them in 1995, he then returned for I suppose a nostalgia return to the Texas that lasted 19 days.
SS: Scott Fletcher (.300/.360/.400, 35.5 VORP, 19.9 Win Shares) – Another career year here, I already talked about him in the 1992 Milwaukee Brewers entry.
OF: Ruben Sierra (.264/.302/.476, 9.4 VORP, 11.2 Win Shares) – Gary Ward was the primary left fielder this season for the Rangers and had a few more plate appearances but I couldn’t pass up talking about “The Village Idiot.” Never became the next Roberto Clemente as some had pegged him, he showed a lot of promise early in his career with a couple of outstanding years in 1989 and 1991 but peaked in his mid-20’s. Traded in a blockbuster deadline deal to the A’s in 1992 for a rat piece of shit. I was thrilled at the time but after the ’92 season Sierra decided to bulk up and become more of a power hitter which did not pay off. Had very much worn out his welcome by 1995 and was traded to the Yankees for fellow disgruntled outfielder Danny Tartabull. Traded again almost exactly a year later to the Tigers for Cecil Fielder who would toss him off to the Reds following season. For the next ten years he bounced to the Blue Jays, White Sox, Mets (minors only), Indians, back to the Rangers, Mariners, Rangers yet again, Yankees again, and finally the Twins in 2006. Did sign a minor league deal with the Mets last season but nothing came of it.
CF: Oddibe McDowell (.266/.341/.427, 23.1 VORP, 19.8 Win Shares) – Quite possibly the greatest first name in the history of first names, this was as good as would get for Oddibe as his career flamed pretty quick. Was part of the deal for Julio Franco following the ’88 season, wouldn’t last very long in Cleveland as they dealt him to the Braves midseason in ’89. Put up some solid numbers in half a season with Atlanta but came back down to earth again the following year. Didn’t appear in the Majors between 1991 and 1993 before making a return to the Rangers in 1994 as a back up.
RF: Pete Incaviglia (.250/.320/.463, 16.4 VORP, 16.1 Win Shares) – There was a lot of buzz about Incaviglia going into the season as he made the Rangers without playing a single game in the minors after putting up record numbers at Oklahoma State. Certainly had a lot of power but his inability to make consistent contact kept his homerun totals down as the 30 he hit this season as rookie would end up being a career high. Was released by the Rangers before the 1991 season, would spend the next two years in Detroit and Houston. In 1993 he signed with the Phillies where he made a pretty good contribution as a platoon player on their pennant winning team. Spent one more season there before playing a year Japan and then returning to Philly in 1996. They would trade him a waiver deadline deal to Baltimore later that year, would bounce around to three more teams and was out of the Majors after 1998.
DH: Larry Parrish (.276/.347/.509, 32.6 VORP, 16.7 Win Shares) – Already discussed him in the 1980 Montreal Expos entry, this was one of his best seasons.
Rotation
Charlie Hough (114 ERA+, 33.2 VORP, 14.2 Win Shares) – It’s amazing when you look back at Hough’s career that he wasn’t a regular starting pitcher until age 34. The knuckeballer was 38 at this point (looked 50) and was in the middle of the best stretch of his career. Signed as a free agent with the White Sox after 1990, spent two years there and then was part of the expansion Marlins for the final two years of his career.
Ed Correa (102 ERA+, 27.8 VORP, 10.3 Win Shares) – Correa was only 20 years old and this was his only full season in the Majors. Had 189 strikeouts but also 126 walks so I’ll just guess he threw hard but had no clue where it was going most of the time. Played just one more year in the Majors.
Bobby Witt (79 ERA+, -2.2 VORP, 3.4 Win Shares) – This was Witt’s rookie year and he clearly wasn’t ready. In his first two seasons he threw 300 1/3 innings and walked 283 batters. Yikes. Only had one good year in 1990 and would be part of the before mentioned Sierra/Shit trade in 1992 to Oakland. Signed with the Marlins in 1995 but would be traded back to Texas later that season. Dealt to the Cardinals in 1998, he became a nomad the rest of his career but did pick up a World Series ring in his final year in 2001 with Diamondbacks.
Jose Guzman (95 ERA+, 10.2 VORP, 6.1 Win Shares) – Yet another young pitcher, I always thought he was Juan Guzman’s brother but I was wrong. After a decent year in 1988 shoulder problems would cost him full two seasons but did comeback to have two more solid years in Texas. He parlayed that into a lucrative four year deal with the Cubs which was good for him and bad for the Cubs as his arm problems returned in 1994 and didn’t pitch a single inning for them the last two years of the deal.
Closer: Greg Harris (152 ERA+, 30.4 VORP, 14.3 Win Shares) – This was the only year that Harris was really a closer per say as most of his career was a long reliever/swingman. Had several stops in his career with his longest being in Boston from 1989 to 1994. His claim to fame is that in this game (next to last appearance of his career) as a member of the Expos he became the only pitcher in the 20th century to throw from both sides of the mound.
For the first time in a while I actually felt like writing a real blog entry and doing one of my favorite, but time consuming, series of entries the "Where'd The Go?" series. This time around I picked a Brewers team since they are finally relevant again. While the Brewers do have the Cubs breathing down their necks in their attempt to break the franchise's 25 year postseason drought, they at least do appear to finally be on their way to their first winning season in 15 years so I will look back at that team.
The 1992 Milwaukee Brewers have always stuck in my mind only because that season they were the only team during the regular season to have a winning record against the A's as County Stadium was always house of horrors for Oakland for whatever reason. The Brewers won 92 games that year under first year manager Phil Garner, finishing four games behind the eventual World Champion Blue Jays in the East. That on the surface would make it sound like a close race but in reality the Brewers were never a serious factor and it was 20-7 September when the Blue Jays were comfortably ahead already that propelled them up the standings. Between June 6th and September 18th the Brewers spent just one day in 2nd place in the East before finally overtaking the Orioles for good on September 19th. This team would have almost the last remnants of the 1982 Harvey's Wallbangers as it would be both Paul Molitor and Jim Gatner's last year with the team and Robin Yount would retire after the following season.
C: B.J. Surhoff (.252/.314/.321, 1.9 VORP, 16.2 Win Shares) - This was Surhoff's final season as a regular catcher as he would only play 33 more games behind the plate, the last coming in 1995 which was also his last year with the club. Signed as a free agent with Baltimore where he'd be a remarkably consistent if not great hitter. They traded him in a deadline deal to the Braves in 2000 but he'd return to the Orioles in 2003 playing his final three years there.
1B: Franklin Stubbs (.229/.297/.368, -2.8 VORP, 6.8 Win Shares) - Stubbs was a former big time prospect for the Dodgers who never lived up to the hype and was toast by age 30. He was actually even worse in '91 (.213/.282/.359) but the Brewers were stuck with him after signing him to a two year contract after his one good season in 1990 while in Houston. Played one more year in the Majors with Detroit. His #1 similarity score is Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson so maybe he has a future as a god awful announcer.
2B: Scott Fletcher (.275/.335/.360, 12.5 VORP, 17.4 Win Shares) - A slick fielding second baseman, this was Fletcher's only year in Milwuakee. Signed as a free agent with the Red Sox where he spent two years and then had his final year in 1995 with Detroit. His main claim to fame is he was a part of the Harold Baines/Sammy Sosa trade in 1989.
3B: Kevin Seitzer (.270/.337/.367, 11.7 VORP, 15.6 Win Shares) - Seitzer had an odd career as his best season's where his rookie year (1987) and his next to last year (1996). Could hit for average, draw a walk, and played a decent third base but never really stood out partly because he had almost no power. Signed with the A's following this year, which I now just remembered, where he struggled. They gave up on him quickly by releasing him in July and went right back to Milwaukee where he started hitting again. Traded to the Indians during his shockingly good age 34 year in '96 in a waiver deadline deal for Jeromy Burnitz and would retire after the following season.
SS: Pat Listach (.290/.352/.349, 36.4 VORP, 20.7 Win Shares) - One of the great mystery Rookie of the Year winners who people years from now, and maybe even today, who look back at old award winners and will ask "Who the hell was Pat Listach?" He beat out Kenny Lofton for the award despite Lofton having the better season and well it would be understatement to say Listach didn't do much of anything else after 1992. Brewers traded him to the Yankees in late 1996 as part of a Graeme Lloyd/Bob Wickman swap but he never played for them. Played one season in Houston before being out of the Majors.
LF: Greg Vaughn (.228/.313/.409, 5.7 VORP, 15.6 Win Shares) - Vaughn was the only legit power threat in the '92 Brewers line up as he led the team with 23 homeruns, Paul Molitor being the only player on the team with more than 10. His breakout year would be the followings season but he was wildly inconsistent for most of his career. Traded in a deadline deal to the Padres in 1996 where he'd have his best year in 1998 when he hit 50 homeruns and finished 4th in the MVP voting. He was then traded after that season to the Reds where he spent one year there, played three seasons in Tampa Bay, and one partial season in Colorado in 2003 before retiring.
CF: Robin Yount (.264/.325/.390, 14.4 VORP, 20.1 Win Shares) - As already mentioned this was Yount's next to last season and he was still a decent enough player but had clearly declined quite a bit since his second MVP season of 1989. Probably could have hung on a couple of more years past 1993 as a back up but decided to retire at age 37. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.
RF: Darryl Hamilton (.298/.356/.400, 27.0 VORP, 18.0 Win Shares) - Dante Bichette actually played more games in right field than any other Brewer but was more of a platoon player as Hamilton saw more action playing all three outfield positions. Adequate hitter, good glove centerfielder, Hamilton spent seven years in Milwaukee. Signed as a free agent with Texas after 1995 where he spent just one season and then signed with the Giants. They traded him a deadline deal ('92 Brewers: Deadline Deal Kings) in 1998 to the Rockies for Ellis Burks which ended being a really stupid trade for Colorado. He'd be traded in yet another deadline deal in 1999 to Mets where he accoding to his Wiki entry he didn't get along with Bobby Valentine and put a "hex" on the Mets after being released in 2001. Now works in the Commissioner's Office shining Bud Selig's shoes or something.
DH: Paul Molitor (.320/.398/.461, 58.7, 28.4 Win Shares) - Still an excellent hitter at age 35, I placed him 4th in my 1992 A.L. MVP Redo. After 15 years in Milwaukee he departed thru free agency to Toronto in 1993 where he had even a better season and placed 2nd in the MVP voting that year. He would have one of the great postseason performances of all-time leading the Blue Jays two a second straight World Championship and winning the World Series MVP. Signed with his hometown Twins after 1995 to finish out his career, retiring after 1998. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Starting Rotation
Bill Wegman (120 ERA+, 48.2 VORP, 15.5 Win Shares) - Wegman pitched 261 2/3 innings in 1992 which I'm guessing didn't do wonders for his arm as he didn't pitch that many combined the next two seasons. Couldn't find much of anything on him but I assume he had problems previously as he made only 13 starts in 1989 and 1990. Out of the Majors after 1995.
Jaime Navarro (115 ERA+, 45.7 VORP, 15.4 Win Shares) - Very erratic, innings eater this was one of Navarro's best years. After a poor year in 1994 he was picked up by the Cubs where he put together a couple of decent seasons. This led the White Sox to sign him to a four year deal after 1996 which ended up being a disaster as he posted ERA's of 5.79, 6.36, and 6.09 the next three seasons. They got the Brewers to take him them off their hands in 2000 but in five starts he had an ERA of 12.74 before they released him. Picked up by the Rockies and was sent to Triple-A but they released him a month later then the Indians gave him a shot but obviously he hadn't had anything left. Bounced around the minors thru 2003.
Chris Bosio (106 ERA+, 34.4 VORP, 13.1 Win Shares) - This was Bosio's last year in Milwaukee. For some reason I remember not liking him and I have no idea why. Anyways he would sign a big money, four-year deal with the Mariners after this season. While he'd be decent the first couple of seasons he was plauged with injuries most of his stay in Seattle and once the contract was up after 1996 so was his career.
Ricky Bones (84 ERA+, 5.6 VORP, 4.1 Win Shares) - Was acquired shortly before the season from the Padres in the Gary Sheffield trade. Played on seven teams in 11 years, Milwaukee was the only place that Bones had an extended stay. Had one good season as a starter in 1994 but by 1996 he was so bad that he was a PTBNL in the before mentioned trade with the Yankees that had Pat Listach thrown in. Pitched just seven innnings down the stretch for the Yankeess giving up 11 runs. Bounced around from Cincinnati, Kansas City (decent year as a short reliever in '98), Baltimore, and finally Florida.
Closer: Doug Henry (95 ERA+, 2.5 VORP, 5.7 Win Shares) - Brewers had a great bullpen in '92 but for whatever reason stuck with Henry as their closer. A late bloomer, Henry made his MLB debut at age 27 the year before and the following season would be his last as a closer. Spent the rest of his career as your typical journeyman, middle reliever as he'd be good one year and bad the next. Traded to the Mets after 1994, went to the Giants in 1997, then to the Astros, back to the Giants, and finally finishing out his career in 2001 with the Royals.
Warren Moon is the star of the week as he scorched the Bengals for 450 yards passing, which is pretty damn high for a simmed game on Tecmo, and helped the Oilers take sole possesion of first place in the AFC Central. The Browns lost their share of the lead after getting murdered by the league's best defense, the Steelers 41-0. In the NFC Central, the Vikings avoided an embarrasing loss to the Cardinals and in the process took an almost insurmountable four game lead as the Bears continue to struggle dropping one to the Saints this week 14-10.
Week 9 Scores
Atlanta 30, L.A. Rams 27 OT
ATL: 2-6, RAM: 5-3
-Mike Rozier: 115 yards rushing
Houston 44, Cincinnati 24
HOU: 6-2, CIN: 2-6
-Warren Moon: 450 yards passing
Seattle 24, San Diego 14
SEA: 5-4, SD: 4-5
-Dave Krieg: 195 yards passing
Minnesota 21, Phoenix 20
MIN: 7-2, PHX: 2-7
-Wade Wilson: 147 yards passing
New Orleans 14, Chicago 10
NO: 4-4, CHI: 3-5
-Dalton Hilliard: 97 yards rushing
Washington 21, N.Y. Giants 14
WAS: 5-3, NYG: 6-2
-Ricky Sanders: 6 rec, 122 yards
San Francisco 27, Philadelphia 9
SF: 5-3, PHI: 5-3
-Joe Montana: 201 yards passing
Dallas 24, Detroit 21
DAL: 4-4, DET: 2-6
-Emmitt Smith: 99 yards rushing
Kansas City 27, L.A. Raiders 10
KC: 4-5, RAI: 7-2
-Stephone Paige: 5 rec, 171 yards
Tampa Bay 14, Green Bay 9
TB: 2-6, GB: 1-7
-Bucs Defense: 4 interceptions
Pittsburgh 41, Cleveland 0
PIT: 5-3, CLE: 5-3
-Browns Offense: 77 total yards
New England 16, Denver 14
NE: 2-6, DEN: 3-5
-Steve Grogan: 162 yards passing
Bye Weeks: Buffalo (8-0), Indianapolis (3-5), Miami (6-2), N.Y. Jets (1-7)
Leaders thru Week 9
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Dan Marino, 197.5
2. Phil Sims, 194.4
3. Jim Kelly, 176.9
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 2109
2. Marino, 1954
3. Joe Montana, 1939
Touchdowns
1. Marino, 23
2. Montana, 21
3. Jim Everett, 20
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 37
2. Anthony Miller, 32
3. Henry Ellard, 30
Yards
1. Rice, 977
2. Ellard, 761
3. Miller, 713
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 10
2t. Many tied with 8
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Johnny Johnson, 777
2. Christian Okoye, 775
3. Neal Anderson, 766
Touchdowns
1. Johnson, 11
2t. Anderson, 10
2t. Marcus Allen, 10
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1t. Joey Browner, 7
1t. Kevin Ross, 7
3t. Many tied with 6
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 14
2t. Bruce Smith, 13
2t. Simon Fletcher, 13
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Many tied with 9
Punting Avg: Sean Landetta, 51.0
Punt Return Avg: Henry Ellard, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Danny Peebles, 20.6
In one of his recent entries kkk talked about his favorite looking baseball cards. This got me be remembering one of my favorite baseball card collecting habits from my childhood, buying those store brand baseball sets. Stores like K-Mart and Toys 'R' Us would have their baseball cards, typically produced by Topps, that would feature star players or rookies. The sets were cheap and the cards were all glossy which was still a very unique feature back in the late 80's.
The first such set I remember buying was the 1987 Topps Toys 'R' Us Rookies set. It was a set of 33 cards featuring the rookies from the 1986 season. I took terrible care of the cards and now I don't even remember where they are but I do still remember those black boarded cards. I couldn't find individual pictures of the cards but I did find a site that showed that displays the entire set. Here are the links:
1. Andy Allanson, 2. Paul Assenmacher, 3. Scott Bailes, 4. Barry Bonds, 5. Jose Canseco, 6. John Cerutti, 7. Will Clark, 8. Kal Daniels, 9. Jim Deshaies
OMG Bonds and Canseco's cards were together, it was a sign!!!
10. Mark Eichhorn, 11. Ed Hearn, 12. Pete Incaviglia, 13. Bo Jackson, 14. Wally Joyner, 15. Charlie Kerfeld, 16. Eric King, 17. John Kruk, 18. Barry Larkin
See a relatively thin John Kruk.
19. Mike LaValliere, 20. Greg Mathews, 21. Kevin Mitchell, 22. Dan Plesac, 23. Bruce Ruffin, 24. Ruben Sierra, 25. Cory Snyder, 26. Kurt Stillwell, 27. Dale Sveum
28. Danny Tartabull, 29. Andres Thomas, 30. Robby Thompson, 31. Jim Traber, 32. Mitch Williams, 33. Todd Worrell
As you see 1986 produced a pretty impressive crop of rookies and some several infamous names as well. I had been thinking of trying to do a Reward Redo that wasn't an MVP vote but every other award in baseball only allows three players to be voted on a ballot. So I figured I'd do a Top 10 list of the best rookie season from 1986.
In my first entry about my very first game I mentioned that Wally Joyner was robbed by Jose Canseco in the '86 ROY voting and I'll put that claim to the test. They were the only two to receive first place votes on the A.L. side with Mark Eichhorn and Cory Snyder receiving some secondary support. In the N.L. the award was won by Todd Worrell who had already become nationally known as he had been a late season call up in '85 and made the Cardinals postseason roster. He became a household name due to being involved in the infamous blown call by Don Denkinger in Game 6 of the World Series that would eventually cost the Cardinals the series. Worrell was a near unanimous choice as Kevin Mitchell was the only player to a receive a first place vote.
So who was the best rookie of 1986?
#10
147 ERA+, 2.59 K/BB, 1.21 WHIP, 23.1 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#9
.272/.299/.500, 62 RC, 115 OPS+, .276 EQA, 24.6 VORP, 13 Win Shares
#8
.287/.343/.444, 62 RC, 121 OPS+, .284 EQA, 22.1 VORP, 14 Win Shares
#7
.277/.344/.466, 53 RC, 125 OPS+, .290 EQA, 21.6 VORP, 14 Win Shares
#6
.250/.320/.463, 80 RC, 109 OPS+, .277 EQA, 24.6 VORP, 16 Win Shares
#5
175 ERA+, 1.78 K/BB, 1.23 WHIP, 26.5 VORP, 19 Win Shares
#4
.240/.318/.457, 86 RC, 115 OPS+, .286 EQA, 30.2 VORP, 21 Win Shares
#3
.270/.347/.489, 87 RC, 124 OPS+, .290 EQA, 35.4 VORP, 15 Win Shares
#2
.290/.348/.457, 95 RC, 119 OPS+, .292 EQA, 41.1 VORP, 21 Win Shares
#1
246 ERA+, 3.69 K/BB, 0.96 WHIP, 66.4 VORP, 21 Win Shares
Canadian Greats? He was born in San Jose.
Okay I was right that Jose Canseco robbed someone but it was actually Mark Eichhorn. Yes a middle reliever was the top rookie of 1986. He had actually made his MLB debut back in 1982 but didn't get another shot in the majors until four years later. He didn't make a start but pitched in 157 innings (five innings short of qualifying for the ERA title), striking out 166, and posting a 1.72 ERA in what would be by far his best year.
One more thing here's the career Win Shares rankings for the 33 players in that 1987 Topps Toys 'R' Us Rookies set. Ya big shock who's #1.
1. Barry Bonds 661
2. Barry Larkin 347
3. Will Clark 331
4. Jose Canseco 272
5. Wally Joyner 253
6. Ruben Sierra 222
7. Danny Tartabull 188
8. Kevin Mitchell 178
9. John Kruk 156
10. Robby Thompson 155
11. Kal Daniels 112
12. Pete Incaviglia 107
13. Dan Plesac 106
14. Todd Worrell 105
15. Mike LaValliere 95
16. Paul Assenmacher 86
17. Cory Snyder 85
18. Mark Eichhorn 83
19. Bruce Ruffin 76
20. Mitch Williams 75
21. Kurt Stillwell 73
22. Bo Jackson 72
23. Jim Deshaies 68
24. Dale Sveum 55
25. Eric King 50
26. John Cerutti 45
27. Andy Allanson 27
28. Scott Bailes 26
29. Andres Thomas 23
30. Greg Mathews 22
31. Charlie Kerfeld 15
32. Jim Traber 11
33. Ed Hearn 5
Paul O'Neill - Rightfielder
Cincinnati Reds 1985-1992
New York Yankees 1993-2001
Awards
None
All-Star Selections: 5 (1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998)
League Leader
1994: Batting Average
Career Ranks
Doubles: 75th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Batting - 4 (401) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 45 (538) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 36.9 (184) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 70.5 (246) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in the HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Bobby Bonilla, Del Ennis, Fred Lynn, Bernie Williams, Reggie Smith, Ruben Sierra, George Hendrick, Ken Boyer, Bob Johnson, Will Clark
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1985: 1/0.1
1986: 0/0.0
1987: 5/1.1
1988: 13/5.2
1989: 18/5.6
1990: 16/5.0
1991: 19/8.6
1992: 13/6.4
1993: 15/7.1
1994: 23/11.5
1995: 18/6.8
1996: 22/8.7
1997: 28/9.2
1998: 26/9.8
1999: 16/5.9
2000: 13/4.4
2001: 13/3.1
Career Win Shares: 259
Career WARP3: 98.6
Would he get my vote?
No. If he could have hit as well as he did in his 30's while he was in his 20's he might have had a case. Went from being a unspectacular corner outfielder with the Reds into a damn good hitter with the Yankees but is no where close to being a HOF. What am I'm trying to figure out is how at age 38 did he steal 22 bases and only be caught three times?
Since I'm on a bit of a 1986 trip right now I figured I'd take a look back at what was going on this week in 1986 in the world of sports with the help of PaperofRecord.com using their Sporting News archive which I did once before with 1994.
February 17, 1986
Cover Story: Baseball's Worst Ballpark. Gale-force winds gust through Candlestick Park by day and frigid temperatures set in by night. One Giants official calls it the weather "the worst in baseball in June, July, and August." Fans don't like it any better than players. They're staying away in droves. That's why in baseball is in jeopardy in San Francisco.
-Now just a hunch coming off a 100 loss season wasn't helping attendance either but Candlestick Park really was the worst place to watch a baseball game and the Giants came close to moving to St. Petersburg in 1993, and damn that would have been great (for me). The best part of the article was an insert about a Canadian firm was coming up with a "revolutionary idea" of doming already built stadiums with an air-filled balloon type structure. Now that would have been quite the eyesore.
Down and Up at Michigan
-In the college basketball section there were two articles regarding Michigan State's Scott Skiles and Michigan's Roy Tarpley. One of the articles talks about a player having off the court troubles with a marijuana possession and dui conviction. If you guessed that player was Tarpley, you'd be wrong. Apparently Tarpley's off the court problems weren't public knowledge at this point as he would later be banned from the NBA for multiple drug violations.
-There's a little notes section about the old Continental Basketball Association where it notes Albany head coach Phil Jackson has been suspended for two games for "physically confronting" a referee. Wonder what happened to that guy?
-In the NBA notes section the Lakers had beaten the Rockets 14 straight games in Houston. The Rockets would stun the defending champs in the Western Conference Finals in five games later that year.
-Brief article about rising 20 year old, rising star Mario Lemieux although it more focuses on Wayne Gretzky and whether Lemieux would reach the level of Gretzky. There's a little blurb about how if the Penguins hadn't drafted Lemieux the franchise would have left Pittsburgh.
-In the NHL notes section there's a proposed change to the All-Star Game format that would match-up the NHL All-Stars against a touring Soviet national team in a two game series. Other ideas are the Stanley Cup champs vs. All-Stars or Americans vs. Canadians.
-A proposed new stadium deal in New York for the Jets that would be built by Donald Trump had fallen through.
-Brief commentary about the fallout after the Super Bowl about the drug problems of several members of the New England Patriots. In some team meeting after the Super Bowl the Patriots agreed to drug testing which didn't sit well with union head Gene Upshaw (yes that idiot was already running things back then) and he had this fantastic quote:
-Cincinnati Reds had offered Rollie Fingers an non-roster invite to Spring Training on the condition that he shave his mustache. He would end up refusing.
-Phillies pitcher Dave Stewart was very close to signing a deal with the Yomiuri Giants but it fell through. Phillies would release him three months later.
-There's a few mentions in various parts of the MLB team notes sections talking about team sponsored drug testing but of course the main concern back then was cocaine not steroids.
Jack Morris - Starting Pitcher
Detroit Tigers 1977-1990
Minnesota Twins 1991
Toronto Blue Jays 1992-1993
Cleveland Indians 1994
8th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2000: 22.24%
2001: 19.61%
2002: 20.55%
2003: 22.78%
2004: 26.28%
2005: 33.33%
2006: 41.15%
Awards
1981 AL Sporting News Pitcher of the Year
1991 World Series MVP
All-Star Selections: 5 (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991)
League Leader
1981: Wins
1983: Innings Pitched, Strikeouts
1986: Shutouts
1990: Complete Games
1992: Wins
Career Ranks
Wins: 40th
IP: 48th
K: 31st
GS: 34th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 20 (88) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 193 (46) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 39.0 (73) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 122.5 (64) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 6 (Bob Gibson, Red Ruffing, Amos Rusie, Burleigh Grimes, Bob Feller, Jim Bunning)
Other Similar Pitchers: Dennis Martinez, Tom Glavine, Luis Tiant, Chuck Finley
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacmenet Level (WARP3)
1977: 3/1.0
1978: 4/1.1
1979: 17/6.7
1980: 14/5.3
1981: 16/6.5
1982: 14/4.8
1983: 20/7.6
1984: 14/5.4
1985: 19/8.1
1986: 20/8.3
1987: 21/8.8
1988: 12/4.7
1989: 4/2.4
1990: 8/3.0
1991: 18/7.1
1992: 15/5.7
1993: 1/0.6
1994: 5/2.8
Career Win Shares: 225
Career WARP3: 89.8
Would he get my vote?
No. Morris was incredibly durable, throwing 240+ innings in 11 seasons, and very consistent but was rarely dominant. He never posted an ERA under 3 in his career which is fairness to him was in part to pitching in Tiger Stadium but his career ERA+ of 105 is very unimpressive. He does get a bonus for two excellent World Series but he also had an awful postseason all around in 1992. Now his comp pitchers paint him as a Hall of Famer as he has six current HOFs and one futuer HOF in Tom Glavine but Morris' ERA+ is worse than all of them with only Burleigh Grimes being close at 107 and he's a questionable HOF. His #1 comp is Dennis Martinez who is a very good comp for him but like El Presidente, Morris is not a HOF.
The NBA Draft is this week so time for a NBA Draftback. Now I've done this twice before for past NBA Drafts (1989 and 1993) but I do them differently from the NFL and MLB ones as I rank the players from the draft by their career totals in the basketball version of Win Shares. As always I have no idea how reliable the basketball version is but it is interesting way to compare the careers of players from an individual draft class.
Like when I chose the 1987 MLB Draft this year I picked the 1992 NBA Draft because most of these players careers are over or winding down. Also like the 1987 MLB Draft this draft featured one of the most hyped #1 picks ever and like Ken Griffey Jr. in 1987, Shaquille O'Neal in 1992 would go on to become an all-time great in his sport. Hey it also featured Baby Jordan!
1992 NBA Draft per Career Win Shares
1. Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando - 501 Win Shares (1st pick)
2. Alonzo Mourning, Charlotte - 262 (2nd)
3. P.J. Brown, New Jersey - 243 (29th)
4. Robert Horry, Houston - 199 (11th)
5. Christian Laettner, Minnesota - 176 (3rd)
6t. Doug Christie, Seattle - 167 (17th)
6t. Latrell Sprewell, Golden State - 167 (24th)
8. Clarence Weatherspoon, Philadelphia - 163 (9th)
9. Tom Gugliotta, Washington - 128 (6th)
10. Jim Jackson, Dallas - 112 (4th)
11. Jon Barry, Boston - 110 (21st)
12. Walt Williams, Sacramento - 97 (7th)
13. Anthony Peeler, L.A. Lakers - 94 (15th)
14. LaPhonso Ellis, Denver - 90 (5th)
15. Matt Geiger, Miami - 83 (42nd)
16. Bryant Stith, Denver - 79 (13th)
17. Hubert Davis, New York - 76 (20th)
18. Adam Keefe, Atlanta - 75 (10th)
19t. Tracy Murray, San Antonio - 66 (18th)
19t. Oliver Miller, Phoenix - 66 (22nd)
21. Popeye Jones, Houston - 57 (41st)
22. Malik Sealy, Indiana - 50 (14th)
23. Todd Day, Milwaukee - 48 (8th)
24. Sean Rooks, Dallas - 46 (30th)
25. Brent Price, Washington - 35 (32nd)
26. Don MacLean, Detroit - 27 (19th)
27. Lee Mayberry, Milwaukee - 21 (23rd)
28. Harold Miner, Miami - 13 (12th)
29. Sasha Donilovic, Golden State - 12 (43rd)
30. Byron Houston, Chicago - 11 (30th)
31t. Elmore Spencer, L.A. Clippers - 7 (25th)
31t. Chris Smith, Minnesota - 7 (34th)
33. Marlon Maxey, Minnesota - 6 (28th)
34. Tony Bennett, Charlotte - 5 (35th)
35. Litterial Green, Chicago - 4 (39th)
36t. Randy Woods, L.A. Clippers - 3 (16th)
36t. Chris King, Seattle - 3 (45th)
38t. Reggie Smith, Portland - 2 (31st)
38t. Robert Werdann, Denver - 2 (46th)
38t. Matt Fish, Golden State - 2 (50th)
41t. Dave Johnson, Portland - 1 (26th)
41t. Corey Williams, Chicago - 1 (33rd)
41t. Duane Cooper, L.A. Lakers - 1 (36th)
41t. Darren Morningstar, Boston - 1 (47th)
41t. Brian Davis, Phoenix - 1 (48th)
The Zero Club
Isiah Morris, Miami (37th)
Elmer Bennett, Atlanta (38th)
Matt Steigenga, Chicago (52nd)
Never Played in the NBA
Steve Rogers, New Jersey (40th)
Henry Williams, San Antonio (44th)
Ron Ellis, Phoenix (49th)
Tim Burroughs, Minnesota (51st)
Curtis Blair, Houston (53rd)
Brett Roberts, Sacramento (54th)
Most Win Shares with the Team they were Drafted by
1. Shaquille O'Neal, 142
2. Latrell Sprewell, 81
3. Alonzo Mourning, 73
4. Clarence Weatherspoon, 72
5. Byrant Stith, 64
6. Robert Horry, 59
7. LaPhonso Ellis, 57
8. Christian Laettner, 48
9. Hubert Davis, 46
10. Jim Jackson, 38
After the Bills shocking loss to the Patriots last week I suppose anything is possible but I certaintly didn't think the Bills would lay another egg against the 2-7 Packers but that it is indeed what happened. With the Bills' second straight loss, the Dolphins have now moved into to tie for first place in the AFC East. Once you get past the two AFC East powers, Raiders, and Oilers, the rest of the conference is a mess with five teams at 5-5 going for the last two wild card spots. The Vikings had their six game winning streak snapped in an overtime loss to the Bears who try to keep their very slim division title hopes alive.
Week 11 Scores
Chicago 20, Minnesota 17 OT
CHI: 5-5, MIN: 9-2
-Neal Anderson: 92 yards rushing
N.Y. Jets 28, Indianapolis 27
NYJ: 2-8, IND: 3-7
-Mark Boyer: 5 rec, 132 yards
Green Bay 27, Buffalo 17
GB: 3-7, BUF: 8-2
-Sterling Sharpe: 5 rec, 149 yards
Cincinnati 20, Pittsburgh 17
CIN: 4-6, PIT: 5-5
-James Brooks: 80 yards rushing
N.Y. Giants 31, Phoenix 17
NYG: 8-2, PHX: 2-9
-Phil Simms: 187 yards passing
Philadelphia 45, Cleveland 7
PHI: 6-4, CLE: 5-5
-Browns Offense: 9 yards rushing
L.A. Raiders 30, Denver 24
RAI: 8-2, DEN: 4-6
-Marcus Allen: 86 yards rushing
Kansas City 21, LA. Rams 13
KC: 5-5, RAM: 5-5
-Christian Okoye: 81 yards rushing
Miami 24, New England 10
MIA: 8-2, NE: 3-7
-Tony Paige: 164 total yards
Washington 24, Atlanta 20
WAS: 7-3, ATL: 2-8
-Mark Rypien: 197 yards passing
San Diego 31, Seattle 28 OT
SD: 5-5, SEA: 5-5
-Marion Butts: 118 yards rushing
Tampa Bay 28, Detroit 10
TB: 3-7, DET: 2-8
-Bruce Hill: 4 rec, 108 yards
San Francisco 35, New Orleans 24
SF: 7-3, NO: 5-5
-Jerry Rice: 6 rec, 136 yards
Houston 21, Dallas 10
HOU: 7-3, DAL: 5-5
-Ernest Givens: 6 rec, 133 yards
Leaders thru Week 11
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 205.6
2. Dan Marino, 185.2
3. Joe Montana, 168.6
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 2568
2. Montana, 2498
3. Marino, 2315
Touchdowns
1t. Marino, 26
1t. Montana, 26
3. Moon, 24
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 49
2. Anthony Miller, 35
3. Henry Ellard, 33
Yards
1. Rice, 1256
2. Ellard, 875
3. Sterling Sharpe, 868
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 13
2. Ernest Givens, 10
3t. Many tied with 9
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Neal Anderson, 938
2. Johnny Johnson, 894
3. Thurman Thomas, 861
Touchdowns
1. Johnson, 12
2t. Many tied with 11
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1t. Joey Browner, 7
1t. Kevin Ross, 7
1t. Erik McMillan, 7
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 17
2. Bruce Smith, 15
3. Simon Fletcher, 14
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 12
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.4
Punt Return Avg: Jeff Query, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Danny Peebles, 20.2
49ers edged the Saints for the eighth straight win to wrap up the NFC West, although I don't think the game takes into account tiebreaks until the end of the season as it doesn't recognize it yet. Best the Rams can do is tie the 49ers for 1st but the Niners swept the season series. The Giants have almost wrapped up the NFC East as they now have a three game lead on the Redskins and Eagles but they still play the Redskins one more time and the Skins won their first meeting. In the AFC both the Raiders and Dolphins lost but both still hold the leads on the AFC West and the top wild card spot respectively. Oilers and Steelers both win this week to remain tied atop the AFC Central.
Week 14 Scores
Green Bay 17, Atlanta 3
GB: 5-8, ATL: 2-11
-Don Majkowski: 187 yards passing
Buffalo 31, N.Y. Jets 20
BUF: 11-2, NYJ: 3-10
-Thurman Thomas: 194 total yards
N.Y. Giants 24, Cincinnati 21
NYG: 11-2, CIN: 5-8
-Mark Bavaro: 5 rec, 106 yards
Denver 31, New England 14
DEN: 6-7, NE: 3-10
-Bobby Humphrey: 196 yards rushing
Chicago 28, Detroit 21
CHI: 6-7, DET: 2-11
-Neal Anderson: 146 yards rushing
Houston 31, Philadelphia 28 OT
HOU: 8-5, PHI: 8-5
-Warren Moon: 355 yards passing
Pittsburgh 24, Dallas 10
PIT: 8-5, DAL: 5-8
-Bubby Brister: 222 yards passing
San Diego 31, L.A. Raiders 28 OT
SD: 8-5, RAI: 9-4
-Marion Butts: 125 yards rushing
San Francisco 21, New Orleans 20
SF: 10-3, NO: 6-7
-Jerry Rice: 4 rec, 112 yards
Cleveland 31, Indianapolis 10
CLE: 7-6, IND: 4-9
-Reggie Langhorne: 6 rec, 179 yards
L.A. Rams 31, Washington 21
RAM: 7-6, WAS: 8-5
-Henry Ellard: 6 rec, 219 yards
Kansas City 24, Seattle 17
KC: 8-5, SEA: 5-8
-Christian Okoye: 94 yards rushing
Tampa Bay 20, Miami 17
TB: 5-8, MIA: 9-4
-Gary Anderson: 69 yards rushing
Bye Weeks: Minnesota (11-2), Phoenix (2-11)
Leaders thru Week 14
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 196.2
2. Dan Marino, 177.86
3. Randall Cunningham, 174.5
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3373
2. Joe Montana, 3149
3. Jim Everett, 3068
Touchdowns
1. Montana, 33
2t. Many tied with 31
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 63
2t. Andre Rison, 45
2t. Anthony Miller, 45
Yards
1. Rice, 1636
2. Henry Ellard, 1183
3. Rison, 1158
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 18
2. Miller, 13
3. James Lofton, 12
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1276
2. Neal Anderson, 1247
3. Bo Jackson, 1161
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 15
2. Anderson, 13
3t. Many tied with 12
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 10
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 20
2. Derrick Thomas, 17
3. Reggie White, 16
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 16
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 50.8
Punt Return Avg: Ellard, 12.9
Kick Return Avg: Tim Brown, 20.6
For the two of you who care, I'll try to get around to finish my Tecmo Super Bowl sim at some point this month.
Last year I did weekly entries wrapping up the previous day of college football until I ran out of bad jokes which was about three weeks into the season. But never the less I'm going to give it a shot again this year making short and completely un-insightful observations about every game from the weekend that I watched for more than two seconds. My favorite thing about college football is the sheer number of games at one time you can flip through. This year for the first time I now have CollegeSportsTV thus giving me even more football goodness.
Tulsa 35, Louisana-Monroe 17. This was how the college football season kicked off. Not exactly USC/Virginia Tech from 2004, eh? The only thing I noticed about this game was whoever the announcer was for ESPN his voice sounded like he was calling the game on radio yet there were no audio difficulties. Very bizarre.
LSU 45, Mississippi State 0. Bulldogs scored as many points as there will be black coaches in the SEC after this year. Poor Sylvester Croom.
Oregon State 24, Utah 7. Welcome back Utah quarterback Brian Johnson from a torn ACL and goodbye now to a separated shoulder. What was crazy he stayed in for one play after injurying his shoulder and threw a pass. Now that's a real man.
Washington 42, Syracuse 12. I'm hoping this is a sign that the Pac-10 is even more loaded than people thought but its probably more a sign that Syracuse is complete dogshit.
Virginia Tech 17, East Carolina 7. ESPN exploiting tragedy for ratings? Never saw it coming. Does it make me a heartless prick to say that I'm really hoping LSU blows them out next week? Seriously the collective boner that network will get if the Hokies make a serious run at that national title would crush us all.
Michigan State 55, UAB 18. UAB is going to make a major run at being the worst non-Sun Belt team in the country this season. This game was the real downside of the Big Ten Network as in past years the Michigan game would have been on GamePlan and they could have switched to it the second half.
Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32. Okay I didn't see this game since I like 90% of the country don't have the Big Ten Network, not that I really want it as their game line up is awful although I certainly would have wanted it for this one. But forget Michigan for a second, how big of a disspointment would it be if App State doesn't three peat as I-AA/FCS/whatever the fuck we're calling it now this year?
Colorado 31, Colorado State 28. For a game that was tight and went to overtime I was Bored out of my mind for some reason.
Wyoming 23, Virginia 3. This game was so bad I don't remember a damn thing about it.
Georgia Tech 33, Notre Dame 3. Eh, this would have been a lot more fun if it had been Brady Quinn being murdered by the Yellow Jacket defense.
Wisconsin 42, Washington State 21. Would Paul Maguire drop dead already? He makes every game he calls completely unwatchable, amazingly even with the mute on. Brad Nessler and Bob Griese really pissed someone off at ESABCPN to get stuck with him for a second straight year.
Boston College 38, Wake Forest 28. Shame this game was going at the same time as the awesome Missouri/Illinois game or I would have watched more of it. Wake winning the ACC last year reminded me of Stanford winning the Pac-10 in 1999 and like it was for the Cardinal, last year will likely end up being a fluke for the Deacons.
Missouri 40, Illinois 34. Seriously this was the best game of the weekend and I think was the only one who watched the majority of it. Bad sign from Mizzou though to give up 400+ yards of offense to one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, even after knocking out their starting quarterback. Not that winning the Big XII North requires one to be any good.
UCLA 45, Stanford 17. You know things are bad for your program when this is considered progress. I do like that Jim Harbaugh does seem certifiably insane.
BYU 20, Arizona 7. Fomer Bills tackle and athiest Glenn Parker was the analyst for this one so being in the Mormon capital of the world must have been fun. Holy crap I just looked up his Wiki entry and he was born in the same town as me! I'm honored. And he's going to hell.
TCU 27, Baylor 0. My first ever I-A CSTV game and it was this. I watched for three seconds.
Georgia 35, Oklahoma State 14. God damn CFN for convincing me that Oklahoma State was actually going to be a serious threat this year.
Oklahoma 79, North Texas 10. Got to love Fox Sports Net as they always feel the nation needs to see crap like this.
Auburn 23, Kansas State 13. I'll pretty much steal from EDSBS on this one and say that Auburn is the master of playing like shit for three quarters and then pulling a win out of their ass in the 4th.
California 45, Tennessee 31. Must. Kill. EVERYONE. Seriously fuck you Tennessee as now I got to put up with Cal in the national title picture until USC beats them again. Volunteers? Volunteer to suck my dick.
UTEP 10, New Mexico 6. Oof this was ugly and I think a legit upset as UTEP didn't look like shit coming into this year.
USC 38, Idaho 10. I like USC and all but hell if I was going to sit through much of this. Did see Vidal Hazleton make a sick, one-handed touchdown catch though.
ACC
Bowls: BCS/Orange, Chick-Fil-A, Gator, Champs Sports, Music City, Meineke Car Care, Emerald, Humanitarian
Locks: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: Maryland, Miami, N.C. State
Maryland/N.C. State is a loser goes home game this Saturday and the winner likely goes to a bowl. I only say likely because if Miami some how gets it's shit together and upsets Boston College that will give the conference nine eligible teams with eight bids. Even if Miami upsets BC they are a longshot as they played in the Humanitarian Bowl last year so they'd have to hope the Emerald Bowl grabs them over a 7-5 team and then the Humanitarian would have to pick that team over the Maryland/N.C. State winner. You can't officially rule out any conference yet at getting two BCS bids but the only scenario the ACC has is if Virginia Tech beats Virginia this week and then loses to Boston College in the conference title game. The Hokies conceivably could still be in the Top 14 at the end of the year, and definitely Top 18 if the BCS is forced to expand the at large pool. Now assuming Miami loses and the Virginia Tech scenario plays out where they get a BCS at large bid then that would leave the Humantarian Bowl as an open bid.
Big XII
Bowls: BCS/Fiesta, Cotton, Holiday, Gator or Sun, Alamo, Insight, Independence, Texas
Locks: Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: Colorado, Kansas State, Nebraska
I mistakenly said last week Oklahoma State had locked up a bid as for some reason I thought they already had six wins but they do. No changes from last week, Colorado/Nebraska will play for a bid on Friday, and Kansas State needs to beat Fresno State to become eligible. If they lose the Texas Bowl will be an open bid as there's no scenario where the Big XII doesn't get two BCS bids.
Big East
Bowls: BCS, Gator or Sun, Meineke Car Care, International, PapaJohns.com
Locks: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers, South Florida, West Virginia
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: Louisville
Rutgers locked up a bid with their win over Pitt. Louisville needs UConn to beat West Virginia to win the Big East as that would likely give the conference two BCS bids as the Mountaineers would probably still be around the bottom of the Top 10. Then the Cardinals need to beat Rutgers a week from Thursday to become eligible. If West Virginia wraps up the Big East this Saturday, Louisville is done.
Big Ten
Bowls: BCS/Rose, Capital One, Outback, Alamo, Champs Sports, Insight, Motor City
Locks: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Ohio State
Near Locks: Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue
On the Bubble: None
I have the three 7-5 teams as near locks because the Big Ten as things stand at the moment won't have enough bids for all three. Now it is still possible that Illinois, if enough things go there way, can slip into a BCS bowl which then would give the conference enough bids. If that doesn't happen Purdue is probably the odd team out but they'd be a good bet to grab the likely Armed Forces Bowl open bid. What they have to worry about is if the SEC ends up with a 7-5 team without a conference bid and if the Armed Forces ends up being the only open bid which then the Boilermakers could be sitting at home.
Conference USA
Bowls: Liberty, GMAC, Texas, PapaJohns.com, Hawaii, New Orleans
Locks: East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulsa, UCF
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: None
Everything is set here beyond where everyone is going. Southern Miss and Memphis are ranked 86th and 90th respectively in the BCS yet they are locked up for bowls.
MAC
Bowls: Motor City, GMAC, International
Locks: Bowling Green
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: Ball State, Central Michigan, Miami of Ohio
So in the MAC not everyone plays the some number of conference games, some play seven and some play eight. Now because of that the divisions are decided by divisional record only, not conference record. Follow me so far? Central Michigan and Ball State, the 1st and 2nd place teams in the West division, don't play each other this year. Who the fuck came up with this? As for the bids, Bowling Green is going, um, bowling and the rest is a mess.
Mountain West
Bowls: Las Vegas, Poinsettia, Armed Forces, New Mexico
Locks: Air Force, BYU, Utah
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: New Mexico, TCU
While Conference USA steals bids, someone in the Mountain West is probably going to have it's heart broken and it will likely be an 8-4 New Mexico team (assuming they beat 2-9 UNLV). Now you'd think New Mexico would get to go to the New Mexico Bowl but the bowl put a rule in for itself that it couldn't pick the Lobos more than onece in three years. So because of that if TCU gets win #7 as expected over San Diego State, there will likely be no bowl game for New Mexico unless there ends up being three open bids or enough of the 6-5 teams lose their last game then they'd need two as obviously Purdue would get one before them. Again Memphis is ranked 90th in the country and is going to a bowl game, while an eight win team (or maybe an 7-5 SEC or Big Ten team) probably isn't.
Pac-10
Bowls: BCS/Rose, Holiday, Sun, Las Vegas, Emerald, Armed Forces
Locks: Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, USC
Near Locks: None
On the Bubble: Arizona, UCLA
Before Dennis Dixon went all Boobie Miles on Thursday, the conference seemed assured two BCS bids. Now it's still a good bet but we have to wait and see how Oregon recovers this week against UCLA. If the conference doesn't get two bids that would be bad news for the open bids hopefuls as it seemed for a while now not only the Armed Forces Bowl would be open but also the Emerald Bowl. I'm reading conflicting reports where some indicate the Emerald picks before the Las Vegas Bowl this year which would leave Vegas open but I'm not so sure about that. In any event if Oregon is a shell of it's former self now without Dixon, then UCLA can get win #6. U of A is suddenly hot but they'll need to pull off another big upset against rival ASU in order to get eligible for the first time since 1998.
SEC
Bowls: BCS/Sugar, Capital One, Cotton, Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Music City, Liberty, Independence
Locks: Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee
Near Locks: Arkansas, Kentucky
On the Bubble: Alabama, Mississippi State, South Carolina
I had Alabama as a lock the last couple of weeks as I though there was no way in hell they'd lose to ULM. Well so much for that. Now the conference is all but guaranteed two BCS bids so they'll have nine total but we could end up with nightmare scenario where we have six 7-5 teams with five available bids between them. Now any 7-5 SEC team will get picked over all others trying to get an open bid but there are scenarios where there could end up being no open bids so because of that I'm going conservative here. Auburn I have as a lock as I feel they'd be safe at 7-5 in that scenario while I could see Kentucky or Arkansas getting snubbed in this nightmare scenario. Hopefully either Auburn beats Alabama and/or Clemson beats South Carolina to send one of those schools to a very long offseason. The biggest shame would be if Mississippi State got snubbed in the nightmare scenario.
Sun Belt
Bowls: New Orleans
Locks: None
Near Locks: Troy
On the Bubble: Florida Atlantic
No changes, Troy/FAU play each other December 1st for the conference unless FAU is stunned by winless FIU this week. Hopefully Troy avoids the upset in that game as they deserve to go to a bowl game and a better one than the New Orleans Bowl against one of the awful 6-6 C-USA teams but that's not gonna happen.
WAC
Bowls: BCS?, Humanitarian, Hawaii, New Mexico
Locks: Boise State, Hawaii
Near Locks: Fresno State
On the Bubble: Louisiana Tech, Nevada
Of course the big game is this Friday. If your Louisiana Tech and Nevada your probably rooting for Hawaii as their chances are better than Boise's at getting into the Top 12 to get the BCS bid and a 4th bid for the conference. Neither has any business going to a bowl game mind you.
Before I get to my awards picks, here's my quick rundown of what I want out of this postseason.
1. No Red Sox/Yankees ALCS. Do I need to explain?
2. No Rockies/D-Backs NLCS. Do I need to explain?
3. D-Backs don't win the World Series. We have one 90's expansion team with two world championships already, we don't need another.
4. Indians win the ALCS. Besides the Giants, there are no teams in baseball that I would rather see less in a World Series than the Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels. The second the Indians are eliminated is the second I tune out from the postseason.
My gut feeling is we get another Yankees/D-Backs World Series with the Yankees prevailing this time. Finally Yankees' fans many years of suffering will be over! On to the awards.
I should note that when I post my player rankings for the year there may be some differences from my awards but mainly because I throw this together pretty quick. Last year I had C.C. Sabathia as 3rd for A.L. Cy Young but by the time I did the rankings for starting pitchers I had Sabathia about 5th or 6th. Also I'm going to be lazy and not bother with typing out players stats. You know where to find them anyways.
N.L. MVP
This was a wide open race all year with no one ever seeming to take a real strangle hold on the spot as favorite. The media has narrowed it down to Matt Holliday, Jimmy Rollins, and Prince Fielder but my choice is David Wright as he was just a tad better across the board. Any writer's who held out until the last second to submit their ballots probably filled in Holliday's name at #1 today and his late season surge I think will make him a PAC (Pefectly Acceptable Choice) but it's a shame that Wright is unlikely to finish better than 4th and the Mets' collapse has completely overshadowed his amazing season. Fielder would be a pretty uninspiring choice and Rollins would be almost on the level of Justin Morneau winning the A.L. MVP last year.
1.
2. Matt Holliday, Rockies
3. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
4. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
5. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
6. Prince Fielder, Brewers
7. Chipper Jones, Braves
8. Chase Utley, Phillies
9. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
10. Ryan Howard, Phillies
N.L. Cy Young
This and A.L. MVP are by far the easiest choices. Hopefully no idiot writers will decide to penalize Jake Peavy for lack of clutchiness on the mound last night as he was far and away the best pitcher in the N.L. and should be the unanimous winner. 2nd place was also very easy but 3rd place proved very difficult to decide but finally went with John Smoltz over Aaron Harang, subject to change of course when I do the pitcher rankings.
1.
2. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
3. John Smoltz, Braves
N.L. Rookie of the Year
This will be my most questionable choice. ROY's I think can be very tough to choose because you are dealing with candidates who some played the whole season and others who were midseason call ups. Ryan Braun was an absolute force at the plate but he's also hacker (29 BB/112 SO) and a liabiltiy defensively. So I decided to go with Troy Tulowitzki, who was with the Rockies the whole season, giving them Gold Glover caliber defense at shortstop and by the end of the year had put up some strong offensive numbers.
1.
2. Ryan Braun, Brewers
3. Hunter Pence, Astros
A.L. MVP
Magglio Ordonez had a shockingly good rebound year and hung tough for a very long time in this race but by the end of the year he couldn't stick with A-Rod. All have to say about my ballot is, seriously what the fuck happened to Carlos Pena this year? Biggest fluke ever or best late bloomer ever?
1.
2. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers
3. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
4. David Ortiz, Red Sox
5. Vladmir Guerrero, Angles
6. Carlos Pena, Devil Rays
7. Victor Martinez, Indians
8. Grady Sizemore, Indians
9. Jorge Posada, Yankees
10. Curtis Granderson, Tigers
A.L. Cy Young
Josh Beckett is going to win the writer's award. There was so much hand wringing and phony outrage by the baseball writer's last year about there being no 20 game winners in either league that anyone who won 20 games this season with an ERA under 4 is going to win the award. Not to say Beckett will be a bad choice, just the wrong choice.
1.
2. Josh Beckett, Red Sox
3. Johan Santana, Twins
A.L. Rookie of the Year
Toughest pick of them all. Jeremy Guthrie has no shot at all at the writer's award due to having only a 7-5 record but he's my pick here in pretty much a coin flip over Dustin Pedroia. Hell I couldn't even find a picture of 2007 baseball card for Guthrie.
1. Jeremy Guthrie, Orioles
2. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3. Brian Bannister, Royals
Before I get to the redux my of idea for creating a playoff system and at the same time improve the bowl selection process, I'm going to make a little comment on Hawaii. Whenever I see someone say "Hawaii should be in the BCS Championship!", I just want to pat them on the head and say "Aww, aren't you cute? Yes you are, yes you are!" In the current structure of college football, which I agree is a joke, Hawaii has no business playing for the championship.
The purpose of the BCS is purely to match-up the two most deserving teams and nothing else. Hawaii is in no way shape or form one of the two most deserving teams in the country of playing for the Mythical National Championship and they are not on the same level of Boise State last year or Utah in 2004. I know it's a tired argument but it is always worth enforcing that they played what was the weakest schedule in the country. They played a total of three teams in the BCS Top 80 this year (Fresno State, Boise State, Washington) and all three game came at home. The best team they played on the road this year was Nevada who is ranked 83rd overall by the BCS computer rankings and only the Billingsley rankings had them in the Top 80 (78th). This team is going to get flat out killed in the Sugar Bowl by Georgia and I think it's going to be a beating so bad that it could hurt the cause of the non-BCS conferences.
And that being said, Hawaii deserves to play for a National Championship...if there was a playoff. Like Boise State last year, they didn't lose a game. It's the biggest hole in the "the regular season is a playoff" argument. If you didn't lose a game, how'd you get eliminated? I'm not going to retype my whole idea from last year but here is my idea in a nutshell: Eight teams, the first round is played on the homefield of the higher seeds, while the semi-finals and finals are played on the traditional BCS bowl sites. Automatic qualifiers would be the six BCS conference champions and any undefeated non-BCS conference team. If there are any available slots after that they will go to the highest ranked team(s) that did not win their conference championship.
Now there is an argument out there that we only need a four team playoff and I'll tell that has too many problems for it to ever to work. First off the BCS conferences will never go for it. Are you gonna tell me the SEC or Big Ten would ever agree to a playoff that could leave the possibility of their champ not having a chance to win a real National Championship? Also it doesn't solve the problem of the exclusion of the Boise State's and Hawaii's of the world as no non-BCS conference team has ever finished the season ranked in the BCS Top 4. An eight team playoff gives all the BCS conferences a piece of the pie while pleasing the non-BCS conferences and the general public of giving the opportunity for those "small" schools to play for a championship. An eight team playoff is logistically possible and doesn't over bloat the season too much.
So in my hypothetical scenario this year the Sugar Bowl is the site of the National Championship while the Orange and Rose Bowls would host the semi-final games. Here's how the playoff would set up:
Hawaii at Ohio State
Georgia at Oklahoma
West Virginia at LSU
USC at Virginia Tech
I don't know about you but I'll take the Pepsi Challenge of these games versus the sad slate of BCS bowl games we have this year.
Now last year as well I also suggested that the whole bowl selection process has to be overhauled. Now this is an issue that obviously doesn't get much attention because the issue of actually crowning a real National Champion in major college football takes precedence. We need to junk the preset conference bids which are inherently unfair. BYU for example, who has been completely overlooked because of Hawaii, is ranked in the Top 20 of the BCS for the second straight year but once again they have to settle for the Las Vegas Bowl rather than a bigger game. Now there are certainly years where the Mountain West champ may only deserve a bowl of that caliber but the preset bids ensure that those teams will never get a better bid, unless they go undefeated and get into the BCS. The preset bids also can give us lopsided, uninteresting match-ups. Michigan is ranked 32nd in the BCS yet they will play in the biggest non-BCS bowl against Florida who is ranked 12th. Anyone remember what Dennis Dixon and company did against Michigan earlier in the year? What you think Tim Tebow is going to do them? Also we have the lameness of bowls like the Hawaii Bowl or the New Mexico Bowl that can take the home school to play creating a road game for their opponent for what is technically supposed to be a neutral site.
My idea was/is to have an actual bowl committee that assigns similar ranked teams to appropriate bowl games. Now you wouldn't want to necessarily match-up #15 vs. #16 and #21 vs. #22 automatically because obviously there would be cases where you'd have two teams from the same conference or two teams that already played each other, which funny enough even with the preset bids we have two rematches this year (Las Vegas and Motor City). You also wouldn't want to have say a Pac-10 team play a Mountain West team in the Outback Bowl in Tampa nor would you want a Big East team to play an ACC team in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Location can be important for selling tickets which is part of the reason why we have preset bids, although it would been unavoidable in some cases to have bad location match-ups and hell the ACC sends teams to San Francisco and Boise. Another advantage to getting rid of the preset bids is it would create more variety in inter-conference match-ups instead the same conferences playing each other in the same bowls for several yars. Just for example, the Pac-10 and SEC haven't played each other in a bowl game since the 1989 Freedom Bowl (Washington State vs. Florida).
One other thing for the BCS bowl who is not part of the playoff, that being the Fiesta Bowl is this scenario, they would get the two highest ranked teams not in the playoff provided those two teams aren't in the same conference which this year would be the case with Missouri and Kansas. And just to make the conference presidents fat and happy those schools would get the same payout as the playoff schools.
So here's my "fantasy booking" of the bowl games. The order I placed the bowl games are based on how the current preset bids are handed out and not necessarily how I view each bowl. Last year I wanted only 20 bowl games outside the playoffs but I know there's no chance of ever significantly shrinking the number of bowls so this year I'm including them all. One provision I didn't think of last year is that after you get past the BCS Top 25 I'd only place teams based on their overall computer ranking as otherwise you could get coaches or former players (Harris Poll) giving their school a throw away 25th place vote to get their school a better bowl game.
Fiesta: Missouri vs. Arizona State
Capital One: Kansas vs. Florida
Cotton: Illinois vs. Clemson
Holiday: Boston College vs. BYU
Chick-fil-A: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Gator: Texas vs. South Florida
Outback: Virginia vs. Cincinnati
Sun: Auburn vs. Boise State
Champs Sports: Connecticut vs. Wake Forest
Music City: Oregon State vs. Michigan
Insight: Oregon vs. Arkansas
Meineke Car Care: Florida State vs. Kentucky
Las Vegas: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
Liberty: Penn State vs. Mississippi State
Independence: Air Force vs. Georgia Tech
Emerald: Utah vs. UCLA
Motor City: UCF vs. Texas Tech
Humanitarian: Michigan State vs. South Carolina
GMAC: Maryland vs. Alabama
Texas: Rutgers vs. Oklahoma State
International: Colorado vs. Troy
Poinsettia: California vs. New Mexico
Armed Forces: Louisville vs. Purdue
PapaJohns.com: Fresno State vs. Indiana
Hawaii: Tulsa vs. Navy
New Orleans: TCU vs. Florida Atlantic
New Mexico: Central Michigan vs. East Carolina
I've finished watching Game 1 from each DVD so as I mentioned before I'm taking little notes while watching each game. Of course as i read some of my notes I'm not even sure what I intended on bringing up. Of course I won't go over every detail of the game as there is no point.
Interesting to note that for all three of these World Series that the winner of Game 1 was the team that ended up losing the series. Backs up Al's entry on playoff odds on how Game 1 is the least important game.
1975 World Series - Game 1 - Red Sox 6, Reds 0 (boxscore and play account)
-Announcers for Game 1 are Curt Gowdy, Dick Stockton, and Tony Kubek. Stockton was not a network announcer at this time as he was the local t.v. announcer for the Red Sox. They will be rotating announcers during the series as there will be a Reds announcer for Game 2. I guess this must have been common in the 70's as I remember watching Game 7 of the '73 Series on ESPN Classic a few years ago and old A's announcer Monty Moore was doing the play-by-play.
-Secretary of Treasury William E Simon threw out the first pitch. The crowd was shockingly unexcited by this.
-When Pete Rose is up in the first it is amusing how they bring up him being a huge fan of the game and always knowing what's going on in other games. If only they knew at the time why he was doing that.
-They say Johnny Bench has 50 foul ball homeruns in 1975. Now that sounds like bullshit to me. Who'd even keep track and how do you truly determine if a foul ball would have been a homerun?
-Why you can never predict the future: Bring up the great future of Reds starter Don Gullett who's career would end just three years later at age 27 due to shoulder problems.
-Joe Morgan sure did whine a lot to umpires when he played, not that I'm surprised.
-Kubek suggests that umpires should all be under one umbrella instead having seperate umps for A.L. and the N.L. which wouldn't change for another 20 years.
-God damn Sparky Anderson was only 41 in 1975? He already looked to be in his 60's.
-Luis Tiant started for the Red Sox and he was a lot fun to watch pitch...with no one on base. When someone was on base he is incredibly slow going to the mound.
-I had heard that was problems with the older stock footage and it shows up in the 6th inning as the audio suddenly is about five seconds ahead of the video and doesn't synch up again until the bottom of the 7th, thankfully when the biggest action of the game happens. The Red Sox scored all six runs in that inning.
-BULLPEN CART~!
-Gowdy does a promo for the first ever Saturday Night Live hosted by George Carlin that was to debut that night.
1979 World Series - Game 1 - Orioles 5, Pirates 4 (boxscore and play account)
-Announcers for the series are Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell, and Don Drysdale.
-As you see in the picture the field is absolutely ripped to shreads and good example of why it's for the best that muti-purpose stadiums are almost now a thing of the past. It didn't help matters that Game 1 was rained the night before and it snowed over night. Game time temperature was 41 degrees and it most likley dipped below freezing by the end of the game. Many of the players just look miserable out there.
-Oh ya the black tops with yellow pants for the Pirates was not a good look. Although the Orioles orange unis would make a decent third jersey today.
-Pirates starter Bruce Kison came into the game 4-0 with a 0.41 ERA in his career in the postsason. He'd get knocked out after just recording one out in this game as the Orioles scored all their runs in the first although it was broken open by a bad throw by Phil Garner at 2nd.
-Not much of surprise that Cosell really brings nothing to the telecast except name dropping athletes who he had dinner with. One story that amused me was he brings up that he ran into Mike Flanagan's wife in Montreal and saying that she was visiting Flanagan's former teammate Ross Grimsley. Maybe it was just the general sleaziness of Cosell but the way he tells the story it almost sounds like he Flanagan's wife was cheating on him with Grimsley.
-They talk about Dave Parker's house and car being vandalized early in the season by fans because he signed a huge contract before the season. Yes how dare the defending MVP get paid! Anyone gone after A-Rod's house yet?
-Speaking of Paker I remember when he was with the A's towards the end of his career having a huge gut but here there is no sign of one. Guess cocaine is indeed slimming.
-Holy crap does ABC go overboard with showing player's wives. I should have kept count but I'd say they showed about 15 different players wives. Did the world really need to see Jim Rooker's wife? I'll give Doug DeCinces the award for having the hottest wife of the night although it was slim pickings. Everyone knows the groupies are hotter.
-I'm doubting Drysdale's analyst skills as in the bottom of the 8th Orioles second baseman Rich Dauer gets on base and Drysdale thinks he should steal. Jackson and Cosell both correct him pointing out that Dauer didn't steal a base all year. Nice research there Donny.
1986 World Series - Game 1 - Red Sox 1, Mets 0 (boxscore and play account)
-Announcers for the series are Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola.
-In the top of the first Garagiola brings up the Red Sox not being known for manufacturing runs. Now if this were Joe Morgan or most other ESPN anlysts this would be said with much disdain and followed by a mini-rant on why that doesn't work. But here Garagiola says it without being condescending and says it's worked for the Red Sox all year.
-Early in the game Scully brings up that he's surprised the Mets haven't tried to drag bunt down to first to take advantage of Buckner. How about a ground ball?
-It really is painful watching Buckner run as he has to hobble with every step.
-I didn't know Dwight Gooden had a gold cap on his front tooth. Don't think he wore it when he pitched.
-They mention that Darryl Strawberry was 0 for 45 in the August that year in Shea Stadium. Hmmm you think he was booed at all that month?
-In the 5th inning Scully mentions that there is a Mets pitcher who hates throwing to first base but he doesn't want to give that name away because he doesn't want to give a scouting report to the Red Sox. Maybe it was naive but it was kind of refreshing. Garagiola does get Scully to say the pitcher's name the following inning, that being Sid Fernandez.
-What everyone forgets about this series is the way the Red Sox won Game 1 on a play eerily similar to the final play of Game 6. In the 7th with Jim Rice on 2nd, Rich Gedman hits a ground ball to 2nd and it goes right through Tim Teufel's legs. Rice comes around and scores the only run of the game. There is a bizarre play at the plate which is what that screencap is of. When Rice comes home, Ron Daring goes to back up the throw at the plate while Dave Henderson tries to get into position to signal Rice to slide. The two don't see each other and completely wipe each other out. Both appear to be injured but both stay in the game.
-NBC producer's have a sense of humor as during Red Sox starter Bruce Hurst at bat in the 7th, they flash a graphic saying that Hurst has struck out in every at bat in his career. It was the first game he'd ever hit in. He struck out a 3rd straight time here.
-Red Sox manager John McNamara does in the 8th inning here what he didn't do in Game 6, replace Bill Bucker at first base with Dave Stapelton. Stapelton would make a play in the 9th inning on a Ray Knight bunt to get the lead runner at 2nd that there would have been no way for Bucker to have made the play and it possibly prevented the Mets from tying the game.
Bert Blyleven - Starting Pitcher
Minnesota Twins 1970-1976, 1985-1988
Texas Rangers 1976-1977
Pittsburgh Pirates 1978-1980
Cleveland Indians 1981-1985
California Angels 1989-1992
10th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
1998: 17.55%
1999: 14.08%
2000: 17.43%
2001: 23.50%
2002: 26.27%
2003: 29.23%
2004: 35.38%
2005: 40.89%
2006: 53.30%
Awards
None
All-Star Selections: 2 (1973, 1985)
League Leader
1971: K/BB
1973: Shutouts, K/BB, ERA+
1977: WHIP
1985: Innings, Strikeouts, Complete Games, Shutouts
1986: Innings, K/BB
1989: Shutouts
Career Ranks
Wins: 26th
IP: 13th
K: 5th
CG: 91st
SHO: 9th
K/BB: 44th
K/9: 99th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 16 (129) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 239 (24) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 50.0 (36) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 120.5 (68) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 8 (Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Robin Roberts, Tom Seaver, Early Wynn, Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton)
Other Similar Pitchers: Tommy John, Jim Kaat
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1970: 10/3.7
1971: 20/8.4
1972: 19/7.4
1973: 29/12.3
1974: 23/10.0
1975: 21/8.7
1976: 20/9.3
1977: 21/8.2
1978: 16/6.2
1979: 13/3.8
1980: 9/2.9
1981: 14/8.2
1982: 1/0.2
1983: 10/4.3
1984: 20/9.2
1985: 23/9.9
1986: 18/7.9
1987: 18/7.5
1988: 4/2.2
1989: 22/7.9
1990: 3/1.3
1992: 5/2.5
Career Win Shares: 339
Career WARP3: 142.0
Would he get my vote?
Yes. Blyleven's plight to get into the HOF has been well documented by now. Many voters in the past have immediately written him off because he never won a Cy Young and because he had only two All-Star selections. Of course a player's total number of All-Star selections can be taken with a grain of salt since they are based mostly on what a player did the first three months of the season and with pitcher selections they are heavily influenced by their win/loss record. Blyleven for his career was 150-140 with a 3.47 ERA in the first half of the season but 137-110 with a 3.12 ERA in the second half, so he did his best pitching after the ASB. Another reason why Blyleven has been ignored in the past as well is as you see didn't lead his league in many categories. But for his career he was in the Top 10 ERA ten times, Wins six times, WHIP 11 times, Strikeouts 15 times, Complete Games 12 times, and Shutouts ten times. Nevermind of course he's in the Top 10 all-time in both strikeouts and shutouts. In addition of the eight HOF comps he has only Tom Seaver had a better career ERA+. Many writers are slowly coming around and long time holdouts are now voting for him. He certainly won't get in this year as no backloggers have a chance but within the next five years it appears he will get in.
It seemed liked a forgone conclusion the Raiders would take the AFC West but not anymore. They lost to the Chargers this week for their third straight loss and the Bolts have now moved into a tie for 1st at 9-5. Oilers beat Steelers 21-9 in order to reclaim sole posession of 1st place in the AFC Central. The Bills have clinched the AFC East but again the game won't recognize it yet since the Dolphins can tie for 1st still but the Bills swept the season series. The Giants lost to the Eagles but the Redskins suffered a shocking defeat to the craptastic Cardinals, so the Giants may or may not have clinched the division but I'm too lazy to go through tiebreak scenerios beyond head-to-head which the Giants/Eagles split. The game did officialy recognize the 49ers division title win after their ninth straight victory this week. The Vikings were stunned by the Bucs, who still have a very slim chance at the playoffs, which now gives us a three-way tie atop the NFC. The 49ers would be the odd team out in a three-way tie as they lost to both the Giants and Vikings.
AFC
1. Bills 12-2
2t. Raiders/Chargers 9-5
2t. Oilers 9-5
4. Dolphins 10-4
5. Raiders/Chargers 9-5
6t. Chiefs/Steelers 8-6
Still Alive: Browns 7-7, Broncos 7-7
NFC
1t. Giants 11-3
1t. Vikings 11-3
1t. 49ers 11-3
4. Eagles 9-5
5t. Redskins 8-6
5t. Rams 8-6
Still Alive: Bears 7-7, Saints 7-7, Buccaneers 6-8
Week 15 Scores
Detroit 24, N.Y. Jets 17
DET: 3-11, NYJ: 3-11
-Robert Clark: 4 rec, 113 yards
Philadelphia 28, N.Y. Giants 24
PHI: 9-5, NYG: 11-3
-Keith Byars: 7 rec, 132 yards
Indianapolis 21, New England 14
IND: 5-9, NE: 3-11
-Albert Bentley: 92 yards rushing
San Francisco 31, Seattle 21
SF: 11-3, SEA: 5-9
-Joe Montana: 240 yards passing
Denver 21, Cleveland 17
DEN: 7-7, CLE: 7-7
-Mark Jackson: 57 yards receiving
New Orleans 20, Dallas 17 OT
NO: 7-7, DAL: 5-9
-Craig Heyward: 82 yards receiving
San Diego 20, Kansas City 14
SD: 9-5, KC: 8-6
-Bill Joe Tolliver: 154 yards passing
Buffalo 24, L.A. Raiders 21
BUF: 12-2, RAI: 9-5
-Thurman Thomas: 154 yards rushing
Phoenix 27, Washington 24
PHX: 3-11, WAS: 8-6
-Johnny Johnson: 110 yards rushing
Chicago 33, Green Bay 24
CHI: 7-7, GB: 5-9
-Ron Morris: 4 rec, 118 yards
Houston 21, Pittsburgh 9
HOU: 9-5, PIT: 8-6
-Ernest Givens: 4 rec, 108 yards
Miami 38, Cincinnati 14
MIA: 10-4, CIN: 5-9
-Mark Clayton: 6 rec, 158 yards
Tampa Bay 28, Minnesota 27
TB: 6-8, MIN: 11-3
-Vinny Testaverde: 266 yards passing
L.A. Rams 17, Atlanta 14
RAM: 8-6, ATL: 2-12
-Cleveland Gary: 82 yards rushing, leaves injured
Leaders thru Week 15
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 197.1
2. Dan Marino, 182.5
3. Randall Cunningham, 177.2
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3593
2. Joe Montana, 3389
3. Jim Everett, 3228
Touchdowns
1t. Montana, 36
1t. Marino, 36
3. Moon, 34
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 66
2. Andre Rison, 49
3. Anthony Miller, 47
Yards
1. Rice, 1729
2. Rison, 1258
3. Henry Ellard, 1254
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 19
2t. Miller, 13
2t. James Lofton, 13
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1430
2. Neal Anderson, 1336
3. Bo Jackson, 1237
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 15
2t. Many tied with 13
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 10
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 20
2t. Derrick Thomas, 18
2t. Reggie White, 18
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger; Morten Andersen, 16
Punting Avg: Mike Horan, 50.9
Punt Return Avg: Ellard, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Tim Brown, 21.2
I decided to give up on doing a Top 25 since my Top 10 wouldn't be a whole lot different from the BCS Top 10 at this point. So instead I'm going to go conference by conference to see what teams are on the bubble to make it to a bowl game. Any BCS conference team with seven wins at this time is a lock and some with six wins are as well although it all depends on if their conference is going to have too many or too few bowl eligible teams. There are no preset open bids this year although a couple may open if a conferece can't fill it. If any bids do open up something to keep in mind is if there is an available 7-5 team, that bowl take them over a 6-6 team which is how Middle Tennessee got to the Motor City Bowl (Big Ten didn't couldn't fill their bid) last year over a few a BCS conference 6-6 teams. Of course no one should feel sorry for any team who didn't finish with a winning record being left home this holiday season.
ACC
Bowls: BCS/Orange, Chick-Fil-A, Gator, Champs Sports, Music City, Meineke Car Care, Emerald, Humanitarian
Locks: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Near Locks: Georgia Tech, Wake Forest
On the Bubble: Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State
Now even though they both have six wins the reason why I have FSU as a lock and Wake Forest as a near lock is purely because of FSU's brand name. If the ACC were to end up with more than eight bowl eligible teams a 6-6 Wake Forest team could get left out but Bobby Bowden and company would definitley get an invite at 6-6. Georgia Tech has Duke and North Carolina the next two weeks so they should be fine. N.C. State has come out of no where to have a realistic shot at getting to six wins with home games against UNC and Maryland left. Maryland is reeling and I think they'll come up short. Miami is in big trouble after their loss to N.C. State as their last three games are against Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. UNC has to run the table to have a shot.
Big XII
Bowls: BCS/Fiesta, Cotton, Holiday, Gator or Sun, Alamo, Insight, Independence, Texas
Locks: Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech
Near Locks: Colorado, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
On the Bubble: Kansas State, Nebraska
Colorado has Iowa State and Nebraska left so seven wins is very realistic. A&M will end up 6-6 most likely with Missouri and Texas left so there's an oustide chance they could be left without a place to go but the Big XII might end up with two teams in BCS bowls plus the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth is likley to be open (which I'll get to in the Pac-10) so I'd be very surprised if they are staying home. Oklahoma State should pick up win #6 against Baylor in two weeks, if they don't upset Kansas, but again a small chance they might not have an available bid. K-State has Nebraska, Missouri, and Fresno State left and all bets are off after their embarrassing performance against Iowa State. Nebraska is likely toast although beating K-State could provide a glimmer of hope.
Big East
Bowls: BCS, Gator or Sun, Meineke Car Care, International, PapaJohns.com
Locks: Cincinnati, Connecticut, West Virginia
Near Locks: Rutgers, South Florida
On the Bubble: Louisville, Pittsburgh
Again the great purge of the Big East leaves the conference with by far the most pathetic line up of bowl games of any BCS conferece. It'll get worse this year as there's a 99% chance that the Gator Bowl will excercise it's option to grab the Big XII #2 team this year. USF will get win #7 at Syracuse this week but left them out of the locks just in case the roof caves in, literally. Rutgers has Army and Pittsburgh in the next two weeks so seven wins is expected. Louisville has a tough final three games at West Virginia, at USF, and vs. Rutgers so getting that 6th win is far from guarenteed. On top of that a 6-6 Big East team without an available in conference bid is very likely to be staying home. Pitt is only alive in the most clinical of terms.
Big Ten
Bowls: BCS/Rose, Capital One, Outback, Alamo, Champs Sports, Insight, Motor City
Locks: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Ohio State
Near Locks: Iowa
On the Bubble: Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern
Now here's a conference where it's almost a lock a 6-6 team will stay home. The mediocrity of the middle of the conference and everyone getting to beat up on sorry ass Minnesota has allowed a lot of teams to near bowl eligibility. They'll get helped out if Ohio State and Michigan both get in the BCS. Iowa looked awful most of the season but like N.C. State has turned it around and with Minnesota and Western Michigan left there's no reason they shouldn't get seven wins. Indiana could get left out in the cold if they can't pick up a 7th win and it's not a lock with a road trip to Northwestern and then at home against Purdue. They haven't been to a bowl game since 1993 so they have to be rooting for two teams from the conference to get into the BCS. Northwestern has Indiana and Illinois left while Michigan State has Purdue and Penn State left so both are longshots at this point if they don't win both games.
Conference USA
Bowls: Liberty, GMAC, Texas, PapaJohns.com, Hawaii, New Orleans
Locks: East Carolina, Houston, Tulsa, UCF
Near Locks: Southern Miss
On the Bubble: Memphis, UTEP
Reason #712 There are Way Too Many Fucking Bowl Games: Conference USA has six bids. This is a conference where half the teams aren't in the BCS Top 100. Memphis is ranked 103rd in the country yet they still have a shot at a bowl game. So since ECU, Houston, Tulsa, and UCF have six they are locks as it would be next to impossible for them not to get in that this point even if any of them lost out. Southern Miss still needs to get win #6 but they should pick it up against Memphis this week. UTEP only has four more wins and after Tulane this week they have Southern Miss and UCF left so the odds are against them which would be good news for those teams hoping for another open bid.
MAC
Bowls: Motor City, GMAC, International
Locks: None
Near Locks: Bowling Green, Central Michigan
On the Bubble: Ball State, Buffalo, Miami of Ohio, Ohio, Toledo
Awful, awful year for this conference as BGSU and CMU are the only two teams with winning records at the moment but both should win at least two of thier last three games to get to seven wins. After that it is anyone's guess as two gets the 3rd bid although Miami of Ohio does control their own destiny to win the East division to get to the title game but they better win their last two regular season games against Akron and Ohio or otherwise they'll be 6-6 and in a must win situation for the conference championship to remain bowl eligible.
Mountain West
Bowls: Las Vegas, Poinsettia, Armed Forces, New Mexico
Locks: Air Force
Near Locks: BYU, New Mexico, Utah
On the Bubble: San Diego State, TCU, Wyoming
BYU would have seven wins already if their game against SDSU wasn't postponed and they are a good bet to run the table in the conference. We could actually end up with more than four seven win teams in this conference which could create some problems for 6-6 BCS conference teams hanging their hat on grabbing an open bid. On the other hand one of the open bids will very likely be the Armed Forces Bowl (which again I'll get to) which will already have a Mountain West team so that will eliminate one option for this conference. There should end up being at least four seven plus win teams so any 6-6 team will definitely not be bowling.
Pac-10
Bowls: BCS/Rose, Holiday, Sun, Las Vegas, Emerald, Armed Forces
Locks: Arizona State, California, Oregon, USC
Near Locks: Oregon State
On the Bubble: Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Washington State
With the conference being so top heavy this year and with the odds being very good at the moment that they will get two teams in the BCS, it is highly unlikely the Pac-10 will be able to fill all their bids. As previously mentioned the Armed Forces Bowl is pretty much a given to be open but the Emerald Bowl might also be available if UCLA fails to become bowl eligible. The Bruins have ASU, Oregon, and USC so it is looking bleak, although given their propensity to play to their competition watch them win two out of three. Oregon State has the Washington schools the next two weeks so they should win at least one of those games to become bowl eligible. The rest of the schools all need to run the table but it is unlikely any will do so.
SEC
Bowls: BCS/Sugar, Capital One, Cotton, Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Music City, Liberty, Independence
Locks: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee
Near Locks: Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina
On the Bubble: Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
Picking the locks and near locks are tough here as it is possible we could get 11 bowl eligible teams here which would obviously leave some 6 win teams without a SEC tie in bowl to go to. I went with Alabama and Tennessee as locks even though they still need that important win #7 over the other three as those two would be more attractive to bowls than the other three. Of the near locks South Carolina has the toughest road to get win #7 as they have Florida and Clemson left although both games are at home. Mississippi State will at least get win #6 when they play Ole Miss but the next two weeks are huge for them against Alabama and Arkansas as they must win one of them or otherwise they are very likely staying home. Vanderbilt also has the odds stacked against them while trying to end their 24 year bowl drought as they will definitely need to get seven wins to have a shot but they have Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wake Forest left on their schedule.
Sun Belt
Bowls: New Orleans
Locks: None
Near Locks: Troy
On the Bubble: Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee
Don't look now but the Sun Belt finally has a good team in their conference, that being Troy. I only have them as a near locks simply because they have to beat MTSU and FAU still to wrap up the conference but I expect they will. It's a real shame that Troy gets stuck going to the New Orleans Bowl as they would easily be the best team in both the MAC and Conference USA. FAU and MTSU could still win the conference if they upset Troy.
WAC
Bowls: BCS?, Humanitarian, Hawaii, New Mexico
Locks: Boise State, Hawaii
Near Locks: Fresno State
On the Bubble: Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Nevada, San Jose State
Pretty much in the same boat as last year with this conference as a lot will depend on whether they get a team in the BCS or not. Fresno has Hawaii and Kansas State the next two weeks so their season finale against New Mexico State may have to be where they get win #7. The rest all need to become bowl eligible and hope either Hawaii or Boise gets into the BCS.
Back in August when I was completely out of ideas for this blog I started simming a Tecmo Super Bowl season using an NES emulator I downloaded like five years ago and posted the results here. I got through the regular season but for the playoffs I'd decided I should sit and watch the computer play itself instead of just simming the games and I was Bored in a hurry. After two games I stopped and eventually forgot about the whole thing. But I'm currently out of ideas again so might as well finish thing, just in time for the real NFL Playoffs.
So you don't have to go digging for the old entries (and why would you?) here's the playoff picture:
Since I don't think I ever bothered to watch the computer play itself back in the day I don't remember if there is any sort of bug that causes every playoff game to be decided by exactly seven points but that is what happened in this round. Hopefully that won't continue.
AFC Wild Card: San Diego Chargers vs. Miami Dolphins
Scoring Summary
SD: Butts 42 Run
SD: Carney 23 FG
MIA: Clayton 62 Pass from Marino
MIA: Clayton 24 Pass from Marino
MIA: Stoyanovich 21 FG
Mark Clayton burned the Chargers’ secondary for 152 yards as after a sluggish first half the Dolphins dominate the second half to advance. Charges moved the ball inside the Dolphins’ 30 late in the 4th quarter but turned it over on downs.
NFC Wild Card: Washington Redskins vs. Philadelphia Eagles
When I did this game back in August it looks like I forgot to take a screen shot of the boxscore.
Eagles 28, Redskins 21
Scoring Summary
WAS: Clark 59 Pass from Rypien
PHI: Williams 52 Pass from Cunningham
WAS: Clark 25 Pass from Rypien
PHI: Williams 44 Pass from Cunningham
WAS: Clark 14 Run
PHI: Cunningham 4 Run
PHI: Sherman 21 Run
An amazing performance by QB Eagles aka Randall Cunningham leads the Eagles into the next round. Cunningham threw for 220 yards and ran for 127 more as the Redskins defense did not force the Eagles to punt the entire game. The Redskins offense moved through the Eagle defense like butter in the first half scoring all three possessions but could not get a first down in the second half.
AFC Wild Card: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Houston Oilers
Scoring Summary
HOU: Fuller 37 Fumble Return
HOU: Jefferies 11 Pass from Moon
PIT: Hoge 7 Run
HOU: Duncan 19 Pass from Moon
PIT: Williams 3 Run
In the a battle of the #3 offense in the league and the #1 defense in the league, offense won out as the Oilers outlast the Steelers. Pittsburgh made it a game after digging a 14-0 hole and had the ball at the end of the game but in true Tecmo computer fashion they ran the ball and ran out the clock.
NFC Wild Card: Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants
LA: Warner 1 Run
NY: Megget 2 Run
LA: Lansford 29 FG
NY: Bahr 55 FG
LA: Gary 5 Run
LA: Anderson 13 Pass from Everett
NY: Ingram 36 Pass from Simms
The defending Super Bowl Champs season comes to a disastrous end as after choking away a first round bye down the stretch they then proceed to be upset by the Rams in the Wild Card round. Willie Anderson went wild on the Giants secondary as the Rams were able to the move the ball without much resistance most of the game. Giants scored a meaningless touchdown as time expired to make the final score closer than it really was.
For closers the list includes the top 30 in Saves. Only difference from middle relievers is I do take into account Win Shares.
2004
1. Brad Lidge
15. Octavio Dotel
30. Shawn Chacon
2005
1. Mariano Rivera
15. Jason Isringhausen
30. Keith Foulke
2006
1. Jonathan Papelbon
15. Francisco Cordero
30. Derrick Turnbow
2007
1. J.J. Putz, Mariners
2. Takashi Saito, Dodgers
3. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox
4. Joe Nathan, Twins
5. Bobby Jenks, White Sox
6. Joakim Soria, Royals
7. Matt Capps, Pirates
8. Manny Corpas, Rockies
9. Francisco Cordero, Brewers
10. Mariano Rivera, Yankees
11. Jeremy Accardo, Blue Jays
12. Huston Street, A's
13. Billy Wagner, Mets
14. Jason Isringhausen, Cardinals
15. Francisco Rodriguez, Angels
16. Jose Valverde, Diamondbacks
17. Trevor Hoffman, Padres
18. Kevin Gregg, Marlins
19. David Weathers, Reds
20. Brad Lidge, Astros
21. Alan Embree, A's
22. Brian Fuentes, Rockies
23. Brett Myers, Phillies
24. Chad Cordero, Nationals
25. Al Reyes, Devil Rays
26. Brad Hennessey, Giants
27. Todd Jones, Tigers
28. Joe Borowski, Indians
29. Ryan Dempster, Cubs
30. Bob Wickman, Braves/Diamondbacks
This is a bit of a throw away entry but I had been wanting to rundown the 23 MVP redos I've done entries for. I have other redos that I've done (including the entire decade of the 80's) but haven't done entries for yet. What I decided to do is group the redos into categories in terms of how good or bad the choice was by the writers. Thought it would be a good time to do this after the writer's awful choice of Justin Morneau. I had Morneau 9th on my 2006 A.L. MVP mock ballot.
Writers Made the Right Choice
1980 A.L. George Brett
1989 A.L. Robin Yount
1999 N.L. Chipper Jones
Writers Choice was Pefectly Acceptable (Writer's Pick/My Pick)
1985 N.L. Willie McGee/Dwight Gooden
1986 A.L. Roger Clemens/Don Mattingly
1988 N.L. Kirk Gibson/Will Clark
1991 A.L. Cal Ripken/Frank Thomas
1995 N.L. Barry Larkin/Greg Maddux
2003 A.L. Alex Rodriguez/Carlos Delgado
Writers Made the Right & Wrong Choice (Writer's Picks/My Pick)
1979 N.L. Keith Hernandez & Willie Stargell/Keith Hernandez
Bad Choices by the Writers (Writer's Pick/My Pick)
1979 A.L. Don Baylor/Fred Lynn
1987 A.L. George Bell/Alan Trammell
1991 N.L. Terry Pendleton/Barry Bonds
1998 N.L. Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire
The Justin Morneau Achievement Awards (Writer's Pick/My Pick)
1960 N.L. Dick Groat/Eddie Mathews
1974 N.L. Steve Garvey/Joe Morgan
1981 A.L. Rollie Fingers/Dwight Evans
1984 A.L. Willie Hernandez/Cal Ripken
1987 N.L. Andre Dawson/Tim Raines
1992 A.L. Dennis Eckersley/Frank Thomas
1995 A.L. Mo Vaughn/Edgar Martinez
1996 A.L. Juan Gonzalez/Alex Rodriguez
1999 A.L. Ivan Rodriguez/Derek Jeter
