After a sabbatical from wrestling, 24/7 got me interested again in the product. I'll confess that I'm a John Cena fan, and I think the in-ring product has been as good as ever perhaps. So with a live Monday Night Raw coming, my friend, his fiance and I picked up some tickets for the show. We lucked out with it becoming a three-hour special featuring the draft lottery.
-Legends! We got appearances from Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper and the Fabulous Moolah.
-Chris Benoit's last Raw mat
A bit of background on this one. For years, WWE ran frequent shows at the Catholic Youth Center in Scranton, PA. Its history dates back at least to 1964, with Bruno Sammartino main eventing shows. Even as the Attitude era flourished in large arenas, WWE would come back to the CYC and run shows in front of 3,800 fans. In the Summer of 1998 however, the catholic leadership saw the product becoming too distasteful, and barred the WWE. So wrestling left the area for two years.
I never sa
Fast forwarding to 1999, a friend winning a radio contest netted us tickets to WWE Raw at the Meadowlands, the day after Wrestlemania XV.
This event featured a two hour live Raw, along with Shotgun and Super Astros tapings. Some highlights I recall.
-The Public Enemy pinned by six other guys in a four team tag match.
-El Hijo del Santo!
-Goldust winning the Intercontinental title from the Blue Meanie.
We got the taping first. The night's Raw featured the usual Russo era stor
This Saturday I'm attending a WWE house show in Wilkes-Barre, PA. In the week prior, I thought it would be fun to look back at various live shows I have attended.
Kicking off is my first live wrestling experience. In the early days of Monday Night Raw, WWE would run shows in much smaller venues. The Fernwood Event Center was a small convention hall in Bushkill, PA that held maybe 3,000. The town more or less consists of a single resort. Parking at the place was sparse, with cars lining
Watching the Glory Days documentary of the 1980 Phillies, former owner Ruly Carpenter mentioned a potential trade with the Texas Rangers over the winter of 1979 that would have removed three star performers of the 1980 season. Narrator Dallas Green states, "of course, we won't mention the players involved," while showing a clip of Tug McGraw. What was that trade? What would it have entailed?
Paperofrecord.com carries archives of the Sporting News. Searching for "McGraw" over the period
Ten years ago, Baseball America started listing top prospects by team. The Phillies at the time had a weak system, and BA chose reliever Ryan Brannan as the Phillies' top prospect. Brannan never reached the major leagues. Over ten years have passed, so now it is apparent whether any of the Phillies' farm products at the time became successes or failures. Looking back, could any of their players made better picks as top prospects? I drew up a list of the top ten based on current career win s
Let's run with this. Some of the rankings might be off by one or two. I'll never be satisfied as a whole, and in general it's impossible to really create a solid list. I just hope to avoid making some stupid mistakes.
1. Carlos Carrasco, RHP
A strikeout an inning at AA and AAA, just 21 years old.
2. Jason Donald, SS
Gotta love a shortstop who can post a .500+ slugging percentage.
3. Dominic Brown, OF
The scouts love him. I'll buy into the hype.
4. Lou Marson, C
I have qual
Fans of teams tend to overrate their prospects. Sometimes this reaches absurd levels. I mentioned J.A. Happ in my last entry, and apparently a few amateur prospect watchers weight him highly due to his close proximity to the Majors. Does a high level outweigh potential? What about performance vs. scouting? When I develop a prospect list, I think the correct way to go about it is to view the players as trading chips. If you were trading for a team's top prospects, which ones would you value
Coming up with a list of the Phillies' Top 30 prospects, a step ahead of Baseball America.
1. Carlos Carrasco, RHP
2. Jason Donald, SS
3. Michael Taylor, OF
4. Dominic Brown, OF
5. Travis D'Arnaud, C
6. Kyle Drabek, RHP
7. Lou Marson, C
8. Zack Collier, OF
9. Vance Worley, RHP
10. Joe Savery, LHP
11. J.A. Happ, LHP
12. Sebastian Valle, C
13. Michael Stutes, RHP
14. Jason Knapp, RHP
15. John Mayberry Jr., OF
16. Edgar Garcia, RHP
17. Antonio Bastardo, LHP
18
I don't know if there is a good way to sum up an event like this. I probably should not even try. A lot of things have gone through my head as to what to write, and suffice to say I'm not a terribly poetic writer. I got to watch quite a few of the Phillies' players come through the minors, including Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard.
Frankly, I am shocked it came about so easily. The only other year the Phillies won the World Series was 1980. In that season, the Phils won the di
Eight years ago, Bill James produced his book on win shares. In that book, he listed each franchise's top 25 players by that statistic. In the ensuing period, the Phillies have had a run of success, finishing above .500 nearly every season and winning back to back division titles for only the second time in franchise history. With the club now producing several franchise players, I thought it might be worth updating the list.
1. Mike Schmidt (467)
2. Ed Delahanty (365)
3. Richie Ashb
Often in historical discussions, a sportscaster might bring up a player such as Roberto Clemente or Sandy Koufax. They will cite the player's first few seasons, noting that while they were a superstar player, they struggled in their first few seasons in the majors. Koufax is a particularly good example. He reached the Majors at the age of 19, and in his first six seasons posted a rather pedestrian record of 36-40. This type of analysis misses a key point. Most comparable players were not in
Had this idea at work. Simple concept, create an All-Star team using only one player from each country. 25 man roster, plus a manager.
Starters
C: Dave Nilsson, Australia
1B: Sadaharu Oh, Japan
2B: Glenn Hubbard, Germany
SS: Luis Aparicio, Venezuela
3B: Reno Bertoia, Italy
LF: Larry Walker, Canada
CF: Devon White, Jamaica
RF: Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rico
DH: Babe Ruth, USA
Rotation
SP Pedro Martinez, Dominican Republic
SP: Bert Blyleven, Netherlands
SP: Chien
Final Standings of pool play.
Giants 6-4
Dodgers 6-4
Highlanders 6-4
Yankees 6-4
Bridegrooms 4-6
Gothams 2-8
With four teams tied, a tiebreaker is actually easy to set up. Teams seeded one and four will compete, along with teams seeded two and three. The winners will play for the top spot, the loser of that getting the second spot. The losers of the first game will play for third place and the final playoff entry. The Giants pick up the first seed thanks to their 4-2 reco
Let's take a look at the Phillies' top 30 prospects and see how they look with less than three weeks left in the minor league season. Little statistics here, just opinions and analysis. If you need numbers, they are readily available.
1. Carlos Carrasco
Good season, showing he can handle AA and making two good starts now in AAA. Not dominant, but probably a good mid-rotation starter in the making.
2. Adrian Cardenas
Performed well in Clearwater before a trade to the Oakland orga
A couple weeks ago six of us ran an All-Time Yankees draft. With six teams chosen, the time has come to create a competition. I entered all six teams into a baseball simulator. The games are yet to come. Before the festivities begin, I thought it would be helpful to lay out the specifics and ground rules of the tournament.
1. Each team will play ten games, two against each opponent (one home and one away).
2. The top three teams will advance to the playoffs. The team with the best re
Another blogger did a mock NBA draft from the board, inserting himself into the spot of one of the participants. I decided to do the same thing with the wrestling draft in the General Wrestling folder. One twist, instead of taking a spot I am simply going to take a pick at the end of each round, picking last each time. Let's see how this goes.
1: "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. Wrestling's top heel in the 1950s into the '60s. An iconic figure for fans of that era, and a top draw.
2. Bruno
A mini-MLB draft is in the works. Instead of the whole of MLB history for this one, we are going to focus solely on the New York Yankees. Why the Yankees, a team I despise? They simply have the talent necessary to sustain this kind of idea. I'd run Phillies, but who is going to get excited over Fred Luderus?
We have five entrants. Myself, Canadian Chris, Smues, Brooklyn Zoo and 161st and River. One more person can join in if they are interested.
Here are the basics.
1. 21 man r
Over in the General Wrestling forum, there is a draft going on to select all-time rosters of wrestlers. I missed out on this, but it provides an opportunity to do a little list creation in my spare time. I created a list of my ideal top 64 picks. When selecting a wrestler, I feel you need to look for uncommon attributes, something to stand out from the crowd. Mid-carders are crucial to a good promotion, but you can find many, many guys at that level. Also, I think a wrestler needs some abil
I rented this game recently off Netflix. I thought I had pegged the Gibson walk-off, but this game certainly did not disappoint. A 2-1 victory highlighted by Mark McGwire's walk-off home run in the ninth. A few thoughts:
-It surprises me somewhat that you rarely hear about this homer from McGwire, even during his playing days. You would think a player known for his home run exploits would have this one highlighted.
-McGwire's home run game came three days after Gibson won game one
I'm blatantly ripping off a concept from Bored. The best player from each pick in the draft. The MLB June draft has run from 1965 to the present.
1. Alex Rodriguez, SS
2. Reggie Jackson, OF
3. Robin Yount, SS
4. Dave Winfield, OF or Barry Larkin, SS
5. Dwight Gooden, RHP
6. Barry Bonds, OF
7. Frank Thomas, 1B
8. Todd Helton, 1B
9. Barry Zito, LHP
10. Mark McGwire, 3B
Not one #1 overall pick has yet made the Hall, though Junior Griffey and A-Rod certainly will. Havi
Another year of baseball is finally here. Who cares if it is too cold to reasonably enjoy the game?
April 1, Lehigh Valley @ Reading (exhibition)
A cold front threatened this game. While every place in eastern PA got drenched, the rain somehow avoided Reading entirely. We were treated to a 66 degree gametime temperature, fantastic conditions. This game pit the Phillies' top two minor league affiliates against each other to benefit Baseballtown charities. I can not stress enough ho
Over/Under
I'm establishing a rule for myself. 15 overs and unders. Let's see where that leads.
Baltimore Orioles 66.0 66.0 UNDER
Florida Marlins 69.0 69.0 UNDER
Pittsburgh Pirates 70.0 70.0 OVER
Kansas City Royals 71.0 71.0 OVER
Washington Nationals 72.0 72.0 OVER
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 73.0 73.0 OVER
San Francisco Giants 73.0 73.0 UNDER
Oakland Athletics 74.0 74.0 OVER
Texas Rangers 75.5 75.5 OVER
Minnesota Twins 75.5 75.5 OVER
Houston Astros 76.0 76.0 OVER
Chic
I don't usually blog about politics, but I feel the urge. Pennsylvania runs their primaries quite late in the season, around late April. Consequently, we have little say in the Presidential primaries. Political ads have begun popping up, but I have yet to see a plethora of spots for presidential hopefuls. Some of the local politicians have started in earnest. Two candidates air ads on local television for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania's tenth district (More on the district late
Forty years ago, Bob Gibson set a near-record by posting a 1.12 ERA over a full season. Of course Gibson benefitted from favorable pitching conditions, but his mark is still third all time even taking the deadball era into account.
What amazes me most about the season is not the ERA, but the fact that Gibson lost nine games in the process. Without exaggeration, I can find 200 pitchers who had more impressive single season records. I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at
