EVIL~! alkeiper

It did in a way. One of the reasons the scandal blew up the way it did was because of the animosity between league president Ban Johnson and White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. Comiskey was part of an anti-Johnson sect of owners that included Harry Frazee and the Yankees' owner, I believe Col. Ruppert. Consequently when Frazee made a trade, he had two options (inter-league trading was extremely rare). The Yankees would have dominated the decade regardless. The A's were competitive beginning in 1925. The St. Louis Browns oddly were competitive in the early '20s, and came this close to winning the pennant in 1922. When it comes to the White Sox, it is hard to imagine seven players making up 36.5 games. Looking at win shares though to compare the Black Sox to their 1921 counterparts, losing Jackson cost them 8-9 games. Losing Buck Weaver cost them six wins. Happy Felsch cost them another six wins. Losing Lefty Williams and Eddie Cicotte cost them 10 more wins. That is 30-32 wins total lost from the Black Sox leaving. If the Sox don't win in 1921 however, I'm not sure if they do again.

Lashley was all over Raw during the McMahon feud. Would a world title match involving him really spiral the ratings? I doubt it.

Baseball-Reference.com's database is down so I can't access his MVP votes. His stats say no. There's nothing there. Game of the night is likely Detroit-Seattle. That's at 10pm ET, so you can easily catch A's/Twins at 8pm.

1. Joe Jackson does not come close to the hit record. He had 1,774 career hits. Cobb had 2,361 at the age of 30, nearly a 600 hit lead. Jackson however would absolutely have made the Hall of Fame. 2. Babe Ruth retains his status as the game's great slugger. Remember he hit 54 home runs in 1920 before the news of the Black Sox scandal broke, and it was August 1921 before Landis banned the eight players. The cat is out of the bag at that point. The Yankees attendance doubled in 1920. Owners would have taken note of that, even absent a crisis. 3. The big one here is that gambling remains a HUGE problem in baseball. The real issue wasn't the Black Sox scandal. It was that similar whispers were running rampant throughout the decade, and it was only a matter of time before something exploded. If it doesn't happen in 1919, maybe it happens in 1923. Maybe Ruth throws the World Series and gets tossed from the game. Landis was harsh in banning the players, but that STOPPED the rumors of thrown games, and that was more important to saving the game than any other factor. To me the big "what ifs" involve Landis. Does the power struggle between Ban Johnson and the Comiskey sect of owners come to a head? If Landis does not assume power, what becomes of the organized minor leagues? Does a different commissioner oppose Rickey as strongly?

That's about right. I think Soriano is going to age well, a good bet to still be a good player in his late 30s. I think Andre Dawson is a good comparison there. As for Rowand, he's a good player, not great. His defense is praised but as a Phillies fan, I really don't see it. Rowand gets to a lot of balls but then will fail to make the catch. Shane Victorino is honestly a better defensive outfielder. At the plate can produce here and there, but he's a career .283 hitter. An average hitter who can play center field, which is certainly valuable. Not Albert Pujols. And is he a winning player? The Phillies have a worse winning percentage since they acquired him.

Call me crazy, but I like the Soriano deal better.

That match was great. Not only is Poffo a complete ass, but he bumps like a madman.

The times of death here is irrefutable. Which leads to only one logical conclusion. Daniel murdered Nancy and then Chris killed Daniel in a fit of rage.

They could but the feds have shown more initiative to go after distributors than users.

If the state workers worked a Saturday to make up, would that make everyone happy? Reports are this may include tolls for Interstate 80. Fuck that.

The incentive for Rodriguez is to get more years on a deal. No way he goes higher than his current annual salary.

Guerrero won the ECW TV title, several WWE titles, and I think at least the WCW U.S. title. The other three never won WWE gold.

I think it's time for a new version of Casey At the Bat, where Casey stays on the bench in case of extra innings.

Hell, the best hitter of the f'n decade.

Leaving Pujols on the bench is stupider than saving your closer in extra innings. Seriously, what the fuck?

I'd rather they pick a good singer than a current singer. On a note, the PA announcer asked fans to stand and remove their hats. I don't remove my hat for God Bless America, on the basis that it is not the National Anthem and is not a national hymn. Am I going to far or is this justified?

They interview Eric Byrnes on a boat. Byrnes produces a baseball that he will have his dog fetch (the dog is wearing a life preserver). Byrnes throws the baseball, the dog hesitates, jumps in, and commences swimming away from the boat and ball into the bay.

It scored pretty high on the unintentional comedy scale.

If Oswalt is available I would be stunned.

First inside-the-park shot in All-Star game history.

Eric Byrnes provides the best highlight of this game!

Not much interest in this game it seems.

At least then it would be exciting.

11:45. Doubleheader that started at five, delayed by rain at one point. I can take extra innings because it has action and it's fun to see the crowd thin out after each inning. Rain delays are the absolute worst though. Even after the rain stops you're still 20 minutes away from the game.

8:49. For the record, the shortest night game I ever attended ended at 8:56 in the evening.