EVIL~! alkeiper

At that point I'd be spending WAY too much money to watch baseball.

A show called Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which consists of twelve minute shorts where a milkshake, fries and a meatball fight crime, but usually just sit around the house all day. One episode featured the invasion of the "mooninites", obnoxious alien creatures straight out of an Atari game.

Last time out I looked at players who led MLB in Runs Created Above Position over a ten year span. Most of the players are obvious. Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, etc. Some of the names however seemed surprising. In this entry I hope to shed some light on the lesser lights of the list. Fred Dunlap (1876) As I mentioned in the previous entry, Dunlap's position rests entirely on the strength of a single season in the Union Association, undoubtedly the weakest league ever considered a Major. Dunlap in 1884 collected 185 hits and walked 29 times. From this he managed to score 160 runs. To give you an idea of 19th century baseball, the U.A. saw 2,500 earned runs scored, and 2,325 unearned runs. No clue how many times Dunlap reached via error, but it was probably a significant number. Fielding percentages in the league ranged from .841 to .892. If we rated players from this era solely upon their performance in the National League, Dunlap would rate 11th. King Kelly (1877-1879) Kelly in his day was likely the most popular player of the 19th Century. There are volumes of information you can read on him, both as a person and a player. Kelly was simply one of the first matinée idols of baseball. Kelly won two batting titles and led his league in runs three times. Some batters of the day were better, such as Cap Anson and Roger Connor. Kelly comes to the front of the pack due to his playing catcher and right field for the majority of his career. Dan Brouthers (1880-1886) Simply the preeminant hitter of his era, Brouthers led his league in batting average five times, slugging percentage seven times, and OPS eight times. Billy Hamilton (1887-1891) The first great leadoff man. Hamilton's 912 career steals stood until Brock broke the record in 1977.* Hamilton also still holds the record for runs scored in a season, with 196. *Yes, Brock broke Cobb's record. Baseball-Reference credits Hamilton with 912 stolen bases, I assume a revised total. Arky Vaughan (1933) Vaughan led the league in OBP three straight years, as a shortstop. At his peak he was one of the greatest shortstops of all time. Vaughan made more plate appearances than Joe Dimaggio, and struck out less. Frank Robinson (1960-61) A bit of a surprise, Robinson led the league in OPS and slugging percentage four times, and won two MVP awards.

Was there a backlash when the NFL deal was announced? Fans are certainly not taking well to this deal, which doesn't surprise me. There is not a time when the NFL is playing without a televised game. You can't say the same for MLB. What sucks about the proposed deal is that if I were to buy DirectTV and the package, I would not get Phillies home broadcasts.

Baseball's Caribbean World Series kicks off tomorrow from Puerto Rico. The Series is a six day, round robin tournament between the winter league champions of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Fox Sports Espaniol is airing the Series, and Sports New York has picked up the series as well. If you have a chance, check out the games.

One of the programs slated for this month is SNME featuring Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy. Looking up Graham Cawthon's excellent site, that show also featured Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart.

This story mad my birthday. CNN was hyping the story all day long when I was trying to study at the Coffee Shop at school. I figured it was nothing but they have to be on the safe side. Then I find out it was ATHF. Stupid fucking Massholes. The real fun of this all is that the same company owns both CNN and the Cartoon Network! Indirectly, the people reporting the story were the same ones creating it!

Given the conditions, it is likely the fan might have tried to steal Nicosia's glove or hat or something of that nature. One of the big problems with the postgame celebrations was that fans would try and take whatever souvenir they could. What I love about that clip is that after Nicosia walks away, the fan appears to get up and continue jumping around. As if saying "hey, I got beat up by Steve Nicosia!"

Make sure to check out Prime Time Wrestling from April of '87. The one and only appearance of Outback Jack! Well maybe not the only, but it's rare.

ECW: 9/03/95. Paul Heyman grants Bill Alfonso one last sentence before he orders 911 to come out to deliver a chokeslam. Alfonso proceeds to ban the chokeslam. Brilliant.

Interesting. Personally, I don't think I could combine those albums. I'd rather just take the live album on its own and leave the studio record behind.

That was quite bizarre. I'll give them credit, as that was one of the most well-edited matches I've ever seen.

It depends on your criteria. It wouldn't qualify based purely on match quality, but if you're considering notoriety or importance, it could make the list.

I just subscribed.

Something I want to come up with: The All Trade Rumor Team. Those guys who seemingly pop up in a new trade rumor every month, irregardless of whether they are actually dealt. Aaron Heilman, Manny Ramirez, Melky Cabrera, etc.

You know, this is the kind of thing that could backfire BADLY.

Well on the lighter note, I once woke up from laughing in a dream.

Looking at some other measures, Bench's season wasn't nearly the greatest offensively for a catcher. He did set records for home runs and RBIs, but his .345 OBP sets him far back in the sabermetric measures. What gives Bench an edge is that he played 158 games. Overall of course he was a brilliant defensive catcher, so it was an all time great season when you add that. No active player with more than 20 at bats against Schilling has a higher OPS against him. The obvious problem is that Schilling and Helton last dueled on 16, 2004. Helton is not the same player he was then. I can think of better methods to evaluate hitters.

About damn time. I don't wish to be mean to the horse, but it's owners kept it alive for monetary gain. If there weren't eight figures in stud fees on the line, it never would have come this far.

Two reasons. One, having a guy run in and win the title to end Wrestlemania would piss off the fans. I don't think a repeat of Wrestlemania IX is a good thing. Second, a guy who fought a six man ladder match earlier in the evening should not have an advantage.

Who would you take to start a franchise? This is a popular question for baseball arguments. The idea is to choose not only the best player, but the player who will continue to produce in the future. Barry Bonds was a dominant hitter in 2004, but would you take him to start a team knowing he was 40 and a few years (we presume) from retirement? With that premise in mind, I sought to devise a list of the players who would answer that question throughout history. For example, if you were starting a team in 1965, who would be the first player you would want? A few parameters. First, if I asked software what player produced the most post-1950, it would be Barry Bonds. This is unrealistic as Bonds would not debut until decades later. So I looked at statistics for ten years following the year in question. For 1950, I would look at statistics from 1950 to 1959. This provides a good result, limiting players who produced by hanging on. I drew up the leaders in Runs Created Above Position (RCAP). This is similar to Runs Created Above Average, except it looks at average production at the position instead of the league as a whole. This prevents the list from being dominated by simply the best hitters. Playing a premium defensive position helps. Keep in mind however that the system does not take defense into account. A player such as Ozzie Smith or Willie Mays might not get their just due. The Mantle vs. Mays arguments we could hear all day. You'll also note that this lacks pitchers. They might comprise a second list in the future. It is the best of what we have so far. A note on war service. Several players, notably Ted Williams, missed time in the Majors due to military service. When evaluating them as players, it is proper to give them credit for time missed. In this project however, it counts against them. Baseball itself did not stop for war, and teams who lost players missed their services, creating a real impact on their overall success. Would you start a team with a player you knew would miss four years? Probably not. Barry Bonds (1986-1997) Wade Boggs (1980-83, 1985) Rickey Henderson (1984) George Brett (1979) Mike Schmidt (1975-78) Joe Morgan (1965-74) Dick Allen (1964) Hank Aaron (1962-63) Frank Robinson (1960-61) Willie Mays (1958-59) Mickey Mantle (1950-57) Stan Musial (1942-45, 1948-49) Ted Williams (1937-41, 1946-47) Mel Ott (1934-36) Arky Vaughan (1933) Jimmie Foxx (1932) Lou Gehrig (1927-31) Babe Ruth (1914-15, 1917-26) Rogers Hornsby (1916) Ty Cobb (1906-13) Honus Wagner (1896-05) Ed Delahanty (1892-95) Billy Hamilton (1887-91) Dan Brouthers (1880-86) King Kelly (1877-79) Fred Dunlap (1876) Twenty-six players are on the list. Of those, 22 are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Two are ineligible. That leaves out Dick Allen and Fred Dunlap. Allen missed half a career and was considered a clubhouse cancer. Fred Dunlap's presence surprised me. Looking at his career, his placement is explained by an excellent 1884 season. .412 batting average, 250 OPS+, 13 home runs, .621 slugging percentage. This is in a league where the total slugging percentage was .316! Therein lies the problem. The league in question is the Union Association. The UA lasted one season. Dunlap's OPS in the UA in 1884 was 1.069. He sandwiched that season between seasons in the National League, where he collected OPS's of .813 and .667 in the seasons before and after. When a player has a performance spike like that, you have to question its legitimacy. 1876-1885 RCAP RCAP 1 Fred Dunlap 272 2 King Kelly 234 3 Charley Jones 233 4 Pete Browning 232 5 Cap Anson 222 6 Dan Brouthers 205 7 Jim O'Rourke 203 8 George Gore 187 9 Roger Connor 186 10 Paul Hines 183 Of Dunlap's figure, 135 came from the 1884 season alone. I can not accept that. Given King Kelly's appeal as a gate attraction, he is probably the rightful holder of the title in 1876 as well, thr birth of the National League. One other fun variation to note immediately. Babe Ruth holds the title from 1914-26 except for one year, 1916. You might note that 1916 is the one that would run until 1925. That was the season where Ruth missed serious time due to a mysterious stomach ailment and a suspension. Rogers Hornsby in 1925 hit .403 with 39 home runs and a .736 slugging percentage. Perfect conditions for a one year takeover. Any player who held the honor for five or more years is probably in the discussion as one of the greatest players of all time. I will likely follow up on some of the other names on the list. Feel free to leave questions and/or feedback.

Costas in general pisses me off. First in that specific inference, you can debate the Braves were a better team at that year. You've got differences between leagues, long term records, the effects of luck in a 144 game schedule, etc. Besides that, he could not stop trying to find superlatives to throw into his series winning calls. There's nothing worse than an announcer who knows his call is going to get replayed. His calls are wooden, particularly his call of the winning hit in the 1994 All-Star Game. He sees himself as a purist crusader, which isn't always good. His book, Fair Ball, was essentially started as a 150 page bitchfest about how he had to go to Cleveland and watch the Florida Marlins play baseball in the snow.

For those not in the know, my longtime girlfriend broke up with me two months ago. Last week, I had a dream that we were back together. I woke up and I don't think the cold hand of reality has ever slapped me as hard across the face.

It depends on what stations you get. The Mets' and Yankees' cable channels show classic games often. Comcast Philly doesn't show anything, as they've got the Flyers and Sixers to fill their schedule.

Why the heck would you put out that dvd set? Three of those games weren't competitive and a fourth was decided in the sixth inning. Only games three and seven really had any kind of drama in them. DVD Sets that MLB should produce... 1. Phillies 1980 NLCS (vs. Astros) 2. 1991 World Series 3. No Hitters