Dick Allen's Famous Chili Dog Game

Today is the 53rd anniversary Dick Allen's Chili Dog Home Run.  

This is also the first year we can watch this video without wondering when Dick will finally make it into the Hall of Fame. 

This video pays tribute to a day famous in White Sox lore.  

 

Team Saturdazzle the one with the 5k and the bobble head

Can't beat fun at the old Saturdazzle

 

Welcome to our first post A to Z Challenge Team Saturdazzle of the year. 

I am on the road today so I am literally phoning this post in. I am emailing this directly to my blog from my phone. 

This morning Amy Charlie and I participated in the Northern Illinois Foodbank 5K. It was a lot of fun. We all finished in less than an hour. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run the entire race without walking but I was able to.

 

In the A to Z challenge this year in the A to Zs of me J stood for Jester and I was in full jester mode at the race. Where my self designated task was to bring fun and merriment wherever I went. I would make jokes as I passed people and say things like don't these Saturday DMV lines get longer every year. When I ran past the 2 mile marker I told one of the many volunteers encouraging us along the path to ask me to tell her a Broadway themed 5 k pun when she obliged. I said 1 mile more and I'll be less miserable. 

The Jesting did not end after I finished the race.  I waited for Amy to near the finish line and let the audience in on the big reveal...

After the race Amy and I grabbed some lunch and drove to the Rosemont L station where we took a blue line train then a red line train to Comiskey park in Chicago. Now in fairness it hasn’t been called Comiskey since 2003 it’s now on it’s 3rd name change I’ll just call it Sox Park.

 

Today the White Sox played the Astros and despite getting 5 strong innings from their starter and scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the first for an early lead they lost to Houston 8 to 3.

 

This is not what brought Amy and I to the ball park today. Amy went because she’s always up for an adventure and I went for the commemorative Dick Allen bobble head.

 

In The Box

Outside The Box

Photo by John Iacano/Sports Illustrated

The Bobble head was modeled after the iconic 1972 Sports Illustrated cover of Allen juggling in the dugout in his first season with the White Sox.  By the 1970's public perception was already changing about smoking.  Allen was reprimanded by the White Sox for the incident.  The bobble head is true to the SI cover except Allen is not smoking.  

As I’ve said in these pages before, as recently as W is for White Sox fan, Dick Allen is one of the main reasons I became a Sox fan.

 

Allen was at long last posthumously elected to Baseballs Hall of Fame earlier this year. Several members of Allen’s family were on hand today for the celebration and will be in Cooperstown in July when Allen will be inducted into the Hall. It was really quite a day. 

Thanks for joining Team Saturdazzle today.  

W is for White Sox Fan

I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.  

We were a family of Cubs fans.  We went to our annual pilgrimage to Wrigley Field each year. My first baseball glove has the cubs logo in the mitt (I still have it by the way). 

I may have stayed a Cubs fan forever if it hadn't been for these three men:

Ray Rayner

 

Dave Roller

This is the story of how a Children's T.V. host, a baseball player and my own father led me to more than 50 years of White Sox allegiance.

Ray Rayner hosted a television show on WGN TV when I was a kid. He had several regular bits he would do on the show: he would feed a duck named Chelveston while he played a popular song (where I ffirst heard American Pie), He would have a  regular visit with Lester Fisher (the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo), He would visit a puppet named Cuddly Duddly at his dog house, and in between these bits he would be a disc jocker for cartoons, (mostly Warner Brothers).  

His role in making me a Sox fan was when he would do the daily traffic and sports reports.  Equipped with a Cubs cap with a White Sox cap sewed in the back of it.  He would show the results of the previous day's baseball games.  He would switch the sides of the cap depending on which team he was reporting on.  This gave me as a child the notion that in Chicago you could like both teams.

Ray Rayner reporting on a Cubs  victory while wearing the Cubs end of his Cubs/Sox cap.

The 2nd person most responsible for me switching my favorite team from the Cubs to the Sox was my Dad.  When I was growing up the White Sox would offer 2 tickets to grade school students who either had straight A's or perfect attendance for the year.  One  l year my sister, who was the year ahead of me  achieved straight A's.  She won the two tickets and My Dad took her to a game to see the White Sox play the Baltimore Orioles.  My sister was 15 months older than me, and I had a brother 18 months younger than me.  By that time I had another brother who was still a toddler.  1 on 1 time alone with my Dad was not really something any of us kids ever got on a regular basis.  So when my Dad took Kathy to a game, I knew that was something I wanted to do as well.  When school restarted in the Fall, I was determined to win a pair of free White Sox tickets to get 3 to 5 hours alone with my Dad.  That year was the only year in my academic career that I ever had perfect attendance.  The next summer My father and I attended my first White Sox game.

Dick Allen only played 3 years on the South side but he made his presence know in a major way.  He hit 85 homes runs in those 3 years and a batting  average over .300 and the best slugging percentage of all baseball.  I remember him hitting at least 1 home run at the game we went to,  I was a White Sox fan after that.  Even without the free tickets my Dad continued to take me to at least 1 game a year through high school.  Dick Allen was my White Sox hero, but certainly not my last.  One of my Cubs hero's Don Kessinger finished his career with the White Sox as a player manager.  Carlton Fisk who was one of my favorite players on an opposing teem came to the White Sox as a free agent when I was in high school.  Wilbur Wood, Bill Melton. Bucky Dent. Jorge Orta. Harold Baines, and the list goes on and on.  Dick Allen died a few years ago but was finally elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's committee and he will be inducted this year.  

When I think of the White Sox I think back of the 5o+ years of memories I have watching them.  Going to games with my Dad and taking my kids to the games.  Next Saturday I am taking my wife to the White Sox game.  They just happen to be giving away Dick Allen Hall of Fame bobble heads.  My favorite team, my favorite player and my favorite person in the world.  I don't care If I never get back.

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame: If I Had a Ballot

 Since the inception of my illustrious blogging career, This part of January has been reserved for HOF talk.  It started on my sports blog Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog and moved here when I incorporated all my blogs into Leap of Dave a few years back.  

While I certainly had HOF thoughts in 2023 and 2024 I did not post them here.  Since this is my 3rd installment of the 2025 Hall of Fame, you may have correctly concluded that my respite is over.  

Each year certain members of  The Base Ball Writers Association of America are given a ballot containing the names of former baseball players eligible for enshrinement in Cooperstown. While technically not a member of this august body, the same part of my brain that thinks I'm one phone call away from being the starting 3rd baseman for your Chicago White Sox, supposes that the BBWAA would welcome my inclusion into their body. even though  I've never covered my favorite sport in a professional status. 

The BBWAA ballot contains 28 names this year, 14  returning players and 14 on the ballot for the first time.  The writers are asked to vote for no more than 10 of these players on their ballots.  

As I have done here in the past, I imagine a scenario where I was a member of the BBWAA given a ballot and asked to vote for exactly 10 of those players.  Then I imagine the same scenario where I am asked to vote for only 9, then 8, and so on . and add some infinitum.   At some point in these imaginings, I imagine what I have come to call my official unofficial ballot or OUB,  This is where I state who exactly I would vote for if I chose the players who would be on my ballot. Also, as I have done here in the past, I reserve the right to add some purposeful randomness in the proceedings.

Examples of that purposeful randomness are evidenced in my 2022 Ballot which included 12 names. (My OUB is in bold, and HOF after their name indicates that since my previous post, they have been selected for enshrinement. 

12. Barry Bonds

11, Roger Clemens

10. Jeff Kent

9. Scott Rolen HOF

8. Andruw Jones

7. Omar Vizquel

6. A.J. Pierzynski

5. Curt Schilling

4. Todd Helton HOF

3.David Ortiz HOF

2. Mark Buehrle 

1. Dick Allen HOF

So enough introduction, let my imagination run amuck...

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 12 players the 12th player would be Alex Rodriguez. 

There is no doubt in my mind that if the former Mariner, Ranger, and Yankee was not an admitted PED cheater that he'd already be in the Hall of Fame.  This is why I have him 12th on the ballot.  But he is an admitted PED cheater which is why he stops here at 12.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 11 players the 11th player would be Bobby Abreu. 

In 2021 I said this about Abreu explaining why he was 10th on my theoretical ballot ... I don't think he's worthy of Cooperstown. I think he had a distinguished enough career to be in the conversation for a year or more.

4 years later ... I'm not sure if he's worthy of Cooperstown, but he's growing on me.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 10 players the 10th player would be Andy Pettitte.  

Pettitte is a lot like college graduates flying back home for the summer.  They have a resume and they have baggage. The 3 time all star has pitched in 8 World Series with 5 rings to show for it.  Being listed in the Mitchell report for using HGH has deterred many actual voters and at least one imaginary one.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 9 players the 9th player would be Carlos Beltran.

Speaking of former Astro's embroiled in controversy, Carlos Beltran received 57.1% of the vote last year in his 2nd year of eligibility despite his involvement in the 2017 sign-stealing brouhaha. He may well make the jump to the Hall this year, if he does not I'll consider him again next year.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 8 players the 8th player would be Torii Hunter. 

In 2021 I said placed Hunter 9th, 5 spots short of the 4 players I put on my official unofficial ballot and said this: When I hear the name Torii Hunter. I think Hall of Fame. When I look at his stats they tell a bit of a different story. He falls short of making My OUB but it would certainly be nice if he could get enough votes to be on the ballot again next year.

Well he made it back to the ballot in 2021 and was not one of my 12 votes, he made it back to the ballot in 2023, 2024, and again this year, but I no longer think of him as Hall of Fame material.  I think there is a good chance this year that he won't make the 5% needed for future consideration.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 7 players the 7th player would be Omar Vizquel. 

This is Vizquel's 8th year on the ballot and he made my OUB in 2018 through 2021.  I In 2022 I wrote this explaining why he was no longer on my OUB: 

I still think he's a Hall of Fame type player. However, some of the controversy that has swirled around his nomination has made me decide to put a pause on voting for him this year and look at him with new eyes next year.

The controversy still swirls and like many actual voters, I am waiting for that fog to clear before proceeding any further.  

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 6 players the 6th player would be Pete Rose. 

But wait you say Pete Rose is not on this ballot and besides that he is dead.  That is my point exactly Rose was given a lifetime ban from baseball.  Since his life is over his ban should be over and the Veterans committee should be allowed to consider his inclusion in the hall.  

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 5 players the 5th player would be Joe Jackson. 

But wait you say Joe Jackson is not on this ballot and besides that he is dead.  That is my point exactly Jackson and other players from the 1919 "Black Sox" were given a lifetime ban from baseball.  Since his life is over the ban should be over and the Veterans Committee should be allowed to consider his inclusion in the hall.  I am placing Jackson ahead of Rose because he's been dead much longer.

If I could vote for as many players on the 2025 BBWAA ballot that I thought were worthy for inclusion to the Hall of Fame, my ballot would contain 4 names.  The 4th name on that ballot would be Andruw Jones.

This is the first year I have included Jones on my OUB.  In 2022 while explaining why Jones fell 2 places short of the 6 player OUB of that year, I hinted of a change of heart that might be on the horizon: 

The truth is that I'm not sure that Andruw Jones taking a giant step down in his performance in his final 5 years is as much of a detriment to voting for him as I've made it . His star is definitely on the rise and I can imagine a time when my evaluation of him would increase to the point where I'd vote for his place in the hall.

 

That time came in my 2 years absence and while he may fall short again this year, I do believe that Cooperstown is calling.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 3 players the 3rd player would be C.C. Sabathia.

The former Indian and Yankee hurler is in his first year of eligibility and if voting tracking numbers are to be believed, he will be a first year hall of famer.  I'll have more to say about him after I reveal my next  2 votes.   

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 2 players the 2nd player would be Ichiro Suzuki.

There is no doubt that Ichiro Suzuki is a first-year ballot Hall of Fame, he may even be the 2nd ever unanimous choice for the Hall of Fame.  He is definitely on my OUB.  However, I am not passionate about Ichiro and I am passionate about the player I  put ahead of him on my ballot. And like my pal Irene Cara used to always tell me, take your passion and make it happen.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 1 player that player would be Mark Buehrle.

There are 3 starting pitchers on the ballot this year who have some comparable stats. In my opinion, Buehrle outshines Pettitte and Sabathia.  True, I am a lifetime White Sox fan and Buehrle is my daughter's favorite player. 

When you look at some of the hardware and accolades they have merited Pettitte has 5 World Series Championships compared to Buehrle's and Sabathia's 1 each.  Sabathia has been elected to 6 all-star games, compared to Buehrle's 5 and Pettitte's 4.   Sabathia is the only Cy Young recipient and both he and Pettitte have a a league championship series MVP.  Buehrle is the only one of the 3 with Gold Gloves and he has 4 of them.  So when you total them all up it is Buehrle who has 10, Pettitte with 9, and Sabathia with 8. Buehrle also has a perfect game, an additional no-hitter, and a streak 0f 14 seasons where he pitched 200 or more innings.  

Dick Allen Finally voted into HOF OPV

I have been campaigning sometime now for my first White Sox hero, Dick Allen to get into the the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. Last night he finallt got voted in. I'm sure I'll have some more posts to add in the coming days but for now here are three videos I've pulled off of You Tube to commemorate his big moment.

First up a career retrospective from MLB

 

Next: Local Chicago Newscast reporting Allen's induction

 

 Finally: Philadelphia news story yesterday.

Better Late Than Never: An Open Letter to the White Sox regarding the Legacy of Dick Allen

A lot can happen in 3 years.  3 years ago I started the below blog post and for whatever reason left it in draft status.  Earlier this month I saw this announcement on the Baseball Hall of Fame website.  Seeing that  Chicago White Sox legend Dick Allen was again being considered for enshrinement made me want to do something on his behalf.  Then, I remembered I already did, well at least I started.  A lot can happen in 3 years.  

Aside from correcting multiple grammar and spelling errors, the de-mothballed post is the same as when I started it three years ago. The only exception is that I have color-coded the first three paragraphs, put important statements in bold, and italicized the entire tome (Not Jim Tome; that's a Hall of Famer of a different spelling). The green indicates that the statements are still valid some 1100 days later. The red indicates they are not. I'll be back at the end to further my point.

Dear White Sox Organization: 

 First and foremost, I would like to wish you a joyous and happy holiday season. Secondly, I would like to congratulate you on the fine baseball season you just finished. It is truly an exciting time to be a White Sox fan. I have been a Sox fan going on 50 years. I can not emphasize enough how the accomplishments of one player brought me into the White Sox fan base.  A  player who sadly I don't think your organization has spent enough time heralding his accomplishments while on the South Side.  This player is no other than Dick Allen, The 1972 AL MVP in his first year for the White Sox.

There are two things I'd like to see the Sox organization do to honor Mr. Allen's legacy.  The first is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his MVP season in 2022.  The impact of Dick Allen on the White Sox is legend.  He revitalized the team mobilized the fan base and squashed all the talk of moving the franchise from Chicago to Florida.  His homers at Old Comiskey Park especially those rooftop shots are why a 7-year-old boy raised to be a Cubs fan flipped allegiances and spent his days wanting to emulate his new heroes like Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood, Bucky Dent, Jorge Orta, and especially Allen himself.  

I hope you guys have something like this in mind because a celebration on the scale that I'm thinking should have been planned years in advance.  

Secondly, I would love to see the White Sox publicly champion the HOF candidacy for Mr. Allen.  In my opinion, Allen is the most deserving player in White Sox history for enshrinement in Cooperstown.  Actually, I believe he is the most deserving former player in the entire league who is not yet been voted in.  I was very happy when Minnie Minoso got in this year on the Golden Days Era Ballot..This may seem like blasphemy at 35th and Shields but I feel Allen is more deserving than Minoso for a spot in Cooperstown.  I understand that looking at the advanced metrics bears my thoughts out.  I was heartbroken when Allen missed out by 1 vote again this year.  He now has to wait 5 more years before his case can be reviewed again.

A lot of this heavy lifting needs to be done by Allen's first team the Phillies.  He played the brunt of his career there and I am glad to see that there is a greater acknowledgment of the racism he endured while in Philadelphia.  What I ask of the White Sox is that in the next 5 years, they begin stating Allen's case every time they have the opportunity.  There are still very many White Sox fans of my generation and the generation previous to mine who understand the impact Dick Allen had for the Southsiders in the early 70's.  I ask that the management of the Sox while continuing to look to the future and endeavoring to bring more pennants and World Series championships to their fan base also look back at the past especially the accomplishments of Allen and celebrate what he brought to the team and lobby for his accomplishments to be recognized and honored by the powers that be at Cooperstown and beyond.

A few years back Jerry Reinsdorf lobbied hard for the HOF candidacy of Harold Baines.   I have long been a proponent of Baine's inclusion in Cooperstown.  Reinsdorf did the right thing by helping make the case for Baines.  Reinsdorf had seen firsthand the impact of Baines on the White Sox and knew in his heart that Baines was HOF material.  Dick Allen was long gone when Reinsdorf became owner of the Sox.  Reinsdorf and the White Sox need to understand that although they did not experience it Allen's impact on the White Sox and on baseball in that era was actually far greater than the impact Baines had.  Baines had HOF teammates like Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas.  

That is where I left things off in 2021

Dick Allen (Circa 1965)
Public Domain

Here in the present (11/23/24) Dick Allen is a candidate once again for the enshrinement in Cooperstown that eluded him in his lifetime.  Having missed out on the highest individual honor in baseball by only 1 vote in his last 2 elections, he again is considered a front-runner.  This year he is joined by Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Harris, and Luis Tiant.  All these players are certainly worthy of consideration, and many deserve their own plaque in Cooperstown.  I would still argue that none of these players are more deserving than Allen.  

On December 8th a 16-member Hall of Fame Panel will convene at the Baseball Winter Meetings to decide if any of these players will make it for 2025.  Anyone receiving 12 votes or more from the committee will become a Hall of Famer.  Anyone who doesn't will have to wait until 2028 to even be considered to be a finalist again.  Dick Allen shouldn't have to wait that long.

He actually shouldn't have had to wait this long.  Allen was not the malcontent nor rabble-rouser that people portrayed him as.  He had been vindicated from most of that in his lifetime.  Some of it remains from the atmosphere of racism that followed his career and his BBWAA-era candidacy.  If you're not aware of Allen's experiences as the first professional black baseball player in then-segregated Little Rock, Arkansas while a Phillies farmhand in 1963, this article is a good place to start. Moving to Philadelphia in 1964 and having one of the greatest rookie seasons in MLB history, didn't stop the unfair treatment.  He wasn't allowed 548to go by his preferred name Dick but was relegated to becoming the diminutive Richie, a move which can only be construed now some 60 years later as a thinly veiled attempt to keep him in his place.  

His place is in the Hall of Fame. Yes, injuries shortened his career and certainly, he would have been helped by a longer body of work, but what a body of work.  The 7-time all-star, according to Baseball Musings, Day by Day database the 1964 Rookie of the Year and 1972 MVP in his first 6 seasons (1964-1969) was ranked 20th in at-bats. but ranked higher in 9 other offensive categories  including 5th in runs, 3rd in triples, 8th in both home runs and RBI, 9th in walks, 10th in batting average, and  1st in slugging percentage. Allen's slugging percentage was .555 in that 6-year time. Here is a list of the 10 fellows directly behind him.

Frank Robinson      .552   HOF

Willie McCovey      .551  HOF

Hank Aaron             .548  HOF

Willie Mays             .539  HOF

Harmon Killebrew   .535 HOF

Roberto Clemente    .511 HOF

Willie Stargell          .510 HOF

Reggie Jackson        .508 HOF

Carl Yaztrzemski     .507 HOF

Ron Santo                .505 HOF

This is just one example of Allen's on-field accomplishments putting him among the elite players of his generation.  Allen is also revered by many players who played alongside him.  One is Hall of Famer Allen's former White Sox teammate Rich Gossage.  I'm going to end this post with a quote from Gossage for a 2014 USA Today article about Allen and the Hall of Fame.  Goose puts it more eloquently than I ever could.  

"I've been around the game a long time,'' Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage tells USA TODAY Sports, "and he's the greatest player I've ever seen play in my life. He had the most amazing season (1972) I've ever seen. He's the smartest baseball man I've ever been around in my life. "He taught me how to pitch from a hitter's perspective, and taught me how to play the game, and how to play the game right. There's no telling the numbers this guy could have put up if all he worried about was stats. "The guy belongs in the Hall of Fame.''

60 Years In 60 Days: 1964

Dick Allen in 1964

 I was born in 1964.  Some people may call that my rookie year, but if you know about baseball you know my birthday on 9/23 was just a late September call up and my Rookie year would be in 1965.

  In a similar fashion, Dick Allen (my first White Sox hero) debuted for the Philadelphia Phillies on 9/3/1963 came back in the spring of 1964 and played his rookie season.  He played all 162  games for the Philadelphia the only Phillie to do that in 1964 and just 1 of 12 in the majors. 

When I was growing up I wanted to be the starting third baseman  for the Chicago White Sox.  In 1964 22 year old Allen was the starting 3rd baseman for Philadelphia. Allen had an amazing season, one of the finest rookie seasons in MLB history. He led all of MLB with 125 runs scored.  His 13 triples were tied for first with Cubs 3rd baseman and fellow hero of my youth, Ron Santo.  He had 201 hits and 29 homeruns (5th overall for both achievements.  

Allen  had many successes but a few bumps in the road that eventually saw him be voted N.L.  Rookie Of the year.  He was an adventure at 3rd base amassing 41 errors at the hot corner.  He also led the national league in strikeouts which is great when your a pitcher but not so good when you have a bat in your hand. Allen struck out 138times  in his rookie year   but still managed  to hit .318 in '64 with a slugging percentage of .557.  

Allen's Phillies spent 135 days in first place that year but lost 10 games in a row from September 21st to the 30th in one of the greatest sports collapses in the 20th century. That most of these 10 losses happened in my first week alive is merely coincidence.  At least I hope it is. 

 Bleacher Report has an excellent article about Allen which talks about how claims that Allen was somehow to blame for the collapse have no basis in fact.  That article can be found  by clicking here.

Dick Allen as I remember him

1964 was a great year to be born and a fine year to play your first full season in the majors.  I discovered Dick Allen for myself in the early 70's and he is one of the main reasons I became a White Sox fan,  

Closing Thoughts: 

The scout that signed Dick Allen to the Phillies also saw Babe Ruth play and said of Allen that he was the only player he had seen that hit harder than Ruth.  

Dick Allen died December 7th 2020 in at the age of 78.

He is considered by many to be the best  baseball player not to be enshrined in Cooperstown.  

F is For 42

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies,  my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.

This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z  challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 20 more times this month.

Film: 42

Director: Brian Helgeland

I grew up loving baseball. I didn't think much of it.  Baseball was always there.  I could watch it on t.v. I could play it with my friends and I could dream about being my favorite players Dick Allen or Hank Aaron. 

These players were black and I was white. At that time I had never met a black person, but that didn't bother me.  My heroes were great baseball players and I wanted to be like them.  That I could do that is  a tribute to Branch Rickey, the general manager who helped integrate baseball and to Jackie Robinson who was the first black player in the modern era of baseball.

Image by Welcome to All ! ツ from Pixabay

Positive Tomato: Well-paced and often riveting, and manages to inspire while remaining true to sport and to the player who changed it and all of the professional sport forever. Bruce DeMara - Toronto Star

Negative Tomato:  42 is a hackneyed, cookie-cutter film that manages to tell us absolutely nothing about a turning point in American history. AP Kryza - Willamette Week

Chadwick Boseman shines as Robinson. He gives us a glimpse of how difficult it is to be the first. 

Harrison Ford transforms himself into Branch Rickey.

Resiliency: When Rickey tells Robinson his plan to have him be the first black player in baseball, they have this exchange...

Robinson: You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back?

Rickey: No. No. I want a player who has the guts not to fight back.

This resiliency to take the verbal abuse, the discrimination, to receive the hate mail and death threats is shown scene after scene.  

Top 100: Regardless of whether it makes my top 100 (I imagine it will) it will always be my top 42.

A to Z Connections: This is the 3rd sports film (Breaking Away and Chariots of Fire) and the second film with Harrison Ford (The Empire Strikes Back). 

Next Time: G is for Gene Noir 

Jim Kaat Full Baseball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech and Jim Kaat on Dick Allen

Amy gave me some White Sox Ticket vouchers as a Christmas gift and while I am excited for the future of the White Sox, I still love the past of the White Sox. Here are some videos featuring HOF pitcher Jim Kaat, The former White SOx hurler. The first is his induction speech at the Hall if Fame last summer.

 

The second is an interview he did on the MLB network after the passing of Dick Allen.

 

I was very glad to see Kaat finally make it to Cooperstown. It's too bad Allen did not make it in his lifetime, I hope that He will make it soon. Love, Crazy Uncle Dave

Y is for Yin, Yang, Yaz and Young

 Good morning and welcome to day 24, the penultimate of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here. 

Part I: A to Z Limericks

I don't give a darn or a dang

for the yin or even the yang

Don't meant to alarm ya

I'm just not into karma.

I think God controls whole shebang.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

 

Carl Yastrzemski played his entire career  (1961-1983) with the Boston Red Sox. Yaz is 39th overall in homeruns over his career with 452.  (Nelson Cruz will tie him with his next homer and surpass him with the one after that.) From 1961 to 1963 Yastrzemski pummeled 44 homers for the BoSox in his first 3 years in the Bigs.  From 1964 to 1975 he established himself as a hall of fame caliber outfielder hitting 273 homers with a .290 batting average and a slugging percentage of .480.  In that Era he was 1 of only 4 players to be in the top 40 of homers, doubles and stolen bases along with Dick Allen, Hank Aaron, and Jimmy Wynn.  Yaz hit 135 more dingers for Boston in his final 8 years with the team.

  

Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My March 25tg starting word was young. 

Y O U N G- I guessed one letter (o) correctly but not in the reight place...

S T O R E - Added 2 more letters (T and  E) still nonr in their correct positions.

O C T E T-  It took 8 people to get the t in the right place.

D E P O T - Depot in 4.

For more A to Z challenge click here.  

A is for Awana, Allen, and Ample.

                                                                

Good morning and welcome to another year of the A to Z Challenge.  This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB Sluggers in my life time, and A to Z Wordles.  For more information about these themes click here.  

I did not grow up attending the kind of churches that participate in the children's program Awana.  So, it was not until Amy and I started our own family that we participated as parents and volunteers.. Awana is a program that among other things promotes the memorization  of bible verses from children 2 -18.  They are in many ways similar to a youth scouting program and one of their biggest events is the Awana Grand Prix which is very similar to the Pine Box Derbiesthat  I participated in as a Cub Scout.    Awana is something that worked for out family for many years which I 0ne reason why I penned this limerick 8+ years ago.

                                                         Tell folks, tell friends, tell an iguana.

There's plenty of fun at Awana

                                                         We learn that God is King

                                                         We play games and we sing

                                                         But never Hakuna Matata

                                                         From My Facebook page 3/5/2014

Dick Allen (1942-2020) was my hero when I was a young White Sox fan. His 3 year tenure on the White Sox (1972-1974) is a big reason I became a White Sox fan. When you look at the list of the 10 best homerun hitters from 1964-1975, 7 of them are in the Hall of Fame. Only Dick Allen , Boog Powell and Frank Howard are not. Powell was a MVP winner and Frank Howard won the Rookie of the Year award. Allen had more homers than either of those men and won both awards. Allen hit 331 homers from 1964 -1975. 189 with the Phillies, 85 with the White Sox, 34 with the Cardinals and 23 with the Dodgers. Allen averaged 33 homers per every 162 games played.

Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

My starting word on March 1st for Wordle was ample.

A M P L E

With the P and the E in the correct place. I tried to think of words that would fit. The first thing that came to my mind was Rupee.

R U P E E

Much to my delight and surprise it was correct, I found out a week or so later that Rupee caused a little bit of an sensation on wordle with many people breaking their win streaks on this word for Indian currency. For me it was a rare 2 time solve, but a good way to start my a to z wordle openers.

Thus begins another April A to Z to see what other prople are posting click here.

Hall of Fame Part III: Who I Would Vote For

 Each year members of the Base Ball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) are given a hall of fame ballot with the names of the players eligible for consideration of enshrinement in Cooperstown. They are instructed to vote for as many as 10 of the players on the ballot.  This years ballot contains 30 players so the writers can vote for up to 1/3 of players on the ballot.  If a player receives 75% of the writers votes they are admitted into the Hall of Fame.  If they receive under  75% but more than 5% they are retained on the ballot for the next year.  The players have up to 10 years on the ballot to earn the 75% needed for enshrinement.

I am not a member of the BBWAA and I do not have a vote but to again  paraphrase Rob Lowe as the Grinder "What if I were? and What if I did?"

I ask myself that question about this time each year. Here is what I've come up with for 2022.

First of all a little about my process.  Each year I imagine what would happen if I was a member of the BBWAA and was asked to vote for a certain number of players  and only that number, no more, no less.  Than I imagine that I was asked to vote for one less than that original number, than one less than one less, until I was asked to just vote for one player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.  By imagining a world like this I add a ranking component that the BBWAA lacks and I am able to shed a little light onto what players achievements I value more than others.  

I also imagine a world where I am able to vote for as many players as I feel worthy of enshrinement. When I hit that number, which is 6 this year, I call that my Official Unofficial Ballot or OUB for short.  

If I had 12 votes ...

Yes, I know that I just said that each BBWAA voter gets as many as 10 votes.  But I also said, I am not a member.  As a non member in good standing, I reserve the right to modify their rules whenever I please.  

My 12th vote would go to Barry Bonds .

My yearly prognostication into all things Cooperstown started a few years before Bonds was on the ballot.  In the nine previous years he has been on the ballot, the all time leader in home runs  has never made my list before.  The reason is very simple, I would never vote for him if I was given a real ballot.  I have also never talked about why I would not vote for him. I just made my list and went on with my life.

So, why am I adding him this year?  Well first of all, I am not adding him to mu OUB, I am not even adding him to the list of 10 players (the maximum BBWAA voters can choose),  But that doesn't really answer the question as to why after 9 years of ignoring him am I putting him on my list this year? The answer is quite simple, even with all the reasons I would never vote for him the truth is had he not participated in that chapter of his life, he would have been a certain Hall of Famer. He may not have bypassed Aaron for the home Run record or even Broke McGwire's single season record, but he would have certainly been in the Hall of Fame by now and  possibly on the first ballot.  So in honor of his contributions to baseball that are not in question and because this is his last year on the ballot, one way or the other, I choose him 12th.

If I had only 11 votes, my 11th vote would go to Roger Clemens.

The 2 paragraphs I just wrote about Bonds could as easily have been written about the Rocket.  I think the only difference is Roger Clemens would have been a certain first ballot Hall of Famer if his name wasn't so linked to the scandal that I endeavor so hard not to mention by name

If I had only 10 votes, my 10th vote would go to Jeff Kent. 

I voted for Jeff Kent 6th last year here is what I said then:

He's like my poster child for outside looking in.  Even thinking about it here, I'm tempted to have Jones and Rolen leap frog him.

Last year, I did not yield to my temptation of voting for Jones and Rolen before Kent.  This year, I did (more on those players a little later).  As Kent is listed as what certainly seems to be his penultimate appearance on the BBWAA ballot, I have decided that in my mind and in my vote Kent is just not Hall of Fame material.

If I had to vote for exactly 9 players this year my 9th vote would go to Scott Rolen.

I voted for Rolen 7th last year and here is what I said then:

Not only would I pick Rolen 7th, 7 is also the number of his gold gloves and all star appearances for this former Rookie of the Year.  I have not picked him in the past but a closer look this year shows me he's right on the cusp of making my OUB.

This year, I am still pondering whether Rolen  will ever make my OUB.  It will have to be in the future as I'm still not  100% convinced he belongs there.  

If I had to vote for exactly 8 player this year my 8th vote would go to Andruw Jones.  

I voted for Jones 8th last year and here is what I said then:

If Jones retired in 2007 when he left Atlanta or if He had Atlantaesque numbers in his final 5 seasons of baseball He'd have a better chance of making Cooperstown than he does now.

The truth is that I'm not sure that Andruw Jones taking a giant step down in his performance in his final 5 years is as much of a detriment to voting for him as I've made it me.  His star is definitely on the rise and I can imagine a time when my evaluation of him would increase to the point where I'd vote for his place in the hall.

If I was told that I had to vote for exactly 7 players on the 2022 BBWAA ballot the 7th vote would go to Omar Vizquel.

I voted for Omar Vizquel 2nd among 4 players on my OUB last year, and hers is what I said then:\

Vizquel is one of those players for whom advanced metrics can't tell the full story of.  He played the game at an extremely  high level for many years. Some say his defense is over rated, I disagree.  He is a Hall of Fame caliber defender and worthy of Cooperstown.

I have not stepped away from any of those opinions in the year since I last voted.  I still think he's a hall of fame type player.  However, some of the controversy that has swirled around his nomination has made me decide to put a pause on voting for him this year and look at him with new eyes next year.

If I was told that I could vote for a many players as I wanted to this year for the Hall of Fame but they all had to be candidates that I was 100% certain I wanted in the Hall the number of players would be 6.

These 6 players would be the ones who adorned my official unofficial ballot for 2022.

The 6th of these players would be A.J. Pierzynski.

I know, it seems like I'm making a joke.  Let me assure you that I am not.  I take my role as an imaginary arbiter of Hall of Fame worthiness very seriously. As such, I think one of my responsibilites as a fictitious voter is to champion local players and keep the discussion going so their exploits can be celebrated (and debated) for more than one single season.  At first sight Pierzynski, does not scream out Cooperstown.  But I will say I have hated A.J. Pierzynski (during his 6 years with the Twins) and loved A.J. Pierzyski (starting with his 8 years for the White Sox and enduring throughout his playing career until now) for basically the same reasons,  He plays to win and does his very best night in and night out to give his team the edge.  Yes he is a ferocious competitor but he is also a beloved teammate.  I think his playing days being the embodiment of those qualities make him very worth of continued Hall of Fame conversation.

If I was told that I could vote for only 5 players on my 2022 ballot my 5th vote would be for Curt Schilling.

Last year Schilling broke onto my OUB and was ranked in 4th place. Here is what I said about him then:

I have not been advocating Schilling as a candidate for Cooperstown until very recently.  In 2020 I would have put Schilling 8th on my list and not in my OUB. He never got a mention from me in his first 7 years on the ballot.  This year as I did my research many of my earlier qualms about his candidacy seemed to disappear into the vapor.  He definitely has the resume for it ...

Last year Schilling received more votes than any other player and only missed enshrinement by 3.9 % of the vote.  He then in the Curt Schilling caricature that he has portrayed himself over the course of his candidacy he asked for his name to  be removed form consideration during his final year on the ballot.  The Hall of Fame did not remove his name but I am certain that kind of request will bring down his percentage and eliminate any chance of him getting to Cooperstown via the writer's ballot.  That doesn't change the way he played the game which is the only reason he has my vote this year.

If I was told I could vote for only 4players on my 2022 ballot my 4th vote would be for Todd Helton

Last year I voted for Todd Helton on my OUB and he was ranked third.  Here is what I said about him last year: 

...  I eventually didn't hold it against Edgar Martinez that he played most of his career as a designated hitter, I don't begrudge Helton for playing his entire career for the Rockies.  

The more I think about it the more I see Helton in the Hall. I hope that his numbers trend up this year and that a few years from now we can be celebrating his getting in.

If I was told I could only vote for 3 players this year my 3rd vote would be for David Ortiz.

I have a hard time voting for players for the Hall of Fame based on a certain issue.  This year I am putting that aside and voting for Big Papi on my OUB.  Years ago his name was leaked for failing a ped test that was supposed to be voluntary and confidential.  The players who volunteered for this test proved to be the catalyst for the mandated testing that came in it's aftermath.  The test resutls were never published so it's still unknown what he tetsted positive for.  The facts remain that he never failed a mandated test and that he's always maintained his innocence.  In this one case I let his numbers which are prodigious speak for themselves and gladly vote for his induction.

If I was told  could only vote for 2 players this year my 2nd vote would be  for Mark Buehrle.

Last year I voted for Mark Buerhle on mY OUB and I ranked him first above all other players.  Here is what I said about him then: 

He is a pitcher from another era, that's for sure, but those players of his caliber from that era are already in the hall of fame.

Last year 11% of the voters agreed with me and he's up for consideration on his 2nd year on the ballot. Smart money would say his 2nd and final year on the ballot as it doesn't look like hill get the 5% of the vote needed in this years proceedings,  I would certainly vote for him only time will tell at this point.

If I could vote for only 1 player on my Official Unofficial 2022 Hall of Fame ballot that player would be a write-in candidate.  I would write in the name of the player not in the hall of fame who most deserves to be there and that player is Dick Allen.

Last year I wrote Dick Allen's name on my ballot and ranked him 5th just shy of my OUB.  Here is what I said about him then: 

Allen who passed away late last year should already be a hall of famer. I think he will probably make it to  the next time the veterans committee of his era re-convene.  If not then he may be revisiting this list in the years to come.  

Allen came up one vote shy on the veteran's committee for the 2nd time in a row.  The battle against performance enhancing drugs was an important battle for MLB to engage in. It is not more important than the battle against racism and it's racism pure and simple that kept Allen out of the Hall of Fame.  His numbers are there.  I have written much about this in the past and I will continue to do so.  Allen will be up for reexamination bty the Golden Era committee in 5 years until then expect to see Allen's name at the top of my subsequent OUB's.

Now a quick prediction.

I think that only one player's name will be announced later today and that player will be David Ortiz.  Of the remaing players on my OUB I believe Pierzynski will get no where near the 5% needed to be on the 2023 ballot.  Schilling will have his lowest voting percentage in the last 3 elections and will have no one to blame but himself. Todd Helton will probably climb 10 percentage points this year poised to make a run for enshrinement in the next couple of years. Buehrle will not get near the 11 percent form last year and miss or make the 5% cutoff by 3 votes or less.  Dick Allen is not on the ballot, so he probably won't make it this year.  

This was fun.  It is every year.  I'll be back in a few days with a follow up piece.

Hall of Fame 2023 Preview: Hall of fame 2022 Voting review

My 12th vote would go to Barry Bonds .

Barry Bonds received 260 votes( 66%)  in his final year of eligibility in the  2022 BBWAA HOF voting.  He was the second highest vote getter and the first highest vote getter not meeting the needed 75% for enshrinement,  

If I had only 11 votes, my 11th vote would go to Roger Clemens.

If I had only 10 votes, my 10th vote would go to Jeff Kent. 

If I had to vote for exactly 9 players this year my 9th vote would go to Scott Rolen.

If I had to vote for exactly 8 player this year my 8th vote would go to Andruw Jones.  

If I was told that I had to vote for exactly 7 players on the 2022 BBWAA ballot the 7th vote would go to Omar Vizquel.

Official Unofficial Ballot

The 6th of these players would be A.J. Pierzynski.

If I was told that I could vote for only 5 players on my 2022 ballot my 5th vote would be for Curt Schilling.

If I was told I could vote for only 4players on my 2022 ballot my 4th vote would be for Todd Helton

If I was told I could only vote for 3 players this year my 3rd vote would be for David Ortiz.

If I was told  could only vote for 2 players this year my 2nd vote would be  for Mark Buehrle.

If I could vote for only 1 player on my Official Unofficial 2022 Hall of Fame ballot that player would be a write-in candidate.  I would write in the name of the player not in the hall of fame who most deserves to be there and that player is Dick Allen.

Nolan Ryan vs. The White Sox You win some and you lose some

If you mention Nolan Ryan and the Chicago White Sox many people conjure  an image of  Arlington  Texas August 4 , 1993. As depicted in the video below White Sox 3rd baseman

 and future manager Robin Ventura took exception to  being beaned by Ryan to start the inning rushed the mound and preceded to get pounded by Ryan.

I originally started this post a few months ago. Until that day, I never saw footage  of this incident.  I lived in Russian from December 1992 to November 1994 and even though I heard about the altercation had not seen the footage until now.  The melee was near the end of a storied career by Nolan Ryan. 

The Hall of Famer threw a record 7 no hitters from May 15, 1973 to May 1, 1991.  He also took 5 other  potential no hitters into the 9th inning.  The first of these disappointments came against the White Sox on 8/7/1974 when Ryan was with the Angels.

Watching the last inning of tthat game was very nostalgic for me.  The 1972-1974 Dick Allen era White Sox represent the beginning of my almost 50 year obsession with the White Sox.  Listening to Harry Caray call the action years before he headed over to the north side and  watching the likes of Allen, Jorge Orta, Ken Henderson and Bill Melton harkened me back to those early days. v

This game  features  3 future hall of famers in prominent roles.  Frank Robinson homered in the 2nd to give the Angels a 1 run lead.  Jim Kaat pitched a 9 inning gem scattering 6 hits and only allowing 1 run on the Robinson smash. Through 8 innings Ryan was the star of the show until the 9th inning when should be hall of famer Dick Allen broke the no hitter by running flat out on a check swing.  Click here to read a great account of the game along with a historical perspective of the time in which it was played.  Perhaps