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Monday, January 20, 2025

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame: New On The Ballot

 The 2024 Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame Ballot contains 28 names of former MLB players being considered for enshrinement. This year the ballot has been split right down the middle with 14 players returning to the ballot and 14 players eligible to be on the ballot for the first time.   Players have 10 years of eligibility to receive the 75%  or more votes needed to make it to the Hall this way.  If they have additional years of legibility remaining and receive between 5% and 74.9 % of this year's vote they will remain on the ballot for next year.  

The 14 players on the ballot for the first time in 2025 are in Alphabetical Order



Carlos González OF 12 Seasons 4 Teams: Rockies, A's Indians, Cubs
Curtis Granderson OF 16 Seasons 7 Teams: Tigers, Mets, Yankees, Marlins, Bluejays, Dodgers, Brewers
Félix Hernández P 15 seasons : 1 Team: Mariners 
Adam Jones CF 14 Seasons 3 Teams: Orioles Mariners D-Backs
Ian Kinsler 14 Seasons 5 Teams: Rangers, Tigers, Angels, Padres, Red Sox
Russell Martin C 14 seasons: 4 teams: Dodgers, Bluejays, Yankees, Pirates 
Brian McCann C 15 Seasons 3 Teams Braves Yankees Astros
Dustin Pedroia 2B 14 Seasons 1 Team Red Sox 
Hanley Ramirez IF 15 seasons 4 teams: Marlins, Red Sox, Dodgers, Indians
Fernando Rodney RP 17 Seasons 11 Teams Tigers, Rays, Mariners, Angels A's D-Backs, Twins, Marlins, Nationals, Padres, Cubs
CC Sabathia P 19 Seasons 3 Teams: Yankees, Indians, Brewers
Ichiro Suzuki RF 19 Seasons 3 Teams Mariners Yankees, Marlins
Troy Tulowitzki SS 13 Seasons 4 Teams: Rockies, Bluejays, Yankees 
 Ben Zobrist IF 14 Seasons 4 Teams: Rays, Cubs, A's Royals

Fun Facts: 1) Only the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Francisco Giants do not have any 1st-year eligible players on the ballot this year.  
2) The 2 players on the ballot for the first time this year who played the most seasons, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia both played on 3 teams and were teammates on the Yankees. 

Not Sure How This is A Writer's Workshop But I'm In.




Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 
  1. Write a post based on the word surprise. 
  2. Write a post in exactly 8 sentences. 
  3. Tell us about your favorite restaurant when you were a kid. 
  4. Share links to 5-10 of your favorite non-political YouTube videos from this past week. 
  5. Tell us about a time you had a really elaborate project in elementary school. 
  6. Tell us how you named one (or more) of your pets.

I love writing too much, too look for a loophole when it comes to these Workshop prompts.  But if I were, prompt 4  would be right up my alley.  A writing prompt that just has me sharing links?  Bring it on.  

Some of the videos are not from  the past week but were in my you tube feed in the past week.  I had already put a few You Tube links in previous posts which is why I have the minimum amount.  Yet another loophole.  




Bob Bennett Weekly Live 1/12/2025











That was almost too easy,  So I decide to do # 6 as well. It's how I renamed a pet.

When I was in highschool my family bought a cat.  They named him Tiger.  I say they because If I had been conulted in the naming process such a predictable name would not have escaped my lips.  One of my best friends already had a cat named tiger, and of course every other striped cat was named tiger.  

Not only did I refuse to call the cat Tiger. I unilaterally decided to change his name.  So in my family of 7 people, 6 people called  our new cat Tiger and I called the cat Larry. I was very aggressive  and vocal with my naming preference. While no one switched over immediately I wore people down. My Dad would  accidentally call  him Larry, sweat under his breath and switch back to Tiger. I was always a pretty obnoxious teenager but this was me ar my most obnoxious.

in the early 80s VCRs were coming on the scene and our family got one before a lot of my other friends had them. So that summer I had a big party and we watched a number of movies. In between and even during movies people hung out I’m different places in the house and on the front porch and people came and went freely.

At some point during the party Larry/Tiger went freely but didnt come back. He probably got tired of  all the name calling. We never did see Larry or Tiger again. 


Sunday, January 19, 2025

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Voting: Returning to the Ballot

The 2024 Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame Ballot contains 28 names of former MLB players being considered for enshrinement. This year the ballot has been split right down the middle with 14 players returning to the ballot and 14 players eligible to be on the ballot for the first time.   Players have 10 years of eligibility to receive the 75%  or more votes needed to make it to the Hall this way.  If they have additional years of legibility remaining and receive between 5% and 74.9 % of this year's vote they will remain on the ballot for next year.  


The returning players are listed here in descending order of the % of votes received in the 2024 BBWAA election.



Player                  Position                 YOE           Highest PCT. (YR)         Lowest Pct. (YR)

Billy Wagner       Relief Pitcher        10th            73.8 % (2024)                 10.2% (2017)          

Andruw Jones      Centerfielder         8th              61.6%  (2024)                 7.3% (2018)

Carlos Beltran      Centerfielder         3rd              57.1 % (2024)                 46.5 % (2023)

Alex Rodriquez    Shortstop               4th              35.7 % (2023)                 34.3% (2022)

Manny Ramirez    Outfielder              9th              33.2 % (2023)                 22 % (2018)

Chase Utley             2nd Base                2nd              28.8% (2024)                  28.8% (2024)

Omar Vizquel           Shortstop               8th               52.6% (2020)                 17.7% (2024)

Bobby Abreu            Righfielder            5th               14.4% (2023)                5.5% (2020)

Jimmy Rollins          Shortstop               4th              14.8% (2024)                 9.4 % (2022 )

Andy Petitte              Pitcher                  7th               17.0% (2023)                9.9% (2019)

Mark Buehrle            Pitcher                    5th              11% (2021)                   5.8% (2022)    

Francisco Rodriguez Pitcher                 3rd             10.8% (2023)                  7.8% (2024)

Torii Hunter              Pitcher                5th               9.4% (2021)                    5.3% (2022)

David Wright           3rd Base               2nd             6.2% (2024)                    6.2 % 2022

Billy Wagner who is in his final year of eligibility missed enshrinement last year by only 1.2% of the votes.  

Fun Fact of the 12 players who are on the ballot for the 3rd time or more, only 4 of them received the highest percentage of votes in their election cycle in 2024. 

A Quote to Start Things Off

All

Snow Kidding!

Snow Kidding!
These "kids" now range from 19 to 25