Sometimes Grace Is Not Enough

On May 9th 1993 Mark Grace about 1/2 way through his 12 year stint with the Chicago Cubs hit for the cycle against the  San Diego Padres at Wrigley  Field in Chicago.  This is one of those games that it is very fashionable  for Chicagoans to say they were at.  I know I wasn't,  as it was the only year in my life so far that I did not set foot on American soil.  I was in Russia telling people about grace, but not the ballplayer.  God's grace is always enough.  The Cub's came up short despite of Grace that day losing to the San Diego Padre's 5-4.  

 

Stats Sunday: Most Improved Baseball Teams of 2025

 The Regular season of MLB came to an end last month some would say that for the White Sox  it did so mercifully.  I would  beg to differ. 

Me (In my best Dickensonian pauper's voice) : Please Sir, may I differ? Please?!? Could I kindly differ?

When you lose 100 or more games in a season  3 years in a row as my beloved South Sliders (misspelling intended) have it would  ostensibly make sense for anyone covering the team to write  an end of the season review as a post-mortem.  Over the past few weeks I have read many that looked just like that,

However,  as I mulled it over in my mind, I realized that the 2025 record of 60 wins paired with 102 losses ,  an abysmal 21 games below .500, was in actuality 19 wins better than their record setting (in a bad way) 2024 season total.  This made me wonder how the White Sox would match up to the rest of the league in terms of most improved win total from 2024 to 2025.

2025 MLB Teams (Listed from most improved  to least improved regular season from 2024 to 2025)

     Team                          2024      2025   

1. Toronto Blue Jays      74-88    94-68 +20 

2. Chicago White Sox    41-121 60-102 +19

3. Miami Marlins           62-100 79-83   +17

4. Los Angeles Angels   63-99    72-90  +9

5. Chicago Cubs             83-79   92-70   +9

6. Boston Red Sox         81-81    89-73   +8

7. Athletics                     69-93    76-87   +7

8. Cincinnati Reds         77-85    83-79   +6

9. Seattle Mariners         85-77   90-72    +5

10. Milwaukee Brewers  93-69   97-65   +4

11. Texas Rangers            78-84   81-81  +3

12. Detroit Tigers             86-76   87-75  +1

13. Philadelphia Phillies   95-67  96-66   +1

14. San Francisco Giants  80-82  81-81   +1

15. New York Yankees      94-68   94-68   E

16. Houston Astros            88-73    87-75 -1.5

17. Tampa Bay Rays          80-82    77-85 -3

18. San Diego Padres         93-69    90-72 -3

19. Kansas City Royals      86-76    82-80 -4

20. Cleveland Guardians    92-69    83-74 -4.5

21. Washington Nationals  71-91    66-96 -5

22. St. Louis Cardinals       83=79  78-84  -5

23. Pittsburgh Pirates          76-86   71-91 -5

24. Los Angeles Dodgers    98-64   93-69 -5

25. New York Mets              89-73  83-79 -6

26. Arizona Diamondbacks  89-73 80-82 -9

27. Minnesota Twins            82-80 70-92  -12

28. Atlanta Braves                89-73 76-86 -13

29. Baltimore Orioles           91-71 75-87 -16

30. Colorado Rockies           61-101 43-119 -18

Analysis: I marked each record in bold if that team went to the playoffs the year listed.  Of the 7 teams that made the playoffs in 2024 and 2025, three did so with more wins than the previous year, 1 team had the identical record each campaign, and 3 won more games in 2024 than they did this year.  

Of the 3 cities with 2 teams , Chicago was the only city that had both teams improve let alone be in the top 5 of improved teams.

Top 10 most improved home and road teams. (Teams in bold are in tp 10 in both categories)

Home                       Road

Blue Jays +15          White Sox +9    

Red Sox + 10            Athletics +9

White Sox + 10        Marlins +9

Marlins + 8               Blue Jays +5

Angels +7                  Mariners +3

Padres +7                   Mets +3

Yankees +6                Cubs +3

Cubs + 6                    Angels +2

Reds + 6                     Guardians +1

Brewers +5                 Nationals +1

Pirates + 5                  Giants + 1

So, yes the improvements from one year to the next for our Chicago teams is something to be celebrated.   Similar improvements next year are not impossible dreams.  If  The Cubs improve  by 9 wins next year they would be past the 100 win mark.  If the Sox win 19  more games next year they would only finish 2 games below .500.  Will that happen, who knows?  But steps in the right direction are signs of life not cause for a post-mortem.

Capping Off Poetry Friday

 I am an old school blogger and as such I still list many blogs on multiple blogrolls at my site.  There are many different types of blogs, sports blogs, music blogs, poetry blogs just to name a few.  tonight as I was looking over some of the recent posts on my blog roll I noticed one that said 30 poems.  So I assumed it was a poetry blog this being just a few hours from Poetry Friday.  Boy was I wrong it was a blog called Fan Graphs which is a very insightful baseball blog that I understand only about a third of.  

Well I clicked and there were 30 poems all right, but they were poems about baseball caps and not just any baseball caps but 30 poems dedicated to a new line of caps called overlap caps by the company New Era. 

Davy Andrews wrote a poem for each of the 30 MLB teams caps.  They are called overlap caps because each cap overlaps two of the baseball teams names or designs.  Since I am a Chicago baseball fan I am including a picture of both Chicago teams caps  and the first few lines of the poem to demonstrate the effect.

 

                    Chicago White Sox

Pay close attention, kids. 

This is the danger of the limited color palette. 

Life’s not black and white. 

Or rather, it’s not all black and white. 

 

There’s still right and wrong. 

There’s right, and then there’s wrong. 

So much wrong we’re drowning in it,

                        Chicago Cubs 

 “Nothing to see here,” said the huge, rotund C 

 That swallowed its skinny sibling whole. 

 “Nothing to see. Hop aboard the El.” 

 It looks like it’s about to throw the skinny C back up.

To see the pictures of the rest of the caps and read these poems in their entirety along with other teams of your choosing click here. 

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Janet at Salt City Verse.  You can click here to see what she has going on. I have not been writing much poetry lately which is one of the reasons why I have not been participating in Poetry Fridays for a while, but as my old school blog role indicates I am still actively pursuing poetry in my blog reading.

STBFI (Soon To Be Fired Index)

 After today's Bears game, I thought it might be prudent to provide this content sooner rather than later. Anytime one of the 5 Major Chicago sports teams hires a new (non-interim)  head coach or manager I do a process in my head.  In this process, I rank the 5 coaches/ managers including the most recently hire one from 1 to 5 based on which one I feel will lose their job next,   I call this the Soon to be Fired Index or STBFI for short.  When The White Sox hired Will Venable to be their manager on Halloween this year I started putting together the next iteration of the index.  It proved difficult after Mister Obvious at one, but I did my best. 

1. Matt Eberflus Chicago Bears - six straight losses says it all.  I don't think he's going to make it to the Team Holiday party.

2. Luke Richardson Chicago Blackhawks—Richardson has fluctuated between 2nd and 5th on the list in my head since Venable's hiring. My understanding is that the front office is fine with him finishing his contract. However, I don't think anyone in the organization is thrilled that expansion Utah is 3 points ahead of the underperforming Blackhawks as of this writing.

3. Billy Donovan Chicago Bulls - Many feel that Donovan's days are numbered as the Bulls head coach but their current winning percentage of .400  is 5-7 games ahead of full-season win projections.  If the Bulls' almost total lack of defense continues that percentage will go down and cries for Donovan's dismissal will continue at an increasing rate.

4. Will Venable  Chicago White Sox - Generally, the last person hired is usually the last person on this list.  That is good conventional wisdom.  I have reason to hope that given time Venable may be able to help the White Sox navigate past the historically bad season they just experienced.  It seems to me that White Sox management will give him a long leash especially if the team shows any signs of continual (even if it's slow) improvement.  However, if Venable looks like Pedro Grifol reincarnated the aforementioned leash could get mighty short mighty quick. 

5. Craig Counsell Chicago Cubs - 83-79 was not good enough for the Cubs in 2023 so David Ross was fired and Counsell was pilfered from Milwaukee.  In 2024 m the first season with Counsell at the helm, the Cubs achieved the very same 83-79.  Not good enough? Yes.  Bad enough to get Counsell on the hot seat? No, I don't think so.  Counsell should be around for a while. 

The next time one of these 5 men is fired, retires or stops leading their team for any reason, I will post a quick update as to where on the STBFI the former skipper was situated.  I won't post the next STBFI until a full-time replacement is hired.  

The Sandberg Game | The Signature Game of Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg's ...

40 years ago today The Cubs played the Cardinals in the famous "Sandberg" Game. Enjoy this documentary:

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Opening Day MLB 2024 White Sox

The White Sox open at the stadium FKA Comiskey Park  this afternoon at 3:10 p.m.  The Sox open against Al Central rival Detroit.  After losing over 100 games last year and a bit of house cleaning near the end of the season that continued over the winter not very much is expected in GM Chris Getz's first full season in his new position.  Pedro Grifol  is in his second season as manager for the southsiders and I believe he will be given a long leash this season to get the team back on the winning track.

Opening Day starting line up for the Sox.  (Players in Bold are making White Sox Debut)

1 Andrew Bentendi LF

2 Yoan Moncada 3 B

3 Luis Robert Jr CF

4,Eloy Jimenez DH

5. Andrew Vaughn 1B

6. Paul Dejong SS

7. Kevin Pillar RF

8. Martin Maldonado C

9. Nicky Lopez 2B

This is obviously the first starting line-up for the White Sox this year.

The starting pitcher for the White Sox is Garret Crochet.  This is Crochet's first major league start.  He is only the 2nd White Sox player to ever have their first major league start on Opening Day.  The first happened some 123 years ago when Roy Patterson pitched for the Chi Sox in the first ever American League opener.  Crochet has been converted into a starter and was named the opening day starter after Dylan Cease, who had already been assigned to start Opening Day was traded to the Padres earlier this month. 

T

Streaks are over! White Sox Lose to Guardians in 11, Cubs beat Padres .

 I've been waiting for the last few hours for the White Sox to win their 7th game in a row.  It did not happen after having a comfortable 4 run lead the Sox allowed 11 of the 12 Cleveland Guardian Runs after the 9th inning and failed to score winning runs in the 9th and the 10th.    Losses like this at home are always hard to take, but when ever you are on a plus 5 game winning streak you know it has to end at sometime.  It is frustrating that this is the 4th loss in a row to the Cleveland Guardians.  They have not beat Cleveland since they changed team names.  The best thing to do in this situation is shake it off and come back the next game and start a new winning streak.

While the Sox were losing in extra's the Cubs stopped a 5 game losing streak by shutting out the Padres 6-0.  Jason Heyward put 20 points on his batting average by going 2 for 4 tonight bringing it to .232.  Even so, his average at the end of April was .270 and previous to tonight's performance, he had only 1 hit in 17 at bats in the month of May.  Hopefully the Cubs and Heyward will enjoy tonight's success and build on itf 

At the beginning of the Cubs Sox series last week they both owned a record 9 wins and 13 losses.  The Sox went 5-1 since then and are now 14-14.  The Cubs went the other way with 1 win and 5 losses putting them at 10-18.  The Cubs next 5 games are on the road with the Padres and Diamondbacks.  The White Sox play 6 more games on their current homestand, 2 more with the Guardians and 4 against the Yankees.  

2022 A to Z Challenge Reflection

 

 In 2012 I completed my first A to Z Challenge. In 2019 I had gotten away from blogging for about an 18 month period. I got back in to it shortly before the 2019 challenge my theme that year was the Songs of the Sherman Brothers.  In 2020 My theme was Capital Cities and In 2021 My theme was people who were alive 100 years before in 1921

My plan as the 2021 challenge drew to an end was to participate in the challenge from all 4 of my tive blogs at the time.  Random Acts of Roller, HSD (Previously known as Home School Dad), Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Page and Dave Out Loud.

The past 12 months has been some of the happiest and trying months of my life.  I at times worked 3 different jobs concurrently, I have spent large percentages of my time helping care for my aging parents and my disabled daughter just among many moving parts in my life.  Creating content while still a passion and a priority needed to diminish in some ways.  

At the beginning of this year I began consolidating the 4 remaining blogs into HSD but changing the name to Leap of Dave.  The previously mentioned things have kept me from fully completing that task but having just one blog to maintain has alleviated a world of pressure.

This year instead of having 4 different entries to the challenge, I just had 3 different themes for the challlenge.  The first was A to Z limericks.  I seem to be a limerick whisperer able to turn anything into a 5 lined AABBA poem.  Here's one off the top of my head

There once was a blogger  named Dave

whom during the challenge neglected to shave

And just as we feared

He grew out his beard

and looked like he crawled out of a cave

The above limericks not true

It's just a show of what I can do

If you give me  time

I'll come up with a rhyme

But now let us talk Rod Carew

Wow, was that a non sequitir or what?

Actually that's an ideal segue to my 2nd theme.

My 2nd theme was home run hitters in my life time.  I was born in 1964 but late in the baseball season, so for ease of use I counted the entire 1964 season as part of my life time.  Besides dividing the players alphabetically, I also divided my life time into 5 segments: 1964-1975, 1976-1987, 1988-1999, 2000-2010, 2011-2022.

The first thing I did was made a list of the top home run hitters in each of those periods.  I used a tool called the day by day data base from the blog Baseball Musings to make these lists.  

You can pick a range of dates and a range of stats to look at,

When I seleected 1964 to 1975 for batting average (for players with a minimum of 1000)  plate appearances, it gave me this list ...

The aforementioned Rod Carew is listed 3rd with a batting average of .328.  I wont put in the screen shot but from 1976 to 1987 he also batted .328 and was 4th place on the list.  He was a consistent hit machine but not a power hitter only hitting 92 homeruns out of 9315 career at bats.  I will be making an index of the homerun hitters I did include this year and will be making some lists of who I left out.

To start that off I will turn to the Cubs from 1964 to 1975.  They had 3 players who hit more than 100 homers for them during that period.  All 3 of them Hall of Famers and when preparing for this list I felt certain that at least some of them would have been included.  Not one of them was.  They  are in  order of home runs :

 

Billy Williams 381

Ron Santo 263

and 

Ernie Banks.  159

That is 740 homers between them by far the most of any 3 teammates between 1963 and 1974.

My 3rd a -z challenge theme was wordle starting words.  This took actually the most preparation.  On March 1st I started beginning my wordles with a different letter for the first 26 days of the month and then recording all my guesses guess in a notebook.  Starting on April 1st I took out the notebook and recounted my wordle guessess for the previous month.  For continuity's sake I started my wordles in April with the same starting word as the previous month's guess.  

Personally April 2022 has been an extremely busy  month for me.  This at times really got in my way of enjoying the a to z challenge as much as I have in years past.  Unfortunately May has not gotten any less busy, which may explain why I am writing my a-z reflection an hour before it is due.  I have a few ideas for themes for next year, but I think I'll limit myself to just 1 next year.  

S is , Stan Lee, Sammy Sosa and Sears

Good Evening and welcome to day 19 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

There once was a "Marvel"ous man

A comic book writer named Stan

when the books came to screen

His cameos would be seen

As an Easter egg for the true fan.

.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

Sammy Sosa was not my first choice for a slugger in my life time for the letter S.  I would have rather been able to insert Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell, Ron Santo or even Alfonso Soriano.  What it came down to was era.  When I decided to make an a to z list of hommer hitters over my life time, I decided to split the eras into 11-12 year increments (1964-1975, 1976-1987, 1988-1999, 2000-2010, and 2011-2021) I decided to fit 5 players from each era and a 6th from whichever era had the quintessential q hitter.  This meant that sometimes I could not put in all the players I wanted to make room for 5 in each era and 1 with each letter.  I needed another player form the 1988-1999 era and Sammy Sosa was the only person in the top 25 of homerun hitters from that era who had an s in his name.  

Sosa like Reggie Jackson, and Albert Pujols was actually in the top 25 of 2 eras, his 273 homers between 2000 and 2010 was tied for 23 of players from that time period.  It was in 1988 to 1999 when he hit 336 dingers that he made the top 10 o.  It is that time frame that he comes into the list. Add both eras home run production together and you get 609 long balls good enough for 9th on the all time list.  Between 1988 and 1999, he hit 1 while playing for the Texas Rangers, 28 with the Chicago White Sox and 307 with the Chicago Cubs.

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 19th starting word was Sears.

S E A R S - Got an A in the incorrect place

A N N U L-  Got A in right place added l but in wrong place. .

A L L O Y - 4 letter in correct spots!

A L L O W -  Wordle  in 4 guesses.

For more A to Z challenge click here. 

K is for Kilometer , King Kong and Krill

 Good Evening and welcome to day 11 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. Due to the incredible busyness of my week I am posting more than 16 hours late today.  Usually I would post at 4:13 a.m to coincide with the date 4/13.  Speaking of 4/13 stay tuned and I will have a special 17th birthday shout out for someone who was born today.  

Part I: A to Z Limericks

our This limerick was written 3/20/22 about an hour after I finished the Shamrock Shuffle, a Chicago 5 mile run.  Special 17th birthday shout out to my niece Olivia who ran in that race much much faster than I did and is celebrating her birthday today.

 Just finished my first 8 K

A 5 mile race, so they say

I'll admit it was fun

But I'm glad that it's done

No more runs for a week and a day

Actually I have not run for 3 weeks and 2 days.  Although I have taught some gym and played some full court basketball.  I hope to get back on track (Oh boy, was the pun intended!) soon.

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

When I think of Dave Kingman, I think of Wrigley Field.  Kingman only played for the Cubs for 3 years (1978-1980) but during that time hit 49 home runs at the friendly confines.  When not with the Cubs he hit 20 more home runs at Wrigley as a  member of the visiting team. Kingman once hit a home run 550 feet.  

Kingman played from 1971 to 1986.  In the era of 1976-1987 he hit 329 of his career 442 homers, 3rd most of that era. Only Mike Schmidt (1st with 437) and Jim Rice (2nd with 341) hit more in that time period.  During that time King Kong belted  118 homers with the Mets, Creamed 100, for the A's,  hit 94 dingers with the Cubs.  He also hit 11 for the Padres, 4 for the Yankees and 2 for the Angels.  

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 opening word for K on March 11th was Krill

K R I L L  - There was something fishy about that guess not netting letters

G H O S T-  I didn't get spooked by my first guess and got h and t on the second , but in wrong places.

H A U T E - this guess got A in the right position and added h to t as letters in the wrong position

W A T C H - got it in 4

This morning I started again with Krill and like last month guessed the wordle in 4 guesses.  

I better call it a night. Hopefully I can finish my 3 l topics before 4:14 tomorrow morning.  For more A to Z challenge click here.  

D is for Dirty, Dawson, Drain

Good morning and welcome to Day 4 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 

In researching all things limerick, I have discovered that many limericks are ribald, offensive, or dirty. I have decided to try my hand at a dirty one ...

If you happen to go to the zoo

You might see lots of kangaroo poo

And a whole lot of feces

From bunches of species

Yes, I know it sounds gross, but it's true.

Adapted from my FB post 1/24/2014

Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime

One of the challenges in doing an a to z challenge that is a list of people is figuring out who to include and exclude based on what letter their name begins with. It is especially difficult if a players first name and last name begin with the same letter. If I want to include Freddie Freeman in my homerun list, I have no choice but to use him as F which is where I was planning on putting Frank Thomas. Another problem is when 2 players cancel everyone else out. I knew I wanted to include both Dick Allen (who I featured on April 1st) and Andre Dawson on this list, but since they both use up the same letters it squeezes out players like Adam Dunn who hit 354 homers between 2000 and 2010. Allen and Dawson are good choices though as they both revitalized their careers when moving to Chicago.

Dawson hit 274 of his 438 homers between 1976-1987 tied with Don Baylor for 10th for most homers in that era. This included all 225 of his career home runs with the Montreal Expos and 49 with the Cubs in 1987 the year he won his MVP award. Dawson hit another 100 with the Cubs playing 5 additional seasons on the Norths Side before finishing his HOF career with the Red Sox and Marlins.

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.

On March 4, 2022 my opening word was drain

D R A I N- A was the only correct letter and it was in the correct place, I went from drain to blade.

B L A D E - D and E were in the word but not in the tight place. I countered with stead

S T E A D - This put the last 3 letters in the right place, so I forged ahead with ahead.

A H E A D - which was right!

For more A to Z challenge click here,

Hall of Fame Ballot 2022 : Part I First Year on the Ballot

The Baseball Writer's Association of America (BBWAA) are given a ballot each year and asked to select as many as 10 players for induction to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  This year, there are 30 players on the ballot.  Seventeen are returning from last years ballot which means these players are in their 2nd to 10th time on the ballot and have received between 5% and 74.9% of the vote each year of eligibility.  Less than 5% and they are removed from consideration, 75% of more and they are enshrined into Cooperstown.  Tomorrow I will review these 17 players, today we will focus on the "lucky" 13 who are receiving consideration for the first (and for many the last) time.

These players are:

Carl Crawford - Outfield                  Years Played: 2002 - 2016

Teams Tampa Bay 2002 - 2010, Boston 2011-2012 LA (Dodgers) 2013-2016

Crawford hit .290 during his playing career which ties him for 7th place with all players on the ballot and is second to Alex Rodriguez for players on the ballot for the first time in 2022.  His 480 stolen bases is 2nd to Barry Bonds for all players on the ballot and of course is the most for any players new to the ballot this year.  Crawford played in 4 all star games, was the All star MVP in 2009 and won both  a silver slugger and Gold Glove award in 2010.

Prince Fielder - First Base                 Years Played 2005-2016

Teams: Milwaukee 2005-2011, Detroit 2012-2013, Texas 2014-2016

Prince Fielder hit .283 and had a slugging percentage of .506 duriing his eleven seasons in the big leagues which puts him in 10th place of all players on the ballot for both categories.  Fielder a 6 time all star won the Home Run derby on 2 occasions during the all star festivities.  The First baseman currently know as Prince was the 2011 All Star MVP, won the NL Hank Aaron award in 2007  the comeback player award in 2015 and three silver slugger awards.

Ryan Howard - First Base                 Years Played 2004-2016

Team: Philadelphia

Ryan Howard of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies hit 382 homers in his 13 year career which ranks 9th for all players on the 2022 ballot.  He  also has a life time slugging percentage of .515 which is 3rd of all players new on  the ballot  for the first time this year and 7th when all players are included. Howard was the 2005 NL     Rookie of the year and followed that up with the 2006 NL MVP (He also received a TSN MLPOY and Hank Aaron award that year).  The 3 time all star also was a home run derby champ, won a silver slugger award, and was the 2009 NLCS MVP.

Tim Lincecum - Pitcher                 Years Played 2007-2016

Teams San Francisco 2007-2015 LA (Dodgers) 2016

Of the 10 pitchers on this years Hall of Fame ballot Lincecum, of the 2010, 2012 & 2014 World Champion San Francisco Giants ranks 3rd with his 222 career victories.  This is the most of any players who are first time on the ballot.  The 4 time all star won back to back Cy Young awards in 2008 & 2009..  

Justin Morneau - First Base                 Years Played 2003-2016

Teams: Minnesota 2003-2013 Pittsburgh 2013 Colorado 2014,2015 Chicago (White Sox) 2016

In 2006 Morneau was the AL MVP while fellow first time ballot mate Ryan Howard was the NL recipient of the same award.  In 2014 while with the Rockies Morneau won the NL Batting Title hitting .319 that season (interestingly enough he hit for a higher percentage for the Twins in 2006 and 2010 and was not the AL  batting title winner either year).  The 4 time all star was all a Home Run derby champ as well as a two time winner of the silver slugger award.

Joe Nathan -Pitcher                Years Played 1997-2016

Teams: San Francisco 1999-2003&2016 Minnesota 2004-2011 Texas 2012,2013 Detroit 2014,2015 Chicago (Cubs)2016

Joe Nathan's 2.87 lifetime  ERA is 3rd best among all pitchers on the ballot and 2nd of all players on the ballot for the first time in 2022.Nathan pitched in 787 games and recorded 377 saves  the most of any player on the ballot  the first time and 2nd behind Billy Wagner in each category. The 2009 Rolaids Relief pitcher was also a 6 time all star.

David Ortiz - DH First Base               Years Played 1997-2016

Teams: Minnesota 1997-2002 Boston 2003-2016

Ortiz  of the 2004, 2007 and 2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox    played in 2408 games which is 6th of players on the ballot and 2nd behind A-Rod  of first year ballot players.  His 8,640 AB 1,419 runs, 2,472 hits , 541 homers, 1,768 Runs Batted in,  and 1,319 walks. ranked among all on the ballot 8th, 9th  7th 5th 4th and 7th respectfully, and 2nd in each category behind Alex Rodriguez for first timers on the ballot.  Orizs lifetime batting average of .286 ranks 9th on the ballot (3rd for newcomers) and his slugging percentage of .552 is the best of all newcomers and 3rd best overall.  Ortiz was the ALCS MVP in 2004 and the 2013 WS MVP as well as a 10 time all star for the BoSox,  David won 7 silver slugger awards and multiple other awards too numerous to mention here.  

Joanathan Papelbon - Pitcher             Years Played 2005-2016

Teams: Boston 2005-2011 Philadelphia 2012-2015 Washington 2015,2016

Papelbon a member of the 2007 World Champion Red Sox has a lifetime 2.31 ERA best among all new pitchers on the ballot this year and 2nd among all pitchers.  His 689 appearance are 4th among all pitchers on the ballot and 2nd behind Nathan among first timers on the ballot.       Papelbon's 368 saves ranks 3rd just 9 behind Joe Nathan,  Jonathan Papelbon received the 2007 delivery man of the year which was awarded to the best closer of that year.  Papelbon finished 2nd in 2006 AL Rookie of the year voting and was a 6 time all star.    

Jake Peavy - Pitcher             Years Played 2002-2016

Teams: San Diego  2002-2009 Chicago (White Sox) 2009-2013 Boston 2013,2014 San Francisco 2014-2016

Peavy a member of the 2013 World Champion Red Sox and 2014 Giants won 152 games in his career more than any other first year player on the ballot.  Peavy's 436 starts and 2,377 innings pitch   both are tops for new players on this years ballot.  Peavy ranks 4th in strikeouts among all on the ballot and again tops that list for first timers.  Peavy a 3 time all star (twice with the Padres once with the White Sox) was had the lowest ERA  in the National League in 2004 and 2007.  2007 was his best season as he was also an all star, The NL Cy Young Winner and winned of the NL triple crown for pitchers given when a player has the highest winning percentage, lowest ERA and most strike outs.  Peavy won his only Gold Glove award as a member of the Chicago White Sox.

A.J. Pierzynski - Catcher             Years Played 1998-2016

Teams: Minnesota  1998-2003 San Francisco 2004 Chicago (White Sox) 2005-2012 Texas 2013 Boston 2014 Saint Louis 2014  Atlanta 2015,2016

A.J. a member\of the 2005 World Champion Red Sox is a 2 time all star (one with Twins, one with White Sox)  and won his onlt silvEr slugger award as a member of the White Sox.  

Alex Rodriguez  - Shortstop and Third Baseman             Years Played 1998-2016

Teams: Seattle  1994-2000 Texas    2001-2003     New York (Yankees) 2004-2013 2015,2016

A-Rod a member of the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees as mentioned previously leads all 1st time players on the ballot in most offensive categories.  These are games (2,784 - third overall)on the ballot, , At Bats (10,566, 2nd behind Omar Vizquel overall), Runs (2021, 2nd behind Barry Bonds), Hits (3.115, 1st overall)  Home Runs (696, 2nd behind Barry Bonds) Runs Batted In (2,086, 1st overall) Walks 1,338, 4th overall)  and Batting Average (.295 4th overall) Rodrigues is also in the overall top 10 for Stolen Bases (329 for 6th overall and 3rd among first timers on the ballot and Slugging Percentage (.550 4th overall and behind only David Ortiz for first timers.  Rodriguez won 3 AL MVP awards (1 with Rangers, 2 with Yankees) a 2 time sporting News Major League Player of the Years, a 14 time All Star, a ten tme silver slugger award winner with 2 gold gloves as well.  A-Rod was the 1996 batting champion while with the Mariners.

Jimmy Rollins  - Shortstop               Years Played 2003-2016

Teams: Philadelphia  2000-2014  L.A. (Dodgers)    2015   Chicago (White Sox) 2016

Jimmy Rollins a member of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies played in 2,275 games 3rd most for first timers on the ballot.  His 9,294 at bats are 4th among all players ont his years ballot and just behind A-Rod for first timers,  Rollins is also in the top 10 in Runs (1,421, 8th overall, 2nd behind A-Rod first timers) , Hits (2,435 10th overall , 3rd 1st time ballot &  Stolen Bases (470, 3rd overall 2nd behind Carl Crawford first time on ballot).  Rollins was a 3 time All Star, the 2007 NL MVP winner. He also picked up his first of 4 gold gloves that season as well as his only silver slugger.  He won the coveted Roberto Clemente award in 2014, his final season with the Phillies.

Mark Teixeira   First Baseman             Years Played 19984-2016

Teams: Texas    2003-2007 Atlanta  2007,2008  L.A. (Angels)   2008    New York (Yankees) 2009-2016

Mark Teixeira was a member of the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees. Teixeira's 434 homers ranks 3rd overall of players on this years ballot and 3rd among those in their first year on the ballot. His 1,298 runs batted in is also 3rd among first timers as are his 998 walks which are good for 10th overall.  Mark's lifetime mark of a .509 slugging percentage is 9th best on this years ballot.  Teixeira played in 3 all star games, won 5 gold gloves and 3 silver slugger awards.

The 13 players listed above played on 20 of the 30 teams in the MLB.  The teams with the most first timers are the Red Sox, Rangers and Giants with 5 players each and the Twins and White Sox with 4 apiece.  The 10 teams without any representation of first timers on the ballot are the team formerly known as the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds, the Arizona Diamond Backs, the Oakland A's , the Houston Astros, the New York Mets, The Miami Marlins, The Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. 

I will be back soon with a quick story on the 17 returning players and then again tomorrow for who I would vote for if given a ballot.  

Oldest Living Baseball Players Cup of Coffee Edition

 

George Elder the oldest living baseball player

Elder played 41 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1949

Though meager this greatly surpasses the 16 living players with 10 or less games 

Yesterday I saw the Kurt Warner biopic, American Underdog.  At the beginning of the film Warner (portrayed by Chuck star Zachary Levi) voices over how common the dream to play in the NFL is and how staggeringly difficult it is to achieve.  He also mentions that the majority of players who do make it only last a season or two.  The same of course could be said about any professional sport.  For me it was baseball and I knew by little league that I would never played for my beloved Cubbies or White Sox. 

This dream became a reality for every major league baseball player even if it was for just a handful of games.  Of the current list of the oldest living players , 16 of them only played for the proverbial cup of coffee (10 or less appearances).  

B is for Billy (Graham and Sunday)

One thing I discovered quickly in my preparation for this years A to Z challenge is that there were more than 26 people I wanted to write about it.  Of course quite a few of them I had to discard, but where I could I have tried to put a few in the same post if I feel they are some what connected.

For the letter B I found 2 men with not only the same first name but also the same occupation.

                                                    William Ashley (Billy) Sunday

                                                    Years Lived Before 1921: Fifty-nine

                                                    Years Lived After 1921: Fourteen

Billy Sunday  was a famous evangelist and prior to that he was a baseball player.  He was born in Iowa in 1862.  His father died in the Civil War a few weeks after his birth.  He was raised in an Orphan's homeHall o. He loved baseball and was discovered by future hall of famer Cap Anson and signed with the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs).  He played for  Chicago from 1883 to 1887 and played

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. He played for the Pittsburgh Allegheny's (The Allegheny's changed their name to Pirates at the end of the 180 campaign.)  from 1888 to 1890 before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies midseason.

While Playing for Chicago Sunday was converted to Christianity after attending meetings at the Pacific garden Mission.  In 1886 He met Helen "Nell" Thompson who he married in 1888.  In 1891 he quit baseball and began work at the YMCA.  After the YMCA he began  preaching at revival meetings first with J. Wilbur Chapman in 1893 and then on his own in 1896.  

Sunday would often incorporate baseball into his crusades.  Sometimes forming teams to play and playing for both sides.  He believed in the authority and inerrancy of scripture and unlike some 

preachers of his day addressed social issues.  He denounced child labor, supported the vote for women and did not segregate his revivals even in the deep south.  He was a strong proponent of World War I and and even stronger advocate of prohibition.

"Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That's why people are going to the devil in multitudes." - Billy Sunday

Before Sunday's death in 1935 it is estimated that 100.000.000 people attended his revivals and 1,000,000 professed Christ as a result of his preaching.   

                                                            William Franklin (Billy) Graham Jr.

                                                            Years Lived Before 1921: Three

                                                            Years Lived after 1921: Ninety-seven

 

Billy Graham grew up in North Carolina where his childhood dream was to be a baseball player. He addressed this in a book  he wrote in his 90's:

Since there were few things in life that I loved more than baseball, as a young man I dedicated myself to the sport and hoped that my passion for the game would lead me straight to the major leagues.

My goal was simple: stand at home plate, with bat in hand, immersed in an important game. I often pictured myself hitting a big-league grand slam into the stadium seats and hearing the crowd roar with thunder as I ran the bases—nearing home.

He then followed it up with this ...

I never would have guessed what lay in store. After giving my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ—repenting of my sin and putting my entire life into His hands—I laid down my dreams, along with my bat, and fully embraced God’s plan by faith, trusting that He would lead me all the way. He did, He is, and He will.

As I look back, I see how God’s hand guided me. I sense His Spirit with me today, and most comforting is the knowledge that He will not forsake me during this last stretch as I am nearing home. If that doesn’t give me a sense of hope, nothing else will.

Billy Graham came to faith in Christ through a revival  meeting that came to his town.  This was the beginning of the end of his baseball dreams but also the beginning of his own career as an evangelist.  Unlike Sunday Graham was well educated getting degrees in 1940 from Florida Bible Institutes and in 1943 from Wheaton College.  It was at Wheaton where he met and married Ruth Bell. Like Sunday some of his first forays into ministry were with young people.  While Sunday worked for the YMCA Graham worked for an organization called Youth For Christ.  I first heard the Gospel through Youth for Christ and volunteered as a youth leader my first 3 years after high school so I feel like I can relate to Billy Graham on that level.

From 1947 to 2005 Graham conducted 417 crusades in over 180 countries and territories on 6 continents.  

Graham successfully utilized radio, newspapers, magazines and television in his ministry.  He was able to be a very public Christian figure and avoid any major scandals in his ministry.  While he certainly had critics, his style of clearly communicating the gospel on a global scale for more than a half a century is definitely the greatest evangelical achievement of the 20th century.

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Meaningful (and civilized) dialogue between adherents of different worldviews at Dave Out Loud. In 1969 Woody Allen and Billy Graham appeared together on a T.V. special.  I uploaded the video from you tube onto my vlog last year to show how civil disagreements can be.

The Politics of Christianity at Random Acts of Roller. I use the legacy of Billy Graham as a counter example to how politically one sided I thought American evangelicalism was growing.

A To  Z Extra

 Sunday Monday  at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog. How 2 Chicago Cubs outfielders named after days of the week are better known for their stands rather than their stats.

That's all I have as Day 2 of the challenge comes to an end.   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring. .  

 

Sunday Monday

 According to baseball reference there are only a handful of players who have had the first name, nickname or last name of a day of the week.  The 2 players with any significant playing time were both outfielders for the Chicago Cubs and both are more known for activities removed from the regular activities of a basbeball player.  These players are Billy Sunday and Rick Monday and while they played a century apart from each other they do have some things in common. 

Billy Sunday who played in the National League from 1883 to 1890 (1883 to 1887 with the Cubs, who went by the name White Stockings during those years) led baseball in 1890 with most double plays as an outfielder with 11.  Rick Monday who played from 1966 to 1984 (1972 to 1976 with the Cubs) led the American League in 1867 with 6 double plays as an outfielder and then in 1974, as a Cub, led the National League in the same category with 5. 

Billy Sunday who is still ranked in the top 250 on the all time list for steals (#246 with 246 steals) is best remember for saving souls than stealing bases.  He is probably the 2nd most well known evangelist in the United States behind Billy Graham. You can read more about Sunday and Graham by going to my blog HSD.

Rick Monday is also known more for saving although he was neither an evangelist or a relief pitcher.

In 1976 at a game in Los Angeles a father son tandem tried to burn an American Flag. Monday intervened as you can see below . . .  

Billy and Rick , two Cubs outfielders who made the most of their days. 

Remembering Dick Allen

 Dick Allen died earlier this month on December 7,2020 at the age of 78. Allen was the NL rookie of the year for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, the year I was born. He played for the White Sox form 1972 to 1974 and was a big part of the reason why I switched allegiances from the Chicago Cubs to their south side counterpart  White Sox. 

It transpired something like this.  My sister was the grade ahead of me at school and achieved straight A's at school one year.  Our school had a promotion with the White Sox that if you had straight A's or perfect attendance you would receive 2 vouchers for tickets to a White Sox game.  My Dad took my sister to a game and I decided that the next year I would get perfect attendance and he could take me

Sure enough, the next year I had perfect attendance for the first and only time in my academic life. My Dad took me to a game in 1972 or out the roof shots and it was1973 against the Baltimore Orioles.  He taught me how to keep score and Dick Allen hit a home run.  

From that day on I was a White Sox fan. I watched games on T.V. and listened to the rest on the radio.  I even became a country music fan as the White Sox games were broadcast on the local country station.  The rest of the family remained Cubs fans (I still like the Cubs because no one told me other wise, ) but my exuberance was for the White Sox.  Each year our family took a pilgrimage to Wrigley to watch a game.   Each year my Dad found away usually near my birthday to take me to a White Sox game as well.

I liked all the players, Bucky Dent. Wilbur Wood, Jorge Orta, Bill Melton but Allen was by far my favorite. Over the years the players changed but my passion for the White Sox never ebbed. I have had many favorite White Sox players over the years Kessinger, Fisk, Thomas, Buehrle, and Konerko just to name a few,  but those fond memories of watching Allen at first base or at the plate never  did fully dissipate.

Click here to watch footage of Allen with commentary from teammate Bill Melton. I also have put some video and audio clips of Allen at my vlog, Dave Out Loud. 

Allen at the Bat

Allen in the Field

Iconic Sports Illustrated Cover

    

    

White Sox defeat Cubs in exhibition game at Wrigley Field.

This past Sunday Evening in Chicago, a cross town rivalry resumed days before the covid 19 shortened baseball season got underway.  

Jason Kipnis homered for the Cubs in their half of the first inning giving them a one run lead.  Kipnis hit 12 homers against the White Sox as a member of the Cleveland Indians.  The Cubs added to their lead in the second as Wilson Contreras scored on a sacrifice fly in the second.  

The score remained 2-0 until the top of the 5th inning.  With one out, Adam Engel who is known more for robbing opposing batters of home runs, robbed Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks of a shut-out by homering himself.  

After the Engel homer, Tim Anderson singled and Eloy Jimenezflew out to right field and what happened next could only bedescribed as a good old fashioned 2 out rally.  Jose Abreusingle to right moving Anderson to 3rd and removing Hendricks from the game. Jharel Cotton came in to pitch for the Cubs and Andrew Vaughn came into run for Abreu. Yasmani Grandal then doubled in Anderson and  Vaughn giving the White Sox the lead. 

The south siders were not finished yet.  Grandals hit was just the first of three run scring doubles in succession. Edwin Encarnacion who made his major league debut for the Cincinatti Reds in the White Sox World Championship year of 2005 and is  right about to begin his 16th season in the major leagues and his first for the White Sox hit a double to left  plating Grandal.  Then Luis Robert, who has yet to make his major league debut and was 8 years old when the White Sox won it all in 2005 hit a ground rule double to score Encarnacion.  

 

 Luis Gonzalez came into run for Robert.  Leury Garcia  tripled to score Gonzalez.  This brought up Cheslor Cuthbert who just came over to the White Sox from the Royals who had the misfortune of making the first and final outs of the inning.  But when Cuthbert made out #1 his team was behind 2-0, when he made out #3 they were ahead 6-2. 

The White Sox added a run to that lead on a wild pitch in the seventh and the Cubs took that run away in the 8th as David Bote scored Josh Phegley in the 8th ending the scoring at 7-3 White Sox.  

Baines and Smith make all my unofficial HOF balloting official

Lee Smith HOF 2019

I was driving home from work on December  when I got floored by unexpected good news.  I was working an overnight weekend job for the holidays and turned my radio on while driving past all the mopes on their way to work. The national news was on and the last story was about the baseball Hall of Fame.  Harold Baines and Lee Smith were both selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the modern era committee. 

Harold Baines HOF 2019

 This came as both a delight and surprise to me.  Since I began this blog in 2009 there has been no greater advocate to HOF consideration and inclusion for Baines and Smith than myself  Each year in these very pages I pretend I have a vote for the Hall.  Go back into the archives and each year you will see me eloquently persuade the inclusion of either gentleman into the Hall.

Harold Baines  began his career with the White Sox in 1980 and finished his career there as well in 2001.  He had 3 stints with them 1980 to 1989, 1996 and 1997 and then came back in 2000 and retired in 2001.  He also played for the Baltimore Orioles 3 separate times (1993-1995,1997-1998, &2000) In between He played for the Rangers , Athletics and Indians.  Baines was predominantly a right fielder in his first 7 years in the Majors.  From 1988 to 1992 he transitioned to designated hitter  playing some outfield. From 1993 on he was used exclusively as a DH with the exception of one game in right field for the Sox in 1997.

In 1980 while Baines was starting his HOF career on the south side of Chicago, Lee Smith began his HOF journey on the North side with the Cubs.  He played for the Cubs from 1980 to 1987 and then played for the Red Sox from 1988 to 1990, In 1990 he went to St. Louis and was there until mid 1993 when he finished the year with the Yankees. In 1994 He and Baines were teammates in Baltimore.  He finished his career with stints for the angels (1995-1996) Reds (1996) before finishing up with the Expos in 1997.  Smith was a reliever for the vast majority of his career finishing 802 games and earning 478 saves.

I have read several places that Baines and Smith belong in the Hall of Very Good and not the Hall of Fame.  This just does not hold up.  The truth is that they are both Hall of fame caliber in their positions of Designated Hitter and Relief Pitcher.   In baseball reference,com they rank players in similarity.  4 of the 5 players most similar to Baines, Tony Perez, Al Kaline,  Billy Williams & Andre Dawson are Hall of Famers.  Lee Smith best comps to Trevor Hoffman who made the HOF last year and Mariano Rivera, a lock to do so this year. 

Congratulations to both Baines and Smith I look forward to your future enshrinement.

R is for Ron

Cubs Home run hitters from Aramis to Zimmerman

R is for Ronny

Ron Santo

Cubs, White Sox

I may be the only person who liked it when Ron Santo came to the White Sox for his final season in 1974.  I was a kid,I had just switched alliances from the Cubs to the Sox and one of my favorite Cubbies was coming to the South Side.
The person who liked the arrangement the least was  probably Santo himself .  He wanted and thought he deserved to retire as a Cub.  When the Cubs let him go he opted to go play for the Chi-Sox, as he had thought he had more in the tank.

As it  turns out he had very little left in the tank and had an abysmal year.  Instead of focusing on his unhappy ending, I prefer to look back at the amazing things he did as a Cub.  

Santo hit 337 of his 342 career homers for the Cubs. He averaged 30 homers per season between 1964 and 1968.  During that same 5 year span he also had 5 consecutive gold glove awards so he was definitely a stellar offensive and defensive player.  

For More A to Z Blogging click here.  

Q is for Quest

Cubs Homerun hitters from Aramis to Zimmermanan 

Joe Quest 1852 - 1924

Cleveland Forest Citys. Indianapolis Blues, Chicago Cubs as White Stockings, Detroit Wolverines, St. Louis Cardinals as Browns , Pittsburgh Pirates as Alleghenys, Philadelphia Athletics

Q:  If your last name or first name began with the letter Q, how many homers as a Cub would you need to own the outright record?

A: 2

Joe Quest played  second base for the Chicago Cubs  in the 19th century, back when they were called  the Chicago White Stockings.  Quest,  a very good defensive player, was not much of a hitter. In his 10 year professional career, he batted .217 and hit 1 HR in 2295 at bats. This is an average of 0 homers in a 162 game season.  By comparison of the 250 major leaguers who played from 2005 to 2014 and had 2295 AB or more, 54%  had 100 or more homers,  83.6 % had 50 or more and all 250 had at least 7 more homers than Quest over the same time period.   

Quest did win back to back to back pennants with the White Stockings from  1880 to 1882.  Quest is most famous for coining the phrase Charlie Horse as a term for a muscle cramp.  There are several version of how this came to be, one states that he and several of his teammates were at a horse race and all his teammates wagered money on a horse with Charlie in his name.  Quest had  not wagered on that horse.  During the race, the horse pulled up lame, and Quest made a quip about that Charlie horse not doing so well.  The next day, as one account has it, one of his teammates had the same type of injury in the course of the game, and Quest said he's just like that Charlie Horse.  

Quest's nickname for cramp is now forever etched in the English language,  but his Cubs Q homerun record is just 2 long balls from extinction. 

For More A to Z Blogging click here.