On Sunday, the first members of the Class of 2017 for baseball’s Hall of Fame will be announced. The Hall’s board recently revised their “Veterans’ Committee” voting procedures, creating a set of “Era’s” categories with the purpose of inducting non-playing members and players previously overlooked by the Baseball Writers Association of America. This year’s vote […]
Category: Baseball
The “Today’s Game” Ballot: Davey Johnson and Lou Piniella
On December 6th, the first potential inductees to the Hall of Fame Class of 2017 will be announced. The “Today’s Game” ballot features 10 baseball luminaries who are up for consideration for induction into Cooperstown. Unlike the more well known voting for players only (from the baseball writers), this modern version of the “Veteran’s Committee” […]
Thanks for the Memories, Vin Scully
This weekend in San Francisco, the world’s longest broadcasting career will come to a close. The Giants, in their pursuit of a wild card playoff berth, will host the Los Angeles Dodgers. These will be the final three games of the regular season for the Giants and Dodgers and the final three games for one […]
Griffey and Piazza: The Hall of Fame Class of 2016
Congratulations to Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, who today were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and will have their plaques revealed during their induction ceremony this summer in Cooperstown, New York. In order to be elected to the Hall, a candidate must supported by at least 75% of the voters from the […]
10 Candidates for the 2016 Hall of Fame
On Wednesday afternoon, my favorite moment of the baseball off-season will occur: the announcement of the Class of 2016, the new inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. After two terrific classes of Hall of Famers (seven deserving players elected in the past two years), this year’s class will likely be smaller, […]
Why Writers should NOT vote for Bonds & Clemens for the Hall
Sheffield, Edmonds, Walker: Who Belongs in the Hall?
It’s less than four weeks until the results are announced for the class of 2016 for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Two new center fielders are on ballot for the first time, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jim Edmonds. This article will not be about Junior Griffey. He will be a 95% or better vote-getter in his debut on […]
The Three Closer Candidates for the Hall of Fame
(updated December 12, 2016) On October 1, 2007, I was sitting in the sports book at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas with a great friend of mine, John Zentner. We were watching two games: Monday Night Football (in which the Patriots beat the Bengals en route to their perfect 16-0 regular season) and the […]
David Ortiz: An Appreciation
Yesterday, on his 40th birthday, Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz announced that he will retire at the end of the 2016 season, bringing to a close the most consequential career in the history of the team since Babe Ruth. Although Hall of Famers like Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Wade Boggs, and Pedro Martinez had greater overall […]
Post-mortem: the 2015 World Series
For a disinterested baseball fan, without a rooting interest of either team, the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets was about as good as you could get for a 5-game series: two extra inning games and three games that turned in the final two innings. For me personally, as […]