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Bar Chat

07/22/2013

An American Sportsman

New York Mets Quiz: 1) Name the four to hit .340 in at least 300 at-bats. 2) Name the three to hit 40 home runs in a season. 3) Name the only Met, incredibly, to walk over 100 times in a season. Answers below.

The Open Championship

After 3 rounds

Westwood  -3
Mahan -1
Woods -1
Scott E
Stenson +1
Mickelson +2
Poulter +5

After 4

Mickelson -3...66
Stenson E...70
Poulter +1...67
Westwood +1...75
Scott +1...72
Woods +2...74
Mahan +3...75

I looked up the formal definition of a “sportsman” and Webster’s (I still use a paper source, by the way), has just two.

“1. a person who engages in sports (as in hunting or fishing) 2. one who plays fairly and wins or loses gracefully.”

Eh. Oh, I guess a sportsman plays fairly and wins or loses gracefully, but that’s really ‘sportsmanship,’ not being a sportsman.

When Sports Illustrated selects it’s “Sportsman of the Year,” it’s not first and foremost looking at one who is a graceful loser, that’s for sure.

Then again, Phil Mickelson, with five majors now, and 42 PGA Tour titles overall (British Opens are part of the tally), has been a graceful loser before, but now you can book it. Phil Mickelson will be this year’s “Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year” with his spectacular triumph on Sunday.

I’ll tell you why he’s a true sportsman. A sportsman embraces challenges and does all he or she can to succeed where success hasn’t existed before.

That’s what Phil did with the British Open. He hated links golf and had virtually zero successful Open Championships his first two decades.

But he embraced the challenge of learning the nuances of it, “learning the angles” if you want to be successful, as he himself put it this week. He won last week at the Scottish Open at Inverness (Castle Stuart), seeing it as good practice for the links experience at Muirfield, rather than taking the time off. That’s what a sportsman does.

And boy did he embrace the challenge on Sunday, with, in his own words, perhaps the best round of golf he’s ever played, and one of the great fourth rounds of all time, sloughing off a bad break on No. 16 along the way to hit the 3-wood of a lifetime on No. 17 and a superb approach on No. 18 to wrap up the win. Four birdies in his last six holes.

Oh yeah, I had a tear in my eye as he reached the green at 18. You could see the emotion wash over him, close to breaking down right there, knowing he had just pulled off the very challenge he had given himself, but then the true sportsman that he is, he proceeded to sink a difficult birdie putt.

What a win. A win for the ages. A true champion in every sense of the word. A man who embraces the public like no other since Arnie. A great ambassador for the sport.

Phil Mickelson...today, the Great American Sportsman.

Some of the following is obvious and well-known, but needed for the archives.

--Tiger played in the final group in all 14 of his major wins. He didn’t this Sunday, and he went 69-71-72-74, thus continuing his recent awful play on the weekends of majors. Woods has also now gone 17 majors since his last win (missing four others due to injury).

--40-year-old Lee Westwood has appeared in 62 majors, with 8 Top 3s and 16 Top 10s, including 9 of the past 18 majors in which he has played.

--My pick of Ian Poulter looked OK for about 30 minutes on Sunday. And my sleeper pick of Ken Duke looked real good on Thursday, after he shot 70, one-under. But then Duke went 77-73-77 to finish +13, T-64.

--On Saturday and Sunday, we heard Tiger utter very loudly three “Goddammits,” while I didn’t hear one swear word from any of the other competitors those two days.

Yes, Tiger is on television more than any other player alive, but the PGA Tour has to have the guts to issue a public rebuke. [Don’t hold your breath. I’m sure not.]

--Years from now will Shiv Kapur be a trivia question? Kapur was leading the Open at -6 midway through the first round, but then finished +15, T-73, including an 83 in the 3rd round.

--Rory McIlroy finished up another tumultuous week by missing the cut by four strokes, going 79-75, +12.

It all started with Nick Faldo leading the chorus of those believing Rory needed to change his priorities and focus solely on golf.

Rory hasn’t been the same since signing his five-year, $100 million deal with Nike, but he lashed out at Faldo, who was known to be rather obsessive, like in having the births of his first three children induced rather than miss tournaments.

“Nick should know how hard this game is at times....He should know how much work we all put into it,” said Rory.

Tony Jacklin said Rory isn’t playing in enough tournaments, his schedule disrupted by his long-distance relationship with Caroline Wozniacki.

So that was before he started out on Thursday with the 79, 13 shots off the lead.

“It’s nothing to do with technique, it’s all mental out there,” McIlroy confessed. “I just need to concentrate, obviously. But sometimes I feel like I’m walking around out there and I’m unconscious.”

Referring to a putt off the green into a bunker, Rory said, “It’s just so brain dead.”

“Golf is so leisurely on television – beautiful links, bright clothes, good looks, the conspiratorial murmur of commentary as players amble towards the fairway or when the camera zooms in on the immaculate greens.

“But what torrent of emotion must beat in the hearts of the competitors as research into psychological and physiological stress suffered by elite golfers confirms.

“In team sports a team may be up or down, the group is energized, they pull together but, in golf, all eyes are on that solitary figure, especially on the green where the tension mounts. The golfer is in competition with himself or herself and with each and every one before and after.

“It is not just that the next hole has to be played, but success depends on the person ahead or behind. And it is not enough to be on a par with others, it is all measured in how much better than ordinary each shot is; the quest for birdies and eagles the terror bogeys and each successful hole demanding even greater success on the next one.

“It is easy to ruminate and rumination is the ruination of golfers. McIlroy himself has said that he will need some birdies now but sports psychologists would say that if you get it into your head that you have to go out there and make birdies you are taking the wrong psychological approach – each shot must be played in its own right and then let go of, regardless of how well or how badly it is played.

--There was another PGA Tour event this week, one in Mississippi, and 49-year-old Woody Austin captured it, his fourth career title and first since 2007, in a three-way playoff.

But us Wake fans were excited for two reasons. Alums Kyle Reifers and 49-year-old Billy Andrade finished tied for fifth. For journeyman Reifers, it was his best PGA Tour finish.

For Andrade, where do you begin? He is a full-time golf reporter these days. He had played one PGA Tour event this year, missing the cut at the Canadian Open, and had sucked the few tournaments he entered the last few years. Then this. Very cool.

One obvious statement to make...how does Billy do on the Champions Tour?

--Drat! Natalie Gulbis is tying the knot with former Yale quarterback Josh Rodarmel. They met a few years ago through her affiliation with Power Balance bracelets, a company that Rodarmel co-founded with his brother.

--The New York Times’ Corey Kilgannon wrote of Sid Beckwith, 95, who “has shot his age in golf, he says, 857 times”:

“On Friday, Mr. Beckwith needed five strokes to sink the ball on the 18th and last hole at the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club here (Shelter Island, NY), for a score of 95. Friday was his 95th birthday, so he shot his age – just barely.”

Beckwith said, “I’ll take it,” but wasn’t happy with his performance.

One fellow, T. Edison Smith of Minnesota, is said to have shot his age 3,359 times before dying in 2011 at age 95.

Beckwith, by the way, lost his wife 13 years ago and now lives with his girlfriend, who turns 95 in September.

Ball Bits

--Ah yes, all about A-Rod. But will Alex Rodriguez’ quad injury prevent him from debuting in Texas on Monday? Yes, we learned Sunday, but one thing is for sure. While the Yankees have no idea what they will get with A-Rod after his latest hip surgery, it can’t be worse than the production they’ve seen from the 8 who have played at least one inning at third base this year. At the All-Star break, Yankees third basemen ranked last in the majors with a .589 on-base plus slugging percentage. Only 18 extra-base hits (29th), and just 4 home runs.

Goodness gracious, that sucks. [Reminds me of the production from Mets catchers last season.]

Meanwhile, GM Brian Cashman, who has been rather obvious in his disdain for A-Rod, said it’s “full steam ahead” in plans to activate him.

“In 2007, at the conclusion of baseball’s first multimillion-dollar investigation into steroids, Commissioner Bud Selig authorized publication of the Mitchell Report. The report ran 311 pages, including 96 pages of evidence linking 54 players, most of them for the first time, to performance-enhancing substances. The report also included 32 pages of supporting documents, including canceled checks and shipping receipts.

“As baseball’s second multimillion-dollar investigation into performance-enhancing drugs approaches its conclusion, can we expect publication of a Biogenesis Report, laying out the evidence for what are expected to be mass suspensions?

“Probably not, according to a person briefed on the investigation. Too many privacy concerns, he said.

“But Selig is considering whether to announce the names of at least some of the suspended players before any appeal hearings could be held. He has the right to do so, for those players previously disciplined or publicly linked to drug use by a source other than the commissioner’s office. The essence of the argument: Who doesn’t know about Alex Rodriguez? Where is the privacy issue there?

“The players’ union disagrees, saying that Selig’s right is intended to apply to names publicly revealed in governmental investigations and police reports, not in stories or investigative accounts by news organizations. A player could win an appeal but still be scarred with a scarlet letter S, for steroids.

“ ‘If it takes two years,’ Detroit Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said, ‘make sure the guys that are innocent stay innocent.’”

This is going to be a mess. But for some first-time offenders, I’m guessing they may want to take a 50-game suspension now, so that they can start next season fresh, rather than draw things out in court. The first one to do so, though, then lends credibility to the case, which is exactly what the players union doesn’t want...even as they say they desire to clean up the game as much as anyone.

--Tampa Bay was 41-39 on June 28. After Sunday’s action, they are 58-41. 17 of 19. As Ronald Reagan would have said...not bad, not bad at all.

--Big win by the Pirates (57-39) over the Reds (55-43) on Sunday after losing the first two to Cincy following the All-Star break; that should do it. Any thought there would be any gremlins creeping into the Buccos’ minds, regarding 20 straight losing seasons, is formally extinguished.

--The Dodgers keep winning, now 50-47, but Yasiel Puig has come down to Earth. He was hitting .407 before a 4-for-25 slump took him to .369.

--I just have to note that on Saturday night, the Mariners defeated the Astros 4-2, but had only one hit. Yup, Houston pitcher Eric Bedard went 6 1/3 of hitless baseball, but had walked five, struck out 10, and thrown 109 pitches. He was also trailing due to shoddy fielding.

--Prior to Sunday night’s Orioles contest against Texas, Manny Machado was stuck on 39 doubles. Now I only bring this up because I’m the guy who has long said you don’t waste your time talking about doubles and triples records until you get very deep in the season.

I have written constantly that once you get to summer, and the heat and humidity begin to take their toll, players wear down (at least some of them), as triples turn into doubles and doubles into singles...players trying to conserve themselves.

So I haven’t talked about Machado’s doubles total this season for this very reason, and, yes, sports fans, I was right.

First off, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, Machado had 39 doubles in his first 96 games at the break. The record holder, Earl Webb, had 47 thru his first 96 on his way to the record 67.

Further, Machado, again, entering Sunday night’s play, had just one in his last 15 games (my fact, not the Journal’s). So I rest my case. Earl Webb’s mark, it would seem, is more than secure.

--At the break, the scoring in baseball was the lowest since 1992.

--Prior to Friday night’s game against the Phillies, the Mets’ Jeremy Hefner had a 1.76 ERA in his last eight starts, the best in baseball during that stretch. Alas, he gave up 8 earned in two innings as the Metsies fell 13-8.

Something about the Phils and Hefner. He has a career 13.75 ERA against them, the worst of any active pitcher with at least 18 innings against Philadelphia.

--Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling were musing Sunday during the telecast about the 2010 draft.

#1 selection...Bryce Harper
#3...Manny Machado
#7...Matt Harvey

Pitchers are way too fragile for me. I understand why many would go with Machado, but I’d go with Harper.

Darling said Machado, who will eventually move to shortstop, could be the next Alex Rodriguez.

I’d say Bryce Harper can be the first King Kong. One year, Harper is going to go off for something like .380, 59 HR 175 RBI. Book it. And he’ll learn to dial back some of the aggressiveness that is putting him on the DL.

[Harvey moved to 8-2 on Sunday, throwing seven shutout innings against the Phillies, striking out 10 and walking none in a 5-0 win.]

“I have a new dream, a fresh life goal. I want to be more like Mariano Rivera. I believe I am not alone. Everybody wants to be more like Mariano Rivera. Especially this week.

“I’m not going to try and learn Rivera’s cutter, his otherworldly pitch. I do not plan to match his 638 career saves or his five World Series rings. I believe those accomplishments are probably – probably – beyond my reach....

“Look: I am realistic. I do not think I can achieve Mariano Rivera’s talent or success.  I do not expect to collect the tens of millions of dollars Rivera has made playing baseball....

“No, if I could pick one thing to steal from Mariano Rivera – what would be more useful than anything else – it’s his cool. Mariano Rivera is as cool as it gets in sports. The right, proper cool. Not the manufactured, phony cool that they try to give you with a soft-drink commercial, the kind of cool that gets written in all-caps on a T-shirt you get for Christmas from your cousin and are too embarrassed to wear in public....I mean real cool.

“He is having a moment now and it’s a funny thing, since he’s been around long enough to be appreciated then taken for granted and rediscovered again. People who could ordinarily never gush for a Yankee are gushing for a Yankee, letting their love bloom. But it’s deserved respect. These are strange times for professional athletes, for celebrity in general, and it seems harder than ever to navigate that line between being known and becoming annoying. It’s hard to be cool, no matter what you do. We could all stand to be a little more Mo.”

--I’ve noted how USA TODAY Sports Weekly has a feature each issue on a major league ballpark and I loved the comments of Joe Mock on Yankee Stadium.

“Yankee Stadium, which replaced its hallowed predecessor across 161st Street in 2009, holds a distinction no other ballpark can claim: It’s the most expensive ever built. In fact, it cost a half-billion dollars more than the second-most expensive baseball stadium (Citi Field, home of the New York Mets).

“An obvious question: If it cost so much to build, and the team charges so much to see a game there, then why is Yankee Stadium ranked below 16 other less-costly MLB venues in our rankings?

“The answer is simple: Fun...or more accurately, a lack of fun. Yankee Stadium, with its breathtaking Great Hall, solemn Monument Park and museum, is truly a monument to, well, itself...and to its tenants.

“More a national monument than a place where dads take their kids for a day of fun and frivolity at a ballpark, this stadium has an underlying tone that conveys the pinstriped team on the field is to be revered more than cheered. One gets the sense that youngsters should keep their voices down while the team goes about the serious work of changing all of the 27s (as in World Series championships) in the stadium to 28s.”

--Jerry Seinfeld, big-time Mets fan, called in to WFAN’s Steve Somers, as he is wont to do, following the All-Star Game, which Jerry attended.

“This is one of the lowest moments of my lifetime of Mets fandom, when the Citi Field crowd was booing teams that they see as rivals to their Mets team,” he told Somers. “And I’m standing there, I was in shock. I was embarrassed. I thought it was horrible manners. These are the best players, in the game you love, that have come here to put on a show for you, and we’re booing them like five-year-olds as if there’s some sort of real animosity.”

Seinfeld added, “The American League is not the Taliban,” referring to the way Miguel Cabrera was treated.

But Seinfeld added, “I felt redeemed by the reception that we gave Mariano Rivera and that brilliantly staged farewell.”

Well, you all know I’m a Mets and Jets fan and since day one of Bar Chat (this is #1589, by the way...really), I’ve said we are the absolute worst fans in the country. We are jerks, a-holes and, especially in the case of Jets fans, disgusting pigs. [And there was no more disgusting place in the world than going to a Jets game when they played at Shea Stadium.]

--Warning: Warren Spahn fans won’t like this one.

“This has been All-Star week in major league baseball. It’s also the week when a treasure of memorabilia is being auctioned from the estate of the late pitching great Warren Spahn.

“Combine the two subjects – the All-Star game and sticky fingers Spahn – and they’re what inspired me into political writing half a century ago.

“Bad memories returned the other day when I read that Spahn’s boatload of mementos was being auctioned. Going on line to read about the 826 items being peddled, I hoped to find the prized souvenir press credential that the future Hall of Famer yanked off my coat lapel at the 1961 All-Star game in San Francisco.

“ ‘That’s cool,’ the Milwaukee Braves lefty said. ‘I can give that to some [woman].’ He used an unprintable vulgarity.

“No luck searching for my badge. But I did find press credentials in the Spahn collection, including seven from other All-Star games. They sold as a package this week for $800, which would have made mine worth $114. I suspect his greatness gave it, as he had indicated, to some bar pickup.

“What his press credentials cache told me was that the former World War II hero and 17-time All-Star also was a serial pilferer who thought nothing of bullying sportswriters.

“I soon learned there are many similarities between politics and sports. Arrogance and egos afflict both, for example, although politicians tend to be more charming. They were the ones, after all, who got elected class president.”

--Shu, down Feenix way (affectionate term for Phoenix...hope you managed with the flooding Sunday, Shu), brought up an oldie he used to see play at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Chicago’s George Altman, who also played for the Mets in 1964.

So in looking up Altman on baseballreference.com, I totally forgot what solid seasons he had in 1961 and ’62 for Chicago...as in All-Star seasons.

1961...27 HR 96 RBI, .303 BA
1962...22 HR 74 RBI, 318

“Big George” was 6’4”, 200...which was big back in those days when guys didn’t do a lot of working out; opting for the good taste of beer in copious amounts. Altman was the pride of Goldsboro, N.C.

--The Wall Street Journal reports that if you want to rent out a Major League Baseball mascot, prices vary.

Say you want Mr. Met to show at your bar mitzvah. It will set you back $600 per hour. Ditto the Phillie Phanatic.

The Phanatic will show at a non-profit for just $300.

Actually, here in these parts, a new Mrs. Met has arrived on the scene and it’s kind of creepy because they look more like brother and sister. Reporters have tried questioning her on this, but she’s been mum thus far.

--While Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter didn’t quite pull it off at Muirfield, Britain’s Chris Froome continued the sporting success in 2013 for the U.K. in winning the Tour de France, on the heels of Andy Murray’s win at Wimbledon and Justin Rose’s at the U.S. Open. And countryman Bradley Wiggins won the Tour last year.

--The NHL announced its schedule, which features realignment into four new divisions and a playoff system that involves wild-card teams rather than just the top 8 in each conference.

The NHL will send its players to the Sochi Olympics so the league will be off from Feb. 9-25. This will make the Olympic games great fun, I imagine.

And there are five outdoor games. New Year’s Day at Michigan Stadium, Toronto vs. Detroit; Jan. 25, Anaheim and Los Angeles in Dodger Stadium; Rangers-Devils, Jan. 26, followed by Rangers-Islanders, Jan. 29, both at Yankee Stadium (and prior to the Super Bowl at the Meadowlands); and Penguins-Blackhawks at Soldier Field, March 1.

“Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay painstakingly built their record-setting careers and untainted reputations by resisting shortcuts and exercising tight control over who gained entrance to their inner circles.

“Then they turned 30 – and with age and injuries taking their toll, they made exceptions.

“Both sprinters have run afoul of anti-doping rules. They claim they failed drug tests because they put their fate in the hands of people they did not know very well.

“ ‘Sometimes, a human being just naturally, generally, trusts somebody,’ said Gay, 30, who has pulled out of next month’s world championships while the United States Anti-Doping Agency reviews the case against him. ‘That’s just what people do.’

“And therein lies the problem. People can call themselves trainers, nutritionists or doctors – some with legitimate credentials, some not, but with virtually no vetting – and get close enough to gain the confidence of some of the world’s best athletes.

“ ‘There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen who end up taking advantage of the athletes, sometimes unbeknownst to the athletes,’ said Travis Tygart, the chief executive of Usada.

“While Gay would not reveal the new person in his inner circle, Powell and his agent have placed the spotlight on Powell’s new trainer, Christopher Xuereb of Canada. They are now exchanging accusations, with Powell claiming he never tested positive until he started working with Xuereb and Xuereb insisting he did nothing wrong, saying it’s difficult ‘to assist some athletes without risk of being made the scapegoat.’

“Xuereb worked at the Toronto clinic run by Anthony Galea, the sports physician whose clients included Tiger Woods.”

If I were Tiger, I might be a little nervous just how much Xuereb knows, though nothing has come to date of any of the suspicions surrounding Woods and the Galea connection; Galea having pleaded guilty to bringing unapproved and mislabeled drugs into the United States for house calls.

--I see that Daytona International Speedway is getting a major $400 million overhaul that will eliminate the backstretch stands, shrinking capacity from 147,000 to 101,000, a nod to declining attendance. I know from my lone experience there, about 8 years ago, sitting in the backstretch stands kind of sucked, and the concession stands sucked, let alone the bathrooms.

So the president of Daytona, Joie Chitwood III, is doing the right thing. There will be five grand entrances, 40 escalators, a dozen elevators, wider seats, wider concourses, new bathrooms, new concession facilities....all sounds good.

Lots of tracks are reducing seating capacity and building bells and whistles to attract high-end fans.

--Did a Romanian mother, Olga Dogaru, really burn seven masterpieces, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Gauguin, to save her son, suspected of stealing them from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam? It certainly appears she did, as forensic scientists are on the verge of confirming the art world’s worst fears.

Said the director of Romania’s National History Museum, which is conducting the tests, if Dogaru did this, it would be “a barbarian crime against humanity.”

--Brad K. passed along this tale from the Daily Mail:

“Otters have the popular reputation of being kind, playful and friendly animals, but one Montana woman found to her painful cost that this is not necessarily the case.

“Sydney Sainsbury of West Yellowstone was ‘viciously’ attacked by an otter on July 9, leaving her needing serious medical attention, including eight stitches to her head.

“Sainsbury was tubing on the Madison River when she says she saw the animal about 20 feet away. She says that the animal then launched a sudden and unprovoked attack.

“ ‘It was just on me, it was just attaching itself to me and biting me so it was really hard to get it off of me and that was what was really scary was being mauled by like a rodent type animal that I was never scared of before,’ she told KRTV.

“The otter was scratching and clawing at her legs and arms, but Sainsbury said that the ‘powerful’ biting on her head and face was the worst part of the incident.

“The woman’s friends were eventually able to fend off the attacker but Sainsbury required immediate hospital attention.”

Actually, where I jog half the time, the loop’s halfway point is at a large pond you can go around and for years, seriously, there has been a very large swan that lords over the place and is vicious as hell. It goes after anything that nears it. I think it’s a serial killer.

“A New York Times columnist who lives in a luxury Trump condo was tossing trash down the chute when an umbrella shot down from a higher floor and impaled his hand, leaving him permanently disfigured, he claims in a Manhattan lawsuit....

“ ‘The point entered the top of his hand. It was pretty bloody,’ said (Mark) de Silva’s lawyer.

“The umbrella was moving at such a high velocity that it punctured a rubber flap connected to the chute’s entrance.”

The management company has the umbrella and is trying to determine the owner.

“Workers at the 38-story building said de Silva was to blame for his injuries.

“ ‘Why would you put your hand in the chute?’ one maintenance man said. ‘You open it up, put the garbage in – done! There’s no reason to put your hand all the way in there.’”

I’d be afraid there’s an otter in there...leap out at you and rip your face off.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/20/63: #1 “Surf City” (Jan & Dean) #2 “Easier Said Than Done” (The Essex) #3 “So Much In Love” (The Tymes)...and...#4 “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” (Rolf Harris...blows...) #5 “Memphis” (Lonnie Mack) #6 “Fingertips – Pt. 2” (Little Stevie Wonder...no longer ‘Little’...needs to eat a salad...) #7 “Wipe Out” (The Surfaris) #8 “Sukiyaki” (Kyu Sakamoto...stole all our technology during this time...true story...) #9 “(You’re The) Devil In Disguise” (Elvis Presley) #10 “Pride And Joy” (Marvin Gaye)

New York Mets Quiz Answers: 1) Four to hit .340 – John Olerud, .354 (1998); Mike Piazza, .348 (1998); Moises Alou, .341 (2007); Cleon Jones, .340 (1969...if you consider yourself a Mets fan and didn’t get this last one, well, let’s just say this is the most famous .340 in the history of baseball...) 2) 40 HR: Carlos Beltran, 41 (2006); Todd Hundley, 41 (1996....cough cough...PED alert); Mike Piazza, 40 (1999....cough cough...). 3) Only Met to walk 100 times in a season: John Olerud, 125 (1999). This is pretty incredible, for a franchise over 50 years old.

But you have a homework assignment. Yes, I know it’s summer school, but we all have our assignments of one sort or another.

Look up John Olerud on baseballreference.com. I mean this guy had one underrated career. And he was all real, no doubt, during an era where maybe 70% of the guys were ‘roiding.

Seriously, put his stats back in the 1950s and 60s, and by the early 80s the Veterans Committee might have voted him in the Hall. Plus he was a Gold Glover. [And a great guy.]

I am not in any way saying he deserves it, just saying his stats match some marginal HOFers from way back.

Every time I think of marginal Hall of Famers, and those who didn’t get in, I think of my main man from way back, Vada Pinson. Look him up, too. What a spectacular start to his career, but, alas, he didn’t quite keep it up....though still had over 2,700 hits.

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