PGA Tour Quiz: 1) Top 3 most wins since turning 40? 2) In the
decade of the 80s, how many PGA Players of the Year can you
name? [Hint: There were 8 different winners.] Answers below.
Johnny Mac”s Potential Hall of Fame Candidates, Part IV
.But first, this just in from Hokkaido, Japan. Here I am on
Friday morning, picking up an English newspaper in Tokyo, and
what do I see but, “Bear Attack Kills Hunter!” It seems that this
81-year-old guy was with a group of 10 other hunters in the
mountains, all looking for brown bears. Alas, a bear found this
poor soul first. Another one of the hunters shot and killed the
animal, but didn”t know about his buddy until he rolled the bear
over. And what is even scarier is that bears have now killed 3 in
these mountains this year alone!!! If these bears cross over into
Alaska, by way of Russia (perhaps getting there by ferry) and the
frozen Berings Straits, and link up with the Alaskan and
Canadian Grizzlies, well, folks, all manner of bad stuff can
happen as they then swarm south, into the good old U.S. of
A…Now back to baseball…
Hall of Fame Candidates:
Philadelphia Phillies: Some decent young talent in Rolen,
Abreu, Lieberthal, and Burrell. The best of the bunch would
appear to be Rolen, but let”s check back in a few years and see
what has transpired.
Chicago Cubs: Looks like Sammy is it for them. Still only 32,
he would appear to have some productive years ahead of him.
Already an established slugger, he will be over 400 homers and
1100 ribbies by year”s end. Sosa has learned to hit for a higher
average the last few years, although those 170 strikeouts are a bit
high, even in today”s game. A normal finish to his career should
put him comfortably in the Hall.
Cincinnati Reds: Two pretty good candidates reside in the
Queen City. Junior Griffey would probably go in if he took up
golf tomorrow. 400 dingers, 1200+ RBIs, a suitcase full of Gold
Gloves, an MVP, and 11 straight All-Star nods. And he is still
just 31. If Griffey remains healthy and motivated, Aaron”s
record will fall…not might, will.
Barry Larkin deserves serious mention also. A very good player
for a long time, Barry enters the season with 2000 hits, a lifetime
.300 average, 1100 runs, 360 steals and 11 All-Star berths.
Throw in 3 Gold Gloves and an MVP, and that is quite a resume.
It would surprise me if he didn”t reside in Cooperstown someday.
Houston Astros: Two guys merit consideration, the B and B
boys.Bagwell and Biggio. Bagwell is a hitting machine, just
wind him up and you get 120 RBIs, 120 runs scored, a .300
average, a ton of walks, a .400+ on-base percentage and a .550
slugging percentage. He even managed to sneak in a Gold Glove
to go with his MVP award. A hell of a base runner, Bagwell can
steal when needed and goes from 1st to 3rd with the best of them.
His career numbers are mounting and it looks like only a serious
injury could derail him. Think the Red Sox have any regret
shipping off this guy for Larry Anderson, whose career lasted 22
innings with them in 1990?
Craig Biggio is rarely mentioned as a serious HOF candidate, but
I can”t see why. This guy can play. Hits for average, has good
pop, draws walks, and scores runs by the bushel (123, 113, 146,
123 and 123 from ”95 thru ”99, until injuries hit him in 2000).
Biggio can also field his position (4 Gold Gloves) and looks like
Pig Pen from Peanuts about two minutes into the game. The
uniform seems 3 sizes too big for him and he has the face of a
14-year-old; clearly he would have fit in well with the Gashouse
Gang. Just a hard-nosed throwback who has the credentials to
reside in Cooperstown someday. If you don”t like Biggio, you
don”t like baseball.
Milwaukee Brewers: Well, that bratwurst they serve is
something special…other than that.
Pittsburgh Pirates: They don”t even have the bratwurst.I guess
Kendall is a pretty good player, but he needs about 5 more years
at this level for even a peek.
Florida Marlins: Alfonseca has six fingers on each hand…does
that count?
St. Louis Cardinals: Big Mac it is.as of this writing, he is still
injured and might not be back until August. Coupled with last
season”s injury, his pursuit of Aaron is becoming nothing but a
dream. Still needs about 200 more and he”s not getting any
younger or healthier. I guess he”s a lock and I wouldn”t really
argue the point, but he has some curious holes in his resume. No
MVP awards, even when he hits 70, always seemed to get beat in
the All-Star balloting by Thomas or Vaughn or Thome or (gasp)
Tino Martinez. I don”t know, I never bought him as a great
player, but the numbers are undeniable and he will get there
someday.
Arizona Diamondbacks: The Big Unit, Randy Johnson, seems to
be their only serious candidate. His career parallels Koufax to a
great degree. Both had awesome stuff early on, spent years
finding their control, then were dominant. It remains to be seen
whether the voters hold Johnson”s lifetime record of “only” 179
wins (as of the end of 2000) against him, or if they focus on his
winning pct. (.650) and strikeouts (over 3000 and counting). He
has 3 Cy Young awards, 6 strikeout titles and a fine ERA. I
gotta put him in…he”s been a truly dominating type of pitcher
for about 8 years now, outside of Pedro Martinez, maybe the best
around over that span.
San Diego Padres: Two mortal locks…Tony Gwynn and Rickey
Henderson. Gwynn is an inner circle player.one of the guys
they meant to honor when the Hall was established. Where do
you start? .338 lifetime average, 3100 hits, 8 batting titles, five
Gold Gloves, even has over 300 steals (present girth
notwithstanding). First ballot lock, as is his current teammate,
Rickey.
Simply put, Henderson is the greatest leadoff man in baseball
history. Runs, steals, hits, hits for power, whatever it was
offensively, Rickey could do it. The career numbers are well
known, and overwhelmingly he will go into Cooperstown
without much of a fight. Henderson even managed to win an
MVP along the way and surprisingly swiped a Gold Glove too.
That being said, I was thrilled when the Mets gave him his
walking papers last year. No player this side of Barry Bonds
ever seemed to care less. Hustling was a sign of weakness,
renegotiating a rite of spring. I don”t think I have ever seen a
greater player traded so often. Oh, he will get in all right, but I
don”t think I”m the only one who will be glad to see him finally
retire.
Colorado Rockies: We will have to put that famous Ford Frick *
next to all the Rockies” records. The home / away splits for
some of these guys are comical. Larry Walker is a fine player
with good stats, but his home numbers read like some high
school phenom, while his road stats are pretty near league
average for his position.
Helton seems to be the real deal, hitting better on the road than
most of his compatriots, but it is way too early to call anything
on him. See me in 2005.
L.A. Dodgers: Two borderline guys out in la-la land. Kevin
Brown had been a fine pitcher for longer than most people
remember, laboring in anonymity for some pretty bad Texas
Rangers teams in the early 90s. He has good numbers, starting
the year at 170-114 with a fine 3.21 ERA, as well as 1900 Ks
against only 730 walks. Had some post-season success, but
would probably need to string together a few more big years (and
he”s off to a great start in 2000) to be a serious candidate. At 36,
his window may be closing.
Mr. Happy, Garry Sheffield, is a top-flite hitter with a serious
case of attitude. Still only 32 (it seems he has been on the scene
forever), he has a chance to put some great career numbers. He
could hit 500 homers and drive in 1500 if he stays healthy and
content, but he is rarely either. A truly gifted talent, his batting
style, bat coiled inward, striking at the ball with cobra-like
quickness, is a sight to behold. Maybe he finds religion and
turns it around…maybe not.
Well, that”s all of baseball…now talk amongst yourselves.
Baseball Tidbits
May 13, 1942…Boston Braves pitcher Jim “Abba Dabba” Tobin
hits 3 home runs in a game. They were his only dingers of the
season, as he hit .246 with 15 ribbies. As for his pitching, Tobin
was 12-21, but he led the league in complete games with 28,
about the combined total for all of baseball these days. For his
career, he was 105-112.
As I was watching television in Tokyo, I caught two Japanese
baseball games, the Yomiuri Giants v. the (radioactive)
Hiroshima Carp…sorry, poor taste…and the Chunichi Dragons
v. the Yakult Swallows. I only watched a little of both but it was
pretty good stuff. The parks, though, really are dinky.
I saw two customs played out, first, when a player hits a home
run, the whole team stands in a line to slap his hands, and,
second, a pitcher hit a batter and immediately bowed as a way of
apologizing. Can you see Roger Clemens doing that?!
Then on the local news channels, while I couldn”t understand
anything, I clearly saw lots of Ichiro highlights (as the guy
continues to star for the Mariners), as well as a segment where
the broadcasters recapped every at bat for Ichiro and the Mets
Shinjo, as well as summarizing the pitching performances of
Sasaki and Hasagawa, the two Japanese pitchers in the Majors.
*I also saw a lot of folks on their MTV-like programs, where I
couldn”t tell if they were guys or girls, but that”s another story.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/15/71: #1 “Joy To The World”
(Three Dog Night) #2 “Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson
5) #3 “Put Your Hand In The Hand” (Ocean)
PGA Tour Quiz Answers: 1) Most wins since turning 40: Sam
Snead, 17; Julius Boros, 10; Dutch Harrison and Gene Littler, 7.
Hal Sutton has six. [No, I didn”t expect you to get Dutch
Harrison.] 2) PGA Players of the Year, 80s: Tom Watson (”80,
”82, ”84), Bill “Flameout” Rogers (”81), Hal Sutton (”83), Lanny
Wadkins (”85), Bob Tway (”86), Paul Azinger (”87), Curtis
Strange (”88), Tom Kite (”89).
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. As I am traveling, I will not always
be able to comment on current events, the way I normally would
in this space, i.e., if the Mets ever get to .500.
