Happy Birthday Bo Jackson. Here are some GIFs of how amazing you were:
And a Football one… sort of:
It’s Bo Jackson’s Birthday, here are some .GIFs
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
Josh Donaldson is the best player most people aren’t familiar with
In case you missed it, Josh Donaldson was traded from the Athletics to the Blue Jays in exchange for Brett Lawrie and prospects Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin and Franklin Barreto. The wise among us immediately saw this as a great deal for the Blue Jays, at least in the short-term, and a puzzling one for the Athletics, at least in the short-term.
Then there were others who disagreed with these assessments. “Orioles Uncensored” perhaps had a good response to them:
For all you saying that Josh Donaldson isn’t an elite 3rd Baseman I have just one question: Are you high?
— Orioles Uncensored (@OsUncensored) November 29, 2014
While no doubt the people @OsUncensored was speaking to may have been Orioles fans who remember the Donaldson/Manny Machado spat of last year, the fact is that many people probably don’t truly understand how good a player Donaldson is. It’s not their fault, after all, Donaldson is a relative newcomer (he’s only played 405 career games) and has played his career in Oakland. His traditional stats aren’t too flashy (his career BA is .268), and last year was his first time as an All-Star.
So here’s a bit of a primer. Donaldson is a 28-year-old 3B (although he has played C in the past) from Florida, although he grew up and went to both High School and College (Auburn) in Alabama. He didn’t grab hold permanently in the majors until 2012, his age 26 season. He didn’t become the type of player who gets into headlines for being traded, though, until his sophomore season in 2013. He hit .301/.384/.499, and his WAR was second-best in the AL, behind only Mike Trout. While his averages were down in 2014, he still was the 2nd best in WAR in the AL, and he had the third best WAR overall across the past two seasons, behind only Trout and Andrew McCutchen. Why? Because WAR doesn’t just hitting- Donaldson is a spectacular fielder, winning the 2014 Fielding Bible Award (a more sabermetric version of the Gold Glove) while being credited with saving more than 30 runs since 2012. That, along with his hitting, make him one of the best 3B in the game.
And those offensive numbers that seem a bit low, by the way, will likely grow. He is now going from O.Co Coliseum- an infamous pitcher’s park- to Rogers Centre, where extra-base hits are plentiful and where the park factors are more favorable for the hitter.
So, that’s who Josh Donaldson is.
Off-Topic: In which my post gets quickly sidetracked because STAR WARS
Today, I want to look at the deals the Red Sox did earlier this week, acquiring Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. While I like this deal in the short term (although who knows how Hanley will handle the outfield), I feel like in the long-term…
Wait, what’s that?
Star Wars? Oh, crud, the teaser trailer is due out today. Hang on a second, everyone. I’ll be right back.
(Approximately a minute-and-a-half later)
OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SO AWESOME! THAT WAS POSSIBLY THE GREATEST TEASER TRAILER I HAVE EVER SEEN! YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT!!! NOW! WORK ISN’T IMPORTANT, FOOD ISN’T IMPORTANT, KEEPING YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD ISN’T IMPORTANT (WHY ARE YOU READING THIS WHILE DRIVING ANYWAY?!?!), ESCAPING A BURNING BUILDING ISN’T IMPORTANT! WATCH THIS NOW!
I mean, look at all the awesome in that thing! It’s mysterious and tells us basically nothing and we don’t see any of the old cast, but, but… WATCH IT! I mean, those X-Wings looked so great I have to wonder if JJ Abrams actually imported them from a Galaxy Far Far Away. And that cool looking cruciform Lightsaber looks so badass! And, wow, that final shot of the Millennium Falcon! I mean, damn! Just.. DAMN! That was so cool. I may have done a back-flip after seeing that. Also, I need to now take an aspirin, because I think I hit my head while doing a back-flip and now I have a mild headache.
(goes and takes an aspirin and then comes back)
And WOAH, it looks like one of the new characters is a former stormtrooper or something! And was that an R2D2-esque robot that moved using a trackball on the bottom?! That’s nuts! And.. and… THOSE SPACESHIP SPECIAL EFFECTS!! YES! YES! THIS IS GOING TO BE SO COOL!
I can’t take it any longer, I need to unleash my glee and excitement:
YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Note: If the movie ends up sucking, let us never discuss this post again.
Dave Winfield sings at the 1981 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
A tweet from today from Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield:
Happy Thanksgiving, much to be thankful for! A side note, I remember singing on a float in the Macy’s Day Parade in NYC in 1981. C YouTube
— Dave Winfield (@DaveWinfieldHOF) November 27, 2014
He wasn’t lying:
Over at Hall of Very Good: Another “Wisdom and Links”
It’s a bit late this week, but there’s a new “Wisdom and Links” over at Hall of Very Good. In addition to links, you’ll also see a plea to have the Athletics keep the name “Athletics” even if they move to San Jose one day, and also a list of things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Bizarre Baseball Culture: True Comics #78 has a Stan Musial Biography
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
A shorter one today, as we go back to bio-comics, this time looking at Stan Musial. Now, I’ve done a bio-comic before, but this one is different because it’s from a different era- the Golden Age of Comics! To be more specific, it’s from True Comics #78, in August 1949, from “Parents Magazine”. This is from the late Golden Age, a time where super-hero comics were in a low period and were being replaced by crime, horror and romance comics, no doubt leading to good wholesome fun like this to held up as being the last bastions of innocent virtue in comics.
But I digress. Here’s the part of the comic with Stan on it:
You can see it here, as it is in the Public Domain. Go below the jump for more:
Apology/Preview
Aside
Okay, so it ended up that the latest “Bizarre Baseball Culture” didn’t come this weekend. Basically, certain other things came up, so I was unable to quite finish it (as is, this is merely set to auto-post at about 3 AM).
But, rest assured, it will come this week. Possibly two Bizarre Baseball Cultures. There might also be one final update for the year of the Continuum Baseball Rankings, and of course a “Wisdom and Links”.
So… there you go. See you soon.
Coming Soon: Another Bizarre Baseball Culture
See above. It’ll be sometime this weekend.
Baseball and Softball will probably be at the 2020 Olympics
Guess what, folks? If a proposal passes next month, baseball and softball will be back in the Olympics, at least occasionally. The proposal, called Agenda 2020, is meant to try and solve some of the big problems facing the IOC, such as the fact that the increasing cost of hosting has made many global cities scared of hosting. For example, the 2022 Winter Games have had all but two candidates more-or-less drop out of the running because of local backlash. And the two candidates that are left are Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, who don’t have to care about public opinion and which are hardly the dropped-out winter wonderlands of Oslo or Stockholm that basically everybody outside of Kazakh and Chinese politicians would prefer.
The agenda includes, for example, allowing joint bids or at least allowing for certain events to be held elsewhere, perhaps even in other countries. But the big thing for baseball and softball in this is this part of the proposal, according to Reuters:
Sports will also not wait seven years from approval to their Olympic first appearance, and instead could be brought in for just one Olympics to maximize the Games’ reach and attraction.
In essence, it would allow sports to be added to the Olympics on a temporary basis if it would allow the Olympics to be more desirable in the host country. Now, presumably the sports added on temporary basis still would have to be pretty popular internationally (don’t go expecting to see NFL players marching in the opening ceremonies the next time the Olympics come to the USA, for example), but baseball and softball definitely fit the bill, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee has been heavily calling for them in 2020. So… expect baseball in the 2020 Olympics, and probably anytime in the future where the Olympics are in America, Japan, Korea, etc.
Link
The latest “Wisdom and Links” is up at Hall of Very Good. This week, I look at how Jeffrey Loria views the Stanton deal, share some links, and expose you to the Baseball Boogie.
The Baseball Continuum 