Tag Archives: MLB

(Blogathon ’16!) Related To Somebody Famous For Something Else: Tony Lupien, WWE Star John Cena’s Grandpa

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This post is part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

I’m not much of a wrestling fan, but I know a great meme when I see one, and the meme related to WWE Superstar John Cena is a good one:

For those of you who don’t want to watch that, in essence, it is what happens when a completely unrelated scene is suddenly interrupted by the cry of “JOHN CENA!” or “HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA!” and his theme music begins to play. It’s very stupid, but also hilarious.

But, did you know that the “public face” of the WWE is the grandson of a baseball player? And not just any baseball player, but an honest-to-goodness MLB player: Tony Lupien of the 1940s Red Sox, Phillies and White Sox. In fact, the first-baseman even received MVP votes during the depleted years of WWII:

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 11.00.11 AMHere are his Minor League stats:

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 11.01.46 AMAfter his career, Lupien went on to be manager and coach, including bringing Dartmouth University to the 1970 College World Series. He was also involved- both during and after his career- with the labor movement, including help co-author The Imperfect Diamond, a history of baseball’s labor relations up through the 1970s.

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At 8 AM: The start of “International Morning”, several hours of international baseball content

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This post has been part of the 2016 Baseball Continuum Blogathon For Charity, benefiting the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the charitable arm of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and funds raised will be “put to immediate use to increase the pace from research trials into improved clinical care, to ensure state-of-the-art facilities, and to help improve the quality of life for patients and their families.” Please donate through the Blogathon’s GoFundMe page.

Best of 2015- Yes, there are some long-dead white guys who still belong in the Hall of Fame

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Originally published December 7, 2015.

Today, the Veteran’s Committee once again failed to induct anybody. This year, it was the “Pre-Integration Era” panel doing the voting. That in itself is a bit of a problem, as (despite the name) it only focuses on the white portion of the pre-integration days, under the logic that Sol White and other deadball-era Negro Leaguers went in during a special election. This, along with the fact that these guys are long, long dead, have made some people call for the end of this “era” in the Hall of Fame voting.

I can definitely see the reasoning, and it definitely needs to be changed, but the idea that everyone from the ancient days of baseball who is worthy is in the Hall of Fame is flawed. Yes, 95% of fans would have no idea who they are, but that isn’t a reason not to include them.

For example:

  • Doc Adams helped make baseball as we know it…. baseball as we know it. He even created the position of shortstop. Him not being in the Hall of Fame is sad, a result of not having good publicists like Alexander Cartwright had and more research coming into focus over the years after the time where there would have been people who remembered him.
  • Bill Dahlen had a 42-game hit streak, was among the leaders in most offensive categories at his retirement, and was one of the better defensive shortstops of his day.
  • Wes Ferrell, one of the few players on the Pre-Integration Ballot who was entirely in the 20th century, has one of the best JAWS scores by pitchers not in the Hall of Fame, and also has the record for most HRs by a pitcher in a career (non-Babe Ruth category, obviously).
  • Harry Stovey was one of the few players of the 19th century who could be called a power-hitter, hitting 122 career HRs, becoming the first player in history to have 100, and at one point holding the single-season HR mark (with 14).
  • And, finally, there’s Pete Browning. Pete Browning is like my pet overlooked 19th-century ballplayer. Browning’s career .341 batting average is 13th overall, and was one of the greatest hitters of the American Association and the short-lived Players League. Also, he is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Louisville Slugger, as he went to Hillerich and Bradsby for custom-made bats after one of Hillerich’s bats helped him break out of a hitting slump in 1884. Browning, amazingly, didn’t even appear in the latest VC ballot. This- and the fact he isn’t in already- probably came about because his best years came in the American Association and Player’s League, not the National League, and history, as they say, is written by the victors.

 

So, I say get those guys in… and then drastically change how this is done:

  • Make it open to Negro Leaguers as well. Yes, the 2006 inductions did a great job bringing in some of the older Negro League greats from before integration, but there is no reason why they shouldn’t still be considered.
  • Make this committee a less-common occurrence. Have it every six years, instead of every three years. Allow the “Golden Era” and “Expansion Era” votes be more common to make up for the difference.
  • Either make the committee entirely made up of just experts of the era, or have a slightly lower threshold for election.

So, yeah, that’s what I think.

Best of 2015- The Full Scientific Names for Baseball Teams

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Originally published August 16, 2015.

Ever wonder what the scientific names for your favorite animal-named baseball teams would be?

No?

Well, too bad, because here we go:

The Toronto Cyanocitta cristata

The Baltimore Icterus galbula

The St. Louis Cardinalis cardinalis

The Tampa Bay Rhinoptera bonasus

The Detroit Panthera tigris

The Miami Makaira nigricans

The Arizona Crotalus atrox

 …But, wait, we can go deeper! Let’s go into the Minor Leagues and sample some of the animal teams there!

The Toledo Fulica americana (It turns out a “Mud Hen” is actually a duck-like bird called the American Coot, which is a type of Rail)

The Buffalo Bison bison

The Durham Bos taurus

The Memphis Cardinalis cardinalis (yes, the name Redbird is literally a synonym for Cardinal)

The Fresno Ursus arctos

The El Paso Canis lupus familiaris (a Chihuahua, in the end, is just a dog)

The Salt Lake Apis mellifera

The Richmond Glaucomys volans

The Carolina Ameiurus natalis

The Myrtle Beach Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

The Brevard County Trichechus manatus

The Clearwater Alopias vulpinus

The Charlotte (Florida) Menippe mercenaria

The Jupiter Sphyrna mokarran

The Beloit Chelydra serpentina

The Wisconsin Crotalus horridus

The West Virginia Ursus americanus

The Missoula Pandion haliaetus

The Idaho Falls Alectoris chukar

The Ogden Utahraptor ostrommaysorum (Yeah, they have a dinosaur.)

AND NOW YOU KNOW!

Yes, there are some long-dead white guys who still belong in the Hall of Fame

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Today, the Veteran’s Committee once again failed to induct anybody. This year, it was the “Pre-Integration Era” panel doing the voting. That in itself is a bit of a problem, as (despite the name) it only focuses on the white portion of the pre-integration days, under the logic that Sol White and other deadball-era Negro Leaguers went in during a special election. This, along with the fact that these guys are long, long dead, have made some people call for the end of this “era” in the Hall of Fame voting.

I can definitely see the reasoning, and it definitely needs to be changed, but the idea that everyone from the ancient days of baseball who is worthy is in the Hall of Fame is flawed. Yes, 95% of fans would have no idea who they are, but that isn’t a reason not to include them.

For example:

  • Doc Adams helped make baseball as we know it…. baseball as we know it. He even created the position of shortstop. Him not being in the Hall of Fame is sad, a result of not having good publicists like Alexander Cartwright had and more research coming into focus over the years after the time where there would have been people who remembered him.
  • Bill Dahlen had a 42-game hit streak, was among the leaders in most offensive categories at his retirement, and was one of the better defensive shortstops of his day.
  • Wes Ferrell, one of the few players on the Pre-Integration Ballot who was entirely in the 20th century, has one of the best JAWS scores by pitchers not in the Hall of Fame, and also has the record for most HRs by a pitcher in a career (non-Babe Ruth category, obviously).
  • Harry Stovey was one of the few players of the 19th century who could be called a power-hitter, hitting 122 career HRs, becoming the first player in history to have 100, and at one point holding the single-season HR mark (with 14).
  • And, finally, there’s Pete Browning. Pete Browning is like my pet overlooked 19th-century ballplayer. Browning’s career .341 batting average is 13th overall, and was one of the greatest hitters of the American Association and the short-lived Players League. Also, he is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Louisville Slugger, as he went to Hillerich and Bradsby for custom-made bats after one of Hillerich’s bats helped him break out of a hitting slump in 1884. Browning, amazingly, didn’t even appear in the latest VC ballot. This- and the fact he isn’t in already- probably came about because his best years came in the American Association and Player’s League, not the National League, and history, as they say, is written by the victors.

 

So, I say get those guys in… and then drastically change how this is done:

  • Make it open to Negro Leaguers as well. Yes, the 2006 inductions did a great job bringing in some of the older Negro League greats from before integration, but there is no reason why they shouldn’t still be considered.
  • Make this committee a less-common occurrence. Have it every six years, instead of every three years. Allow the “Golden Era” and “Expansion Era” votes be more common to make up for the difference.
  • Either make the committee entirely made up of just experts of the era, or have a slightly lower threshold for election.

So, yeah, that’s what I think.

Breaking OOTP, Episode 4: The Seattle MARIOners vs. Pablo Sanchez and the Backyard Kids

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BreakingOOTPlogo

In BREAKING OOTP, I push Out Of The Park Baseball to it’s limits in various scenarios. Some will answer questions, some will settle scores, and some will push Out Of The Park Baseball to it’s very limits, to see if I can literally cause the game engine to beg for mercy.

Last time, we made the Seattle Mariners be full of Mario and Donkey Kong characters. This week, though, we have a exhibition series between the MARIOners (minus any Mariners) and… the Backyard Baseball kids (shown here to be on the Dodgers, because reasons)! Yes, Mario vs. Pablo Sanchez. At stake: The title of GREATEST VIDEO GAME BASEBALL TEAM OF ALL TIME.

Or something like that. Go below the jump, and be sure to check the previous post to see how I created the Mario characters- I used an almost-identical process for the Backyard Kids:

Continue reading →

How I voted in the @IBWAA elections in 2015

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At the end of the regular season, the International Baseball Writers Association of America, of which I am a member, asked for people’s votes in their year-end awards.

Starting on November 15, the winners of those awards will be revealed. So, in advance of that, here’s how I voted:

Relief Pitchers:

AL:

  1. Dellin Betances
  2. Wade Davis
  3. Cody Allen

Reasoning: Although he was not usually the closer for the Yankees, Betances was the definition of shutdown as a reliever this year, with a 1.50 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 84 IP. Davis and Allen were more traditional closers and were, obviously, among the best this year. I have to admit I can’t remember exactly why I had Davis above Allen or Zach Britton, so maybe it was a precognition of how he’d do in the postseason.

NL:

  1. Aroldis Chapman
  2. Trevor Rosenthal
  3. Jeurys Familia

Aroldis Chapman had the best WAR on Fangraphs of NL relievers and continues to one of the must-see closers in the league. Rosenthal and Familia also put up great numbers.

Rookies of the Year:

AL:

  1. Carlos Correa
  2. Francisco Lindor
  3. Miguel Sano

A tough fight between Correa and Lindor, made even harder by the fact they had the same number of games played (99) and were close in at-bats as well, allowing for a nearly even sample size to compare the two. I went with Correa due to his better power numbers and the better general impression I got from watching him compared to Lindor, but it very easily could have gone the other way.

NL:

  1. Kris Bryant
  2. Matt Duffy
  3. Jung-Ho Kang

Who knows how this could have been different if Kang had not been injured?

Managers of the Year:

AL:

  1. Jeff Banister
  2. A.J. Hinch
  3. Paul Molitor

The two managers in Texas were able to bring their teams to the playoffs despite the fact most thought otherwise, an Paul Molitor got the Twins into the final weekend of the regular season with their playoff hopes alive despite the fact that everyone thought otherwise.

NL:

  1. Joe Maddon
  2. Terry Collins
  3. Mike Matheny

Both the Cubs and Mets overachieved this season, and the Cardinals had the best regular season record in baseball. We may never know how much the managers contributed to that, but they must have done something right.

Cy Youngs:

AL:

  1. David Price
  2. Dallas Keuchel
  3. Chris Sale
  4. Sonny Gray
  5. Corey Kluber

Price had the highest Fangraphs WAR in the AL among pitchers, was among the strikeout leaders, and was a key cog for the Blue Jays after the trade deadline. Keuchel won 20 games (which doesn’t matter much, but is fun to mention), had the best Baseball Reference WAR, and was the ace of the Astros staff. Either would have been great picks, but I leaned towards Price. Sale (who is proof that W-L is not the best indicator of how well a player pitched), Gray and Kluber round out my top five.

NL:

  1. Jake Arrieta
  2. Zack Greinke
  3. Clayton Kershaw
  4. Max Scherzer
  5. Madison Bumgarner

This was ridiculous. A guy who threw two no-hitters and came close at other times is FOURTH. Ultimately, I went with Arrieta, but any of the top three would have a great claim to it.

MVP:

AL:

  1. Mike Trout
  2. Josh Donaldson
  3. Manny Machado
  4. David Price
  5. Lorenzo Cain
  6. Jose Bautista
  7. Kevin Kiermaier
  8. Nelson Cruz
  9. Dallas Keuchel
  10. Miguel Cabrera

This was a push. I gave Trout a slight edge due to his better WAR, slugging and OPS, but I won’t be complaining if Donaldson wins, either.

NL:

  1. Bryce Harper
  2. Joey Votto
  3. Paul Goldschmidt
  4. Kris Bryant
  5. Jake Arrieta
  6. A.J. Pollock
  7. Zack Greinke
  8. Clayton Kershaw
  9. Andrew McCutchen
  10. Buster Posey

The easiest category. When it came to being valuable this year, there was Bryce Harper, and then there was everybody else. He had a .5 advantage in Fangraphs war over the second-best fWar in baseball (Mike Trout) and a 2.1 advantage over Goldschmidt, the next best fWar in the NL. He led all baseball in OBP, SLG and (obviously) OPS. He was tied for the NL lead in HR and was second in the NL in batting average. He was the best player in baseball. Enough said.

The Offseason at The Baseball Continuum: Bizarre Baseball Culture, Breaking OOTP, WBC, Features, Blogathon?

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With the postseason over (ironically, the World Series MVP, Salvador Perez, didn’t actually win the Mr. October of any games in the World Series, he was just consistently good), it’s now time to go over what will be going on here at the Baseball Continuum during the offseason.  For the most part, it will be stuff I’ve been meaning to do, but which I have been unable to do so due to lack of time, other commitments, or simply because I forgot. In general, there might not be as many posts during the offseason, but the posts that will happen will on average be of a higher quality and longer length.

  • By the end of the week, you can expect a new Bizarre Baseball Culture, which will be a weird “Ultimate Sports Force” comic involving the early-aughts Cleveland Indians.
  • The new Breaking OOTP, long in development, will be Mario characters vs. Backyard Baseball characters. It should be out by the end of next week, unless I get so sucked into Fallout 4 that I just jump straight into doing a Bizarre Baseball Culture on it’s apparently surprisingly-high level of baseball elements.
  • Lookbacks at old Rochester Red Wings programs.
  • I’ll have my first World Baseball Classic roster projection for Team USA (and, later, Team Dominican). Of course, it’s a long while before the 2017 tournament so it likely will end up being vastly different, but that’s part of the fun, I guess. Expect these within the coming weeks, certainly before the end of November. You can also expect WBC News Updates when applicable.
  • There will be both Famous For Something Else installments (with one today!) and a new feature, Somebody Related To Somebody Famous For Something Else. Those features are basically what you’d think they are.
  • There will, of course, continue to be “Wisdom and Links” at Hall of Very Good.
  • You can expect some SABR-related stuff as well, such as “first references” in Sporting News and such.
  • During the Winter Meetings, if time allows, I’ll do the “Winter Meetings Tweets Of The Day” again.
  • And, of course, you never know what else might pop-up. I’m considering, for example, possibly doing a “Blogathon”, in the tradition of Michael Clair’s old “Old Time Family Baseball” blogathons that he did for charity. I’ll let you all know a bit about that later, maybe.

So stay tuned!

MR. OCTOBERS of 2015 WORLD SERIES GAME 5 and the MR. OCTOBERS of the 2015 POSTSEASON!

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The Mr. Octobers of last night were Matt Harvey (even though they lost) and Eric Hosmer.

But who were the MR. OCTOBERS of the whole postseason? Look at the standings below and you’ll see they are Eric Hosmer and a tie between Wade Davis and Noah Syndergaard. I’d give the edge to Wade Davis, though, as a tiebreaker, since his team won it all.

STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

PP Eric Hosmer 20

P Noah Syndergaard 18*

P Wade Davis 18

P Johnny Cueto 16

P Matt Harvey 15*

PP David Wright 13*

PP Daniel Murphy 11*

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Michael Conforto 10*

P Jeurys Familia 9*

P Jacob deGrom 8*

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8*

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5*

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5*

P Steven Matz 5*

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*

MR. OCTOBERS of WORLD SERIES GAME 4, 2015

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The MR. OCTOBERS of last night were Michael Conforto (even though the Mets lost) and Wade Davis.
STANDINGS (PP means Position Player, P means Pitcher, * means the team has been eliminated):

P Noah Syndergaard 18

P Wade Davis 18

P Johnny Cueto 16

PP David Wright 13

PP Daniel Murphy 11

P Marcus Stroman 11*

PP Jose Bautista 11*

P Chris Young 10

PP Ben Zobrist 10

PP Eric Hosmer 10

PP Michael Conforto 10

P Jeurys Familia 9

P Jacob deGrom 8

PP Yoenis Cespedes 8

P Marco Estrada 8*

PP Troy Tulowitzki 8*

PP Jorge Soler 6*

PP Alex Rios 6

P Edinson Volquez 5

PP Alcides Escobar 5

PP Mike Moustakas 5

P Kelvin Herrera 5

P Matt Harvey 5

PP Travis d’Arnaud 5

PP Ryan Goins 5*

P Liam Hendriks 5*

PP Lorenzo Cain 5

PP Lucas Duda 5

P Steven Matz 5

P Dallas Keuchel 4*

P Jake Diekman 3*

PP Rougned Odor 3*

P Collin McHugh 3*

PP Kendrys Morales 3

P Shawn Tolleson 3*

PP Delino DeShields 3*

PP Salvador Perez 3

P Ryan Madson 3

P John Lackey 3*

PP Stephen Piscotty 3*

P Travis Wood 3*

PP Adrian Gonzalez 3*

PP Chris Carter 3*

PP Carlos Correa 3*

P Roberto Osuna 3*

PP Kevin Pillar 3*

P Pedro Strop 3*

P Justin Grimm 3*

PP Javier Baez 3*

P Clayton Kershaw 3*

PP Justin Turner 3*

PP Colby Rasmus 1*

PP Kyle Schwarber 1*

P Jake Arrieta 1*