Milkman delivers

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:50 AM) Wow. That poster is awesome! Isn't it? I own it.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:43 AM) Is the Ultimate Warrior going to make an appearance? I may have to ditch the wife at the Hawks game if he's gonna come running through the bar. One can only hope.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 08:51 AM) That sounds like Jim Edmonds to me too. He obviously didnt make the athletic plays Hunter did, but I have heard Cards fans say that part of the reason he was constantly diving for balls was that he would make bad reads or get a bad jump. Ah, the old "Eric Byrnes" syndrome.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 03:04 AM) No black man sounds more white than Tony Gywnn ever. This is fact. But he was an eight, I repeat, EIGHT time batting champion who has a career BA of .338 over 20 f***ing seasons. You must be crazy. Paint It Black isn't a fool, but that post was sure moronic. To insist that Gwynn is the most overrated player of his time is bad enough, but to go on and say that a player who batted more than 40 points lower in his career is better... Go look at the highest lifetime averages. Nobody above Tony Gwynn is even remotely recent. Add to that the fact that he has one of the greatest posters I've ever seen, and you have yourself one of the best hitters of all time.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) That just means there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of people standing outside looking through the window at us tonight. I hope it doesn't mean that Jabroni (or one of the banned posters with a grudge) will come and shoot the place up.

That was interesting, to say the least.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 11:19 PM) First, the Big Hurt is in first ballot without question. His numbers compare with the best hitters of all time. And I'v said it before and I'll say it again. The old dinosaurs voting love the made up bullcrap like "feared hitter" and who was more feared than Frank in the 90's? Back to back MVP's (just go look at his OBP and slugging in those years and cry because you wish he was still around). He hit 500 home runs. Tons of walks, homeruns, RBI's, and for his speed had a great batting average. Basically, if you think the Big Hurt will not make the HOF first ballot for reasons athough true (media, injuries) then can't you say the same about Griffey (missed tons of games due to not being able to stay healthy)? In no way am I arguing the point, but I'm just saying... Second, Gwynn might be one of the most overrated players of my generation. Still HOF worthy, but Tim Raines was better. Third, I don't think if Bonds or Clemens gets in it paves the way for Sosa and Palmero (I think McGwire should be in FWIW). I don't think Sosa was GREAT (not good, GREAT) for that long. Were talking about a guy who MAYBE for 3 years you could say top 5 player (and this is before defense was an emphasis). Palmero is along the same lines for me. Good, steady career. No high peaks, but someone who was never a top 5 player for a few years in row. Certinly he wasn't even the best first baseman of his era (I'll take the Big Hurt and Bagwell along with Thome. No.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 01:33 PM) Dallas McPherson Ah yes. I knew that, but I couldn't remember him for the life of me.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 04:27 PM) Then they're f***ing idiots and you [not YOU] may as well associate any player that's ever been big and strong to ever play the game to steroids. Frank was an all-state TE at his HS and played football at Auburn. Just look at any of his old baseball cards. Dude was a monster from day 1. He wasn't some skinny f*** [sosa, Bonds] that ain't a whole bunch of spinach and became Popeye overnight. I'm well aware of all of that, and I know you weren't implying that I wasn't. But many, many people are unaware of those things and just assume he must have done steroids and don't bother at all to follow up with any research. A lot of writers are just as dumb and just stick to their outdated and ignorant beliefs, so I'm just saying that it might come into play. Frank was never a big personality with the media. That is likely the reason why his appearance in Washington and voluntary statements to the Committee were so overlooked. Most people don't know Frank appeared voluntarily at those hearings or even that he was there. And if they know he was there, they just assume he was one of the people who had no choice but to be there. It's a shame really, as he would have been a perfect poster boy for the push towards a cleaner game.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 04:13 PM) Holy s***! I thought you were kidding. I've become a big proponent of UZR the last couple years. But in this case UZR is going to have to kiss my f***ing black ass. Alomar is the best defensive second baseman I've ever seen. Baseball Reference's defensive stats also paint Alomar's D in a negative light. Oh, well, they can kiss my ass, too. Then they may as well shut the HOF down for eternity. Baines was a very good player. But a HOF? Me no think so. I really don't think Baines is a Hall of Famer either. The defense I hear most often is that he has the most hits for a player not in the HOF. That's great, good for him. And if he were inducted, then another guy would have the most hits for a player not in the HOF. Where does it end? There has to be a cutoff point, and Baines seems like the perfect place to start.

Just to clarify, as I'm sure a lot of you aren't aware of this, but a lot of people automatically associate Frank with steroids due to his size and such. It's retarded logic, but the fact that he was very outspoken against steroids is not a well known fact outside of our fanbase. I'm not sure how much the writers with the power to vote know about the situation, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that many of them think the same way.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 12:36 PM) 29 other teams can say the same thing though, and the Sox have at least 1 guy in AAA who they want filling the 1b/3b role, and another nearly-washed-up AL West castoff there as well. Wait, who are you talking about?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 09:17 AM) Posnanski It's awesome to see Frank mentioned in there as one of the greatest 1B's ever.

For a multitude of reasons, I believe Frank Thomas will be a first ballot guy. I am still bracing myself in case it doesn't happen, though.

Now I'm not positive, but I have to imagine our offense will be better than what his last two teams (Diamondbacks and Nationals) had. That ought to offset at least some of the recent negative trends. There were some nice stats in that article, though.

OK, I went back through the thread and tallied up the responses. Here's our list as of right now: BigSqwert Milkman delivers maggsmaggs Southsider2k5 Lostfan NorthSideSox72 MuckFinnesota Jordan4Life J.Reedfan8 (maybe) knightni (maybe, due to snow) danman31 (maybe) Chisoxfn (maybe, due to snow)

I would fight wite.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:47 PM) I think Milkman just hates the subject all together. And that's fine. I had sorta forgotten about it until SS2K5 or whoever it was broke the REAL story. Now I will unleash my fury upon Soxtalk since KW doesn't live next door to me. Yes, I'm just sick of the topic.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:49 PM) I'd take Joe Morgan. But, yeah, Alomar is right up there with him. Probably the best 2B of our generation. I bet Joe Morgan would take Joe Morgan, too.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) And Alomar getting 90% this year just proves what a f***ing joke his not making it last year actually was. Whoa, I thought you were going in the completely opposite direction halfway through that sentence. I was about to flip out.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 03:29 PM) All time HR leaders that last name starts with "T" - Jim Thome - 589 HR - Frank Edward Thomas - 521 HR - Frank Joseph Thomas - 286 HR - http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thomafr03.shtml Miguel Tejada has 300 home runs.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) No one is really tracking it. Ah, I thought you were doing it in the first post, but I didn't see anything.

What's the final list of who's going?

So, how are we going to do this? I imagine this place will have a decent crowd, and even though I know what a lot of you look like from facebook, it might be difficult to find the group.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:38 AM) My wife is going to Disney next week with some of her friends, so last night I made her a pitch: "Since you get to go to Disney World... might I be able to go to opening day?" She didnt say yes, but she was pretty close. I think I'll be going to my first opening day ever! Kinda sucks that you even had to get permission.