Gregory Pratt

Hawk carrying his frustration over into the next inning: "Oh, maaaahn. Toby just missed that one. Dadgummit!" He's really let himself go.

Great game so far.

"Carlos Gomez might well be the next Rickey Henderson."

Walter Alston deserves to be mentioned. Bobby Cox. John McGraw.

Wite, I thank you for your thoughtful message, even though I disagree with you on just about everything. I imagine the book should be cheap on Amazon somewhere.

http://baseballevolution.com/gregory/weekreview10 Gregory went bowling for the first time in his life this week and rolled better than Barack Obama by about thirty points. He hopes to bowl more often and improve markedly in the coming years. The rest of the week is an insomniac's blur, as Pratt was hardly able to sleep for much of it and stayed up watching HBO movies as a result. He recommends "The World According to Garp." Cultural Suicide -- I read in this article that the Royals want to bring the fences in at Kauffman Stadium. Here's the relevant section: "Nobody wants to go there and hit when it's 385 [feet] to the gaps," said one baseball man. "So why overpay for some free-agent slugger when you can move in the fences and elevate your own guys' power? The way that park is now, guys hit the ball on the screws in those gaps and it doesn't go anywhere. It dies." Historian Bill Jenkinson has compared the smaller ballparks of today with those of, say, Babe Ruth's time and asked what the outcry would be if football fields were shortened by twenty yards, or basketball hoops lowered by a foot, to make it easier to score points? Contrast that with the lack of response from fans today as the league makes it easier for hitters to erase homerun records of the past with tiny ballparks and "juiced" baseballs. I feel as if the game's integrity and its history have been assaulted by the league and its owners and its union for as long as I've been alive, and I wish I could believe that someone is protecting the game from being sold-out in the interest of selling an extra ticket or two. State Farm Calls Shot, Strikes Out Looking -- If there is anything positive to come from David Ortiz' recent injury, it is that this will prevent him from participating in the shameless "State Farm Call Your Shot" promotion at the All-Star Game. The promotion is what it sounds like: at the ASG, MLB was going to trot Ortiz out at Yankee Stadium to hit a homerun to any part of the park. Besides the fact that it is inappropriate for a Red Sox player to call his shot at Yankee Stadium, and ignoring the fact that re-enacting the "Shot" at Yankee Stadium when it occurred at Wrigley Field is like re-enacting the invasion of Normandy on a Lake Michigan beach, it is an unnecessary promotion bordering on the idiotic, and I hope Ortiz' injury kills it. Jon Heyman, on the other hand, thinks MLB should call on Ryan Howard to do it because he's "the closest thing baseball has to Babe Ruth." Except he has never pitched a major league game, strikes out way more than Ruth did, has a much lower average, hits fewer homeruns, and is a much lesser athlete than Ruth, who was, at his peak, a high-quality right fielder. Hey, nothing against Ortiz or Howard or anyone else -- but we shouldn't toss out the names of legends as if they were scuffed balls, and we shouldn't treat the game's history like that, either. It's cultural suicide. The Bob Saget of Managers -- When John McLaren went off on his team during the week, they won one game and then went back to losing. Whether they win or not has more to do with whether or not they are a good team or not than with anything McLaren says to the media, but the Chicago Tribune still referred to the tirade as being "too thin, too late, and too inconsequential." I agree with that. But watching his rant, I think of Bob Saget, and his most recent "comedic" routines. I don't know if you've seen any of them -- it was my misfortune to -- but he goes onto the stage and says the foulest things imaginable in an effort to erase the memory of Full House. That's who John McLaren is becoming, when he should be cursing himself for taking the job and Bill Bavasi for awful roster construction. A Wolf Will Always Be a Wolf -- Am I the only one who is a big fan of Randy Wolf? I'm under no illusions about his greatness, but he is a more-than-serviceable National League pitcher, and his comeback has been a success. Maybe I've got a bias because Wolf's work ethic stands strong in a day where Carl Pavano, Mark Prior, and Mike Hampton are stealing money from their employers, but I like him and I hope he can have a strong year. Vernon Wells -- Since coming off the disabled list this weekend, Wells is 5-7 with a double, a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. When he went down with an injury I worried that he wouldn't be able to come back strong, but I hope that this is a harbinger of things to come. Nicknames in Houston -- I liked Lance Berkman better when we called him "Fat Elvis," not "Big Puma." Of course, they can call him whatever they want if he keeps producing as he has been so far this season. No More Workhorse (Verse) -- The song "No More Workhorse" by Will Oldham reminds me of the modern starting pitcher: Many lights up today / Many lights up this way / What is this road here, / Where have I come? / I am a rich man / I am a very rich man / I have good pants on / Stitched and stitched; / I am in stitches / I am laughing at you / I am in britches / I've written books for you / I held my own for you / Where is my tongue? / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am a grazing horse / I am a grazing horse / I am your favorite horse. Workhorse II (Snark) -- Mark Prior is once again out for the season, but rest assured that he will do everything in his power to bilk another million dollar contract out of someone next season to run a few towel drills and discover a new injury. Workhorse III (Mystery / Prose) -- I'm not sure I understand how pitchers today manage to get hurt as often as they do despite the fact that they are babied beyond anything pitchers even fifteen years ago could've "hoped" for. These injuries certainly aren't the result of pitchers throwing harder today than they did in the past, because they do not as the "100 MPH fastball" is not a product of modernity or medical innovation. (That said, I do not doubt the theory that pitchers throw harder more consistently today because you can not let up against inferior offensive hitters in this era like you could in inferior offensive eras, but I am not sure that pitchers today are throwing so much harder so often that it is equivalent to throwing a hundred innings less a year.) I have had questions about this subject for quite some time and have been doing research on hurlers past and present but I can not find any satisfactory conclusions and it is difficult to determine. A part of me wonders if steroid abuse and overly-muscular (though "natural") frames have something to do with the influx of injuries despite the decrease in workload, but who knows. History of the Week -- When I last saw Keith (on Tuesday, at the Sox game) he asked me where I heard the anecdote about Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez that I referenced in last week's Pepper. It's from a book I have, Hall of Fame Players: Cooperstown, written by a panel of baseball historians, writers, and statisticians about everyone enshrined in the Hall up to publication (ending with Boggs and Sandberg). I'd recommend it to all of you who want to have a greater understanding of the game's history. It's a great book, with entries on all enshrinees, from the only sportswriter elected to the Hall (Henry Chadwick, who was so respected in his time that umpires would ask him to intervene during rules disputes) to famed umpire Billy Evans (who was originally a sportswriter, but umpired a game after the regular ump failed to show up and then took on the job to supplement his income) to all of the game's players, too. I think it's important to understand the game beyond statistics (but not without statistics) and this book incorporates both masterfully.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 8, 2008 -> 04:57 PM) http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=1474457 I'm just sayin. No one is happier for Floyd than me. You can bookmark that and paste it in a year, too.

Griffey's batspeed is awful now. Pass.

Hawk and DJ just spent a couple of minutes comparing Joe Mauer to Roy Hobbs, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn. First of all, he can't be "The Natural" because he isn't making any sort of comeback and never has; he's fulfilled his expectations from the beginning. And he's too young to be compared to those other guys. Alexei is a hyper-impressive player so far.

But do post your favorite baseball pictures. I've created threads about that before, and I love seeing them.

Uh, the way the ball appears like a beam of light off his bat, with Jones and the umpire perfectly clear and everything else fuzzy is perfect.

I think this is the best baseball picture I've ever seen.

Speaking of gold/silver: One of the great political jokes of all-time was told by Alben Barkley about a politician who wanted to please everyone during the Gold/Silver debates. He would go through crowds talking in platitudes until someone finally said, "WHAT do you STAND FOR?" and the politician said: "I stand for a little gold, a little silver, a little greenback, and a sprinkling of counterfeit!"

happy happy

Edit: Jim Thome is pretty strong, yeah. I'm going to just let you guys all have your history talk.

I wasn't there, but I know that it was Saberhagen.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Jun 5, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) The thing is, with HGH out there and currently untestable, anyone who hits 60+ in season will be looked at with a jaded eye. Sad, but true. There are also designer steroids that are currently unknown and untestable for. I don't feel bad for players who might hit 60 and get looked at funny. Through their union, they all agree to scrutiny.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 11:36 PM) Ruth + 2008 = Not one of the best ever. If the discussion is, "What would Babe Ruth do if he were alive in the year 2008?" it is important to remember that Babe Ruth would be 113 years old, so he wouldn't be "one of the best ever" but I'm sure he could hold his own.

I do not share that interpretation of Ruth's context, but I welcome your expanded thoughts on the subject.

I did leave off McGwire, and I apologize for that. You're right. However, his homeruns are steroid-inflated, but still: that sort of power does not come just with steroids, and Mac deserves some recognition. What IS interesting is that Jenkinson puts a gold star by every homerun that has ever been hit that went over 450 feet, because anything over 450 is significant and powerful. McGwire had about 90, and Ruth? Nearly 200.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 09:29 PM) THat is why the supposed 600+ ft bombs by Mantle are so amazing. I still have a REAL hard time believing someone can hit a ball 550+ ft. Mantle never hit one 600 feet, and there's no story out there that he did. He is alleged to have hit one 564, but that is not true. Bill Jenkinson spoke to the person who found the ball, and he says that he found the ball, and walked away with it, but not all that far. When someone came to look for it, they assumed that where they found him was where the ball landed. Mantle's was over 500, but closer to 530 than 564. Nowhere near 600, and no one has ever hit it, although there is some speculation -- notably by Bill Jenkinson, who is the only authority on Distance Homeruns -- that Ruth hit one. So, Mantle was amazing, and so's Ruth and so's Thome. Interestingly, guys like Bonds and Sosa are not genuine tape-measure homerun hitter (Bonds has never hit one 500 feet, and Sosa's only 500 foot homeruns were with the wind blowing way out at Wrigley). I mean, they're both good homerun hitters enhanced by steroids, but they don't belong in the same class as these guys for distance: Ruth Williams Mantle Foxx Dick Allen Reggie Jackson Adam Dunn Kingman Thome Stargell Those are just guys off the top of my head who are very, very powerful hitters in terms of sheer distance, according to Jenkinson who has logged all homeruns and ranked power hitters by pure power. Interestingly, according to him, only Dick Allen has had comparable oppo-power to Ruth.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 08:12 PM) First, he's not going to be the VP. Second, Darth Cheney excluded, when has a VP ever done anything worth noting (EDIT: in recent history)? Al Gore was a VERY active and influential Vice President. George H.W. Bush, too. Lyndon Baines Johnson is "recent history" enough, but those other two are quite important.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 02:02 PM) that guys comment on his smile is dead on! It seems so forced lame. I don't know what he says, but on April 7th I wrote this in an article called "Waiting for Godot" in my college newspaper (http://media.www.chicagoflame.com/media/storage/paper519/news/2008/04/07/Opinions/Waiting.For.Godot-3305372.shtml) The rest of the article has nothing to do with McCain. It's just an article I wrote about how I don't believe in these two candidates' ability to win, and they don't particularly inspire me. But since we're bringing up cracks about McCain's smile, I thought I'd bring this one up. I thought it was pretty good.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 4, 2008 -> 05:08 PM) I cheated. Excellent question Pratt! Vida Blue