Stuff and Junk

[DOUGHBOYS]

Do you remember Bill Madlock?
Only ardent baseball fans do.
Madlock was known for a quick temper and if he felt crossed, especially by an umpire, he used language that would make the Devil, himself, cover his ears.
Madlock once tore into umpire Art Williams over a close play at first base. He was thrown out by Williams two or three sentences into his tirade. But the profanity kept on coming until Bruce Froemming, another umpire also threw him out.
It may be the only time that a player was thrown out twice in the same game.
Madlock would be known as 'MadDog' while being thrown out of 18 MLB games.

There was also Madlock, the player.
A good player too.
He finished his career hitting .305
And won four batting titles.
I thought about Madlock as I was watching some drivel on the MLB Network.
If the MLB Network has a fault, it is that most commentators (mostly former players) do not want to say anything bad about a current player.
If that happens, we could arrive at the stupidness that David Price directed at Dennis Eckersley last year.

Anyway, MLB was talking about Joe Mauer and his 'bid' to be in the Hall of Fame.
I watched in awe.
They acted as if catching was only done by the most stout-hearted of men.
Mauer was lucky to be alive to switch to first base!
After overstating the rigors of being a catcher, they focused on Mauer's three batting titles.
Enter Bill Madlock.
Madlock had FOUR batting titles.
In fact, Madlock is the only player to have four batting titles who is not in the Hall of Fame.
But then again, Madlock is not the guy who was around during MLB Network tech,
And he didn't make hair commercials.
And he didn't make 18 million dollars a year more than he should have.
He was not a hometown hero.

Some Hall of Fame balloteers say they only go by the numbers.
These are the 'Just give me the facts, M'aam' writers.
Some take into account personalities, race, or other factors.
This is part of the reason why players like Mays, Aaron, and Bench were not getting 100% votes.
These fellas would drool over Mauer and kick Madlock.
But back to the numbers only bunch...
Are these numbers Hall of Fame numbers??....

.308/954/137/885/52

And, are these?

.305/920/163/860/174

Mauer is the one on top. Madlock below.
And the answer is NO.

Instead, they should be discussing Hall of Fame misses like Ted Simmons and Vada Pinson.
Simmons- .285/1074/238/1389/21
Simmons had nice hair and played that 'super tough' position his whole career.
Pinson- .286/1365/256/1069/305
Pinson was also one of the best center fielders baseball has ever had. He played, however, at the same time as the best center fielder baseball has ever seen, Willie Mays. He treasures the one gold glove.

Anyway, enough of the MLB and balloteers (and shuddup spellcheck, they know what I mean...) tirade....

When Brian Dozier hit 42 homers in 2016.
The Twins franchised to Minnesota in the 60's.
Until Dozier hit his 42 homers, Harmon Killebrew was the only Twins player to have hit 40 home runs...

Bill James projects two pitchers to win over 15 games this season.
Corey Kluber- 18
Max Scherzer- 16
With Wins disappearing in baseball due to pitch counts and Managers in a hurry in wanting to show how smart they are, this may become accurate.

During the 21st century, the San Diego Padres have had two 15 game winners.
Two.

Tom Glavine won 300 games. He completed less than 100.

There were 59 Complete Games in all of baseball in 2017.

Jamie Moyer won over 250 games. His ERA was over 4.00

Jose Mesa (Table) Saved over 300 games. His ERA was over 4.00

Fernando Rodney owners, 'What, me worry?'

It is thought that a Closer on a good team is preferred over a Closer on a bad team
Last year, 37 of Cleveland's 102 Wins resulted in a Save. 53 of Tampa's 80 Wins resulted in a Save

Aroldis Chapman has never finished among the top five in Saves
Never
Fernando Rodney has done that three times
Last year, Chapman had 22 Saves, just like Jim Johnson and Brandon Maurer
Chapman's 2017 ADP? .....59.....trailing only Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel
That makes sense


Todd Zeile had over 2,000 hits and 200 home runs. And zero All Star Games

Joe DiMaggio was an All Star every year of his career

George Brett won a batting title in three different decades

Ted Williams stole a base in four different decades

David Ortiz stole 17 bases in his career. He was caught nine times

Last year, Charlie Blackmon stole 14 bases. He was caught 10 times

In 2014, no player hit over 40 homers. Nelson Cruz hit 40
In the year of the homer, 2017, and for the first time since 2014, Cruz did not hit 40 homers. He hit 39

No current pitcher has won 20 games, three times
Only three current pitchers have two 20-win seasons
Kershaw, Scherzer, and Adam Wainwright
The last three time winner of 20 games...Roy Halladay

In 2012, Starlin Castro stole 25 bases. After 'earning his bones' Castro no longer feels the need for speed. He has 24 steals in the five years since 2012. He is only 27 years old

Matt Wieters hit 10 home runs last year. Five of those homers, vs. the Mets.
In years that Wieters plays more than 100 games, he hits .244...Less than 100 games.. .284
Less Filling!!! More Taste!!!

Four of the top five NL East Starters by ADP are happy to see Giancarlo Stanton leave the league.
Against Scherzer, deGrom, Starsburg and Nola, Stanton batted .322 and swatted seven homers.
Noah Syndergaard wants him to stay. Stanton is 0-11 with six K's vs. the viking.

[Gekko]

Do you remember Bill Madlock?

he is my favorite player, ever.

[Yah Mule]

Good stuff, Dough.

Bill Madlock had a beautiful compact stroke. Just a stumpy line drive machine. Going into the final day of the '76 season, Ken Griffey Sr was leading Madlock in the race for the batting title .338 to .333. Not going the Ted Williams route, Griffey and Sparky Anderson decided to sit Ken for the last game. Sometime around the fifth inning, word got to Riverfront Stadium that Madlock had just collected his fourth hit in four at bats to pull ahead @ .339. They hustled Griffey up to the plate, but he went 0-2 and finished @ .336. That was Ken Griffey Sr's one chance to lead the league in something during his 19 year MLB career.

[Yah Mule]

And Simba totally belongs in the Hall of Fame.

[Edwards Kings]

Are these numbers Hall of Fame numbers??....

.308/954/137/885/52

And, are these?

.305/920/163/860/174

Mauer is the one on top. Madlock below.
And the answer is NO.

I agree. They are (were) great. Long, productive MLB careers to be proud of and remembered, but not HoF. Better for "real" baseball rather than fantasy.

I draw comparisons to two others (i.e. high average/OBP, low HR) who ARE in the HoF:

.338/1,383/135/1,138/319

.328/1,424/92/1,015/353

The cut above and therefore in the Hall....

Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew.