Headed to the Hall

Gammons writes, “What precipitated the Davey Lopes-Rickey Henderson blowup was that Rickey was sick and had been sleeping in the clubhouse when he was told he had to pinch-run for Tony Gwynn. Henderson, who is trying to get the career runs record, went to first base not knowing the score, looked around and saw second base empty and asked first-base coach Alan Trammell how many outs there were.

‘Two,’ replied Trammell.

‘Rickey can't score from first base,’ said Henderson, who proceeded to take off for second base and thus incurred the wrath of his former mentor.”

If you want to read the rest of Gammons’ article, http://espn.go.com/gammons/s/2001/0803/1...

Seattle/Cleveland

OK, I know that the Seattle fans may not like hearing this, but the Sunday night game between these two clubs was amazing. Cleveland came back from a 14-2 defecit after the 6th inning and scored 12 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th before winning it in the 11th. What makes the game even more amazing is that the Indians scored all 12 with two outs.

Leading-Off

Most fans of baseball like the home run hitters. Personally, I like lead-off hitters (which explains why I like Rickey.) The typical lead-of hitter must have a good eye for the strike zone, good speed on the basepaths, and the ability to make consistent contact. These skills don’t come together very often, but when they do, you get an exciting player to watch. Rickey Henderson aside, the following is a rank of the best leadoff hitters in the game, with OBP being a key criteria. All stats are in the lead-off position. 1. Ichiro Suzuki (.361 OBP, 90 R, 38 SB, 25 2B) 2. Craig Biggio (.384 OBP, 53 R, 4 SB, 15 2B) 3. Juan Pierre (.375 OBP including .387 read OBP, 62 R, 23 SB, 14 2B) 4. Shannon Stewart (.371 OBP, 67 R, 13 SB, 28 2B) 5. Luis Castillo (.369 OBP, 63 R, 30 SB, 13 2B)

Active Hall of Fame Players

In the Hall of Fame voting, it seems that each voter has his own standards by which he selects players. The standards I use are two fold.

One is that the player reach a certain statistical milestone; 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, 300 wins, etc. The numbers must take certain variables into consideration, like winning percentage, position played, and defense. For example, I put Robbie Alomar and Ivan Rodriguez on the lists because they have been the best at their respective positions for almost ten years Their career numbers are decent, although Alomar has a shot at 3,000 hits, yet they dominate the game through good offense and great defense. Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez will probably never see their 300th win, but both have displayed excellent winning percentages. Pedro needs a few more years, but Glavine has consistently won over the past decade.