batmagadanleadoff

There's more strikeouts because today's pitchers are better. And they throw harder. And then batters get specialized relievers for the last three or four innings who can hit 100 on the radar and air it out because they know they won't pitch more than an inning, if even that much. The other day, I was reading an old Roger Angell piece. I have all of his anthology/collections and I like to pull them out for a quick read occasionally when I'm in the mood to read without committing to three or four hundred pages of some book. Angell's baseball pieces, as everyone here knows, are chapter size standalones and can be read independently of the other Angell pieces in his typical anthologies. So I randomly picked out a piece from the '74 baseball season - a hodgepodege article on the goings on of that season. And there were a few lines about the remarkable Nolan Ryan, whose fast ball was clocked at almost 101MPH, a baseball record. Ryan was the only pitcher who could break the century mark on the radar and his accomplishment was met with the kind of awe appropriately reserved for the only pitcher in the whole wide world who could accomplish such a rare feat. How many pitchers can hit 100MPH on the radar gun today? I'd bet at least two dozen in the majors.

An increase in foul balls is another factor contributing to longer baseball games. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/foul-balls-are-the-pace-of-play-problem-nobodys-talking-about/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/foul-balls-are-the-pace-of-play-problem-nobodys-talking-about/ excerpt:

I'm sorta shocked that the cheapass #lol Wilpons are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Mets, being that there was a 40th anniversary celebration. This must be a total financial calculation, with the Pons counting on some sellouts. Can't be sentimental based.

=G-Fafif post_id=3130 time=1550607663 user_id=55] Don Newcombe, Brooklyn pitching ace, 92. A fixture at Dodger Stadium well beyond his years starring at Ebbets Field.

Defense? The DH is coming.

Edgy MD wrote: =batmagadanleadoff post_id=2694 time=1549830954 user_id=68] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=2693 time=1549827005 user_id=68] Getouttahere with that Gary Carter crap. Did Gary come back from the dead to manipulate and whine his way into this conversation? Also, Pedro and Beltran, maybe together, for 05 and 06 as the face of Los Mets. Why would Carter ever, even for just one season, be the FotF over Hernandez?

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=2693 time=1549827005 user_id=68] Getouttahere with that Gary Carter crap. Did Gary come back from the dead to manipulate and whine his way into this conversation? Also, Pedro and Beltran, maybe together, for 05 and 06 as the face of Los Mets.

Getouttahere with that Gary Carter crap. Did Gary come back from the dead to manipulate and whine his way into this conversation? Also, Pedro and Beltran, maybe together, for 05 and 06 as the face of Los Mets.

Edgy MD wrote: The way to get past the awkwardness of re-issuing semi-retired numbers is to give the players in question another honor that perpetuates their memory. Name the centerfield gate or something (is there a centerfield gate?) after Willie Mays and the St. Lucie ballpark after Gary Carter. Get the blessing of the family, hold a ceremony, and there's no uproar when Patrick Mazeika or Will Toffey or somebody shows up in #8. I still can't wrap my head around this Gary Carter fetish. Why should the Mets retire his number, or heavens to Betsy, name a stadium after him? If I were Keith Hernandez or Jerry Koosman, I'd be up the wall and livid over this nonsensical talk that never goes away. I mean, we're talking about a guy that, with hindsight, we know was more or less done by 1987.

Frayed Knot wrote: 'Robbie' was one tough SOB ... and that's what his friends said of him. I'm gonna start calling you Jimmy Two Times. As I write this, you probably went out to get the papers, get the papers.

If not the villain, exactly, then definitely the high-profile foil for the Mets in the 1969 World Series, from his immortal (and premature) "bring on Ron Gaspar/Rod Stupid" dismissal of the Orioles' opponents to his frustration at not being awarded first base on a hit by pitch shortly before Cleon Jones was granted exactly that. Managed to launch a home run in the very same Game Five, ultimately to no avail. Thirty-seven years later, when the Nationals held pregame ceremonies on Closing Day to thank him for his service as Washington's first manager, Robinson took a moment to congratulate Willie Randolph and his team on having won the National League East. Classy, even though the Mets won despite and not because of Willie Randolph.

Phillip or Phil?

The Mike Piazza Brunswick Viz -a- Bowling ball. This commemorative was made for about a half dozen or so MLBers. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7XOWbyFgiYc/Vu7C32A0tMI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/yg8vZA1ihbEeEA1MhKHRJNvypBZuSCB7w/s1600/s-l1600-7.jpg> https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GCreIuFNtOQ/Vu7C3xOVMmI/AAAAAAAAA-c/nHgrVedSysQ1P0GPBY7xSdl606SLft5eA/s1600/s-l1600-8.jpg>

Duke Snider and George Altman http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wkIzyQSoKj0/TgEF3pn9_xI/AAAAAAAABm0/ND_eIA3Dt7E/s640/dukesnider-georgealtman-bowling.jpg>

https://nypost.com/2019/02/01/the-end-of-baseballs-most-unlikely-friendship/amp/https://nypost.com/2019/02/01/the-end-of-baseballs-most-unlikely-friendship/amp/

=RealityChuck post_id=2087 time=1548871140 user_id=82] =kcmets post_id=1825 time=1548441643 user_id=53] =RealityChuck post_id=1824 time=1548440168 user_id=82]Most of the team's big contracts ended with disappointing results, so the Wilpons, quite rightly, don't want to jump in an get burned again.

That at least one of those cards might reappear when the Mets next play the Diamondbacks is both something to hotly anticipate and not a little sad. If you're referring to those baseball card threads I do in connection with current Mets opponents -- not likely. First of all, I'd post cards of Mets in DBack unis, so that rules out those cards (above). But mainly, I hate doing the DBacks, probably more so than any other team. They've only been around for 20 years, so the only cards you'd see are the modern ones, which I don't like anywhere near as much as the cards from the first two decades of the Mets existence. And I hate the Dbacks uniforms. Every one of them. They're garish, cartoonish and childish. So there's that. But speaking of custom Wilmer Flores cards, check these out -- http://metsfantasycards.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-wilmer-flores-collection.htmlhttp://metsfantasycards.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-wilmer-flores-collection.html -- from our old friend Zvon, who, apparently, fired up his old blog again. He's been awol here for the entire history of this new version of the CPF.

Edgy MD wrote: I don't think MLB should get a say. Just as I think nobody should get exclusive (or semi-exclusive) access to a regional market. It's all messed up. If you want folks to compete more aggressively, relegate the last-place team in each division. But MLB does have a say. If it could oust Frank McCourt, then the Wilpons should have been good riddanced 10 times over a long while ago. I'm not spending 30 bucks to park my car at Citi Field and five dollars for a soda when for the same five bucks, I could get two dozen cans of Coke at my supermarket when the owners are then gonna take my money to service their Madoff debt. The team's worth two fucking BILLION dollars. Force the owners to sell. Then they can pay back their Madoff debt and New York City will have a baseball team that, imagine that, can go after the game's best players.

Edgy MD wrote: =Gwreck post_id=1851 time=1548479910 user_id=56]Even assuming all of the above, failing to sign one of these players is particulalry bad because of the unique opportunity to secure top talent in the free agent market while the players are still young. 26 year old stars don't hit the market that often, let alone 2 in the same year. And yet, 100% of all major league teams has failed to sign one of these players.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardmegdal/2019/01/24/bryce-harper-manny-machado-and-jeff-wilpons-latest-new-york-mets-payroll-claims/#111de17069e3Forbes is singing the same song and I can't see the fault in their argument. Hey, that's our old friend, Howie Megdal.

I just completed my 1970 set today. Nolan Ryan, No. 712, was he last one. The Heritage cards look nice. Nice! The Heritage Tebow isn't real - he wouldn't be in the set, plus the font is wrong. Yeah, I noticed the "off" Tebow font. "Mets" looks a little off, also. And the border on the Tebow card is much wider than on the actual '70 cards. Same for the Betts border.

=Gwreck post_id=1796 time=1548393372 user_id=56] I think the point was that the luxury tax, without even considering its problems, is not a valid excuse for not signing one of these players.

The luxury tax is a big scam that benefits the owners by giving them an excuse to keep payroll down, which is what baseball owners and all employers, in fact, have strived to do since time immemorial. It's how the world works. It's a penalty that isn't really much of a penalty at all. The data indicates that teams exceeding the luxury tax win more games and make more money. So there's every incentive to outspend opponents. If they're not even though they can or should is consistent with a theory of collusion. Also, the teams that exceed or have exceeded the luxury tax in the past tend to be the wealthiest teams in the game. Obviously. These teams make in the neighborhood of a half a billion dollars a year and can easily afford to pay the game's highest salaries. Yet the penalties for exceeding the tax are peanuts compared to baseball's overall revenue situation.

Sneak preview - the 2019 base set -- understated and readable cards, a little more serious looking than the cards of the 60s and 70s, but not nearly as garish and cluttered as what Topps is capable of based on the last 10 or 20 years of design -- https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7TYAAOSwIApcR7O4/s-l1600.jpg> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tMMAAOSwGplcR7Z0/s-l1600.jpg> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/VqMAAOSwtvZcR6X-/s-l1600.jpg> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/vpgAAOSwcdBcR6Tw/s-l1600.jpg> And 2019 Topps Heritage https://i.pinimg.com/736x/03/e5/05/03e505bfed61af550a35faa722e2da3c.jpg> https://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2019-Topps-Heritage-Baseball-Base-Mookie-Betts.jpg>

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Hey Rogers, vote in the Tabloid Derby! That may have backfired. I coulda told you that. He's an uplifter.