batmagadanleadoff

It's a 2:20 start. Not that it matters. Just show up in front of your TV sets at the usual 7o'clock ish or whenever you feel like it. The players'll wait for you whenever you turn your tv on. Then they'll play ball.

I've always been partial to Bauer in this matter. I think Bauer's conduct was vile and Bauer himself is a terribly flawed individual. Myself, I can't fathom striking a woman in the face even though she consented or asked to be punched in the face. Personally, I would have tremendous difficulty punching someone in the face even if I was legally justified to do so in self-defense. But Bauer's conduct was totally legal and it was plainly obvious from the get-go that Bauer was being set up or scammed by a scorned woman who decided to try and exploit Bauer's considerably deep pockets. She didn't plan to scam him initially and so by the time she did decide to perpetuate her fraud, she was already stuck with bad facts and evidence that couldn't logically be explained away and would eventually undermine her scam. But Bauer's conduct, as reprehensible as it would appear to be, was totally legal and had occurred in a private relationship in the privacy of his own residence, behind closed doors.

Nobody will take up this mantle. (No pun intended). It's not just Willie's stats. It's his persona, his aura. Nobody will replace the totality of what Willie Mays was and represented. There Will Never Be Another Willie Mays Anyone who now ascends to the title of The Greatest Living Ballplayer will be forever just a placeholder. By Charles P. PiercePublished: Jun 19, 2024 4:58 PM EDT Excerpt: There was a time in which Joe DiMaggio insisted in a rider to all his public appearance contracts that he be referred to as "the greatest living ballplayer." And I thought, every time I heard it, "My god, did Willie Mays die?" In the last line in the last column he ever would write, which made it elegiac in about ten different ways, legendary sportswriter Red Smith wrote, "Someday, there would be another Joe DiMaggio." And I thought, reading that, "My god, man, you saw Willie Mays." To be entirely fair, Smith never shirked from acknowledging Mays' transcendence on the ballfield. “Snider, Mantle and Mays—you could get a fat lip in any saloon by starting an argument as to which was best,” Smith wrote in 1972. “One point was beyond argument, though: Willie was by all odds the most exciting.” He also was the best of the three, and by a ludicrous margin. And DiMaggio fares even worse by comparison. Quite simply, Willie Mays is the only real competition that Babe Ruth has for the title of the greatest baseball player of all time, and Ruth only edges him out because of the years in which he was a top-flight major league pitcher, one of the few things missing from Mays' lifetime CV of pure excellence. And if I may digress on an issue of personal sorrow and regret. Not long ago, in the successful pursuit of procrastination, I happened upon an essay by John Klima on the website of the Society For American Baseball Research. Its subject was the complicated process by which Mays had been signed away from the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons by what were ironically called the major leagues. It also told the story of one Piper Davis, the BBB's player-manager and, apparently, something of a mentor to the young Willie. In 1959, the Boston Red Sox signed Davis, the first Black player that the team, with its revolting history of racism, ever signed. There was a strong suspicion throughout all of baseball that the Red Sox signed Davis only as a means to sign Mays. Klima writes: Davis felt he had been treated poorly and that his performance did not warrant his release a few months later. Many in Birmingham believed that once the Red Sox found their efforts to acquire Mays through Davis insufficient, they cut him. Locals speculated that Hayes would not facilitate a deal for Mays with the Red Sox because a framework deal with Pompez to send Mays to the Giants already existed. His usefulness expired, Piper Davis was released and returned to the Black Barons. The Birmingham community felt betrayed by the way Davis had been treated in the Red Sox organization. Hayes, in particular, would not reward the Red Sox for mistreating a player which meant much to his city and team. Birmingham did hold grudges and Mays would never become a Boston Red Sox. Willie Mays, for a decade, batting next to Ted Williams in the order, playing next to him in Fenway Park's vast centerfield? You will pardon me now as I sob uncontrollably. Because baseball insisted on its idiotic resistance to inter-league play throughout my youth, I only got to watch Mays play in All-Star Games, and in the 1962 World Series, and in the wonderful old Mel Allen TV vehicle, This Week In Baseball. What I saw was wondrous—what would later be called a "five-tool player": run, throw, hit, hit with power, and field. The difference was that Willie's five baseball tools were more finely precise than those of most of his peers. They were made for precision work. They made other five-tool players look as though they were using lug wrenches and mallets. Willie Mays died on Tuesday at the age of 93. A spirited debate erupted on Xwitter over who now would ascend to the title of The Greatest Living Ballplayer. The DiMaggio-Mays Precedent eliminates all active players. (Sorry, Mike Trout.) The case for Barry Bonds is forever entangled with the drug hysteria. Pitchers forever seem to be disqualified, otherwise, Sandy Koufax would be a prime choice. My own selection would be Mike Schmidt, the Hall of Fame third-baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, and perhaps baseball history's most overlooked superstar. But even I know that Schmidt would be essentially a placeholder, but perhaps, a placeholder forever. Unlike Red Smith and DiMaggio, I'm not sure there ever will be another Willie Mays. Read it all at https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a61178886/willie-mays-dead/https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a61178886/willie-mays-dead/

Frayed Knot wrote: I've never existed a day when Willie Mays couldn't be identified as the greatest ballplayer alive. (The above quote lifted from another thread) Well there was that 1969 survey (not sure who voted) designed to celebrate the centennial of professional baseball which bestowed that mythical title on Joe DiMaggio. I remember my father arguing that the 'greatest living' wording implied alive but no longer active and that the sport's greatest living player was, in fact, still playing (that would be WHMJr). But that GLP award became more or less official (particularly among Italian-Americans, MFY fans, and other DiMaggio-ites) to the point where it practically became his nickname. Whenever DiMaggio made appearances for the remainder of his days it was mandatory that he get introduced last if there were multiple guests and that he do so with the title of 'Greatest Living Ballplayer'. My feeling is that if there's not an obvious candidate then the title is vacant until such time and it isn't. In the other sports Gretzky is an obvious one, and is Jordan, and I guess Brady. MLB doesn't seem to have one starting on 6/18/24 I've been meaning to ask you this question for years: How come just about all of your posts have these odd format sentence breaks?

Edgy MD wrote: Singhandedly wrecked Washington in an August 20, 2020 game at Citi Field, with a two-run homer in the fourth, followed by a grand slam in the fifth. He hung around afterwards and every fan in attendance left with an autograph. Captured here: 2020 Typewriter Chewing Gum Total+ Mets set - Code Name: Real! [FIMG=333]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53802767663_b4192aacec_h.jpg[/FIMG]

=smg58 post_id=159715 time=1718801022 user_id=62] I just realized that none of the legendary players from before my time that I grew up reading about are still with us, except for Mr. Koufax.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I voted for Rickey, but there was no obvious choice. Agreed. Note that Rickey, like Mays, also played for the Mets and wore #24. [FIMG=333]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ee/7e/5b/ee7e5b131d3a0de4a05c9d673e65c8c4.jpg[/FIMG]

Nobody will take up this mantle. (No pun intended). It's not just Willie's stats. It's his persona, his aura. Nobody will replace the totality of what Willie Mays was and represented.

[FIMG=777]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53801603545_72758974af_h.jpg[/FIMG]

Frayed Knot wrote: Once again, Mets get runners on, three in this case ... and then fail to get the ball out of the infield. We're lucky to get the one run they did tally. Nimmo ended that inning by striking out. The at-bat ended badly. Nimmo took the first pitch for a strike -- a likely outcome if you're gonna take the first pitch (intentionally or not) insofar as all major league pitchers, even the bad ones, throw more strikes than balls. He ended up at 0-2 and then was eventually eaten alive by a pitch that dropped about a foot out of the strike zone at the last second. But with two strikes, he had to protect all of the plate and then some. You don't give away strikes.

Frayed Knot wrote: dinosaur jesus wrote: I got to see him play. I've been bragging about that for fifty years. Yeah, I caught some TV games towards the end of his prime plus at least two at Shea. One as a SFG but also was at Shea for one of his first NYM HRs. I don't remember if it was his first HR/first game as a NYM. Looking at his sheet at BB-Ref: in 1971 at age 40 he played a mostly full skid (136 games/537 PA) and put up a 907 OPS/158 OPS+ It was his last good year ... but he was 40!! Mays led the NL in OBP in 1971 despite having slowed down considerably by then. He did it the smart way. Mays recognized his diminished bat speed and so purposely fouled off tough strikes to wear down opposing pitchers into finally throwing ball four.

[FIMG=444]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/fPkAAOSwID5i~cUB/s-l1600.jpg[/FIMG]

This is one of my all-time favorite SI covers. [FIMG=444]https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/framed-print/images/artworkimages/medium/2/new-york-mets-willie-mays-may-22-1972-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg?imgWI=10.5&imgHI=14&sku=CRQ13&mat1=PM918&mat2=&t=2&b=2&l=2&r=2&off=0.5&frameW=0.875[/FIMG]

2019 Typewriter Chewing Gum Total Mets set - Code Name: Wilbur! [FIMG=333]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53800103252_9ef6823863_h.jpg[/FIMG]

The actress who played Gene Wilder's girlfriend in Bonnie and Clyde is named Evans Evans. [FIMG=555]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjY5N2E4MjktZDliOS00ZDY4LThlNTMtY2ZiOWUyYzA3ZTk5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUxMjc1OTM@._V1_.jpghttps://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjY5N2E4MjktZDliOS00ZDY4LThlNTMtY2ZiOWUyYzA3ZTk5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUxMjc1OTM@._V1_.jpg[/FIMG]

He's not in the Mets Hall of Fame like Jerry Grote is. But the Mets did retire his number. Does that merit a memorial patch? TBD

i feel like the dodgers shoudl lean HARD into the hollywood motif! even if you're not gonna throw some dodgers letters on hollywood hill (or whatever its called) have some damned art deco theme, golden age of hollywood, walk of fame, searchlights and gala opening details. GLAMOUR, FAME, MOVIE STARS!!!! los FUCKING angeles, damnit! not some swoopy bullshit space-x logo thing. Yeah. Here's a better pic of the Dodgers CCs. So you could see what those unis actually look like. [FIMG=555]https://content.sportslogos.net/news/2024/06/los-angeles-dodgers-city-connect-uniform.jpg[/FIMG] I know that this is all supposed to be fun but I think it's contrived and for the most part, ugly. The unis are forced and stupid. I see the league forcing the players to look like fucking clowns all for another money grab in the name of something else. It's always something else even though it's not. It's always about the money. I'll stick to my original comment: It looks like the league got Homer Simpson to design all these CC unis.

2017 Typewriter Chewing Gum Ltd. Mets set - Code Name: Potato Knishes [FIMG=411]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53800282044_efac6d61ff_c.jpg[/FIMG]

[FIMG=666]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53799204488_e07d6e1b2e_h.jpg[/FIMG] Check out how pathetic the NL is this year. The Mets have the 5th best run differential among all NL non first-place teams. I know how pathetic that makes the NL look because I have seen the 2024 Mets.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=159559 time=1718679999 user_id=68] The Mets could be in the money and sitting on a wild card spot by Wednesday. They're already in the thick of it. They could be in the money tomorrow except that the Nats play the DBacks tomorrow.

The Mets could be in the money and sitting on a wild card spot by Wednesday. They're already in the thick of it. They could be in the money tomorrow except that the Nats play the DBacks tomorrow.

2017 Typewriter Chewing Gum Total Mets set - Code Name: Hoosier [FIMG=333]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53799255595_5fe330c62f_b.jpg[/FIMG]

Garrett, too. He's an illusion; his WHIP is indicative of that Perhaps. But Garrett's striking out about 37% of all batters faced and for almost all of the season, that number was over 40%. That number's more meaningful than WHIP and that's not luck or randomness. Garrett's third in the majors in K/9IP among all pitchers with at least 30 IP. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&month=0&stats=pit&type=8&sortcol=8&sortdir=default&qual=30https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&month=0&stats=pit&type=8&sortcol=8&sortdir=default&qual=30

=Cowtipper post_id=159482 time=1718655755 user_id=166] Garrett, too. He's an illusion; his WHIP is indicative of that

2021 Typewriter Chewing Gum Total Mets set - Code Name: Meet the Mets [FIMG=333]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53798982265_f8a340129b_h.jpg[/FIMG]