Edgy MD

batmagadanleadoff wrote: How come that paper didn't make Garry Templeton the Grand Exalted Mystic Ruler of the SAS club? I was thinking that was Templeton to Russell's right, but now I realize that isn't Russell copping that feel at all, but Ron Cey with his mustache either trimmed or sublimated. But if the Cardinal isn't Templeton, who is it? Andujar?

And somehow, that upper-crust of stars included Dave Concepcion. He made $200,000 in 1979. SET FOR LIFE!

I don't think it's the Sox batters, but the guys throwing the pitches to them. They're GOOD!

I say "all three" Phillies are topless, but Boone at least bothered to pack his powder blue jersey.

Rose looked like a chump as well: All three Phillies seem to have gone topless: Bob Boone got a front row seat for Morganna's act with George Brett: Bill Russell was helpless when confronted up close with the power of Mazzilli's buttocks:

I remember a lot about that game, as it was an island in a rather dark sea of a Met season. Frinstance, Reggie showed up without his uniform that year. Also seems to have shown up without his physique. What a dumpy-lookin' Reggie.

Vic Sage wrote: The key point here is: If anything, Puig should come in for censure from his own teammates. He admired his home run, which is inexcusable if it's anywhere close to not leaving the yard. This one didn't, and if not for Beltran misplaying the carom in right, Puig could have cost his team an extra base or even an out. "Obviously, I'd like to see him run right away," Don Mattingly said. It was a clear fuckup, but not a disrespectful one, and the Cardinals should hope he does it every time. That should be the issue here, and Beltran could have prevented Puig's histrionics by making a clean play and throwing the fucker out at 3b. I don't have much use for the chronic me-ism of the current ballplayer, showboating being just one indicator of it, but i have even less use for those who bitch and moan about violations of the "unwritten rules" instead of just outplaying the arrogant selfish pricks and beating them on the field with the kind of professionalism they claim to prefer. If Puig can't cheer, then Beltran can't whine if he fails to throw him out. How's that for an unwritten rule? You totally ruin it by writing it. GUH!

All-Star Dropouts Are a Callous Crew Al Strachan The Montreal Gazzette

Check out Tommy John's ominous prediction. Johnny Bench pulls out of All-Star Game The Spokesman-Review, July 16, 1979

No, but his general defensive game was certainly highly respected.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I'm with you on the part about Stearns being, historically, a greater Mets catcher than Lo Duca. But most of Stearns's all-star selections were questionable. In '77, Stearns was, at best, and generously, the 6th best NL catcher, behind Ted Simmons, Johnny Bench, Bob Boone, Gary Carter and Joe Ferguson. In 1980, he was perhaps the 5th best NL catcher, interchangeable with Tim Blackwell. The gap between Stearns and the top four, Carter, Tenace, Simmons and Bench was considerable. Stearns's 1979 selection was a joke, right? There were some excellent hitting catchers in '79, including the usual suspects Carter, Bench & Simmons and also Bob Boone and Gene Tenace. Well, I've been through 1979 (and Stearns had terrible early season stats that year), but by limiting your arguments against him to his modest offensive prowess, you tend ignore your own thesis in this thread. Managers loved his catching game like they loved Grote's. Herzog openly lusted after the man, and considered a battery of Neil Allen and John Stearns unstealable on --- a lust that blinded him so deeply that he made the most regrettable trade of his career years later by acquiring Allen. As for the Mets, they dealt Grote himself, explicitly stating that they didn't need two starting catchers, and so Grote was the odd man out. (This was the same interview, I believe, in which they damningly stated they would be in the market for a backup catcher because, while they liked Hodges, they liked him as a third stringer only.) Stearns and Carter ignited a brawl after a plate collision the first week of 1979. Can't remember who got the better of it. Managers remember that crap too.

Yeah, but Earth needs villains.

I think 1979 was more about the paucity of quality catchers than the paucity of quality Mets, Mazzilli being at the height of his powers and arguably deserving of the ASG MVP that year. Bob Boone was the starter, with Bench and Carter and Simmons also making the team, but as Bench didn't appear and it's unlikely that Boone won an election over Bench and Carter, I'm concluding that Bench was voted as the starter, but neither he nor Simmons were healthy, so Stearns got an invite. Forget All-Star Lo Duca? Might as well forget the moon and sky.

The guy had seven sacs and 39 doubles (a record pace, if prorated to a non-catcher-game-load). He must've swing some time.

Gamez, I would imagine.

The common theme in all three gifs is that the other fielders seem to have this deference, as if it's his world and they're just in it. That's a good thing and a bad thing, but it sure was a fascinating thing.

In a close call, I still think Bud Harrelson was consistently a better fielder than Ordonez. Bud prevented bloops down the left field line from turning into doubles better than any shortstop I ever saw. Maybe, but Rey didn't mess around: Wanted to find some gifs of him hitting too. Still looking.

Everything is in the past. Doesn't mean it doesn't speak to the present and future. And he did fail a test. It may not have been a chemical test, but it was a test nonetheless. The idea that he passed urine tests vindicates his performance kind of ignores the obvious notion that he was playing with a body developed while breaking the rules at an earlier time.

It's an issue. I disagree that his numbers present an unambiguous argument.

Lest it go unsaid, one may suspect a possible cause/effect relationship between the PED usage and the numbers.

Oh, dear me, no. And really, who flips out on the minor league franchise when he gets fired? It's not them, but the big-league overlords who pull the plug on your tenure. I guess it's initially more engaging when they try and make it more authentic by introducing unusual and non-baseball life factors into the game's progression, but suddenly, it gets spooky. What of the actual ballplayer who might try and play and see his alternative life unfold in the game? Some guy's wife just died --- a real player, not a fictionally generated one. The alternative O's just laid Peter Angelos to rest the other day. At least he led a long alternative electronic life.

I broke my nose when I was a kid body surfing into some guys ass just like that. My folks didn't think it was broken. So it was never re-set, and now I look like this.

I liked the way Marty Noble expressed it. "If you drew a circle around second base seven feet in diameter, there was never a guy who played that area of the field like Ordonez. Nobody. Not Ozzie, not anyone I ever saw." The thing about him, to me, is that it wasn't just the high quality and the consistency of the defense, but the creativity. It was an art as much as a craft.

Let's be certain. There's nothing to vote on with regard the likes of Byrd and Felciano. They're free agents, not gonna be on the roster, and during a recent survey, none out of none teams stated that they would resign them to a major league deal.

I'm not quite sure how to vote, as there are free agents on the list who, if they get major league deals, certainly won't do so before the Rule V draft. Valdespin, Atchy, Burke, Carson, Henn --- these guys will certainly be transferred soon. Lutz and Baxter are on the bubble too. Maybe Brownie. I'd probably draft at least one of them, though, probably Lutz.