Leaderboard

Still brings a tear to my eye...

I love seeing pictures I’ve never seen before from big days I’ve replayed a thousand times.

They have a name for the winners in the world. I want one when I lose. They call Alabama “Crimson Tide” Call me Honolulu Blue

So, I took a look at all the Hall of Famers who went in as hitters, not pitchers, and I wanted to know who had the worst final seven years of their career going in. Since these guys went in for hitting, instead of using WAR, which includes defense, I am going to use offensive WAR (oWAR), since it contemplates only the offense part. Here are the ten worst seven-year offensive swan songs by a hitter before going into the Hall: Ray Schalk is the worst with a mere 1.7 oWAR for his entire final seven years, but he was definitely not known for his hitting, so really, no surprise. Al Simmons did go in for his hitting, but it was definitely for his first eleven seasons, and oh, what a stretch that was. He'd had almost 2,200 hits already, 240 of which were home runs, but his batting average is what really stood out: after his eleventh season, he was standing at .354 lifetime. He was considered to have had a puncher's chance at Ty Cobb's lifetime mark. But then, starting with his 14th season, he was getting old, and he started getting hurt a lot, and he limped through that final seven-year period with a .278/.328/.431 line across 1,600 PA, resulting in an oWAR of 3.0. I bring this up because for the past six seasons, Miggy, in a little more than 2,400 plate appearances, has slashed .262/.329/.386, which results in an oWAR of -0.2. So, unless he has a Pujols-like renaissance next season, Miggy is certain to walk backwards into the Hall with the worst final seven years of any Hall of Fame hitter ever—worse even than non-hitter Ray Schalk.

This is about as random as it gets! We were in Chicago over the weekend to visit my daughter at college. Here college gave us free tickets to the Cubs game yesterday. So we go and the seats are in 405L, nose bleeds way up in the LF corner. It's a windy day and everyone is bundled up and covered with blankets. A guy comes over to our row and asked if anyone is sitting here and I said no. He then ask us where we were from and chatted for awhile. People started looking at him and pointing then finally asked for a selfies and to shake his hand. Long story short it was Tom Ricketts Chairman of the Cubs! He asked my daughter what she was going to school for and they talked about her boyfriend who is attending Detroit Mercy Law school. He gave her a phone number to call and said they could pick a game next year to sit in the owners suite! What a great guy and I could never seeing an Illitch doing something like that.

You’re killing me, sabes.

SaSavage just seems like a kid that is going to make the NHL team with some sort of role Wallinder has noticeably gotten WAY better on his gap control on defense, not surprising that his time on ice keeps climbing

I was out with the dog one night last week. Saw this object across the sky, it was the SpaceX Starlink watch. It was very visible along the east coast, especially with it's tail (that's what caught my eye). Very cool

It's still on youtube, I like this live version

RIP to Loretta Lynn. As a big fan of real, traditional country, I am sadden to hear of her passing. She was truly a revolutionary force for woman in music, country genre or otherwise. At a time when women were not allowed to speak out and push the envelope in music and entertainment, she did. Loretta wrote and sung songs that pushed the boundaries of music and what women were allowed to sing about. From Coal Miner's Daughter to Rated X to The Pill to You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man.

Results of the annual GM survey are out: https://www.nba.com/news/2022-23-gm-survey Detroit made a few appearances: Which player is most likely to have a breakout season: 1. Evan Mobley - 21% T-2. Cade - 17% T-2. Anthony Edwards - 17% T-4. Zion - 14% Which was the most underrated player acquisition? 1. Brodgon - 28% T-2. PJ Tucker - 14% T-2. John Wall - 14% 4. Melton - 10% 5. Bojan Bogdanovic - 7% Which rookie will be the best player in five years? 1. Paolo - 31% 2. Chet - 28% T-3. Jaden Ivey - 14% T-3. Jabari Smith - 14% 5. Keegan Murray - 7% Five years ago: Josh Jackson - 24% <--- 😄 😄😄 Which rookie was the biggest steal at where he was selected in the draft? T-1. Jalen Duren, Detroit - 14% T-1. Tari Eason - 14% T-3. AJ Griffin - 10% T-3. Sharpe - 10% T-5. Jaden Ivey - 7% T-5. Keegan Murray - 7% T-5. Jalen Williams - 7% Which team has the most promising young core? 1. Cavs - 41% 2. Grizz - 38% 3. Pistons - 10% And...GMs don't think Jaden has a shot at RoY... 😞 Who will win rookie of the year? 1. Paolo - 79% 2. Keegan - 17% 3. Jabari - 3% Last year: Jalen Green - 47%

One thing seems clear to me in retrospect, which is that they should have left Torkelson in Toledo to keep building on what he was doing there. Sept in Det has not advanced his development.

What was Jim Bouton’s quote on Ray Oyler? He always looked like he had just finished a ring job on his car.

Dan with the call of the final strikeout. Chafin Closes Out M’s.m4a

what a silly time for a time to have its best stretch of the year......

Boy the Tigers have been playing some inspired ball to finish out the season. All phases. It would be nice if Tork would participate in the fun.

The Riley Greene Virus has infected the Tiger outfield, and it's a good kind of sickness.

Badoo is becoming the player he was supposed to be this year. There is hope.

I don't remember any outfielder with a poor throwing arm ever substantially improving it. It seems like an opportunity for those who study biomechanics.

Did he recognize your daughter’s avatar from any online forums?

Logically speaking, it can't possibly be only the players. Nor can it only be scheme. Or else it wouldn't be this bad. It has to be both. So blame Glenn Campbell, Holmes. I mean Glenn, Campbell, Holmes.

We should stipulate here that Riley Greene has been "decent" only in Tigers terms. He is .242/.333/.297 with zero homers in 105 PA, good for an 88 wRC+ in the last 30 days, during which time he has been a groundball machine (64%), with an average launch angle of -2.4 degrees. Yes, that's a minus two-point-four. And that production includes a well-above-average .344 BABIP. All that said, he's still a 21-year-old kid with a long, long way to go. There's a good chance he becomes the face of the franchise within the next three or four years.

The offensive line is a major reason why the Lions have the best offense in the league. If they drafted Parsons than we would be complaining about the OL. This team had major holes and it was going to take multiple drafts to fix it.

I understand where you're coming from but I don't think the differences between the two in terms of hitting come down to batting average or luck. Greene has been consistently decent. Tork has been completely awful in every phase of hitting for all but a 3-week stretch this year. Luck plays some part but Tork has completely sucked outside of that hot stretch.

I wonder why we don't spend equal time talking about how Brad Holmes built the best offense in the NFL only one year removed from trading the franchise QB?

Very cool story.....