MrRain422

Sheff and Everett are both difficult cases, as I think we may have to cut them some slack for being genuinely crazy.

Oh yeah, can't believe I forgot John Rocker. Lincecum won NL CYA.

Just for fun, who are the biggest assholes to ever play the game? Here are some off the top of my head: Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Ugueth Urbina, Roger Clemens, John McGraw

There's a long tradition of giving the MVP awards to huge assholes, going back to the very first one awarded in 1911, which went to Ty Cobb.

I'm all for changing the system, but I think it's wise to keep about a certain amount of pragmatism too. I support third party candidates (those who espouse views I agree with anyway) when they're in a position to make an impact. But at the same time, I think at the highest levels, where third parties do not yet have a chance to make a difference, it's best to get the best possible candidate in there. In 2004, for example, I thought that Kerry was a pretty shitty candidate, but a Kerry presidency would bring this country at least incrementally closer to where I would like it to be than anot

Actually I think Bonds should have won in '96. Sheff had a better year than sixth place though. I think a good case could be made for Bonds, Sheff, Bagwell, Caminiti (the actual winner), Piazza and maybe even Ellis Burks.

How often does he get any pitches to hit with RISP? Edit: Which makes what Jorge posted all the more interesting. Where is south Detroit anyway? Windsor?

I actually really like the instrumental tracks on that soundtrack. The rest of it is pretty disposable though, especially the awful version of "The Lonely One".

For the record, I'm no fan of A-Rod. I hate the Yankees in general, and I do think he's a little whiny. But I also think that the criticism of his play is stupid, and most criticism of him personally is out of line.

Every single player in baseball would do this if they thought they'd get a bigger contract out of it. A lot of people are out to get him. Gary Sheffield has won a World Series. Manny Ramirez has won a couple World Series. Ty fucking Cobb won the World Series. By all accounts, these guys are bigger clubhouse cancers than A-Rod. I think the reason the Yankees haven't won a World Series since they got him is because they've generally had terrible pitching (and a little bit of bad luck). I think he's right though -- that's a pretty good assessment of some of the reasons that peo

Bagwell is a Hall of Famer in my book. He got overlooked playing in Houston, but he's worthy. I always thought that the A-Rod as jerk meme was overblown. I don't really know of him being much of a jerk other than that stupid attempt to slap the ball out of the firstbaseman's glove. That was really lame. I think he's been pretty well behaved considering how under the microscope he's been. I don't know of him ever lashing out at the media or fans. The worst I can think of is his marital problems, but I'm not really sure why I even know about those.

Bobbob, dude, Sheff only has 499 homeruns. I think Sheff has the credentials. The biggest knock on him is that he played in an era where there were several more dominant hitters than him (Bonds, Pujols, A-Rod, Griffey, Manny, Frank Thomas, maybe a few others). And yeah, he's both a jerk and possibly legitimately insane, which doesn't endear him to the writers. Here's the Sheff profile, to make this easier: 2476 Games 8949 AB 2,615 Hits .292/.394/.516 141 OPS+ 499 Homeruns 454 Doubles 25 Triples 251 Stolen Bases 6 top ten finishes in the MVP voting 1 Batting title (1992) 1 OPS title (

He's probably the only 'roider that I believe when he says he didn't know they were steroids. He's just that crazy.

Yeah, if you're on the job market right now, you might wanna change that.

Not ready to take a position on this yet, but just to throw this out there: Gary Sheffield in the Hall of Fame? Yea or nay?

From wikipedia:

I've heard Thome steroid/HGH speculation, but it was all based on his offensive production and his physical build -- no real evidence.

George or Thomas? Because I almost made a Thomas Jefferson family reunion joke but decided to let it slide.

This is probably the winner right there, but I'll add in: In this photo, the subjects are arranged in descending order of the number of deaths they are responsible for (countless, 1, 0, 0).

I agree that Tim Raines should be in the HoF. Not sure why he's barely ever even mentioned. Thome's career OPS at home is .998. On the road it's .935. He's been helped by some good home ballparks but it's not that huge of a difference. He has an identical number of hits at home as on the road (1,024 each), a few more doubles on the road than at home (200/197) and 51 more homers at home (300/241). If Thome had put up the same numbers at home as he did on the road, he'd still be inching pretty close to Hall of Fame status. My main objection to the "it's not the hall of very good" is tha

Congress always has a low approval rating though (though not as low as it is currently). Generally, people have a much higher opinion of their own representatives than they do of Congress generally. Basically everyone wishes that the other districts would elect more people like their guy. No matter how low Congressional approval ratings go, approval ratings of individual members tend to stay high and incumbents nearly always win. I'm just speculating but I think it's possible that the new dip in Bush's numbers could be because, before the election, some Republicans may have been staying b

It's the Hall of Fame not the Hall of Great. So everyone famous should be in, right? Citing the name of the place is a pretty weak argument, since "very good" isn't really part of the same scale as "fame". I get really tired of hearing the "it's not the hall of very good" argument. It makes no sense. [/ grumpy jerk] BTW, not sure if it's been mentioned here yet but Longoria and Soto were named Rookies of the Year today.

Thome is better than Dawson, and probably comparable to Rice -- Thome is a better hitter than Rice but gets a few knocks for being a DH for the last few years. I'd say that Thome just squeaks in. Blyleven is the biggest travesty in the game though. Should have been in years ago.

Nah, your vote counted just fine, since it's winner take all for the state, not by county.