MLB 2013

[Jeff]

HOF announcement today, time to start up the new thread.

It'll be really interesting to see what happens today with Bonds and Clemens.  I'm expecting both to come in around the 40-50% mark, but we'll see.

I'd like to see the Killer B's get in together, but I have a feeling that Biggio alone may be the only one (if any) that get in today...

(ps. can't forget to include the usual MN-homerism HOF voting rant here for Jack Morris  - '91 game seven is still the greatest game of baseball I have ever had the chance to watch.  )

[Mikey D]

BBWAA sure made their thoughts known - no roiders in their sacred Hall...

[Jeff]

It was sort of interesting to see the separation - the guys with PED whispers (Bagwell, Piazza) around 60%, the guys who were probably HOFers before they doped up (Bonds, Clemens) around 40%, and the guys with PEDs confirmed (Sosa, Palmiero) down at 10%.

Having Maddux on the ballot next year (355 Ws, 3371 Ks, 3.16 ERA) will really drive the PED point home for Clemens (354 Ws, 4672 Ks, 3.12 ERA) since Maddux is basically Clemens without the steroid revival (those extra three Cy Youngs).  I'm sure Clemens will be pissed next January when Maddux is a first ballot HOFer and he's still sitting on the couch waiting for the call. 

[P-Siddy]

I'm a conspiracy theorist as it is, but I think those PED guys were used by the league to boost ratings after the strike damaged their reputation.  What a better way to generate interest and get people back into baseball by having the chase for the home run record.  I don't know if PED was encouraged by the league or if they turned a blind eye to it just so they could get people in the seats again, but that's my feeling on the matter.  Now that these guys took one for the team, they are being shunned for doing it.  And how could the league not know this was going on?  One season McGwire is a 'puny' guy, the next he's a powerhouse.  Sad.

[Nicklab]

I don't think that there was some grand conspiracy by the owners and MLB to have players start taking PED's.  The players are responsible for their own actions, especially if they were taking a substance with the intended goal of boosting their stats.

That being said, I think the owners and MLB turned a blind eye to PED's.  Especially when you look at all of that buzz that surrounded both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the season when McGwire broke the home run record that Roger Maris had held since 1961.  A lot of sports writers looked at that home run chase as the thing that saved baseball after their last strike.  The owners and league may not have forced the players to take PED's, but at the very least they were complicit.

As for the baseball writers who vote on the Hall of Fame?  They excel at being curmudgeons over who should be in the hall, and who should not.  But then, the Baseball Hall of Fame does have a higher level of cred than pretty much any other Hall of Fame for professional sports, and that's because of the selectivity of the HoF voters.  I think you had to expect that the writers would make a statement like this with some of the most high profile players who were linked to PED's.  Even guys with phenomenal career numbers.  They routinely make these statements with guys who have HoF numbers, but aren't regarded as the elite of the HoF and won't vote them in on the first ballot.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

Well said.  The league and as importantly, the players' union turned a blind eye to all this stuff.  The players that didn't take anything, but didn't complain about those who did are complicit as well.

It will be interesting to see what in-season HGH blood tests do to the numbers this year...

[Jesse James]

Steelers suck and Pirates are in the playoffs and won, Dogs and cats, living together...  mass hysteria!

[McMetal]

I suspect a lot of Steelers fans have jumped on the Pirates bandwagon. Can't say I blame them.

[Jesse James]

Eh, Steelers fans don't really leave their team though...  Their ratings, even in down times, are good.  Their attendance, even in down times, is good.  Hell, there was some argument to this point recently and a local sports reporter pointed out that a Steelers per-season game had higher ratings than a Pirates game that had actual consequences the same night.  It is what it is here.  As a Penguins fan, I learned that quickly when a regular season Pens game was getting glossed over because an off-season Steeler had a broken pinky or whatever.  The Pirates were a more comical footnote till this year to most, save for those of us old enough to recall when they were good.

I think the Pirates are just basically a bandwagon thing, period, at this point then.  The last time they were in the playoffs was 1992...  I wasn't in high school yet.  Many here have never really seen them win.  Tough to fault anyone for not caring under those kinds of circumstances.  Vikings and Browns fans, where ya at?

I went through lean Steelers years, and I can tell you first hand that the Steelers were still the premiere team in the city.

[McMetal]

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply that anyone was hopping OFF the Steelers bandwagon, I know those fans are among the NFL's best. I just meant that there seems like a resurgence of baseball enthusiasm in that town, and the combination of an up year for the Pirates and a down year for the Steelers is only fanning that. I can't remember the last time I saw so many people so psyched to be at a Pirates game! Good for them.

[Jesse James]

It was surreal on TV...  Kind of bummed they stuck with Olberman instead of showing the announcements because I guess that was even better, but yeah EVERYONE right now seems like a bandwagoner for the Pirates...  My self included, as I really don't care for baseball but I've watched them some this year.  My grandmother loved listening to games on the radio, so she would've liked this.

I was always kind of turned off by baseball when they were good before...  Bonds was a known prick in the city.  Stuff like him, and the others who were equally prickish, turned me off to baseball at a young age.

Steelers fans bitching their season will still trump the Pirates season though, lol.  Kinda sad.  I know the feeling already though, as a Pens fan...  It was always funny seeing a Pens game get a blip at the end of the cast while the Steelers (and usually pirates) got more talk.

[McMetal]

Congrats to the Red Sox...hopefully the Braves will be back there one day soon again too.

[Rob]

Sports Journalist Told To Write Some Slop About Baseball Healing Boston

BOSTON—Ahead of Wednesday’s potential World Series–clinching Game 6 matchup between the Red Sox and Cardinals, sources confirmed that Los Angeles Times sports editor Sam Poyet instructed journalist Ross Martinez to quickly throw together some slop about baseball helping the city of Boston heal from this year’s tragic marathon bombings. “Just **** out like six or seven hundred words’ worth of melodramatic sludge about how the whole city has been galvanized by their team and how baseball offers a way for Bostonians to slowly move on from tragedy,” said Poyet, adding that Martinez should definitely churn out a couple paragraphs of muck contrasting the overwhelming terror pervading Boston during the aftermath of the bombings to the especially emotional and impassioned atmosphere at Fenway Park this season. “Don’t forget to mention the ‘Boston Strong’ rallying cry, the club’s tributes to victims during each game, and how this is all about much more than just baseball. And, I don’t know, a little section about the players saying some heartwarming gunk about how much this means to the people of Boston. Then maybe round off the whole sentimental garbage heap with something about how no matter what, the day will never be forgotten. Oh, and something where you use the phrase ‘the wounded heart of a proud city.’ Just throw it all in the trough; they’ll eat it up.” Poyet added that the giant mound of histrionic, exploitative glop should probably start off with the sentence, “The morning of April 15, 2013 wasn’t much different from any other in downtown Boston.”

Also...


Red Sox Fan Dedicates Garbage Can He’s Lighting On Fire To Marathon Victims

BOSTON—Fifteen minutes after the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals to become World Series Champions, sources are now confirming that local man Bradley Ferrante, 26, is dedicating the trash can he’s lighting on fire to the victims of last April’s Boston Marathon bombings. “4/15, never forget!” said a visibly intoxicated Ferrante before throwing an entire book of lit matches into the trash bin, stumbling slightly before kicking it to the ground, removing his shirt, and screaming “Go Sox!” “Dynasty!” “Big Papi! We love you, Papi!” and “We’re the ******’ champs, baby! Boston Strong! Yankees suck! Woo!” At press time, Ferrante was hunched over on Boylston Street, vomiting roughly 800 yards from the marathon’s finish line.

[Scott]

That **** makes me sick...I hated the fact that America was "supposed" to root for the Yankees after 9/11 and the Saints after Katrina.  **** you press...I don't have to root for anyone and at the end of the day its just sports.  God Bless You Big Papi. #stillpissedminnesotagotnocredforthebridgecollapse

[Dressel Rebel]

That **** makes me sick...I hated the fact that America was "supposed" to root for the Yankees after 9/11 and the Saints after Katrina.  **** you press...I don't have to root for anyone and at the end of the day its just sports.  God Bless You Big Papi. #stillpissedminnesotagotnocredforthebridgecollapse

Agreed. It is really stupid. And just about every aspect of the media and "the news" is lame, corrupt and full of **** along with it.

Like a bunch of roided-up millionaire athletes winning a game makes up for 4 innocent dead people and 50 others who had their legs blown off.