Quincy

Personally I love the way she delivered her lines behind the beat, and I'm prepared to post for the next 72 hours defending my position.

I think the main problem with the steroid issue is it's hard to tell how much the drug adds to the power totals. If McGwire wasn't juiced his rookie year when he hit 49 in a difficult hitter's park, he probably could have put up very big career power numbers without the 'roids. And if you look at his away batting average during his Oakland years he usually hit between .280 and .300. That park is hell on hitters with the big foul territory and because of it there has never been a batting champion from Oakland. Who knows, he might have been healthier and played longer and the totals may have washed in the end had he not used them. But it's kind of hard to judge the what might have beens. I agree getting into the Hall looks difficult for him, but there are whole mess of players who have/had talent, and the drugs didn't do it all on their own. It won't be easy deciding which users get in and which ones don't, especially as with many of them we'll never know.

I recently read a story in Sports Illustrated that claimed McGwire wanted to talk about his steroid use before Congress last year but that the statute of limitations for acquiring them illegally is five years, so without immunity he was unwilling to talk. The writer suggested that McGwire may tell all sometime this year as 5 years will have passed. If this is true it adds another twist. So many of the baseball writers seem to be obsessed with stars of today and steroids, but there are stories of use in the late '80s as well. So if McGwire talks and says he had been using them since '88, what do you do? Throw out the whole career, or try to adjust the home run totals downward by 10 or 20%? Who knows? Would he score points for being honest about the past after that pitiful appearance before Congress? I haven't a clue.

WOW, now that is amazing since DiMaggio was voted Greatest Living Player in 1969 when baseball was celebrating the 100th anniversary of baseball The Bill James book Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame or (also titled) The Politics Of Glory is kind of sloppy but it goes into detail about the changes in the rules for induction over the years. Aside from the history there are sections on predictive measures and also good old fashioned debates about players, such as comparing Catfish vs. Tiant, and the controversial picks of Rizzuto and Drysdale. He also sizes up the case for players not in along with players who were active in '95. He didn't forsee the steroid tater era that has changed the way people view career power numbers so in places you have to take that into account, especially when he's looking at career total numbers that voters are impressed by and such. In the back of his book are his predictions made in '94 for who he thought the writers would induct. Again, they're predictions on who he thought would get voted in, not necessarily who he feels deserves it. Kind of amusing now. 1995 - Schmidt, Rice 1996 - Sutton, Rose - Whoops! 1997 - Garvey, P. Niekro - I'm thrilled he was wrong about Garvey. 1998 - Gary Carter, Al Oliver - Oliver has been forgotten about 1999 - Ryan, Brett 2000 - Yount, Fisk 2001 - Dawson, Winfield - Shows you how important 3000 hits/500 HR can be. 2002 - Murray, Ozzie 2003 - Paker, Kaat - Way off here. 2004 - Eck, Simmons - As Fisk & Gary Carter had to wait, so does Simmons. Catchers don't get much respect. 2005 - Boggs, Ripken 2006 - Rickey, Molitor - He didn't see Rickey playing so long. 2007 - Gwynn, Clemens - Obviously he didn't think Clemens would be pitching in 2005. Oddly enough he thought 2010 would be: 2010 - Raines, Sandberg - He notes 2nd basemen have a hard time getting in, hence the later date. My favorite "missed it by that much" prediction: 2017 - Frank Thomas, Ruben Sierra Ruben! Ruben! Ruben!

D'oh! 3 days ago I added to an alldirect order for $16.70. Oh well, it's worth it at that price too. (Note to self - remember Impulse! releases show up at yourmusic.com)

Have a great day you rascal you!

That's a beauty and I have it too. For some reason all of the Yankee starter cards in that set are in action. Great looking cards of Munson, Rivers, Nettles and Jackson to name a few. Most of the rest of the player shots used were the usual boring spring training ballpark poses. That was the last year I collected cards in a big way, though many years later I started getting a few packs in my Christmas stocking. Still a kick to open a pack, but it's kind of sad how much more they cost for fewer cards, even if they have fancier photos & graphics. And other than the retro sets, none of say things like "Sparky (Lyle) likes to sit on birthday cakes."

I was thinking the very same thing the other day when I saw this thread! 2254 hits, and a .295 B.A. are nothing to be ashamed of! He was about the fastest player in the game in his youth, but I seem to recall he didn't like to steal, for some reason. And how he could hit so well with such a weak looking swing! He swiped quite a few in youth but dropped off in his early 30s. Though back then stealing 40 or 50 wasn't such a big deal. Ah the good old days. Another of the very good and also a former Cardinal - in fact in the Redbird uniform he was one of my first baseball cards - Jose Cruz. His power numbers were hurt by hitting in the Astrodome all those years. By the time he made it to a a park with a short right porch (Yankee) he was too old to make use of it. Still, a nice mix of a bit of speed & a modest amount of power.

And make Vada Pinson a charter member! Along with Jerry Koosman. Yes indeed on both. And how could I forget Vida Blue?

Cheers!

I have no problem with setting high standards for the Hall, but the 2 pitchers you name as examples are a couple of the best ever. That's mighty tough company. If you want to make it that exclusive we'd need to toss out some of the ones already in, like (loved him but...) Catfish, Bunning, Drysdale, Sutton, etc. Hmm, on second thought.... I propose a Hall Of The Very Good. Hmm, how about Ely Nevada for a location? After all, it's not Vegas nor Reno, just a very good old gambling town (and what's baseball without gambling?) We'll put Rose & Shoeless Joe here too. Make it the Hall of the Very Good & of Ill Repute. Here's a list of guys from the just past 30 years or so who aren't in the Hall of Fame and likely won't make it (excluding Dawson, Blyleven for now) but either had some hot prime years or a very good servicable run. I know I've missed many as it was quickly done and it's skewed to the '70s & '80s. AL C - Munson, Freehan 1B - Mattingly, Dick Allen (either league) 2B - Frank White, Whitaker. Grich too if you don't think he should be in the Hall. 3B - Nettles, Ventura, Buddy Bell SS - Trammell, Fernandez OF - Rice, Belle CF - Lynn, Otis OF - Dwight Evans, Baines, Oliva, Maris P - Tiant (I'd lean towards putting him in Cooperstown), Guidry, Kaat, John, Dave Stewart, Steib, Dennis Leonard, Wilbur Wood, Micky Lolich, McLain, McNally, Cuellar RP - Sparky Lyle, Quisenberry, John Hiller OF either league - Frank Howard NL C - Ted Simmons (a decent case for him to be in the Hall can be made.) 1B - Will Clark, Keith Hernandez 2B - Lopes 3B - SANTO!, Darrell Evans SS - Concepcion OF - Raines, Foster, Pedro Guerrero CF - Murphy, Cedeno, Eric Davis, Flood, Gary Maddox, Bobby Bonds OF - Parker, Reggie Smith, Strawberry P - Gooden, Steve Rogers, Mike Scott, John Candelaria, Orel Hershiser, Dennis Martinez (some good AL years too.) John Tudor, Fernando. (There seem to be fewer borderline cases in the NL as the ones who made it like Seaver, Carlton, Gibson, Marichal, Koufax were all magnificent & domineering pitchers.) RP - Lee Smith, Franco, Hrabosky Many were very exciting players. I still recall a match up between Hrabosky & Foster in the late '70s that was electric. Guidry vs. Rice was some classic baseball too, and that Red Sox OF of the late '70s was terrific. In the end it's the Hall In Your Head (& Heart) that matters most.

I liked Rice as player but I would only put him in the Hall of Very Good (with the likes of Mattingly, Keith Hernandez, Tommy John and so on.) Rice benefited a great deal by playing at Fenway. Here's a list of his career road numbers (AVG, OBP, SLG.) 1975 .304/.343/.464 1976 .266/.291/.455 1977 .319/.377/.509 1978 .269/.325/.512 (18 road HR.) 1979 .283/.337/.472 1980 .283/.323/.487 1981 .263/.309/.394 1982 .297/.408/.426 1983 .283/.337/.566 1984 .272/.313/.428 1985 .232/.309/.434 1986 .310/.381/.454 1987 .252/.326/.374 1988 .252/.301/.365 1989 .222/.269/.364 I was surprised how low his numbers were for his big season in '78. He ate up Fenway that year (.361/.416/.690.) Rice, Parker & George Foster were monsters in their prime, but I don't think I'd put any of them in the Hall of Fame. I'd be happy to have any of them on my imaginary dream team of non-Hall of Famers though. I would put in Gossage & Sutter this year. I have so little respect for the save rule that Lee Smith doesn't make it for me, though I sure enjoyed watching him pouring down with sweat while Harry announced. Blyleven goes in. Parlty because so many of the past pitcher selections have been so sketchy, but he was a great one who just happened to move around a lot. Changing teams so often (the Twins twice!) makes it hard for some to recall what he did. Especially as he did some of it for the Indians & Rangers. Dawson is a tough one. The dagburned steroid era has made his numbers look weaker in comparison. I'd be tempted to pass this year on him and think it over some more. Had he not burned his knees out playing on plastic on top of concrete in Montreal and instead played on grass he probably would have had an "automatic" career. Santo YES! Like 15 years ago for Pete's sake. Gee whiz, what's a guy gotta do? Yeah, he did play at Wrigley, but still, what a great third baseman. I'm very tempted to give Alan Trammell the nod. He was overshadowed by Ripken & Ozzie Smith while he played, and then by the later trio of AL shortstops. I'm more forgiving of infielder batting stats than I am outfielder/1st basemen, and Alan's were pretty good throughout his career. His partner at 2nd Whitaker is close too, but maybe not close enough. If Jack Morris had pitched in the '30s he'd be automatic. I know he says when his team had an 8-2 lead he says he wouldn't nibble at the corners and instead let the other team hit the ball, resulting in 8-4, 8-5 wins instead. And he was a tough bastard too. As far as AL pitchers who pitched through the full decade of the '80s it's him or Dave Steib. Not the prettiest decade for AL starters, that's for sure. But I'll wuss out and think him over for another year.

Alldirect.com is still selling the regular OJCs for $7.99 and the K2s for $9.99. Unfortunately for some members I don't think they ship to Europe.

From Rotoworld: "Indy Star reporter Mark Montieth was on WNDE 1260 radio in Indianapolis this afternoon and said that the report about Ron Artest and Jalen Rose going to the Lakers is not likely and that it was a case of 'poor journalism.' Montieth went on to say that a trade with Denver was more likely, with Nene being the centerpiece of the deal. It sounds like Artest will be moved in the next two to three days, but Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird aren't about to tip their hand as to what they are working on. As for the Jalen and Artest to the Lakers story, it's still a possibility, but it doesn't sound probable as of right now. If nothing else, it sure livened up the basketball world today."

Rumor regarding the other teams: Toronto get Croshere from the Pacers & some other Laker. Pacers get Devean George and a Raptor draft pick. But another rumor site mentions the TWolves are in talks, so who knows. It was a San Antonio paper that started the Laker-Raptor Artest trade. As a fantasy owner of Artest, do something!

So you bought THREE Selects, but the regular Mosaics are "way too spendy"?? Hey, that should be perfectly logical for readers of this board! Makes sense to me, ya gotta spend a lot now to save $15 later! Or something like that!

Sadly I can only repeat what you've discovered - the US seems to have gotten the shaft on this. I too was looking for it a while back expecting it to come out in the US. It didn't, I forgot, went looking for it again later on and could only find VHS copies. So far I've passed on those hoping that it'd be released on DVD here. Doesn't light up at all with Froogle (not that that's the definitive search, but still...)

I'll second this too (and back off the Kool Aid as I type on my iBook .) Especially as you mentioned Word & Excel being the main apps. I'm not sure the next MS OS (Vista/Longhorn) will run so hot on it, but I don't think that's a big concern as learning the apps is more important than learning OS details as far as your wife gaining some skills.

It just occurred to me...From now until July, buy 8 Selects #1-20 and (it's like) get(ting) 1 free! Ugh, the way this board warps one's thinking.

I'll go ahead and get the Bechet fairly soon as I'm really in the mood for it and grab the Tolliver too (and pick up the $5 Jazztimes subscription.) It's easier to say the Selects I have rather than don't: Moncur, Jones, Reece, Pullen & Pepper. I like 'em all very much. Some of the ones that have gotten heavy consideration are Green, Weston, and Amy. Chambers & Brookmeyer somewhat...heck, nearly all of them I've thought about getting. Heh, maybe I should let Malcom be the tiebreaker. I have a fair amount of Dexter and though I wouldn't mind the Select figure money might be better spent picking up a few more Steeplechase & OJC titles that I don't have instead. Oh yeah, and then there's the Hill... However, there are other big boxes I'm very interested in, possibly more so. So maybe I'll step up my Mosaic purchases by ordering a box set & add a Select a few times before July rolls around. And if I miss a few, I'm sure the titles will still be worth it after the increase.

I'm pretty sure I hear roast beef on Tanya. He's been known to do fried bananas too.

How wonderfully civilized Copenhagen is. Along with his playing I love to hear him talk. Oh if you have the time, please do! We'd love to hear more.

I love that feeling! Sounds like a grrrrrrrrreat show by the way, congratulations! Of course, you will see another show someday.

Happy Birthday Meester Moose!

Oh, I know what you mean, but "Naima" gorgeous. Maybe avoid like the common cold rather than the plague, depending on how adverse one is to string sections. There's also some guitar work on one of the tracks that makes me think of white suits. Not that that's necessarily a good thing. The Black Lions or 1201 Music discs (however you can find them) are great too. As the former incarnation can be tricky to find I hope 1201 keeps reissuing titles.