Quincy

Okay, thanks. I have seen some rumors in the past that were shot down as wildly false. Then again, denial is the usual answer from a GM. The ace vs. the great everyday is the unanswerable zen question of baseball. But if we're playing fantasy I do go with the hitter every time.

Not at all, it's just that age of player matters a great deal when comparing players, and you were minimizing the accomplishments of Felix relative towards the perceived abilities of the older Buchholz. Felix is in the top 10 all time for K/9 through age 23, yet he also induces a lot of ground balls. Yes, Boston would love that - hell, any team would. Actually he's been treated quite well by the M's. He's pitched 31 game max in a season and didn't touch 200 innings until last year. Hardly run into the ground. He also avoided throwing a slider during those younger years to avoid damage. With pitchers who the hell knows as they can break down, but he's been well taken care of. You could just as easily state how has any player helped the Blue Jays. They should just fuckin' quit or move to another division. As a longtime Red Sox fan you should appreciate that having stud hitters without pitching is just another way to lose games. At the moment power hitting first basemen aren't scarce as they're all over the league HR & RBI lists. I like Gonzalez a lot don't get me wrong, but the way Felix has advanced this year he's the rarer bird. There could be other serviceable 1st baseman available in the wintertime. It's not like a pennant winner has to have a power guy anyway, sometimes the high OBP types with good defense fit in just fine. Besides, the M's are currently getting 24 homers from 1st from a throw away player. The big thing that helped there was getting a good glove at short. I remember having to talk a Red Sox friend off the ledge when Nomar got traded. I repeatedly told him I thought they had improved the pitching with the better glove at short as they already had plenty of offense, plus they got rid of a clubhouse cancer. He finally believed me around September. Well duh. The problem with the M's hasn't been money, it's been where they've spent it post-Hargrove. Again, I don't put a lot into the trade rumor web site. As far as comparing power hitting 1b vs. an ace, you know that good teams need good pitching, hitting and defense, so where the M's are I'm not sure adding a power hitting at 1B and then having Masterson as your ace (cause it sure as hell isn't Buchholz) makes things better. The ace is harder to develop and find compared to the power hitter, the M's have money, so it makes more sense to stick with the kid. As it's a smaller cheaper division, maybe they can scrape something together within 2 years, maybe even next. *edited* - Or 3 years, or 4, or 5. Felix will still be under 30 even after 5 years! (It is an ugly looking roster offensively, but "smell the glove," we built this team on defense!)

Jack Teagarden on H.R.S. might change your mind. I too was once allergic to jazz vocals. Now I have jazz singers in my stacks! Gasp!

Oddly enough I was also considering the Ellington. :unsure: Go for 'em both! Or at least plan on getting both. They're ones that get played rather than just looking sharp on the shelves.

At age 19! And he was significantly better than Buchholz at that point too. Felix's WHIP was below league average for the season he "sucked" and he still couldn't legally buy alcohol, yet they didn't overwork him either. Major league ready Buchholz, again an older pitcher, has a career WHIP of 1.67. Now that sucks. I think you put far too much weight on Buchholz's no hitter (vs. a lousy team in an early start) whose young career is starting to look like one of those Bud Smith or Anibal Sanchez types. He's certainly young enough that he could turn it around (look at Edwin Jackson this year), but Felix is younger still. With only 4 teams in the AL West - one teetering on bankruptcy and another famously frugal, I'd far rather keep the young ace than what allegedly was offered.

Yup, VMart in the role of Gene Tenace (21st century model.) He's better at 1st than behind the plate, but given his pop & good eyes it's hard to resist having him catch some. Worked great for the A's in the '70s.

Why the fuck would the Mariners want Buchholz? He's 2 years older than Felix and has pitched like shit for the last 2. Felix is just 23 and in his 5th season, has a 2.78 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Fuck Buchholz, he's garbage. Masterson is the same deal too though not as bad. A "prospect" who is older than a proven ace. I doubt the rumor site has its facts straight anyway.

I'm sorry, I totally misread your name and thought you were someone else who might need some explaining. (No I hadn't been drinking then, though I am now. ) I completely agree about not trusting the Rhino writer, though a small part of me wants to just a little, thinking there might be some rough-edged loose raw Rod kind of vocals on the new set. But yeah, going into the '90s is scary. I'm not brave enough to go there without reviews, samples, probably dirt cheap pricing & so on. Hey, if all of us have helped sell some more 5 Guys Walked Into A Bar... sets, we've done some good in this world!

Yes, which completely explodes my initial grumble. I wouldn't be without that one! Yeah, except they were done by the mid-70's. Reading on the Rhino site, 2/3 of the Rod box comes from the 80's and 90's. You really want to lay down your hard-earned $ for latter-day Rod outtakes? Different box. The one that explodes Bev's initial grumble and Clifford thinks is very very nice (me too) is 5 Guys Walk Into A Bar... The other Rod box that I linked to above and stated misgivings about has yet to receive any positive comment. The Rhino write up claims it's better than we might think, or something like that.

Not known for fighting or biting.

Thankfully that's beyond my abilities. He batted 6th, 7th or 8th in 1980. Tony Scott, Bobby Bonds and Reitz all had OBP just a tad over .300. On the flip side Ted Simmons & Keith Hernandez were a couple of borderline Hall of Famers, and Silent George Hendrick and Gary Templeton could play. On the bench all in their young 20s were Tommy Herr, Leon Durham and Terry Kennedy but the pitching was sad with 3,4 & 5 starters being Bob Sykes, Silvio Martinez and the promising John (who?) Fulgham blew out his rotor cuff. But looking over the roster you can see that with the right front office and manager things could happen. Enter the White Rat!

Kotchman might be a better fielder. Otherwise they got 4 years younger in the LaRoche - Kotchman trade and got a guy who hits LHP a bit better for average than LaRoche (who at this point appears to be a straight platoon guy). Kotchman might be better able to handle those instances where he's announced as a PH and the opposing manager then brings in a lefty reliever. This is all small stuff but sometimes it makes a difference, and Kotchman earns less as well. A million here & a million there matters more now.

I liked him a lot too. I think Cardinal fans did too as the team got him back from SF after just one year away. As far as his "speed" it was too bad he never raced Brooks Robinson. Cardinal announcers loved to compare the two (range factor didn't exist back in those innocent days. ) I too remember him being hot in April, and what do you know, for once the memory wasn't made up! Batting Average for April (courtesy of retrosheet.org) 1974 - .417 1975 - .369 1976 - .369 (his season w/ the Giants) 1977 - .211 (oops, back w/ STL. Hits .366 in May.) 1978 - .315 1979 - .324 1980 - .397 (batted .195 for June & July) 1981 - .192 (now w/ Cubs) 1982 - w/ Pirates, does not bat in April, gets 10 AB in May & June and is out of baseball. Lifetime he was a .260 hitter who hit .314 in April. His worst month was September .243. Oh I don't know, the average March temp is 73. Oh wait, that's Egypt. Having spent some August days in Little Egypt (Southern Illinois' nickname) I just assumed that summer heat & humidity was still hanging around to keep you warm in the winter. (I know better, but that summer weather is so wicked that I still have flashbacks.) Regarding ruined arms it must have been bad, look at Pete Gray. IMO too. Sorry all for passing on the Rose rumor. Dan Patrick sounded very convincing that day.

A teammate with a lot of muscles. Oh well, Rickey's still the best.

I'm curious about how many bottom tier guys make up the list. I wouldn't be surprised if 40 of the names are either out of baseball or are such marginal players only extreme fans know who they are.

I did a year or so of college radio in 1985. I was surprised to discover that 8 tracks were still being used, though not for music. Our 30 second public service announcements (or those we didn't read) were on 8 track. My first stereo had an 8 track player as my best friend's older brother was adamant that it was a superior format to cassette. (He was institutionalized a few years later, though I don't think it for his format preference.) I only bought 8 8 tracks before I figured out I was better off sticking to vinyl. I still haven't replaced Fleetwood Mac Rumors, Montrose's 1st, or 2 Peter Framptons (Live and the unfortunate titled I'm In You.) I still run into these. We have a record store that sells used ones, and I see them at garage sales too. Oh there's always debate about how or whether the human ear can hear the frequencies, but there are many fine releases, especially classical so I'm happy I took the plunge even though I was rather late. Although I have yet to buy any Hoffman is putting out a number of the Blue Notes on SACD. DVD-A/dualdisc is probably deader than SACD, but I happen to love the sound of the Talking Head reissues as well as the Neil Young 70/71 releases (which are now blu-ray.) As each are either packaged with a redundant CD or have the CD on the other side, it's easy to compare and yes, I prefer the high-res side thank you very much. To me the thought of audiophile 45 rpm records give me the willies, but if people like them and it gets them off the couch more often, who am I to pee in their punchbowl.

Wow, that's what I've been calling Papelbomb for a couple of years now, but that's the way it is with hot shit firemen who aren't on your team. They're hard to tolertate. But when you start calling your own guy that...well see ya next year then. Meanwhile M's win in the 9th!

Nice pics! The beauty of Carlton & Rose is that their styles are very recognizable. Aside from being a nice guy Tito was a regular Mr. October in his 50 plate appearances. He made a friend of mine from Chicago cry when his 10th inning home run for the O's (which broke a scoreless game) finished off the ChiSox. I'm guessing you took the picture of Falcone as the Cards had him for awhile as they got him from the Giants for Reitz. Or perhaps you looked into the future and knew you'd be a Braves fan. He was around at the park as the Mets also played their spring training games in St. Pete during those years (note the home uni pinstripes.) A bit of Cardinal spring training trivia for ya. During WWII (1943-45 to be specific) the Cards held spring training at Cairo, Illinois. Speaking of Rose there's a rumor that baseball may make him eligible for HoF voting. Aaron and other Hall of Famers met with Selig concerning the topic. As far as I know most guys who played during his era are okay with it. Schmidt has long been an advocate but to have Aaron on board is big. The steroid stuff probably helps Rose's cause. The timing of it has to do with the 20th anniversary of Rose being banned for life approaching. No guarantee that he'd be voted in, and I think the surviving HoF-ers have to vote on it too. Bob Feller won't be pleased.

THE ALBUM was a fold down, but the FILM had dedicated mono mixes, including new mono mixes of tracks that previously appeared on LP. They should have included these. IMHO. Ah, gotcha. Dear me, I've hung out too long here and jazz session info is pushing Beatles trivia out of my brain. Perhaps if blu-ray sticks around they'll do this all again with extras & whatnot.

I'm pretty sure that Yellow Sub was a fold down, at least from the rambling over in Hoffmanland. I'll stick with my Uruguayan vinyl. (Seriously, my copy is from Uruguay. Bought it at a cutout price in Champaign IL in the early '80s. It's so cool to be able to act all haughty and say "I'll stick with my Uruguayan vinyl" that I have to say it whenever possible. ) I'm deeply suspicious that the "limited edition" is only for a numbered set. There will an unlimited number of unnumbered sets after that. That's how it worked with Bob Marley's Songs Of Freedom box set (Mine is #4930 - whoop-dee-fuckin'-do.) But I have no inside info on that, so don't hold me to it.

Whew, 16 years since Watching The Dark! This does seem like a sensible set as his self-released bootleg set was too sprawling and had sound quality issues. It's remarkable how many labels the 4 disc box covers. I noticed it grabs 1 live track from Watching The Dark. Boxes are now covering boxes. Joni's Asylum output was remastered in '97 as HDCD releases but I suppose that was 12 years ago...Perhaps they're too bright or brittle for some. It's a box happy time for elderly rock & pop artists. There's an alternate happy Rod Stewart 4 disc set that seems to be modeled along the lines of 5 Guys Walk Into A Bar - and like that set it's coming out on Rhino. That it goes as far out as 1998 scares me though the thought of things being more stripped-down makes me curious. This isn't something I would have been the least bit interested in a few years ago but I suppose reliving the Faces material with the last box at least has me thinking about it (probably used.) No interest at all, but the Bee Gees are releasing a 4 disc set with each disc devoted to a brother (gasp, socialism has invaded the box sets!) But there were only 3 Bee Gees right? 1 disc is for Andy. Eeeeew. This was announced after the news of The Beatles box so once again they're following. And for no good reason at all The Stones stuff on Rolling Stones Records is being thrown in a box without any extras and without Exile On Main St. which is withheld as it's currently getting some kind of Deluxe treatment. Actually I'm not sure of there not being extras as just the thought of owning Dirty Work on CD made me stop reading. Throw it together in a box and some old fogey might just buy it!

Yowsa! And to think they were looking to trade him. He's thrown a "regular" no-hitter before as well so he's in some interesting company. Like Steve Busby. (No perfect for Steve, but 2 no hitters.) Hey, why no love for Bob Forsch??? He had 2 no-no's and he didn't exactly have Nolan Ryan's fastball either! I knew you'd catch me on that one. As I recall one of them should have an * next to it when what sure looked like a hit was ruled an error. I'm pretty sure it involved The Zamboni Machine. (Ah yes, April 16, 1978 has an E - Reitz.) Bill Stoneman of the Expos (hey, we live '70s baseball here ) had 2 no hitters as well.

Yowsa! And to think they were looking to trade him. He's thrown a "regular" no-hitter before as well so he's in some interesting company. Like Steve Busby. (No perfect for Steve, but 2 no hitters.) When I was a kid the answer to the trivia question "Who threw the last perfect game?" was always Catfish Hunter. This worked from age 5 (1968, before I knew what a perfect game was) until just about when I graduated from high school when Len Barker threw his in '81. There have been 9 since Catfish threw one. Looks like the driest spell for a perfect game was between the last time a ChiSox threw one in 1922 until Larsen's in the World Series of 1956. While a totally different and more difficult thing to do, maybe we're getting closer to someone taking on DiMaggio's hitting streak. ...and a great catch by center fielder DeWayne Wise in the 9th inning to save a hit/homerun.... he had just entered the game for defensive purposes...what a catch! m Ha! Way to go Ozzie, genius manager!

I sent an email to Oldies saying that I read a jazz board where people who ordered on the same date & after were having orders filled. I quickly got 2 replies, the first stating "if there's any upside, it's that our fill rate on the product has gotten A LOT better this week, as more shipments of clearance product have arrived in our warehouse... so you'll see a much better fill today versus if we filled back the first week in July." He followed in another a bit later by saying my order shipped today and that I should be getting an automated email later saying as much. I'm pretty impressed by getting such quick emails. The 4 that weren't filled (yet) were: Stan Getz - Pure Getz Jimmy Woods - Awakening John Fahey - Voice of the Turtle Stitt's Bits In the 2nd email the customer service rep said "there's a pretty good chance we'll be able to get these to you within the next week or two." The rest were filled: Ken McIntyre - Looking Ahead Brother Joe May - Live 1952-1955 Art Blakey - Coast To Coast (previously my latest Blakey was Industructible!) Cal Tjader - Jazz at the Blackhawk Kenny Dorham Quintet - s/t Frank Rosolino - Free For All John Lee Hooker - Graveyard Blues Guitar Slim - Sufferin' Mind Zoot Sims - For Lady Day Little Richard - The Georgia Peach Jimmy Woods Sextet - Conflict Steve Lacy - Evidence Lee Konitz - Peacemeal Thad Jones - The Fabulous... Art Farmer Quintet - Blame It On My Youth Thelonious Monk - At The Blackhawk (not many left that I don't have. Not sure it was needed but I couldn't help myself.) Looks like I'll have some listening to do as July turns to August.

Coltrane's 4 disc Live In Japan for just $25. Discs are fine but on the front & back of the booklet there's a faint white worn circle from the quad case raised disc holder. I'd take mild liner note wear on all my used finds if it meant a $15-20 savings each time.