Quincy

Sorry to here this. As you two hit it off so quickly I'm sure he greatly enjoyed having someone who cared to share his stories with.

I think one that would be disappointing would be Pujols. As a big guy from the D.R. there have been suspicions, and he's probably at the moment the best "organic" player left. Although maybe since he plays for a team from the center of the country maybe people won't care.

Wha? Oh...man...I...am...I...slow. Next you're going to tell me N.J. Hackensack isn't a real name.

They're quasi-budget, maybe, I don't really know the terminology but I see them in bins locally where discs are sold 3 for some cheaper price. Perhaps it's just a local thing. I took a tour of other Legacy artists and found a lone Wilie Nelson greatest hits listed as well, but none of the label biggies in jazz or rock. Didn't see the Acuff or Marty Robbins Columbia/Legacy discs either that are typically cheaper than normal, though perhaps they had already used up their allotment. Edit- thanks for the heads up though and it's worth watching. Fingers crossed that they'll return.

Ah, that was it, your comment about the clip sent me to the review threads on the board which then sent me to Mosaic! So an assist for LK in the stat sheet even if you were actually on the bench. Also it goes without saying - sex sells! However I am remembering correctly this time as it's more recent that your mini-review of the Pacific Jazz Piano Trio Select provided the nudge to have me add that to the Bennie Green Select order during the January sale. Thanks to all who commented about the set as it is a "top tier" Select.

Meanwhile, back to trades & signings. Nice "inexpensive" pickup by the Angels. Bobby Abreu gets a 1 year $5 million dollar deal that can push it up to $6 mil. Very positive quotes from him too. “I thought by November, December, I was going to have a contract. I was looking for something multiyear, but the economic situation right now, everybody’s going through it, you know? So I do understand that.” As Vlad has RF he adds “I like to be in the field most of the time,” said Abreu, who expects to DH once in awhile but wants to play about 150 games in the outfield. “Moving me to left field will give me a lot of opportunities.” Wow, a player who can look past himself! (Okay, maybe he's positioning himself to push Matthews/Rivera to DH.) They now have 5 guys (at least) vying for 3 OF spots and DH, but given the age and injury history of Vlad, Torii, Matthews Jr. and Rivera if you can afford the depth do it. In the role of star Abreu could be problematic, but as a complementary player I think he adds a lot as he has a great eye and a bit of pop. His speed may decline but he managed 22 steals last year (though he was caught 11 times.) Also Adam Dunn signed a 2 year deal with Washington. Who knows, if Dukes, Zimmerman, Milledge and Kearns all play up to snuff they may win some games, though that starting staff looks sketchy. They sure look to have more going on then the Mariners though.

3 years the idea of owning the Lee/Christy set was laughable to me. But I got over my allergy of jazz singers and the Lee small group sessions in particular really make the set worth owning. I don't own an extremely expensive stereo system but it practically sounds like the group is in the room with you. The rest of the package isn't bad either. Somewhere on the board is a comment by Larry Kart about the Lee small group sessions that will give the extra push to get you to buy it. Congrats!

Most "bad" CD-Rs play just fine, the trouble can happen when you use EAC to extract them. I ran into this problem regarding some made in Taiwan TDKs that I bought in the late '90s. The same discs are now also a nicotine yellow color (for those smoker/ex-smokers out there.) I'll use the past tense as it's been some time since I've come across it, but it meant that EAC wanted 40 to 90 minutes to work on a disc to copy the material. And often it was taking all that time to make sure 3 seconds of applause was reproduced accurately. In this modern age though it's so rare I copy from a CD-R anyway. Possibly at Christmas, and now I'm more inclined to just give discs away as I have too much. I figure if I want the show again I can find it at the usual sites, possibly with upgraded sound. Or maybe contact an actual human for a copy, be it friends in real life or online. Rarities just aren't as rare as they used to be.

I'll second this too. As a longtime TY user (that sounds more interesting phonetically ) TYs don't have, or at least don't always have a deep blue bottom Like Alexander in the beginning (8 years ago) Sony was my favorite brand, but those were actually TYs with the Sony name on them. The same thing was going on back when Made in Japen Fujis were a trader's favorite. It's just easier to cut out the middleman brand stamper and buy TYs. I suspect soon these disc threads will be replaced by "what harddrive device is best..." (Edit - Actually there are already some of those.)

Yup, and it was weight machine by Nautilus that changed attitudes in baseball. Working with dumbbells could lead to too much bulk, but by using a machine like Nautilus, or perhaps because such a machine required some initial instruction, it was possible for baseball players to add muscle without becoming too bulky. I recall Robin Yount being an example that a weight room wasn't evil in itself. Granted he had started very young, but after 5 full seasons (plus a half) of single digit home run totals he broke out for 23 in 1980. Another was Fred Lynn who started using Nautilus before Yount: "Lynn spent the offseason strengthening himself on Nautilus machines. In 1979, he enjoyed perhaps his best season. He led the American League in hitting at .333, on-base average at .423 and slugging at .637." A bit of Googling also lists Lenn Sakata as an early user of Nautilus. He went from being a .193 hitter with no power to hitting .227 with 5 homers in 150 AB in 1981, which after years of Mark Belanger's bat Earl Weaver liked the pop. Some kid named Cal ended up pushing Lenn out of the SS position though. An excellent book btw that refers to this and is back in print is 9 Innings - The Anatomy Of A Babeball Game by Daniel Okrent. It uses a summer game in 1982 between the Brewers & Orioles to well, cover all sorts of good stuff. Probably of more interest if you remember the players, but I don't think it's required.

The one in many ways that is the worst of all is Rafael Palmerio. He blamed vitamin injections by teammate Tejada as being contaminated with 'roids. Not admitting you're at fault and blaming a teammate smells worse to me than plain old denying & lying.

It's the exercises you do when on steroids, not really the 'roids as far as how bulky you get. Having watched Alex all those years in Seattle and then seeing the larger version appear in All-Star games for Texas and NY after that I thought it was strange that so many people declared him the "clean" successor to the HR record. Hard to say how much this helps McGwire getting in the Hall as so much of the backlash against him is based on his performance in front of Congress.

Along with the what Michel showed I've seen coasters made by cutting out the center label. And oh boy, the coaster is 2 sided. I've also seen clocks make out of LPs since there's a convenient hole in the middle of the record. I've seen the jackets made into tote bags.

Celebrate!

For a split second I thought Steve Martin said "Jason Moran" when he introduced the act. But I didn't see a piano out front, and very quickly realized he must have said something else. They should have this guy go against that "You're Beautiful" singer in a death match. Or just throw both into a shark tank.

DVDbeaver blu-ray review.

It depends if you want to have some sort of representation by position or not. McGriff & Baines were both from 2 of the easiest positions to fill. Along with catcher a second baseman's career is short-lived compared to the other positions. Your throw is more difficult that of the shortstop's and sometimes you get set up with collisions on the double play and can be blindsided with injurious results. Within the class of second baseman Sandberg rates very high (forgetting current players somewhere in the top 10 when the glove is considered.) Whereas McGriff & Baines have fine numbers, they rank much lower in their respective positions amongst the all-time greats. Also fielding is such an important part of being a great second baseman yet fielding stats are often misleading. A high fielding percentage can be a sign of someone who never gets to the ball in the first place, whereas the more modern fielding measures are harder to explain and can have faults of their own (a staff of many fly ball pitchers can throw off the numbers.) Some suggest Bobby Grich should have been put in the Hall years ago as a combination of a great glove and very good bat for the position, but when one looks at the batting numbers and compares them to outfielders' hitting stats most just shrug their shoulders at the idea that he's worthy.

Well that's excellent news as the now "old" version was listed as going out of print a couple of weeks ago. So those $30+ copies aren't the only option.

I keep bumping into his recordings thanks to the many great players in his bands. He's always been a "go to" guy when I want to hear Bobby Jaspar, but in the past few weeks I've pulled out the Mosaic box to listen to young Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones as well. The leader of the band is pretty darn good too.

Hooray for Cedar! Without even knowing it was his birthday last night I was playing Lee Morgan's Charisma and Cedar's playing caught my attention. Maybe it's time to revisit some of the Jazztet sides.

You said 1993 represented a spike because of an increase in total home runs. Yet you did not appear to recognize there was an increase in the number of teams for that year. Alrighty, I'm going to try to resist any more replies, as time & time again you appear to deliberately ignore &/or misinterpret information that doesn't suit your objective. The boys in the band have a good thing going and it's simply a waste of space & time bothering to try to explain anything to you. Good night.

You're friggin' juiced. As noted earlier, in 1993 the National League added the Florida Marlins and the mile high Colorado Rockies. In 1998 2 more teams were added (hi Paps!) New ballparks also came into being with new dimensions. I see no reason to spend a lot of time going into details though as you earlier said "No, not the average HRs and hits, the yearly totals. An average just crunches the numbers and doesn't accurately reflect the increase each season." Do you now see the benefits of averages?

I think someone needs to develop the invisible fence technology that gives a mild shock to dogs to keep them in yard. If you extend your bat too far in the low & away zone you get a little zap. Such a thing wouldn't be used on all players mind you. If Vlad Guerrero wants to swing at a ball one inch off the ground in the opposite batter's box, let him. A few mild jolts vould discipline zee hitter, no? Invisible dog fence technology seem to be the solution for everything in sports nowadays. Some think the NFL should use it to determine if the plane of the endzone has been breached.

Or he hung a lot of curveballs.... If guys are going yard that many times it is clearly indicative of a pitching/ball placement issue. He was a control pitcher who pitched a lot of games at Wrigley. If you go to Retrosheet you'll find his home run allowed totals were twice as high at Wrigley compared to other parks for his first stint with the Cubs through 1973. After that like Hunter & Blyleven the park didn't seem to matter as much (though the old Ranger park may have helped him some.) Takes guts to be a control pitcher at Wrigley & Fenway. Had he retired a Phillie his career would have been a palindrome. Phillies>Cubs>Rangers>Red Sox>Rangers>Cubs>_____

To quote Marv Albert, "Yes!"