Quincy

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!"

I guess few careers ever fell apart as quickly as Steve Blass's, and other hitters have just lost it too at an early age too, but this one seems more mysterious than some of the others. Probably just because it's the latest, though recalling that baby face of his when he homered in the World Series as a kid is part of it too. I hope he figures it out, but he has so far to go just to be plain old awful right now.

1969 Mets ring a bell? He got save for them. I've never heard the 1960s & '70s called "dead ball" before.

Eckersley was born in Oakland as was Dave Stewart. As Stewart became famous he used that do a lot of good in the community (it's not that he didn't want to before, but he could do more once people wanted to see him.) Sports Illustrated's vault is open, and there's a quote from him in this story. "The destruction and damage here is as great as it was in San Francisco, but Oakland never gets the media attention because we're not glamorous." In another article the amount of respect for the A's by Giant Terry Kennedy is telling: "In the comfort of their own clubhouse after the game, the Giants seemed more impressed than depressed. "I've played in two Series in this decade, against the two best teams of the 1980s, the '84 Tigers and the '89 A's," said San Francisco catcher Terry Kennedy, who was also a member of the '84 Padres. "They're similar teams. They had the same look in their eyes. The A's were a tidal wave, and we just couldn't get out of the way."" The same article has this exchange between Hindu & Parker before the post-Quake/rescheduled Game 3: "The A's rushed through BP, and Dave Henderson looked ineffective. "I feel like———," he told Parker. "That's good." replied Parker. "You're supposed to feel like———at a time like this."" I've had a lot of "what if" discussions before, such as what if Rice had been able to play in the '75 series, but this exchange is one I never thought I'd be involved in. Oakland is to the Loma Prieta earthquake what the Mississippi/Alabama gulf area is to Katrina. Both suffered damage but it's not talked about much because of a more glamorous neighbor.

The earthquake happened BEFORE Game 3. The A's won the first 2 games by a combined score of 10-1. Now I'll grant you that many teams have come back 0-2 in a series. But you said the Giants were peaking before the series. Yet they dropped the 1st 2 games of the series. I think it's safe to say that they were no longer peaking. And finally the last 2 games were played at Candlestick. You have a fascinating ability to reinvent history.

Time to readjust your Mosaic function machine. Andrew solo and Hutch are $5 cheaper thru the end of January. $3 knocked off the J.J. But you have to decide before February!

Me too. I've hemmed & hawed too long on the Bennie. For once the indecisive gets rewarded. Now to look over a few other candidates...

Rice had 137 assists ! Dwight Evans had 157! Assists are one of those stats where a lot of funny things can happen. If someone like Clemente, Vlad, Dwight Evans has a great arm runners are less likely to run, thus resulting in fewer opportunities for the outfielder to get an assist. There are certain years where guys who have average to less than average arms actually run up high assist totals, simply because the 3rd base coach sends more runners knowing that the OF has a subpar arm. Also Rice played in a short LF. The distance from LF to home is shorter than any other AL park.

Then why did they lose game 1 5-0 and game 2 5-1? You had a deep bullpen, I'll give you that. But Oakland had a good one too.

Don't look at Rice's grounded into double numbers then.