Dan Gould

The one defense I can give for Hershiser's position is that W's are what get a pitcher the big bucks. So as a pitcher, he thinks W's are the deciding factor in who is great, good and so-so.

:party:

Patrick, Quincy mentioned Retrosheet - I have no idea if its a paysite or not but they've got the play-by-play for all, or nearly all, games in MLB history. OBP is actually one of those relatively new stats that the sabre people love and the other people (say, those not named Ozzie Guillen) have grown to recognize as valuable. The one thing I think that non-sabre people should come to understand is that BA and RBIs are "old fashioned, not very valuable" stats (BA because there tends to be a lot of variation based on luck - line drive rates, batting average on balls in play spiking (that is the explanation of Jorge Posada's enormous BA jump), RBI because its dependent on your teammates (same for runs scored). For pitchers, wins and to a lesser extent, ERA, are considered passe. Wins are really no way to measure a pitcher's value but unfortunately a lot of people haven't gotten there yet. Probably the biggest thing to appreciate about most of the new-fangled stats is that league and park effects are normalized for most of them. That alone makes comparisons more realistic and informative.

Well, it always was "working", but now it has no problem with Goldwave extracted files, if I can remember to extract at 16 bit. Which is good cuz I've decided to re-burn my "Best of the Blues Volume 4" compilation. Just heard a kick-ass Shakey Jake track that I want to figure out how to slip in. Need to decide what to delete though. thanks for asking, Mark.

If you mean my memorable turns of phrase, I agree wholeheartedly.

A fine idea for a program, David, but no one is expected to die in a car crash, unless they are NASCAR drivers. I'd go with "tragically" or "suddenly".

Eric, you're a big step above me (I never bought a Baseball Abstract, for one) but I am curious how you view stats like VORP and WARP. Personally they lose me when they make the jump to "wins" but I do think that the VORP stat is worthwhile.

"withdraw funds". If you do it electronically, there's no charge, it takes just a couple of days usually. I believe you can also pay to get the money via money order or something like that.

I completely agree with what Vincent writes. Kuhn was a fool and an embarrassment (I'll show up for a World Series game in short-sleeves to "prove" its not cold) and has been noted in other commentary, he actually thought he had the power as commissioner to take the Messersmith decision out of the arbitrators hand, by fiat. It shouldn't be surprising though that a Veteran's committee made up of old upper management baseball people would vote Kuhn in and not Miller. What is sad is that before, when the players were involved in the vote, Miller couldn't get elected either. All of these rich players owe an enormous debt of gratitude to him, yet they couldn't vote him into the Hall?

Oh to be young and foolish again. In my defense, at the time I was enthralled by Wynton's "blues and swing" definition of jazz and had no interest in Miles' music from Bitches Brew onward (I still don't) and since I bought into Columbia's description of BB as "the first shot fired in the fusion revolution" I considered Miles the font of all that came after. And in point of fact, I had no knowledge whatsoever about how much non-jazz DB covered back in the day. Basically, I just wanted to see my name in the mag. Now, if you can find the Jazz Times where I called smooth jazz the "bastard son of Miles Davis and Creed Taylor" ....

There's a Hank bio coming? I had no idea, but that really gets a from me.

I think what you're missing is that this is something that has bothered John for a period of time, and Chris happened to give an example of it in this thread. A PM wouldn't do anything - Chris would laugh in his (anonymous) face. The point is to call people out so that maybe John's points get across to the board in general. I'm sure he realizes its pissing into the wind, but its not something that could possibly be solved by a PM, either.

My Nero version has no problem with FLAC files, and no codec was required. In fact, in the past I've taken dime concerts, converted them to wav, done any necessary edits, and then burned. Now I am planning to take the flac files and go straight to Nero, use the "normalize" option to boost the signal, and get the damn things burned and off my hard drive.

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=132323 Looks like the author is more interested in Lee's music and life than his own beliefs about race relations, as the earlier Morgan bio was. Of course, for me, in-depth musical discussion will be just as much of a slog, the question is which type of slogging do I want? If there is a decent amount of biographical insight (according to the blurb, he had "had exclusive access to Lee Morgan's now-deceased brother, who was able to provide unparalleled insight into Morgan's personal and family life.") I think this is the bio I'll finally purchase.

Hey Al, the Rangers are out of the Gagne sweepstakes ... and he might actually accept the Red Sox arbitration offer! I'd never have guessed that he'd not pick somewhere to be closer but maybe he's interested in winning another ring (who would have ever imagined that you'd hear that from me? ). Assuming that there was no physical issue in the last two months of the season, I actually believe that Gagne would be a strong addition to the set-up crew and sometime substitute for Paps. He basically had very similar numbers in terms of strikeout rate and walk rate when he was with Boston - it was his batting average on balls in play that skyrocketed. That's a stat that tends to fluctuate; when it gets well over .300 you can pretty much bet that its going to come back down, unless the guy is completely cooked, and he didn't look cooked with the Rangers. My guess is that Boras is using this threat to try to get something done with another team but time is running out and we should know something soon. Accepting arbitration means that he can't get a salary more than 20% less than the 6 million he made last year, and he doesn't have a no-trade clause either. So in fact the Sox could trade him - and probably get a mid-level prospect or two - or release him in spring training and be responsible for 1/6th of his salary. The way I look at is that since his poor finish left him a type "B" free agent, what is more valuable? A second round draft pick or a year of Gagne? I'd be inclined to say that a year of Gagne is less of a crapshoot than a second round draft pick.

A few observations: Chris, you like to pull out the "I don't know who or what you are" card whenever someone who doesn't use their full name as their handle calls you on something. But have you considered the fact that anyone who hasn't been here for a long time wouldn't necessarily know who "Christiern" is? It is equally 'anonymous' as "couw" (which happens to be a shortening of John's surname and rather similar to your use of your given name). I think John is spot on that Chris likes to step in and make known his view of certain people - whether its germane to the discussion or not. He could have simply said "your thread make me think of Peter Nero but I guess that won't help you with your software problem" and leave it at that but instead you felt a need to deliver a zinger to someone who isn't even here and probably wouldn't care less. What's the point? You insist you aren't bitter yet John is hardly the first one to make the accusation, so maybe, just maybe, if you don't feel bitter about anyone you've known in the music industry, you do give off that vibe sometimes. And I think that comes back to what I think should be a lesson from this week's events: maybe its time to try to make the board a little kinder and gentler (sorry in advance for bringing in a 20 year old political slogan). That doesn't mean a lack of candor in the exchange of ideas, but how about not taking potshots at someone when they aren't even involved in the point of discussion?

In the FAQs on the site, it makes it clear that it would take something pretty big to reduce the minimum payment below $25. Can't remember the exact wording but if you go to the site and click on the FAQ link, you can find it.

I actually thought about deleting the thread but figured I should leave it out there in case anyone else ever makes the same stupid mistake and goes looking for help. The rest of your comment, John, is something that I think people really should ponder for a while.

Its all alleged - in these types of class action suits, companies make an agreement to settle while denying all claims because it is cheaper than defending themselves in court and risking an adverse judgment. The allegation is that they "set and conceal fees, typically 1-3% on foreign transactions, and that Visa and Mastercard inflated their base exchange rates before applying these fees ... in violation of state and federal anti-trust laws and consumer protection laws".

A little surprising that Michael doesn't know that the performance of "Tippin'" came out on the CD I linked to above ... but regardless, I'm really looking forward to hearing this, and also to see what Wolf photo they use to create a Reid Miles-like cover. And its sad to hear that Louis Smith had a stroke and stopped playing. His last couple of recordings for Steeplechase have some fine straightahead playing, easily recommended.

The thing I always focus on is it makes sense to accept the terms of any of these proposed settlements because you won't get anything unless you opt out and pursue your own claim - and who has the time and money to do that? As to your specific question - its answered on the inner page of what you received. Its a lot more than $25. Having gone to the website, its clear that you'd be running a risk if you tried to claim a larger settlement than your purchases support, because all claims may be audited. Better to just accept the $25 if that's what you're entitled to.

Got something interesting in the mail today, I'd expect others will have received it too or can expect to soon. Seems that there was a class action suit against Master Card, Visa, Diner's Club, etc. alleging that they conspired to hide fees and jack up exchange rates on US customers using their cards abroad over a ten year period. Now, I've yet to have the opportunity to leave the U.S. but I have nabbed some CDs and LPs fromUK and French online stores, so I guess that is why I got the notification of the proposed settlement. $350 million, give or take, available, and three different ways to file a claim: The "easy" refund simply accepts $25 to cover all potential claims. Since I probably haven't spent more than $100 in online purchases overseas, this is a great deal for me. The other two options are designed for people who spent a significant amount of time overseas during the period. One is an "total estimated refund" and will amount to no more than 1% of estimated foreign transactions. Last is the "Annual Estimated" refund for corporate accounts and those who really spent a lot of time overseas. Now that I think about it, what is to stop someone who logically should accept the $25 "easy" refund from answering the handful of questions for the second option? If you pump up a claim for a large amount of money spent overseas but don't have to document it, surely that 1% of "estimated" foreign transactions will exceed the $25. I imagine a lot of people here should be getting their notifications.

Man I hope that doesn't get pushed back. It will be my number one request for Valentine's Day. Well, maybe not number one ...

One track from this concert showed up on this disc: so I am very interested if the complete concert is coming out.