Behold...the Rollie Fingers Bobblehead!

Quick question...are bobbleheads getting better or is my taste in baseball tchotchkes getting worse?

Both.  But that's neither here or there right now.

When the Oakland Athletics square off against the Cleveland Indians at home on April 21, the first 10,000 fans are taking home a Rollie Fingers bobblehead as part of the team remembering their 1972 World Series win.

Now, you might think to yourself...self, is this the first time Mustached American folk hero Rollie Fingers has ever been celebrated in bobblehead form?

The answer?  No...it's happened at least twice.

On August 20, 2004, the Birmingham Barons had a Fingers bobblehead giveaway.  And even though, the future Hall of Famer wore a lip sweater in the minors...he did in bobblehead form.  The Barons would lose 10-4 against the Carolina Mudcats.

A year later, July 16, 2005, the Milwaukee Brewers would honor their former American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner with two bobbleheads (one wearing the home unis...the other in roads).  Unfortunately, the Crew would also fall...5-3 against the Washington Nationals.

Hopefully, Oakland can reverse the trend against the Tribe at the end of April.

Best Tattoo Ever?

If you're like me (and best of luck to you if you are), you've had the conversation with your friends about what tattoo you'd like to get.

For me...it usually ends up being some sort of tophat wearing skeleton or monster driving a hot rod.  The reason?  No reason at all.  I just want something to regret for the rest of my days.

But now, after seeing Dallas Braden's new ink...I feel as though I've let everyone down with my choice.

The Oakland A's pitcher was recently seen sporting a tattoo of Rollie Fingers riding a dolphin...jumping a rainbow.

Word is that the tat was for a commercial Braden shot with the Hall of Fame closer.  I choose to believe that he's juse embracing the gloriousness (gloriousness?) that is one Rollie Fingers.

It Looks Like Nike Has Given Up

A while back, I received what might have been the greatest t-shirt ever designed.
The Nike Cooperstown Hair-itage Rollie Fingers Player Tee.

What a concept, right? Nike took advantage of everything all red-blooded American men enjoy...'70s baseball legends, mustaches and, for you art nerds, negative space.

All the greats were there and available for purchase: Fingers, Mike Schmidt, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson...the list goes on.

But now, I think the gang at Nike is mixing in current players (I blame Brian Wilson's beard) and is, frankly, giving up.

Exhibit A...Andre Ethier.

Exhibit B...Joe Mauer.

The list continues, troops...and you can check out the roster of Nike Hair-itage collection HERE.

Who is your favorite of the bunch? Which shirt misses the mark? Let us know!

Fergie Jenkins...not a fan of Mark McGwire

When Mark McGwire made an appearance earlier this week in St. Louis, he was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation.

In an "open letter" to the Associated Press just a few days later, Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins had some harsh words for the slugger.

Jenkins suggests that "Big Mac" may have shortened some pitchers careers because of his steroid use, claims that he would have "knocked him on his butt" and demands more apologies.

"You have not even begun to apologize to those you have harmed," Jenkins told the former home run king McGwire. "You need to apologize to your family for depriving them of your presence as time goes on because you are likely going to die earlier than if you had never relied on andro to carry you to all your successes."

Yikes. Something tells me that the two won't be exchanging any Christmas cards anytime soon.

This past May, I had a chance to talk to Jenkins and his fellow Hall member Rollie Fingers and the subject of steroids came up. Suffice it to say...they had some choice words for those Major Leaguers who took (and are suspected of taking) performance enhancing drugs.

HOVG: With the talk of steroids all over the sports channels and what not…what are your feelings going to be when a player who has admitted use, and it’s bound to happen, gets elected to join you in Cooperstown?

FERGIE: I don’t think (it’s bound to happen). Whoever has the vote, the Hall of Fame committee…the 500 plus reporters, they’re not going to vote for them. Guys like (Sammy) Sosa might not make it. Neither will (Barry) Bonds or (Mark) McGwire. A-Rod might not make it.

ROLLIE: I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. The sportswriters are pretty sticky about that. It’s pretty obvious with the numbers that Mark McGwire has gotten. If you’re known to use or if they figure you’ve been using, I don’t see that person getting voted in.

FERGIE: Once you get that particular black mark on your record, they are not going to give you the required amount of votes. You have to get 75 percent. McGwire only got 22 percent (in 2009). He’s not even close.

HOVG: If someone that is suspected of steroids makes it in, like Roger Clemens, are you on that stage when they're inducted?

FERGIE: I don't know, I'd have to wait and see. I know Bob Feller voiced his opinion already. There's a few guys who voiced their opinion and said they wouldn't go. (Al) Kaline probably wouldn't go. Some of the guys who are staunch advocates of playing the game clean...they probably wouldn't show.

ROLLIE: Yes…simply because the sportswriters voted him in. If they felt as though he warranted going into the Hall of Fame, I am not going to shun him. I would stay on the stage. But like I said before, I don’t think that it’s going to happen. Roger Clemens says he doesn’t care, but I guarantee you…Roger Clemens cares.

HOVG: We can all blame Jose Canseco.

ROLLIE: (Laughs) I tell you what…everyone gets on Jose Canseco, but you don’t see too many people suing him. If he hadn’t have written the book, who knows where we’d be at today with steroids and the number of guys using them. It would probably be out of hand. At least right now, they’re taking care of the problem. The worst thing you can do is to let kids see that it is okay to use this stuff and get by. You have to show kids that this is not the right way to go and clean it up.

Feel free to check out my full interview with Fergie Jenkins HERE and Rollie Fingers HERE.

The season that was...May

If you read nothing more, leave now knowing that May brought with it two things…mustaches and Ron Villone.

I can explain.

The third annual Mustache May celebration kicked off on the first day of May (imagine that!) and with it came your “’stache of the Day”, an endorsement from The American Mustache Institute, an appearance on WGN Radio and interviews with Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins and the king of all lip sweaters…Rollie Fingers.

Villone lived up to his moniker “Suitcase” early in the month, when he suited up for the Nationals, his Major League record-tying twelfth team. After the call up from Syracuse, he tied fellow journeyman, pitcher Mike Morgan.

Close on their heels is Matt Stairs.

Stairs is currently enjoying another playoff run with Philadelphia, his eleventh team.

And while not exactly a “milestone”, the Cubs did something pretty cool and pretty monumental on May 3. Before the “North Siders” took the field against the Marlins, they retired number 31 for both Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

Each hurler won a Cy Young Award and combined for 300 victories while wearing the pinstriped 31. Maddux would have his 31 retired by the Braves in July.

On May 17, future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez became another in a seemingly long line of players that would circle the bases for the 300th time.

For his career, “Pudge” Rodriguez has hit 298 of his 305 homers as a catcher, good for seventh among backstops on the all-time list.

About a week later, Jason Giambi came out of hibernation to finally hit his 400th career home run.

When The Hall initially previewed American League West milestones, thought was that “the Giambino” would have surpassed 400 sometime in Mid-April. Unfortunately, a terrible slump pushed back the milestone to May 23.

Giambi finished up his season with 409 home runs and found himself with the Rockies. All-time, he is sitting at 43 on the career homers list, having passed up Hall of Famers Al Kaline (399) and Duke Snider (407) in 2009.

After six attempt to achieve the milestone, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer locked down win Number 250 on May 31 against the Nationals.

Granted, Moyer finished up the year coming out of the bullpen and facing down the first surgery of his long career, could we be looking at a guy who, with 258 wins, could take up residency in Cooperstown?

Consider this, Moyer has fifteen seasons with double-digit wins and all but one was achieved after the age of 30. And of the 40 pitchers with more victories, only Phil Niekro (17) had more double-digit wins seasons after they turned 30.

What about the 10 other lefties with more than 250 wins?

All but four (Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Tommy John and Jim Kaat) are in the Hall of Fame. Glavine (with 305 wins) and Johnson (303) will get there and you certainly can make a case for John and Kaat making it in someday courtesy of Veterans Committee.

So let me know…does Moyer have what it takes to get enshrined?

I’m on the fence (hedging toward “no”) when you look at the big picture, but when you consider those he pitched against…you could do much, much worse.

Yesterday...we broke down April. Join me tomorrow when we look at, naturally, June.

Steroids and the Hall of Fame

As fans await the Hall of Fame speeches by Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson, the big topic all weekend in Cooperstown is the same as it has been since, unfortunately, Mark McGwire hit the ballot for the 2007 ceremony…steroids.

As part of the HOVG “Mustache May” celebration, I had the opportunity to talk with Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins and Rollie Fingers and, wouldn’t you know it, the talk of steroids and the Hall of Fame did indeed come up.

Here is what they had to say.

HOVG: With the talk of steroids all over the sports channels and what not…what are your feelings going to be when a player who has admitted use, and it’s bound to happen, gets elected to join you in Cooperstown?

FERGIE: I don’t think (it’s bound to happen). Whoever has the vote, the Hall of Fame committee…the 500 plus reporters, they’re not going to vote for them. Guys like (Sammy) Sosa might not make it. Neither will (Barry) Bonds or (Mark) McGwire. A-Rod might not make it.

ROLLIE: I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. The sportswriters are pretty sticky about that. It’s pretty obvious with the numbers that Mark McGwire has gotten. If you’re known to use or if they figure you’ve been using, I don’t see that person getting voted in.

FERGIE: Once you get that particular black mark on your record, they are not going to give you the required amount of votes. You have to get 75 percent. McGwire only got 22 percent. He’s not even close.

HOVG: If someone that is suspected of steroids makes it in, like Roger Clemens, are you on that stage when they're inducted?

FERGIE: I don't know, I'd have to wait and see. I know Bob Feller voiced his opinion already. There's a few guys who voiced their opinion and said they wouldn't go. (Al) Kaline probably wouldn't go. Some of the guys who are staunch advocates of playing the game clean...they probably wouldn't show.

ROLLIE: Yes…simply because the sportswriters voted him in. If they felt as though he warranted going into the Hall of Fame, I am not going to shun him. I would stay on the stage. But like I said before, I don’t think that it’s going to happen. Roger Clemens says he doesn’t care, but I guarantee you…Roger Clemens cares.

HOVG: We can all blame Jose Canseco.

ROLLIE: (Laughs) I tell you what…everyone gets on Jose Canseco, but you don’t see too many people suing him. If he hadn’t have written the book, who knows where we’d be at today with steroids and the number of guys using them. It would probably be out of hand. At least right now, they’re taking care of the problem. The worst thing you can do is to let kids see that it is okay to use this stuff and get by. You have to show kids that this is not the right way to go and clean it up.

If you’ve been following the HOVG Hall of Fame previews this past week, you know that the Class of 2010 looks relatively clean. The same can’t be said of 2011 however, as Rafael Palmeiro hits the ballot for the first time. Of course, the biggest test of all will come in 2013. Feel free to check out 2012 and 2014 and leave your comments!

If you are unable to catch any of the Hall Induction Ceremonies, Steve Light, the Hall of Fame's manager of museum programs, is blogging HERE.

It seemed like only 37 years ago!

On June 18, 1972, colorful Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley holds baseball's first ever "Mustache Day." Finley agrees to pay $300 to each of his players for growing mustaches by Father's Day.

Reggie Jackson had started the trend by reporting to spring training with a mustache...the first major leaguer to do so since Wally Schang in 1914.

For more on "Mustache Day"...visit the Baseball Hall of Fame's website.

To read my interview with Rollie Fingers (a member of Oakland's famed "Mustache Gang")...click HERE!

Talkin' baseball with Rollie Fingers

So…Mustache May 2009 is coming to a close and admittedly, getting an updated ‘stache of the Day out there every day was a little more ambitious than I thought.

Oops.

That being said, I promised myself two things at the start of the month…a rockin’ ‘stache at the conclusion and an interview to knock the socks off of my regular readers. Pics of the ‘stache will be posted over at my facebook page soon.

The latter begins below.

HOVG: It was about time you put your thoughts in writing, can you tell me how your book Rollie’s Baseball Follies”came about?

ROLLIE: A guy by the name of Chris “Yellowstone” Ritter contacted me a couple of years ago and wanted to write a book. I told him I wasn’t really into writing a book, but he told me that it wasn’t going to be a book about my life, but more a book about baseball. We talked for a while and came up with different stories and (Ritter) wanted to put a bunch of facts and trivia in there…things about different ballplayers. It took a couple of years. We were in contact, it seems, about every other day through phone calls and emails and, finally, came up with a pretty good book. We hope it does well.

HOVG: Everyone knows about the mustache. The story of the three hundred dollar bonus is legendary. But what (former A's owner) Charlie Finley did prior to that is what shaped your career. You were actually groomed in the minors to be a closer, right?

ROLLIE: Actually, I came up as a starter. That was how you got to the big leagues back then was going through the organization as a starter. There was no such thing as grooming yourself in the minors as a relief pitcher. In 1971, I made the starting staff, but I got to the point where I couldn’t get out of the second or third inning. Our manager Dick Williams said “that was it” and told me I was out of the rotation and into the bullpen. I was basically a mop up pitcher. I was pitching in ballgames when we were four or six runs behind just to get us through the game. After back to back games where I got the saves, (Williams) brought me in his office and said “you’re my closer”…and that was fine with me. I was in the right place at the right time.

HOVG: So, Dick Williams kinda defined the role of the modern day closer?

ROLLIE: (Laughs) He changed my career around that’s for sure. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I was heading in the big leagues. He started using me in game situations and built up my confidence. And once you’re successful, you’ve already got one strike against the hitters.

HOVG: Closers now come in and pitch an out or two…an inning at the most. Do you think they could go the three, four or five innings that you and Goose (Gossage) did on a nightly basis?

ROLLIE: I had close to a dozen saves where I went four innings. There was one game I went seven innings and didn’t get anything out of it. Now, each guy has his own little job out of the bullpen.

HOVG: You were the first closer to 300 saves. Matter of fact, you were the all-time saves leader from 1980 until 1992…do you think that the numbers that some of the closers are getting now is watered down?

ROLLIE: I think there are more opportunities for closers to get saves nowadays. Starting pitchers aren’t throwing as many complete games. When I was with Oakland, we were completing 45 to 55 ballgames a year. That means 45 to 55 save opportunities are gone and that’s the biggest difference. They’re taking starting pitchers out early now, whereas starting pitchers wanted those complete games back then. That’s how they got paid. Pitchers didn’t want to come out. You had to almost fight Catfish Hunter to get him out of the game. If it’s a 3-1 game, now, the closer comes in. Back then, Catfish would start that inning and if he got in trouble, he wouldn’t come out unless there were two guys on base and two runs already in.

HOVG: I talked with former Royals closer Jeff Montgomery about what the save benchmark should be. He suggests 400…do you agree?

ROLLIE: With the number of saves that guys are getting, definitely. Guys are getting 40 to 45 saves a year now. When I was playing, it was 20 saves a year. The way they’re getting saves now, you almost have to raise the bar. But look at Lee Smith and his 478 saves and he’s not in the Hall of Fame. He was caught in between both stages where you could pitch one inning or you had to pitch more. He was a workhorse. And starting pitching…I don’t know what they’re going to be looking at for the Hall of Fame. Their numbers are going way down. You’ll never see 300 innings pitched and you’ll probably only see a couple more guys with 300 wins. You won’t see guys with 3000 strikeouts because teams carry so many pitchers now. We use to break (spring training) with nine pitchers. Now, teams will have 12 or 13. If starters go five innings, that’s a quality start. In my day, if you went only five innings, you were on your way to the minors.

HOVG: Do you think that with players like Clay Zavada of the Diamondbacks, groups like the American Mustache Institute and celebrations like “Mustache May”…the mustache is making a comeback?

ROLLIE: The more these guys are on television the more they might see themselves and think “I might look good with a mustache…maybe I’ll start growing one”. I’m sure none of it hurts the mustache gang. (Laughs) It all comes back to if you like it or if your girlfriend or wife likes it.

HOVG: After you…who had the best big league mustache?

ROLLIE: Probably Goose Gossage. He had that intimidating fu Manchu. Sparky Lyle had a pretty good mustache as well. You had Jeff Reardon and Bruce Sutter with the beards. Even Dan Quisenberry had a good one.

HOVG: Have any players ever stopped you for mustache advice?

ROLLIE: Not really. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and tell me that I have a mustache just like Rollie Fingers. They recognize the mustache before they recognize me. They see the handle bar mustache and they associate that with me. I get that every day actually.

HOVG: Let’s talk Cooperstown. When you went in in 1992, there was no talk of steroids or PEDs. What are your feelings going to be when a player who has admitted use or is suspected of using, and it’s bound to happen, gets elected to join you in Cooperstown?


ROLLIE: I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. The sportswriters are pretty sticky about that. It’s pretty obvious with the numbers that Mark McGwire has gotten. If you’re known to use or if they figure you’ve been using, I don’t see that person getting voted in.


HOVG: If someone that is suspected of steroids makes it in, like a Roger Clemens, are you on that stage when they're inducted?

ROLLIE: Yes…simply because the sportswriters voted him in. If they felt as though he warranted going into the Hall of Fame, I am not going to shun him. I would stay on the stage. But like I said before, I don’t think that it’s going to happen. Roger Clemens says he doesn’t care, but I guarantee you…Roger Clemens cares.

HOVG: We can all blame Jose Canseco.

ROLLIE: (Laughs) I tell you what…everyone gets on Jose Canseco, but you don’t see too many people suing him. If he hadn’t have written the book, who knows where we’d be at today with steroids and the number of guys using them. It would probably be out of hand. At least right now, they’re taking care of the problem. The worst thing you can do is to let kids see that it is okay to use this stuff and get by. You have to show kids that this is not the right way to go and clean it up.

HOVG: Do you ever regret not getting the chance to be a member of the Red Sox?

ROLLIE: I was happier than a pig in shit to get traded to the Red Sox. I wanted to get the Hell away from Charlie Finley. He was a pain in the neck. He sold me to the Red Sox for a million dollars. I was in uniform, the Red Sox had just come into Oakland for a three games series. I just picked up all my stuff from out of my locker and went over to the visiting locker and had a locker next to Carl Yastrzemski. I was there for three days and at the end of the three days, (former commissioner) Bowie Kuhn nixed the deal. So I picked up all my stuff and went back to the Oakland A’s clubhouse. Had I got in a ballgame, I don’t think that Bowie Kuhn could have done anything though.

HOVG: Lastly…if you were trotting in from centerfield tonight to close out a 3-2 ballgame, (A) whose win would you want to be securing and (B) what would the music be that is blaring over the PA?

ROLLIE: If I was coming in to save a ballgame, I would want to save a Catfish Hunter ballgame. He carried more games into the eighth and ninth inning than I ever saw. The last thing I ever wanted to do was screw up a Catfish Hunter game. As far as music goes…I couldn’t care less about what music was playing when I walked in. When I played, they didn’t even care. You just walked in from the bullpen. I guess I would be the only player in the big leagues without a song playing.

Rollie Fingers is a native of Steubenville, Ohio…but currently calls Las Vegas his home. He was a seven time All-Star and the winner of the 1981 American League Cy Young and MVP Awards. He spent his career as the closer for the Oakland A’s, San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers.

You can purchase Fingers' book “Rollie’s Baseball Follies” HERE. Better yet...you can win a copy of the book! Here's all you need to do...drop me an email with the number of saves Fingers ended up with in the subject line. I'll pick a name, send it over to Clerisy Press and they'll send you a book.

Mustache May 'stache of the Day: Rollie Fingers

Thanks to the continued support of the American Mustache Institute, it is with great pleasure that I continue our month long celebration of the 'stache with the king...Rollie Fingers.

I wasn't going to go with Fingers...too easy. But after missing a day, I figured I owed it to everyone to show them the best 'stache EVER to grace Major League Baseball and, eventually, Cooperstown.

AMI Style: Handlebar. Period.

Grade: A+ Fingers would score higher if he could. His 'stache defined a generation.

If you are feeling up to it this weekend, it appears as though I'll be updating the world on the status of Mustache May over at 720 WGN-AM Sunday night at midnight CST.

Nick Digilio has been kind enough to extend the invitation...and I will do my best not to let you down. Listen online HERE!

A special thanks to checkoutmycards.com for the use of their images.

Happy Mustache May from JB

***With Mustache May right around the corner, Hall contributor JB broke out the razor, said "goodbye" to the lip sweater and "hello" to the dawn of a new one. Here's his take.***

As a mild-mannered, soon to be 35 year-old, I find that few things excite me in life the way they used to.

Apart from “scoring” with my fiancé (anyone married or committed will tell you, yes, you do have to still put in work), playing with my dog, Hobbs (yes, after “Roy”) and my ever-improving golf game, there are not a lot of things that genuinely excite me the way that, say….how I felt when the original RBI Baseball came out for Nintendo.

That was until I found out about Mustache May.

I gotta admit, I jumped the gun a little and started growing a hybrid-horseshoe about three and a half weeks ago...much to the chagrin of my fiancé.

So when the "rules" were finally posted, I was pretty bummed.

At lunch, I had to trim the flavor-saver down to stubble and prepare for this Friday morning and plan my next ‘stached endeavor. I’m thinking a horseshoe-meets-Paul Teutul, Sr. from "American Choppers"...but we’ll see.

As I swept up the brown-black-reddish-orange-gray (thank you, Irish heritage) pieces of my once proud lip partner...I remembered that at one time I had nothing.

Above my lip that is.

I realize that all great mustaches start from scratch.

So as all you faithful HOVG followers plan out your facial features in the next two days, I’ll leave you with baseball’s most famous mustache’s 1970 Topps card (his 1969 rookie card was shared with Bob Floyd and Larry Burchart).

No excuses to those of you who feel you can’t (def: won’t) grow out a solidarity ‘stache for May. At one time, Rollie Fingers had nothing.

Above his lip that is.