Cooperstown 2013: Tim Raines

TIM RAINES
Sixth Year on Ballot (2012 - 48.7%)

PLAYING CAREER:
Montreal Expos (1979–1990), Chicago White Sox (1991–1995), New York Yankees (1996–1998), Oakland Athletics (1999), Montreal Expos (2001), Baltimore Orioles (2001) and Florida Marlins (2002)

ACHIEVEMENTS:
Career batting average of .294 with 2605 hits and 1571 runs scored. Hit .300 or better seven times. Led the National League in batting with a .334 average in 1986. 808 career stolen bases (fifth all-time) with an 85% success rate. Led National League in stolen bases four times and twice in runs scored. Put together six seasons with more than 100 runs scored. Seven-straight All-Star selections (1981-1987) and two World Series championships (1996 and 1998). Had number retired by Montreal Expos and holds their team record for runs scored, triples and stolen bases.

CASE FOR/AGAINST:
If the primary purpose of Tim Raines’ baseball existence was to get on base and set the table, then Raines was one of the best ever at his craft. Raines got on base nearly 4,000 times over the course of his career. Once he did get on base, Raines’ speed and base running intelligence gave pitchers headaches. His 808 career steals put Raines fifth all-time, while his 84.7% success rate is good for eleventh all-time. If Raines’ career numbers seem borderline to some, his peak puts him over the top. From 1981-1987, Raines combined for more than 1,700 hits and walks, stole more than 500 bases and put up a .310/.396/.448 slash. At his best, Raines exemplified the greatness that we honor in the Hall.

There is no doubt Raines’ numbers are strong, but are they Hall of Fame worthy? While his on-base percentage is strong, it is comparable to Hall of Fame near misses Keith Hernandez and Will Clark, as well as lesser lights like Tim Salmon and J.D. Drew. Even a more advanced metric like Fangraphs RC+ - which does an excellent job taking Raines’ base stealing abilities into account – ranks him 255th all-time. Attempts to adjust for position hurt Raines too. He spent most of his career in left field, a strong position historically. Raines limped to the finish line, with only one season with 500-plus plate appearances after he turned 33. Even if Raines belongs in the Hall, he may not be the slam-dunk some supporters suggest he is

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
 Mike Gianella has been writing about fantasy baseball at his own blog (Roto Think Tank) since 2007. He has participated in the League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR), is a current owner in the CBS Sportsline and Tout Wars expert leagues, and has won four titles in the CBS leagues. Mike’s work can also be found in the Fantasy Baseball Guide, available on news stands in February 2013. Mike can be found on Twitter at @MikeGianella.

High Schooler Absolutely Crushes One in Miami

It might be a dumb question, but...chicks still dig the long ball, right?

Because, if so, Covina, California's David Denson is going to have them crawling all over him when he hits the campus at the University of Hawaii next fall.

You see, the high schooler was taking part in the annual Power Showcase at Marlins Park in Miami and bounced three, count 'em, three off the scoreboard in center. The longest measuring 515 feet. Suffice it to say, dude was eventually crowned the new world champion and set a new distance world record. No word as to whether or not that fishy monstrosity in left center did it's thing.

When I was his age, I thought one bouncing a long fly into the cornfield at the Field of Dreams movie site was pretty impressive.

Pierzynski Thanks Chicago Fans

Catcher A.J. Pierzynski is routinely heralded as one of the most, if not, the most hated player in the Majors.

But, for some reason, the Windy City loved him...and the two-time All-Star catcher loved Chicago right back.

So much so, he did the cliche and thanked his former fans by taking out an ad in the Chicago Tribune this past weekend.  That's right, the catcher who helped lead the Chicago White Sox to the World Series in 2005 has, apparently, turned into a softie.

Okay, okay...maybe it's a classy move, but, it doesn't matter. Whatever sting the 36-year-old catcher feels by not being re-signed by the ChiSox will surely be lessened by that $7.5 million deal he inked to play for the Texas Rangers.

Korean Saves King Signs With Giants

Yes, it's true. 

And, yes, the title of this post was specifically written to make you think it WASN'T about Scott Proctor signing with the San Francisco Giants...but, alas, it is.

According to his agent, Mark Rodgers, the soon-to-be-36-year-old righty inked a deal to play for the World Champs late Monday night.

"For a veteran player like Scott, if he does what he is capable of doing, he will make the Major League club," Rodgers told the TC Palm.  "If not, he will start at Triple-A (Fresno), but San Francisco has a history of going to their veteran guys at the Triple-A level when the need arises.  (The Giants) contacted us once they understood that Scott was not going back to Korea or going to Japan."

Oh...and about those saves.

Last season, when Proctor was pitching for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, he recorded 35 saves.  When he notched number 32 in September, the veteran hurler surpassed Brad Thomas' record for saves by a foreign player.

And for the record, in 307 big league appearances (including a league best 83 in 2006), Proctor saved only one game. And that was back in 2005...his second season in the Majors.

Cooperstown 2013: Roger Clemens

ROGER CLEMENS
First Year on Ballot

PLAYING CAREER:
Boston Red Sox (1984-1996), Toronto Blue Jays (1997-1998), New York Yankees (1999-2003), Houston Astros (2004-2006) and New York Yankees (2007)

ACHIEVEMENTS:
Career record of 354-184 (.658 winning percentage) with an ERA of 3.12 and 4672 strikeouts. Ranks ninth all-time in wins and third all-time in strikeouts behind only Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson. Six 20-win seasons, led the league in ERA seven times and in strikeouts five times. Record seven-time Cy Young Award winner (1986-1987, 1991, 1997-1998, 2001 and 2004) and 1986 American League MVP. Two-time World Series champion (1999 and 2000) and eleven-time All-Star selection. Member of Major League Baseball's All-Century Team. Only pitcher to strike out 20 batters in a game twice.

CASE FOR/AGAINST:
Roger Clemens is one of the ten best pitchers of all-time. You can argue where he is on the list, but he’s there alongside Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson or Greg Maddux. Simply stated, “The Rocket” belongs in the Hall of Fame. There is no case against Clemens being a Hall of Fame caliber pitcher. Yet, he's still a long shot to be elected this year because of three dirty words: performance enhancing drugs.

Accusations of PED usage have tainted his career and with it, the game of baseball. Or so the naysayers say. There's plenty of circumstantial evidence, but Clemens has consistently denied ever using and was acquitted on charges of lying to Congress about PED use. Whether you think he took PED's or not, he's one of the best pitchers ever and belongs in the Hall. His penance for (allegedly) using PEDs and being an insufferable ass will be that he has to wait at least a few years to get in.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Kaleida has been writing about the Pittsburgh Pirates and MLB trades over at 6-4-3 Putout since June 2010. Since 1998 he's traveled to Bradenton each year for spring training and finds that to be an excellent way to kick off the season. You can follow him on Twitter at @643putout.

Cooperstown 2013: Jack Morris

JACK MORRIS
Fourteenth Year on Ballot (2012 - 66.7%)

PLAYING CAREER:
Detroit Tigers (1977–1990), Minnesota Twins (1991), Toronto Blue Jays (1992–1993) and Cleveland Indians (1994)

ACHIEVEMENTS:
Career record of 254–186 (.577 winning percentage) with an ERA of 3.90 and 2478 strikeouts. Three 20-win seasons, 11 seasons with 200-plus innings pitched and three seasons with 200 or more strikeouts. His 14 Opening Day starts is tied for second best...behind only Tom Seaver's 16. Held American League record for most consecutive starts (515) before being topped by Roger Clemens in 2001. Four-time World Series champion (1984 and 1991-1993) and five-time All-Star selection (1981, 1984-1985, 1987 and 1991). Threw no-hitter April 7, 1984.

CASE FOR/AGAINST:
Jack Morris is widely considered to be the greatest pitcher of the 1980s, and no one will ever forget his ten inning Game Seven complete game in the 1991 World Series. He was very durable and consistent. Yet, he has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for 13 years and still has not garnered enough votes for election. Why is that?

Well, first of all the “fact” that he was the best pitcher of the 80s, is sort of an arbitrary measuring point. Would anyone know off the top of their head, who was the best pitcher from 1974 to 1984? Or 1987 to 1997? What is special about a ten-year period that starts at the beginning of a decade? Mark Grace led the Majors in hits throughout the 1990s. That didn’t stop voters from dropping him off the ballot after his first year of eligibility. Besides, he probably wasn’t even the best pitcher in his own division. A cursory look at the stats will show that recognition should go to Toronto’s Dave Stieb (who also dropped off the ballot after one year) and his decade ERA of 3.32 to Morris’ 3.66. His contemporaries included Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden, Jim Palmer, Ron Guidry and others who just didn’t have the good fortune to start their careers prior to 1980 and finish after 1989.

Morris’ raw numbers may seem good looking back because he pitched in a much lower scoring environment than we have now. He had a very respectable 3.90 career ERA, but never once had a season below 3.00. In fact, 37 times during his playing years, pitchers posted seasonal ERAs better than his career best. This is borne out by his barely above average career ERA+ of 105. Even during his peak in the “greatest pitcher of the decade” 1980s, his ERA+ was 109. For comparison sake, that’s what Mark Gubicza, who pitched at that same time had for his whole career. For those of you who don’t remember Gubicza, Jason Schmidt, a guaranteed future Hall of Famer (no, not really) beat that with his career 110 ERA+.

If you want to get more sabermetric, all of the following pitchers whose careers overlapped with Morris had career WARs above 50 and have been excluded from the Hall of Fame: Rick Reuschel, Kevin Brown, Luis Tiant, David Cone, Tommy John, Bret Saberhagen, Chuck Finley, Jerry Koosman, Frank Tanana, Kevin Appier and the aforementioned Dave Stieb. Jack Morris fell short of 40 for his career.

To be fair, Morris was very consistent and threw a lot of innings. He threw over 200 innings 11 times, peaking at 293 in a season where he threw 20 complete games. This is unheard of in today’s game (Justin Verlander topped the Majors with only 238 IP and six CGs last year), but was quite common in the 1980s. During his playing years, a pitcher threw 20 or more CGs in one season 17 times. Pitchers threw more than 230 innings more than 80 times…while having an ERA lower than 3.00. Of course Mr. Morris never once accomplished this feat.

If Morris gets elected, that will bring the number of pitchers inducted into Cooperstown to 69. All but one of them had better career ERAs than Mr. Morris.

The real question isn’t why he’s not in the Hall of Fame yet. It’s why he’s still on the ballot! And it’s largely probably due to his heroics in pitching a Game Seven complete game shutout in the 1991 World Series for the Minnesota Twins. Aside from that game, his playoff record is 6-4 with a 4.26 ERA, so it can’t be because he was some kind of great clutch post-season warrior. And that game...well, suffice it to say, that if Lonnie Smith doesn’t make a baserunning blunder, we’d all be talking about how Terry Pendleton was the hero of that Fall Classic instead.

Morris was a good pitcher. Maybe he does deserve induction into The Hall of Very Good. But he’s certainly not a Hall of Famer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ruben Lipszyc is a rare avid baseball fan from Calgary, Canada. He is a member of the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, and as a diehard fan writes about the Red Sox at RSNAlberta.blogspot.com and tweets about them at @RSN_Alberta. He also keeps Albertans up to date on local baseball happenings at BaseballinAlberta.blogspot.com while tweeting at @Baseball_In_AB, and is also a contributor for the Canadian Baseball Network.

"The Office" Star Buys Former Skipper's Crib

As if we didn't need another reason to love Jenna Fischer.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "The Office" star dropped $1.9 million back in November on an estate once owned by Legendary Hall of Fame skipper Casey Stengel.

Stengel, the one-time famed manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, New York Yankees and New York Mets lived in the Glendale, California crib last lived in the house from 1925 to 1975.

But, about that house.

The 4600 square foot Mediterranean-style house sits on an acre of land and has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, two sitting rooms and a number of other amenities my house doesn't...including a pool house, swimming pool, a tennis court and an orchard.

Also...there is a separate maid's quarters off the garage.

2012: The Year That Was

Just when I thought 2011 was an awesome year, 2012 stopped by and kicked the crap out of it.

Once again, I’m proud to say that this past calendar year was a record one and it couldn't have been done without the support from each and every one of you.

So, while many sites across the interwebs have filled their space with "best of" lists…here’s ours.  And when we talk "best of"...I'm talking about the stories that had the most traffic.

10. Mini Josh Hamilton is Awesome (October 31)
I'm a sucker for stuff like this. Especially when you include eye black and tattoos.

9. Heath Bell Has a Sick Backyard (January 25)
Before things went south for the then-newly acquired (now recently removed) Miami Marlins closer, Heath Bell showed off his sick patio that, I might add…is equipped with more TVs and fire than any place I’ve ever lived in.

8. Bernie Brewer Hates the Cubs (April 9)
It’s always nice to see people getting more and more creative with their tattoos. And before you ask, yes...that's Milwaukee Brewers mascot Bernie Brewer with an assault rifle doing a crotch grab over a bullet-filled Chicago Cub.

7. We Get It, A-Rod...You're Getting It (January 4)
I wanted to be done with A-Rod and The Diva a few times, but the more stupid stuff they did…the more I got sucked in.  Sorry, internet.

6. Hall of Famer Busted for DUI (October 23)
Hey…remember that time Carlton Fisk made an Illinois cornfield his own "field of dreams"? He’d like to forget it.

5. Suspect Nabbed Because of Terrible Tattoo (June 22)
Again with the tattoos. It never surprises me where New York Yankees logos show up. This time…on a dude’s face.

4. Former Pitcher Makes Eerie Prediction Before Death (December 18)
A month before he would succumb to injuries he sustained in a motorcycle crash, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Frank Pastore made some pretty crazy comments on his radio show.

3. Youk's Brother Rips Boston (June 24)
Has anyone heard what Scott Youkilis thinks about his brother Kevin signing with the New York Yankees?

2. Sitcom Star in Altercation at Dodgers Game (September 17)
Typically, it's rappers and musicians that get in fights to drum up interest for their upcoming projects, but, back in September, it was "Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet getting into the act.

1. "Idol" Winner Back on the Mound (March 13)
Proving you never know where the traffic is gong to come from…apparently people absolutely LOVE "American Idol" winner (and high school pitcher) Scotty McCreery.

Honorable Mention: "HOVG Heroes"
Late 2011, Hall contributor Gordon Holmes and I cooked up an idea…induct someone into The Hall of Very Good™. So, with the help of some incredibly enthusiastic and supportive writers, artists and all around great baseball minds, we launched "HOVG Heroes" and, oh lord, was it well received.

The series of posts concluded on July 20 with longtime big league pitcher Tommy John being the inducted as the inaugural member of The Hall of Very Good™. We were happy. Tommy was happy. Everyone was happy.

And, spoiler alert, we’re going to be doing it again in 2013.  Kind of.

Again, a huge thanks to Yardbarker, The Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Bloguin, Hot Clicks, Big League Stew, Hardball Talk, Eye on Baseball, Deadspin, Grantland, FOX Sports.com, USA Today, The New York Times, Baseball Think Factory, The Score, The American Mustache Institute and the countless others who continue to link to The Hall on a regular basis.

And, of course, a bigger thanks the readers that made 2012 what it was. Stick around for 2013…it promises to be huge.

What story (stories) did you enjoy most? Click on "comments" below and go bananas.