Hooray for Saturday!

A lot of kids growing up get excited for the normal made up holidays…Valentine’s Day, Halloween, the last day of school. Me…I always got jazzed up about the day the Hall of Fame announcement was made.

Sure, it doesn’t have some fancy name or some wing at the Hallmark store dedicated to it, but it was, for a couple hours in January…my Christmas.

Well, TECHNICALLY, Christmas was Christmas…but you get the idea.

Then, after six months of thinking about it, we get what amounts to New Years Eve, a relative’s wedding or basically any other “holiday” where someone stands up and makes some clichéd speech about what an honor it is and how they never thought they would make it.

This weekend, we get the pleasure of hearing what I am sure is going to be another in a long line of self indulgent speeches when Rich “Goose” Gossage takes center stage.

Gossage is a guy who went from 33% of the vote to close to 86% in eight years. Somehow he convinced 300 votes that all of a sudden he was good enough to become the next great reliever to be inducted into the Hall. Apparently he wasn’t only a top notch closer…he’s a wizard! Heck, he’s not even the lone “Goose” to be elected into Baseball’s hallowed halls!

In my estimation, he was on the right ballot at the right time.

For some reason, voters don’t seem to want to enshrine Jim Rice or Andre Dawson and they live by some wacky code that SOMEONE needs to be voted in. But in an age of “did he” or “didn’t he”…the Hall wasn’t about to open its doors to the likes of Mark McGwire or Tim Raines. I get it.

Which brings me to what I saw recently on ESPN. Buster Olney and Buck Showalter were given five names of current Major Leaguers and were asked what they thought about their chances.

The names were no-brainers…Mike Mussina, Billy Wagner, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel and Gary Sheffield. Let’s break ‘em down.

MIKE MUSSINA

To me, “Moose” is an interesting case. On paper, you see a HUGE winning percentage (.637), a brilliant 263 and 150 record and close to 2800 Ks. His career ERA is 3.69 and one could argue that had he not toiled for more than half of his career in Baltimore…he would be as much of a Hall candidate as Tom Glavine. HOWEVER, Glavine had five seasons with more than 20 wins. Mussina, while he’s hit double digits in wins seventeen straight years, has yet to eclipse 20. The Cy Young award has eluded Mussina as well. Unfortunately, six top five finishes and no hardware doesn’t make for the best Hall of Fame case. Showalter, said Mussina is a Hall of Famer…Olney disagreed. I’m with Olney on this one. Outside of wins and consistency, and this sounds stupid to say, Mussina just hasn’t SHOWN me anything spectacular.

BILLY WAGNER

Wagner should eclipse Eckersley on the all-time saves list this season and enter next year’s campaign firmly in fifth place all-time, third on the active list. That being said, he’s still WELL behind Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith AND is a guy who has never led the league in saves. By comparison, Hoffman has only led the National League twice, but he has nine seasons with more than 40 saves. Rivera has led the American League three times and has six seasons with more than 40 saves. Wagner has two. I’m not saying that Wagner isn’t a premier closer…I’m just saying that if Lee Smith can’t get a sniff at a time when Bruce Sutter, Eckersley and Gossage are…Billy Wagner is going to have a rough time competing for the writer’s affection with the likes of Hoffman and Rivera still out there. As for Olney and Showalter…they split again. Showalter was a “maybe”, while Olney “agrees” with me.

JIM THOME

I’ve made the case for Thome and over the last year…he hasn’t done anything to make me feel otherwise. He’s got 526 home runs and barely 2000 hits. He’s going to have to do PLENTY more to sway me. Again, Olney and I are “no” votes…Showalter, predictably, was a “yes”.

OMAR VIZQUEL

Again, this is a drum I’ve beaten before and is one of those guys that I LOVE to bring into the conversation when it presents itself. Not surprisingly, Olney, Showalter and I agree across the board with “Sheik Omar”. As much as I would hate to see him hang it up…I think Omar needs to ride off into the sunset before he ruins his storied career.

GARY SHEFFIELD

Now…here’s a guy who, in all honesty, deserves his own column. Does he pass the smell test? Not sure…he plays alongside some FANTASTIC players. Matter of fact, he’s been overshadowed by plenty of them, but has put up some amazing numbers. A .294 career average, 2570 hits, 487 home runs and 1600 RBI puts him in a similar league as Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell and Ernie Banks. HOWEVER…that’s where some of the similarities end unfortunately since each of the afore mentioned have bettered Sheff’s three top five MVP finishes by taking home the award at least once. I could go on and on about Sheffield (and I might just do that in the near future), but it is interesting to note that the nine time All-Star only once led the league in a major statistical category…he batted an NL best .330 in 1992. So…what did the ESPN experts think? Olney said “yes” and Showalter, for some reason, disagreed. Me? I agree with Buster…not Buck.

So what about you? I’ll put each up for vote…and you tell me what you think!

Happy Anniversary you crazy bat, you

"I played 20 years in the major leagues, I did some good things, and the one at-bat I'm remembered for is an at-bat in July."

-George Brett

Unless you've been trapped in a cave (all apologies to those actually trapped in caves), you know that today is the 25th anniversary of the infamous "Pine Tar Game".

You know the story, my hero George Brett hits a home run off of Rich "I'm EVERYWHERE Nowadays" Gossage, he circles the bases, goes back to the dugout, Yankees skipper Billy Martin questions the legality of the bat, then...mayhem.

Apparently there was too much pine tar on the bat, but the funny thing...it wasn't lifelong troublemaker Martin who started the melee.

It was Graig Nettles.

Gossage has gone on record saying, "Graig knew the rule. The ump did his job. Everybody thought it was silly, but it's in the rules." Rule 1.10 (b) to be precise.

And here is that rule: the bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from the end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance, which extends past the 18-inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game. Umpire Tim McClelland ruled that Brett's bat had "heavy pine tar" 19 to 20 inches from the tip of the handle and lighter pine tar for another three or four inches.

But did the extra pine tar aid Brett in HITTING the home run? Not likely. And that was the finding of American League President Lee McPhail who ordered the game be resumed.

So, three weeks, four days, four hours and fourteen minutes later the "Pine Tar Game" was resumed. The Royals ended up winning after closer Dan Quisenberry spent all of twelve minutes shutting down the Yankees to preserve the 5-4 victory.

And if you ever doubted the seriousness of the game...the Yankees "voiced" their disapproval by playing pitcher Ron Guidry in centerfield and left hander Don Mattingly at second base.

This is the "last season at Yankee Stadium"...since when?!?

The All-Star break has officially come and gone…did you hear the one about this being the “last season at Yankee Stadium”?

If you didn’t…I’m pretty sure you’ve been in a coma. And if you did…you should have made a drinking game out of it. Hell, you’d have been more tipsy than David Wells throwing a perfect game had you decided to imbibe.

All that aside, I can’t bash the All-Star game. Some of my fondest moments as a lifelong baseball fan have come as a result of the Mid Summer Classic. Suffice it to say…I was ecstatic when I heard about FOX’s super hyped “Red Carpet” special PRIOR to the game.

This thing promised to feature everything you could ever want leading up to an All-Star Game…Hall of Famers, All-Stars and no Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest is officially everywhere now, right?!?

So here goes.

6:00pm CST The season long love affair with Yankee Stadium continues with this opening montage. Something tells me that if this game was played in Flushing…we wouldn’t get Darth Vader doing the voiceover. Odds are we’d get some James Earl Jones knock off LONG before we heard from the real deal. I don’t even want to think about the voiceover the last season at Riverfront or Veterans Stadium would have garnered.

6:01pm “Emerald green grass”…shown VIVIDLY in glorious black and white highlights.

6:02pm There’s Don Larsen’s no-hitter and Chris Chambliss blasting through the fans after his memorable walk off home run. Think we’ll see David Cone’s perfect game? Thought not.

For the record, I have no desire to EVER go to New York. That being said…I’d just about sell my soul for about an hour in Monument Park.

6:03pm “We celebrate these memories and look to make one more” says Darth Vader. Obviously this was edited long before the over fellating of Josh Hamilton and his Home Run Derby performance Monday night.

6:04pm Here’s that red carpet we’ve heard all about! Wait…this thing is sponsored by Chevy? Who knew?!?

They just informed us that a cab ride from Bryant Park to Yankee Stadium is twenty bucks? According to MapQuest…we’re looking at a three mile ride. Three miles for twenty bucks…why so cheap, New York!

And there’s A-Rod in a suit…pretty much destroying ALL belief that this is a “live” event.

Eck minus the mullet…I don’t like it.

Mark Grace ladies and gentlemen! Some would call Grace a Hall of Famer…not me. Sorry, Bushaw.

6:05pm Apparently New York is the home for some memorable parades. 1945…the Japanese surrender ending World War 2. 1960…JFK makes his way to the Big Apple. This past January…the Giants win the Super Bowl. Tuesday night…this disaster.

Yes…it’s taken all of five minutes to sour me.

6:06pm Oh, Mark Grace is making Joan Rivers jokes. These things are both as clever and timely as Monica Lewinsky references or the two guys being interviewed…Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra. My lame jokes aside, imagine the tail that Ford and Berra inherited just by hanging out with Mickey Mantle.

6:07pm Oh…it’s A-Rod again and yes, I will avoid any and all Madonna references. What I won’t avoid is the fact that he says he’s excited to see Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Willie McCovery.

McCovery?!?

6:08pm A-Rod just thanked the “good Lord” for his fan support. Nothing wrong with that I suppose…but how about thanking the fans for that support, hmmmmm?

6:09pm Did she just say “RYAN” Sandberg? On a side note…I don’t know how I feel about Ryno. Met him once…meh.

6:12pm This red carpet is full of ALL the All-Stars…including the North American VP of Chevrolet Ed Peper. Cha-ching!

6:13pm Did someone mention this thing was at Yankee Stadium? If not, my favorite (no joke) baseball player of all time, George Brett, was just asked about the “pine tar incident” which happened to occur at Yankee Stadium. As a nine year-old in 1983, I had NO freaking clue what this thing was all about. All I knew was that there was my hero freaking out and Goose Gossage and Billy Martin being involved. I cried.

6:14pm Jonathan Papelbon just referenced the need for him to be riding in the “Pope Mobile”. Classic.

Apparently there was some flack about Papelbon saying he’d close out the game if asked and that is what drew the ire (this time) of the Yankees faithful. Personally, I’m on the fence. Papelbon can be lights out…but Mariano Rivera looks like a cross between a zombie and a burn victim. And let’s face it…who wouldn’t want Ghost Rider on the bump in a close game?

6:15pm It’s nice to see some fan had the foresight to bring out some newspaper with a “PAPELBUM” headline. Stay classy, New York.

6:16pm Did they really just introduce Mayor Michael Bloomberg as New York’s “ultimate closer”? Why...did John Franco die?!?

6:17pm Oh look…as we head off to break, there’s Reggie Jackson situated right in front of a “Fringe” banner. How convenient.

6:20pm Okay…I’m confused. We’re twenty minutes in and so far, no mention of Jo…nevermind, there’s Josh Hamilton now.

6:21pm You know, I’m not sure if you knew this or not, but Hamilton had a substance abuse problem. Combine that with the talk about this being the last year of Yankee Stadium and somehow I’ve found my two least favorite pieces of information of the last decade.

6:24pm Finally, we get to hear from Reggie Jackson and to no one’s surprise, he is quick to reference his three home runs in the 1977 World Series. I mean, I’ve NEVER heard him talk about that…have you?

6:26pm “Mr. November” Derek Jeter just referenced this season as being the last one at Yankee Stadium. Has someone alerted the media? I’m not sure this has been publicized enough.

6:30pm Ooooh, highlights from the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” contest (sponsored by Baby Ruth) judged by William Peterson and Bernie Williams. I mean, who would YOU have judge it? Please shoot me.

6:31pm Hooray…a 9-11 reference! I was wondering how long this would take.

6:32pm This “parade” was just called the “greatest collection of baseball stars in history”. Take THAT Hall of Fame induction ceremony!

6:33pm We just learned that Chipper Jones apparently became a switch hitter because his dad was a Mickey Mantle fan. Fair enough…why the stupid nickname, Larry?

6:34pm Hey look…Chase Utley and his dad! Nevermind…it’s only Mike Schmidt. And surprise, surprise, Schmidt just referenced Pete Rose. Give is up Mike…he’s not getting into the Hall of Fame.

6:35pm Hmmm…there’s Ben Sheets situated in front of another “Fringe” banner. What’s this “Fringe” show I’m, seeing so much about?

6:39pm Ugh…a shot of Terry Francona in the Yankees clubhouse. I think I’m going to be sick.

6:40pm Mark Grace just told us it would be “un-American” for him to NOT talk to a Cub. And who does he talk to…Kosuke Fukudome.

Grace just talked to “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks who said he never played at Yankee Stadium. A two second search over at Baseball-Reference shows that Banks was the starting shortstop in the 1960 All-Star Game. Incidentally, that was the THIRD to last All-Star Game played at Yankee Stadium.

6:42pm Some dolt just told Hank Aaron that he “did a lot of winning”. Memo to world, Aaron appeared in THREE post season series in 23 seasons. Oh, and here’s a brain bender…Aaron appeared in 25 All-Star Games in those 23 seasons. Figure THAT one out, gang!

6:43pm What…Spike Lee is at a New York sporting event. Who knew?!? Good thing he was on hand to mention this being the “last season at Yankee Stadium”.

6:48pm Why do people feel the need to talk to Make-a-Wish kids like they are puppies?

6:51pm Willie Mays loves hearing himself talk. Something tells me that he could (and would) take 20 minutes to explain to you how to spell his name and he STILL wouldn’t have made any sense.

6:52pm David Duchovny is giving his Yankee Stadium memories (apparently this is the last year) and there was no mention of the upcoming X-Files movie. How does that happen, FOX?

6:55pm Last night Bon Jovi performed some All-Star Game concert. Nothing says “New York” like New Jersey! Just ask the Giants and Jets!

6:56pm Before this extravaganza was put to bed, we’re reminded again about this being the last season at Yankee Stadium. Since when?

6:57pm And if that wasn’t enough we were greeted with an abortion of a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” sung by a bunch of random New York turds: Regis, Michael Strahan, some sidewalk vendor, future sidewalk vendor Lawrence Taylor, Whoopi Goldberg, a bunch of others and for some reason Darryl Strawberry.

What…was Roger Clemens not available?!?

I’d love to give some insight about the game, but why bother? It was a long, long night.

Sorry Walker...here's my favorite Texas Ranger

I was in a meeting last week when, no joke, someone said…“there’s a reason why it is called the ‘Midsummer Classic’ and it isn’t because it is played in February”.

Dumb statement? Perhaps.

But it wasn’t long after I heard that, that I realized that we were indeed on the cusp of being deluged with All-Star game hype.

Who is in?

Who is out?

Is it wrong to want to see Ken Griffey, Jr. out there for what might be one last time?

All valid topics of conversation and every single one of them was answered this past Sunday when the teams were announced a la the NCAA brackets. I mean, do we really need an All-Star Selection Show?

The answer is “no”…but I digress.

By now, we all know that this is the last All-Star game at “Historic Yankee Stadium”, the Tampa Bay Rays have no starters, Junior fell out of favor over the past week and Jason Varitek is somehow going to be part of the festivities.

All of those are stories that we’re going to hear ad nauseam, but there is going to be one name that we’re likely going to get sick of hearing by this time next week.

Josh Hamilton.

I know, I know…he is a former number one overall pick, struggled with injuries and drug addiction, was out of baseball for a few years and is now back living up to the expectations everyone had of him ten years ago.

I get it…it is a nice story.

All that aside, there is one tidbit about Hamilton that I took notice of…he is the first Texas Ranger outfielder to start an All-Star game since Juan Gonzalez in 1998 and only the third Ranger outfielder (Gary Matthews, Jr. was the other) to be selected in the last twenty years.

That’s not terrible company considering Gonzalez left his own injury filled career sandwiched between ANOTHER Junior, Cal Ripken, and should be Hall of Famer Andre Dawson on the all-time home run leader list.

That’s right, Gonzalez quietly finished his career with 434 bombs…good for 37th all-time. Matter of fact, including Dawson…there are only four Hall eligible players (Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and Dave Kingman are the others) with MORE home runs than “Juan Gone”.

Drafted at 16 and taking his first Major League cuts at 19, Gonzalez was considered by many to be the best Puerto Rican baseball player since Roberto Clemente...and he could have been. Here was a slugger whose numbers at the plate seemed to mirror those of Griffey, Jr. but never did he garner the adoration “The Kid” received.

Starting in 1992, and setting the 1994 strike year aside, Gonzalez had 35 or more home runs in seven out of nine seasons. From 1992 to 2001, Gonzalez hit 365 home runs out of the yard...Griffey sent 400 packing.

Imagine if Gonzalez would have stayed healthy!

Here is a guy who MISSED twenty or more games in all but FOUR seasons in his seventeen year career. At the time, “Juan Gone” made Junior look durable!

In 1996, Gonzalez won the first of his two MVP awards with a career high .643 slugging percentage, .314 average, 144 RBI and a staggering 47 home runs. And why are 47 home runs staggering considering that it was only fifth best in the American League? Gonzalez sat out close to 30 games and STILL led the Rangers to the playoffs.

His impact was THAT great.

In the 1996 ALDS, Gonzalez tied Jeffrey Leonard's 1987 NLCS record by homering in four straight post-season games and joined Reggie Jackson and Griffey as the only players to hit five home runs in a single post-season series.

Two years later, Gonzalez once again brought home some hardware by hitting .316, 50 doubles, 45 home runs and knocking in 157 runs. Unfortunately, this MVP season was all but ignored on the national stage given McGwire and Sammy Sosa delighting the world with their best Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle impersonation.

But yet again, the Rangers lost to the Yankees in the playoffs and “Igor” was pretty much a shadow of his 1996 postseason self barely hitting my dog’s weight….083.

But if postseason play means anything (and it probably doesn't in this case), Gonzalez's four-year peak, contributed to the only three postseason appearances in the Rangers' history and he also contributed greatly to the Indians' 2001 division championship.

Juan Gonzalez was pretty much an RBI machine throughout the 1990s.

Eight times, Gonzalez knocked in more than 100 runs and for his career, he knocked in a hefty 1404…more than Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Bench, Duke Snider and only ten less than McGwire. Along with McGwire, there are only seven players eligible for the Hall that have more RBI than Juan Gonzalez.

In 1998, his 101 RBI at the All-Star break was the second most in history. Hank Greenberg had 103 at the intermission of the 1935 season. By comparison, the afore mentioned Josh Hamilton is leading the free world this year with 85 RBI…twenty more than the next closest hitter in the American League.

But let’s get back to McGwire (and I do so ONLY because there is that faction out there that believes he should be enshrined) and compare him to Gonzalez.

As I’ve said before…take away McGwire’s home run total and you’re basically left with nothing. Compared to Gonzalez, “Big Mac” has roughly 500 more plate appearances, but 300 less hits. “Juan Gone” finished just shy of 2000 for his career…McGwire had 1626.

Gonzalez bests McGwire in career batting average (.295 compared to .263), but does far short in both on base percentage and slugging (.343 and .561 versus .394 and .588).

McGwire blows Gonzalez out of the water with his OPS+, but honestly, he has 150 more home runs…he should. Gonzalez’s 132 OPS+ is better than Hall of Fame sluggers Dave Winfield, Eddie Murray and Carl Yastrzemski though.

When Cooperstown comes a callin’ (and I’m suggesting that maybe the writers take a longer look at Juan Gonzalez than they did, say, Albert Belle), it’ll be easy to dismiss him considering some of the talent he played against, the era he played in (his teammates at one time in Texas DID include Jose Caseco and Rafael Palmeiro) and the fact that he played in the Lone Star State for a majority of his career. He had one great year outside of Arlington, but outside of that…the guy is one of the best Texas Rangers to ever walk this Earth.

Sorry Walker.

Is it the end?

"22 years ago June the Boston Red Sox picked a Freshman Pitcher from Yavapai Junior College (the best JC team in the nation btw!) in the 2nd round of the (Last!) January Draft. 3 World Series rings, 3k innings plus later, there’s a chance it’s all over."

THAT is what greeted Red Sox Nation when they logged on to Curt Schilling's website this morning.

Admittedly, when I read earlier in the week that Schill's rehab had reached a "plateau"...I was optimistic. I mean, here's a guy who seemingly has looked career ending injuries in the face and much like how he treated the 2001 (or 2004 for that matter) Yankees, did what he always has done...he threw the ball.

Hard.

Schilling has met nearly every challenge put in front of him and I had no reason to think that this one would be any different. I wrote the following last October...PRIOR to Game Two of the Red Sox-Rockies game. I think it is a fine time to relive it...whether Curt's career over or not.

Curt Schilling was scheduled to take the bump. Prior to the 2004 season, Schill was brought in to do EXACTLY what Josh Beckett was brought in to do a couple years later. HOWEVER…the media, for some reason, was pretty much writing him off. Apparently his blood soaked star had fallen.

Memo to newswriters...Schilling was Josh Beckett BEFORE Beckett was Beckett.

He was the NLCS MVP in 1993 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Almost ten years later (in 2001), he followed it up by being named the World Series Co-MVP alongside Randy Johnson. I won’t even mention the “bloody sock” (maybe) or his postseason winning percentage.

Curt is good…DAMN good.

That being said, is he Hall of Fame good?

My buddy E talks about the “smell test”. Does a player pass the Hall of Fame smell test? If so, you look deeper and see whether or not he is worthy. EXAMPLE: a guy like Tim Raines smelled like a Hall of Famer at one point…now he smells of Kenny Lofton. Since we’re talking lead off hitters (for some reason) a Rickey Henderson smells like fine wine aged to perfection.

That being said…Schilling smells like a rose.

216 victories, 3116 strikeouts, FOUR top five finishes in the Cy Young voting, six All-Star games…not too shabby for a kid out of Anchorage, Alaska. When it comes to his strikeout to walk ratio…only one pitcher was better and he last toed the rubber in 1884. He died, ironically enough, in Boston.

All that said…if you look closer, Schilling, like Raines, doesn’t smell as good as you would initially think.

True, his postseason stats are phenomenal…but you can’t induct him on that alone. Sure, they warrant mention, but induction based SOLELY on that…um, no. If so…open the doors to Bernie Williams, Cooperstown!

216 wins, while impressive, only ranks him eighth among all active pitchers. Four of the seven ahead of him on the list (Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson) are WAY ahead and certain Hall of Famers. The other three (Mike Mussina, David Wells and Jamie Moyer) couldn’t pass the “smell test” if they carried Pedro Martinez around in a headlock.

Add to the 216 wins that Schilling’s win percentage is .597 and you’ve got, over the span of his career, a very good pitcher…not a great one.

Strikeouts. Schilling’s four years of 290-plus Ks are crazy good. Of the 13 pitchers with MORE than Schilling’s 3116, only Bert Blyleven is not in the Hall, while Unit, Clemens and Maddux will surely go in when the time comes. Consider that 1228 of his strikeouts came in the afore mentioned four 290-plus years, and that he’s only got ONE 200 K season outside of that…the 3116 seems kinda suspect.

What I’m saying is this…give me 12 to 15 years of 200 or more strikeouts and I’d be MORE impressed than Curt’s five years of 200-plus scattered over a twenty year span.

I liken to Schilling to Sandy Koufax…kinda. Both of their legend has been based on a handful of select years. Koufax, however, did his in consecutive years at the end of his career before he fell victim to an arthritic wing.

Schilling spread his out over a couple of decades.

He was a stud in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2004 (an 83-30 record and 1031 Ks)…but that was about it. You COULD make an argument that outside of the win/loss record (8-9), Schilling was on his way to a GREAT 2003 season before he got injured...which happened WAY too often.

Curt was, undoubtedly, MUCH better over the second half of his career compared to the first. Hell, he’d even agree to that and he doesn’t like ANY of the unfavorable press he gets!

Koufax, over his last four seasons, notched a 97-27 record and 1228 strikeouts. So, yeah, not EXACTLY the same, but Sandy had nearly 200 more innings pitched than Curt.

Watching Curt Schilling work, he carries himself like a sure-bet Hall of Famer who is winding down a great career…but so did Jack Morris. Putting him into perspective, he starts to come across like many of the pitchers that have made it into the Hall over the last 20 years…he’s a guy with some longevity, a handful of years of greatness and some postseason success. And that's not a TERRIBLE thing...just ask Don Sutton, Phil Niekro or Gaylord Perry.

Arguably, he wasn’t always the best pitcher on his staff and only a few times would he have been considered one of the most dominant pitchers in the league. He never brought home the hardware that Cooperstown LOVES to look at (a la Robin Yount’s TWO MVP awards), but he was solid. He has a respectable ERA (3.46) a couple of World Series rings and is a great character.

First ballot guy…probably not. He’ll be competing (potentially) with the likes Clemens, Maddux and Glavine as far as starting pitchers go. Take into account that there will be a slew of position players also vying for their enshrinement and it might take Schilling a while to get through the doors.

Let me know what you think…how does Schilling smell? Does he pass the test or just get tossed aside like some bloody, old sweatsock?!?

***Note: In October when I first asked "is Curt Schilling a first ballot Hall of Famer?" here were the results...Yes-10%, No-90.***

It finally happened, kids!

I'll admit it, I thought it was pretty cool last year when Jim Thome, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez all hit number 500, but in the past two weeks…we witnessed, arguably, something more impressive.

Of course I am talking about Manny Ramirez quietly hitting number 500 and, finally, Ken Griffey, Jr. doing what we’ve been waiting for for the last twelve years…hitting home run number 600.

Since he reached his milestone first…we’ll talk about Ramirez first.

Manny has quietly been one of the best (if not THE best) hitters in the game for each of his fifteen seasons. Considering he’s NEVER hit less than .290 in any full season that he’s played (incidentally, Ramirez has the fourth highest career batting average of anyone in the 500 Club)...I’m not sure why he gets such a bad rap.

Tell me it is because he’s a bad fielder and I’ll tell you that if I can get a guy with the potential to hit 40 home runs, knock in 120, hit .320 AND allow my team to get an equally dangerous bat in the lineup at DH…and I’ll take his fielding every day of the week.

Tell me he’s a bad teammate and I’ll point out the watch he gave Dustin Pedroia for winning the American League Rookie of the Year last year.

Tell me the guy is flighty and I’d agree. I’ll follow it up by reminding you that he is durable, keeps his mouth shut, absolutely a monster in the clutch AND certain to be the first dreadlocked player in Cooperstown.

Now…on to the other guy.

Unless you lived under a rock, you know that Ken Griffey, Jr. became the sixth player to hit 600 home runs. Of course, as mentioned before…you would have been hard pressed to find substantial press leading up to it.

Maybe the mainstream media was keeping it “hush hush” so Junior wouldn’t be jinxed. Maybe they just forgot about “The Kid”.

Junior’s list of accomplishments are sick and I could go on and on…but I’ll leave that to SportsCenter. They’ve spent the last couple of weeks NOT building up to number 600…perhaps now they can spend some time appreciating it.

Take his durability out of the conversation, and you really can’t come up with a reason to NOT call him one of the best all around players of the last 20 years.

Of the other 23 members of the 500 Club, Griffey’s .289 career average is better than Eddies Murray and Mathews, Willie McCovey and eight others.

His 1729 RBI puts him eleventh among those with more than 500 bombs. Compare him to contemporaries Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire and they pale in comparison.

Remarkably, the once slender Griffey hit 40 or more home runs in seven seasons. Memo to world…Frank Robinson did it once, Reggie Jackson twice.

Junior will bring a ton of Gold Gloves with him to Cooperstown as well…ten to be exact. He won one EVERY year in the 90s and among the others in the 500 Club, only Willie Mays and Mike Schmidt have as many.

Put both Ramirez and Griffey together and you’ve got a duo that rivals very few that have played at the same time. We’re living in a fortunate age right now…let’s hope it stays this way for some time.

Reminder...the Kid is good

***Note: E is back. Check out his normal ramblings HERE!***

It must be the Year of Apathy in baseball.

First, you have Frank Thomas, the greatest player to ever call himself a DH gets shuffled around so much in a week that no one knows (or cares) what team he plays for.

Then, Mike Piazza, possibly the greatest hitting catcher ever, retires, and no one notices.

Now, Ken Griffey, Jr., the player with the greatest potential in the history of baseball, gets within a home run of 600, something only five (six if you care to count Sosa, and I don't) players have done, and no one outside of Cincinnati seems to care. I think part of the problem may be that I don't think people realize that Junior is still playing.

No one noticed when Sosa passed 600 for the same reason.

And while these would appear to be similar cases of inflated number apathy, they're not. Sosa is, well, frankly, a dirty player. You don't go from a guy who hit 60 home runs in his entire tenure with the White Sox and Rangers to a guy who hit nothing but 60 home runs a year with the Cubs without being dirty.

When asked before Congress if he had used steroids, he replied, "F*** GASPAR GOMEZ AND F*** THE F***ING DIAZ BROTHERS! F*** 'EM ALL!!" He may not have actually said that, but it's more entertaining than the "No hablo Ingles" bit he actually used. This from a guy who, two years earlier, got suspended for using a corked bat.

That is one shifty mother.

Junior, on the other hand, has always had a clean record.

He's never been named in any of the random gossip that seems to implicate players on a weekly basis. Everything Junior has done appears to be due to talent, not only as a hitter, but as a fielder, having won a Gold Glove every year of the '90s. Here's a kid who may legitimately have been the best player in baseball.

Then he got traded to Cincinnati...and hasn't played a full season yet.

He became so injury-prone that he makes Mark McGwire look like a picture of health. And he has not gotten healthier, becoming seemingly more brittle (and fatter) with each injury. This for a guy who's only 38 years old.

And it's these injuries that have been happening on a yearly basis for nearly a decade that make us forget what a great player Griffey is/was. I don't think anyone knows when he's actually playing. Even though he played most of the season last year (having gotten his injury out of the way before the season started), I think most people forget that he's closing in on some milestones because they don't know if he's in baseball anymore.

I myself had taken for granted that he might not be injured and didn't know he was playing until I heard about the "599" thing. I also think that, because it's been nearly a decade since Griffey was any kind of force in baseball, people forget how good Griffey used to be.

Despite losing at least three seasons worth of games to injury, his numbers already make a strong case for the Hall of Fame. No where near as good as, say, someone like Hank Aaron's numbers, but consider that while Aaron played three more years than Griffey currently has, he had 3300+ more at bats. Give Griffey that many more at bats and consider what his stats might look like.

Yeah: Kid's a monster.

But, his stats being what they are, he is closing in on some milestones. He's 275 RBI from 2000, something only three other players have done. He's 395 hits from 3000. And he's got that whole home run thing, too.

Crossing my fingers, I'm hoping Griffey can make it through the rest of the year (and his career) uninjured.

He's been healthy thus far. And, he is only 38.

A lot of these records are within reach. I just hope he can get to them.

Oh, and in baseball related post-script to this story, earlier here in the Hall, Jesus was quick to give out this year's Bo Diaz Award to John Marzano. I think he's going to regret his choice when hears about what happened to Geremi Gonzalez, the pitcher who broke Sosa's corked bat.

That's a Bo Diaz winner if I've ever seen one!

Stay classy, San Francisco

Perhaps they learned from their mistakes last Fall (doubtful) or maybe they just like Omar Vizquel better (probable)...but the San Francisco Giants handled Omar Vizquel's record setting accomplishment yesterday like champs.

When Vizquel was inserted into the lineup against the Florida Marlins...he trotted out to shortstop like he had 2,582 times before. But this time, he stood alone. Metaphorically AND literally.

The spotlight was his to savor and he was saluted.

Now, and only because Vizquel is in the news, the debate will surely begin as to whether or not Sheik Omar is a lock for the Hall of Fame. I've stated MY case, but with the throng of other candidates surely to be up for consideration at the same time Vizquel comes due...the outlook is murky when you look at the first ballot.

One point to ponder...EVERY player that leads their position in games played is in the Hall of Fame sans two. Omar...obviously.

The other?

Barry Lamar Bonds.