Joe Torre Erased Felix Millan With Four Double Plays

When Albert Pujols grounded into three double plays on Opening Day, it put the spotlight back on Joe Torre.

Retro Simba

The Hall Of wWAR: Left Fielders

Left Field has a great deal of turnover, but the population stays close to the same. Seven left fielders are booted while six take their place. While left field features a lousy Hall of Fame choice in Chick Hafey and a deceptively weak inductee in Lou Brock, it also features three cuts that were particularly tough to make—Billy Williams, Zack Wheat, and Ralph Kiner.

Beyond The Boxscore

Offense/Defense Number (Part Two)

Last installment, we looked at infielders who were the most balanced two-way players in a season, using the idea behind Bill James' Power/Speed Number (taking the harmonic mean of homers and steals, which weights the lesser number significantly) to make an Offense/Defense number (harmonic mean of Batting and Fielding Win Shares). It generated a fair bit of discussion about who would make the outfield lists, and so I'm proud to give the outfielders and catchers this time around.

The Hardball Times

Players Worth Remembering, 1947-68

I hadn't planned on this being a series, but folks seemed to enjoy the first installment (as did I), so why not keep moving backward through time? In this episode, we examine players whose careers fell within the years 1947 (when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier) to 1968 (Year of the Pitcher).

The Hardball Times

Sully Baseball: All Time Home Grown Team Vs. All Time Acquired Team

Chicago White Sox
Former St. Louis Cardinals Listed: Dick Allen, Lance Johnson, Hoyt Wilhelm, Jerry Staley, and Minnie Minoso.

Fromer St. Louis Browns Listed: Sherm Lollar.

Detroit Tigers
Former St. Louis Cardinals: Placido Polanco, Aurelio Lopez, Ed Brinkman, and Larry Herndon.

Former St. Louis Browns Listed: Heinie Manush and Goose Goslin.

Cleveland Indians
Former St. Louis Cardinals: Carlos Baerga, Tony Pena, and Cy Young.

Former St. Louis Browns: Satchel Paige and Gene Bearden.

Hall Of Fame, Hall Of Mirrors

History will be made on January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama becomes President—but eight days earlier, the world will have come to an end.

Why? The Hall of Fame voting results will appear, and that day (January 12) is odds-on to be seen (in these here parts, at least) as "Black Monday."

The Hardball Times

Prospectus Hit & Run: Throwing (Jim) Rice

In evaluating the Hall of Fame candidacies of Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines recently, I made a point of avoiding any discussion of Jim Rice for a simple reason: his candidacy doesn't merit being mentioned in the same breath. That's not to say that Rice wasn't an excellent ballplayer, but his relatively short career and the context surrounding it simply leave his case wanting. The BBWAA clearly feels otherwise, as Rice polled 72.2 percent of the vote last year, the ninth straight year he's received above 50 percent. Still, he fell 16 votes shy in his second-to-last year on the ballot. With his candidacy in its final year and surrounded by such controversy, we'll take a closer look at his case.

Baseball Prospectus

Prospectus Hit & Run: A Rock-Y Road

Yesterday I began the JAWS evaluation of the 2009 Hall of Fame ballot with a lengthy look at Rickey Henderson, widely acknowledged as the greatest leadoff hitter in history. Today the attention turns to Tim Raines, quite possibly the game's second-greatest leadoff hitter.

Baseball Prospectus

The George Grantham All-Stars

"One time, twenty years ago, I did a data base search to see if there was any player in baseball history who:

"1. Played in 1,200 or more games,

"2. Played a key defensive position, and

"3. Was above average in every basic offensive category. . . .

The Hardball Times