Hitters Fail the Quiz

Hey baseball fans! Sorry I haven’t posted in about five days. Anyway, I have a one question “quiz” for you. Who has the best mustache in Royals relief history, other than Al Hrabosky? The answer is, of course, Dan Quisenberry! Quisenberry played for the Royals, Cardinals, and Giants from 1979-1990. As a reliever, he was feared throughout [...]

BBA Selects Kimbrel, Valverde For Goose Gossage Award‏

In earlier voting this postseason by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel won the Willie Mays Award for top rookie handily while the American League race for that award was much tighter.  With the Goose Gossage Award, handed out to the best reliever, Kimbrel got to see how the other half lives, [...]

“All In” – Starting Pitchers and the Hall of Fame

With the induction of Bert Blyleven into the Hall of Fame in 2011, every starting pitcher in the second half of the 20th century who has HOF numbers is now in Cooperstown. Let me be a bit more precise.  According to the CAWS Career Gauge, every starting pitcher whose career began after World War II [...]

Culmination or Collapse?

Oct. 2, 1978. Baseball fans readily cite it as the date one of the greatest games in history took place. True, it stands out amid the annals of one of sports’ greatest rivalries. It’s also true that a season hung in the balance. If only that was the end of it. Instead, Bill Reynolds writes, [...]

1980 AL Cy Young Race Revisited

Mike Norris celebrates his 56th birthday on March 19. He was the runner-up for the 1980 Cy Young Award in which he and Baltimore starter Steve Stone compiled career years, but did he deserve to win the award? Player Background Mike Norris was a 1st round pick by Oakland in the 1973 draft and made his debut [...]

Josh Hamilton, Joey Votto Take Home Stan Musial Award

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance concluded their award season today by naming the best player in each league for 2010. When all the votes were tallied, two men were comfortably ahead. Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, who hit 32 home runs and fashioned an OPS of 1.044 while leading the Rangers into the playoffs, won the award [...]

Rafael Soriano, Brian Wilson Dominate Goose Gossage Award Voting

For an inaugural vote, it wasn’t much of a contest. Tampa Bay closer Rafael Soriano and San Francisco closer Brian Wilson handily won the Baseball Blogger Alliance’s first-ever Goose Gossage Award, handed out to the best reliever in each league. Soriano and Wilson, besides leading their teams to the postseason, posted numbers that well-distanced themselves [...]

George Steinbrenner Gets the Love He Always Wanted

There will be an outpouring of love and affection for George Steinbrenner today following the news that he died of a heart attack early this morning at 80. He would have liked that. Truth is, he lived for that. For all the bombast, the attention-getting rants, the mean-spirited attacks of his players and humiliating firings [...]