2013 to have Hall of Fame suspense
Bonds, Sosa, Clemens headline list of first-time eligible players
The most interesting baseball Hall of Fame election in history is shaping up for 2013, when the first-time eligible players will include Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, Julio Franco and Kenny Lofton.
The three elections before then are far less intriguing. Here’s how I view the upcoming newly-eligible players:
2010: Only one is a lock in my book, and he might have to wait a few years: Roberto Alomar (.300; 2,724 hits; 504 doubles; 80 triples; 210 HRs; 1,508 runs; 1,134 RBI; 474 stolen bases; 10 Gold Gloves). Barry Larkin has at least a 50-50 chance (.295; 2,340 hits; 198 HRs; 960 RBI; 1,329 runs; 379 stolen bases; 1995 NL MVP; 3 Gold Gloves). Some people think spitting at an umpire will hurt Alomar. It can’t help, but the incident shouldn’t keep him out of Cooperstown. He was one of the all-time best all-around second basemen. Larkin was better than several shortstops already enshrined.
Slugger Fred McGriff (.284; 2,490 hits; 493 HRs; 1,550 RBI) has a fair shot and is helped by being a “clean” player as far as we know in the Steroid Era. Edgar Martinez has marginal Hall of Fame numbers (.312; 2,247 hits; 514 doubles; 309 HRs; 1,261 RBI) but will be hurt by being primarily a designated hitter.
Nice careers but no shot at Cooperstown for Andres Galarraga, Ellis Burks, Todd Zeile and Eric Karros.
2011: The only two newly eligible players with definite Hall of Fame credentials in terms of numbers will be Rafael Palmeiro (.288; 3,020 hits; 569 HRs; 1,835 RBI) and Jeff Bagwell (.297; 2,314 hits; 449 HRs; 1,529 RBI; 202 stolen bases; 1994 NL MVP). Palmeiro has very heavy performance-enhancing drugs baggage. Bagwell is far less suspicious and will be an interesting test case for the writer-voters. Juan Gonzalez has marginal numbers (.295; 1,936 hits; 434 HRs; 1,404 RBI; two-time AL MVP) but is very suspicious. The newly eligible very-good-but-not-Hall of Famers on the list include John Olerud, Larry Walker, Tino Martinez and John Franco
2012: There will be some familiar first-time eligible names on the ballot, but no Hall of Famers, including Bernie Williams, Tim Salmon, Brad Radke, Vinny Castilla, Ruben Sierra and Jeromy Burnitz.
Losman’s Las Vegas team will host San Francisco in the league’s first game and it will be shown on Versus. The UFL’s two other teams will meet Oct. 10 (New York vs. Florida in Orlando).
Assuming Michael Vick does not sign with a UFL team, Losman is the league’s marquee player. Las Vegas coach Jim Fassel is gushing about J.P.’s talent and believes his stint in the UFL will be the launching pad for a return to the NFL as a successful quarterback. The UFL also assigned QB Tim Rattay to Las Vegas.
Each of the UFL’s four teams will play a six-game regular season. Tickets will average $20. The championship game will be Nov. 27 in Las Vegas (wisely a Friday night, so some football fans might watch).
The biggest positive for the Bills in playing an extra preseason game this year is that they can use all the practice they can get — especially the revamped offensive line.
The NFL tries its best to have us believe the preseason games are a big deal. Newspapers used to carry the NFL preseason standings. Why, I don’t know. The league still wastes two pages in the NFL Record and Fact Book listing last year’s preseason game-by-game results and final standings. Who cares? For the record, only one of the NFL’s 32 teams was undefeated in last year’ silly season. It outscored opponents 80-32. It was the Detroit Lions. Then the games began to count and the Lions went on to post the first 0-16 record in NFL history.
Nick Punto: .204 batting average (48-for-235), 6 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 25 RBI, .308 on-base percentage.
Alexi Casilla: .163 batting average (26-for-160), 4 doubles, 1 triple., 0 HRs, 8 RBI, .256 on-base percentage.
Brendan Harris: .261 batting average (83-for-318), 16 doubles, 1 triple, 5 HRs, 28 RBI, .301 on-base percentage.
Matt Tolbert: .178 batting average (23-for-129), 3 doubles, 0 triples, 1 HR, 12 RBI, .272 on-base percentage.
Totals: .214 batting average (180-for-842), 29 doubles, 3 triples, 7 HRs, 73 RBI.
Harris, the most productive hitter (relatively speaking), is the worst fielder and slowest runner in the group.
Hindsight is 20/20, but the Twins would be a much better team today if they had Jason Bartlett playing shortstop and Matt Garza in the starting rotation. They were traded to Tampa Bay, Nov. 28, 2007, in what is looking more and more like one of the worst deals in team history.
Bartlett, never one of Twins manager Ron Gardenhire’s favorite players (but he loves Punto), has become an all-star shortstop. Minnesota is hoping Carl Pavano can bolster a weak starting rotation and Delmon Young — the key man in the deal for the Twins and touted as a future batting champion with 20-plus HR power — has been a bust.
Short shots
Did you know that Terrell Owens and Randy Moss are the most recent NFL players to score four touchdowns in one game? On Nov. 18, 2007, Owens caught TD passes of 4, 31, 46 and 52 yards in a 28-23 Dallas home win over Washington. Hours later, under the lights in Buffalo, Moss caught four TD passes for New England in a 56-10 romp over the Bills.
LeBron James last week dropped a strong hint that he won’t accept a contract extension from the Cleveland Cavaliers before the end of next season, setting himself up to become an unrestricted free agent. That can’t be a shock to Cavs management and likely was the major factor in the trade for Shaquille O’Neal. Cleveland has loaded up for one last shot at a championship with LeBron.
The Peterborough Lakers can complete a four-game sweep of their Major Series Lacrosse semifinal playoff series tonight at home against visiting Six Nations. Peterborough won 10-9 Tuesday (Knighthawks star Shawn Evans had four goals), 14-7 Thursday (John Grant played and had two goals and three assists for a game-high five points; Evans was selected First Star) and 10-9 Friday night (Grant had two assists; Evans had one goal and four assists). Knighthawks veteran Pat O’Toole was the winning goaltender in all three games.
The Big East was shut out in the USA Today preseason college football coaches’ poll. It’s the first time a conference with an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game has failed to have a team in the preseason top 25. Cincinnati is 29th, Pittsburgh 30th, West Virginia 31st, Rutgers 32nd and South Florida 41st.
The NFL is the king of sports in America and the fans have to pay homage to the king. According to Chico-based Team Marketing Report, here are the average prices for several items in 2009 Major League Baseball compared to the 2008 NFL: Ticket: NFL $72.97, MLB $26.64 … hot dog: NFL $4.12, MLB $3.70 … Parking: NFL $21.75, MLB $12.40 … Cap: NFL $15.62, MLB $15.03.
