The only Hall of Fame post you need......

I'm not saying I'm not overly thrilled with Maddux and Glavine being elected to the Hall. Most deserving.

But everyone knew that was coming.

Some people deluded themselves into thinking guys like Morris or Martinez (HA!) would be in the running, but no.

 

But here it is on Canada's National sports page, front and center.... well, maybe down and to the lower left actually.

Behind the lead story that Montreal is starting their backup goalie against the Flyers tonight.

But! It did make it ahead of Michael Bradley signing with Toronto FC! So there's that...

 

How baseball has fallen over the years... almost an afterthought. Hopefully whomever takes over for that idiot Selig can right some wrongs and bring baseball back.

Play at the Plate gets Ripped...

My good friend who runs the blog Play at the Plate sent me some cards the other day. I believe this was in response to me sending him some before that.

We kinda "trade" cards, but really, at least for me, it's just sending cards whenever I get a small stack ready to go.

He also has the advantage of being the only Rangers fan I've ever heard of, let alone know.

 

Onto the cards!

 

My boy J Hey from this year's Ginter. The back, of course, has been violated. but I don't care. It actually is still attached, and he looks good in my binder.

 

There was also a small stack of super shiny Chippers from the late '90's.... They all look a lot better in person, but I scanned a couple of my favourites anyway.

 This Chipper is made out of really thin steel. And is sharp as hell. I can't imagine kids opening packs of these without losing some digits.

A see through Chipper! Only you can't tell in the scan.... ah well, believe me, it's cool.

And no package between us is complete without at least one McCann. I'm going to miss this guy. Although I won't recognize him either. Never seen him without facial hair.

 

 

Thanks bud. But one last question, with the ridiculousness of the latest idiot offerings from MLB, does Play at the Plate now have to change it's name???

If there's no one there to see it, does the game still count?

Looking up the old boxscores this morning to see the Braves won last night 8-0 over Miami to improve their record to a MLB best 8-1.

Which led me to Deadspin... for those of you who haven't read it, or don't peruse that site, I've ganked some of their pictures to show you here....

Paid attendance was announced at 13,381. Actual attendance was lower.



Now this is a park where you can take your kids and not worry about any drunks cursing or throwing up on your family.



lotsa leg room behind the dugout...


I wonder if the beer sales and cotton candy guys get a subsidy to work there?


On the plus side, those four fans in the outfield each got a Braves home run ball. No fighting, just everyone wait your turn.

Now this is not the fans fault. You can't blame them for any of this. It's not a baseball area... plus there are two very big idiots to blame. The first is owner Jeff Lauria who never met a player he couldn't sell.
Second, and biggest idiot of all is Bud Selig. For giving Lauria a second team after what he did to the Expos.

It won't take 4 seconds for lauria to put the For Sale sign up after the 2014 season, the earliest he is allowed to do so under his stadium agreement.

And then maybe, maybe, the Marlins will have a reason for fans to go to the park other than to meditate in peace and quiet.

New Competitive Balance Lottery... WTF????

with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed by MLB and it's players, a few new things have come up on our baseball landscape.
Bud Selig's stupidity in putting the Astros in the American League.
Bud Selig's stupidity in allowing two more playoff teams. Everybody gets to play!!!
Bud Selig's stupidity in his insistance on making the leagues one and the same. Mixing teams, interleague play, eliminating seperate umpiring crews, eliminating league presidents, but still insisting on using the DH. That should've been the first thing to go.

and now we have something called the Competitive Balance Lottery. Basically, it's a lottery for teams to get extra picks in the draft, so that the "poorer teams" can compete with the Yankees and Red Sox.

It starts with the 2013 draft, and 13 teams are eligible for picks. There will be 12 picks given away, 6 at the end of the 1st round, and the other six at the end of the 2nd round.
The teams that are eligible are the D-backs, Orioles, Indians, Royals, A's, Pirates, Padres, Rays, Reds, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers and Cardinals.

Read that list again.

Four playoff teams, two division champions, and the World Series winner.

Because they need the extra help and picks.

Bud Selig wins again.

Just when I think there is nothing anyone can do to top Gary Bettman and company, Bud comes back swingin'.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

 I've ranted on this topic before. Twice actually. Over a year ago... maybe two now that I think of it. But you see, nothing has changed. In fact, it's gotten worse. Why do idiot commisioners insist on wearing rose coloured glasses, and eating scented pellets so their crap don't stink when it's obvious that there are serious problems in their sport?
In case you're still wondering what the hell Canuck is blathering about now, I'm speaking of Bud Selig and the Florida Marlins.
In their game against Cincinnati yesterday, there were 347 fans in attendance. That's not a typo. Three hundred and fourty seven.

 Apparently the Marlins closed down the top two decks earlier this season.

 My local Calgary Vipers get a bigger turnout than this. Foul balls for everyone!!!

Sweet jesus Bud, wake up and smell the contraction. The game will be better for it. The quality of play will increase. And the fans will be happier.
Oh wait, none of that matters to you does it?

it's only 152 million....

if anybody still cares, the next round of the baseball playoffs starts tonight. Apparently they are trying to imitate the basketball playoffs and have it last longer than the regular season. But anyways....

The Yankees take on the Texas Rangers. And yes, the Yankees as a team have a payroll that is 152 million dollars more than Texas for the 2010 season. Holy. Crap. Talk about free spending.... let's break that down a bit shall we?

If you added the Rangers payroll to the Cubs payroll, it still would not equal the Yankees. The Cubs have the third highest payroll in baseball.

If you take Texas' highest paid player, Michael Young, and add Mark Teixeira to it, you still don't get to Alex Rodriguez type numbers.

Four of the top five highest paid Rangers were added via trade this season. Imagine the difference before!

The Texas Rangers playoff starting rotation of Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and Tommy Hunter added together, make less than Mariano Rivera.

The Yankees won 95 games at $207 million. The Rangers won 90 at $55 mil. The Yankees paid $30.4 million per extra win. PER WIN!!!

If you TRIPLED the salary of EVERY Texas Ranger, and had them sign Mark Teixeira away from the Yankees, the Yankees payroll would still be more.

I guess it just goes to show, buy smart and you will succeed. If you're not smart, then throw un-imaginable amounts of money at enough players and you'll probably win too.

This is why baseball hasn't been the Nation's Pastime for years. Until every team plays on the same field by the same rules, crap like this is going to happen. Kudos to the Yankees for buying all those titles before the Idiot Selig is gone and someone with a brain changes the rules so that everyone is equal.

Blog Bat Around, A Canuck's Take...

This version of the Blog Bat Around is brought to you by David at Indian's Baseball Cards. His question to the masses is "If YOU were the baseball commisioner, what changes would you make?"

My question is Where the hell should I start???

#1 There are waaaay too many teams in the MLB. Can you say contraction boys and girls? Teams like Florida and Tampa that can't even get 8000-10000 people a game? Gone.
The bottom 2 teams in average attendance go bye-bye after the first season, the bottom two teams again after the second season of my reign, I mean, term.

There are waaay too many relievers and bench players that should not be wearing major league uniforms out there right now. This will strengthen the player pool, and make for a better game overall. Not too mention more money in the revenue sharing pool.

#2 Speaking of Revenue Sharing, it will no longer be equal. It will be based upon team success. The more wins, the bigger your % of the pie.
Along these lines, there will be a salary cap, and a salary floor. These will be hard numbers. No more going over the cap and using your revenue sharing to pay the luxury tax fine. Also, no more fielding Double A players making the league minimum for a season and raking in the profits. The object of the game is to win people.

#3 No damn DH. No one wants to see some fat bastard waddle out of the dug out just to take an at bat. Look at every other sport in the world. If you're too old, too fat, and not good enough to play the sport, you don't make the team. Except baseball. Make that half of baseball. Either you can play baseball, or you can't. Plus, having half the league play a different set of rules than the rest is just stoopid.

#4 You know why there is still a DH? The players union won't let the league cut the position. (Lost jobs) so to appease them, I'll expand the rosters by two players. They have to be baseball players though. Not fat bastards.

#5 Speaking of serperate rules for different teams.... no more humidor in Colorado. Why are they special? Same rules apply to everyone in my league.

#6 No more god damned interleague play. The fans don't like it, the players don't like it, so why the hell are we doing it? The All Star game used to be cool because we got to see the leagues collide. We need to get back to that.

#7 The All Star game will be no more. It will now be the MLB All Star Fan Festival. The fans can vote whomever the hell they want. But the player will not be credited with an All Star appearence. To see guys like Yadier Molina get credit for being an All Star causes Babe Ruth to roll over in his grave.
There will be an All Star teamed named by the commisoners office (in conjunction with coaches) and that will be the true All Star Team for awards, bonuses and baseball cards.
So the people of Puerto Rico and Japan can stuff all the online ballot boxes they want. It's your Fan Fest.
Oh, NO MORE HOME RUN CONTEST.

#8 Baseball is slow enough. No stopping to review instant replay. Because as we all know, Instant replay ain't so instant.
To aid in this, since there will be fewer teams, meaning fewer games, I'll have a few extra umpires not doing anything. So each game will have six umpires, just like in the playoffs. An extra one down each foul line.

#9 The unbalanced schedule sucks. So it's gone. We have a National League, and an American League. No divisions. Six playoff teams, three from each league. The winner of the pennant gets a first round bye in the playoffs. The next two wild card teams play each other, the winner goes on to play the pennant winner to go to the World Series.
Finally some incentive to win.


And that, my disciples, is the way baseball should be changed for the better. Every point would improve the quality of play, and the enjoyment level for fans.

Now, let's make it happen.