Growing up in Flint, Michigan in the 1980s, I was very aware of Jim Abbott. I saw Abbott pitch while he was in high school at Flint Central. As a young teenager, I was impressed with his ability to switched his glove from one hand to the other and field…
A few weeks ago, John Asalon had a very special guest on an episode of This Week in APBA: Jim Kaat. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed Kaat as a broadcaster. I think he brings intelligent insights to his viewers and listeners. It’s possible his success as a broadcaster could one…
If you’re a reader of the APBA Blog, you’re probably a big sports fan. More than likely, you’re a big baseball fan too and have met a few big leaguers over the years. Most of the time, we meet professional athletes at autograph signings or other team functions. Rarely do…
Roger Maris was the Harold Baines of the 1960s. Both were quiet, unassuming, productive professionals, who often were overlooked for their accomplishments. Even though he played ten fewer seasons than Baines, Maris’s productivity was eerily similar. Baines’s career WAR: 38.7; Maris’s career WAR: 38.2 Baines’s career OPS+: 121; Maris’s career…
There is a first baseman, who played from 1958 to 1974, had 379 career homers, an .849 OPS, 133 OPS+ and 50.4 WAR and is in the Hall of Fame. Should a different first baseman, who also played from 1958 to 1974, had 377 homers, an .862 OPS, 139 OPS+…
You know you’re getting old when first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famers were born five years after you. How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday when Hall of Famers were old men. Unfortunately, Roy Halladay didn’t get to become an old man or stand at the podium this coming…
Though statistically there are several more deserving players who could have been the first to get 100% of the vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame, there are none who could have been any more humbled with the honor than Mariano Rivera. There’s little doubt Rivera deserves to be a…
Jay Jaffe has Lee Smith ranked as the 14th best relief pitcher in Baseball history, ahead of enshrined immortals Bruce Sutter, Rollie Fingers, and Trevor Hoffman. His recent election to the Hall of the Fame by the Today’s Game Era Committee is justified and overdue. Unfortunately, Lee Smith is remembered…
After ten long years, there’s joy in Mudville…I mean Seattle. Edgar Martinez, the greatest designated hitter in history, has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Personally, I’m very pleased with his selection and feel that Martinez deserves his place in Cooperstown. The overriding reason it took ten years…
I’ve got some serious empathy for Harold Baines. Here’s a guy who quietly and courageous produced at a highly professional level for 22 years. He never had a scandal and by all accounts was an excellent teammate. In many ways, he was the opposite of Manny Machado. He made six…