This Day In New York Yankees History 1/21: Joe D Misses the Hall

On this day in 1953 the Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio missed out on the Hall of Fame in his first try at Cooperstown. DiMaggio would have to wait until the 1955 season before 88.8% of the BBWAA added him to the ballot and inducted him into the hall. On this day Cardinal legend Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons were elected to the hall.

Remembering Yankees of the Past: Tim Raines

This morning we discussed one of the newest members of the Hall of Fame Pudge Rodriguez’s short and rather uneventful time in Yankees pinstripes but there was a second former Yankees player to be elected to the Hall this week as well. His name was Tim “Rock” Raines and while he will likely be heading into Cooperstown with a Montreal Expos hat on his head he, and now we, will never forget his time spent here in the Bronx.

Raines was a career National League player before coming over to the American League in 1992 with the Chicago White Sox but he never found true success in the AL until his time with the Bronx Bombers. On December 28, 1995 the New York Yankees acquired Raines in a trade. Raines would be an integral part of the 1996 and 1998 World Series teams in the Bronx although his playing time was ultimately curtailed due to injury.

Raines was always considered to be a great clubhouse and chemistry type guy and he finished his Yankees tenure with a .299/.395/.429 triple slash in three seasons with 18 home runs and 118 RBI. Raines was the perfect example of what made these Yankees teams in the mid-90’s great. Raines played a position or three, he played a role and he played it well.

Now he’s playing that role in the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to him and to his family and friends. This one was a long time coming. 

IBWAA Elect Guerrero, Rodriguez to Hall of Fame

IBWAA SELECTS VLADIMIR GUERRERO AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ IN 2017 HALL OF FAME VOTE

 

Los Angeles – In its eighth annual Hall of Fame election, the IBWAA selected Vladimir Guerrero and Ivan Rodriguez, both with 84.54% of the vote (175 votes). A 75% threshold is required for election.

 

Mike Mussina came up one vote short, finishing in third place with 74.88%, followed by Trevor Hoffman (73.91%), Barry Bonds (73.43%) and Roger Clemens (71.50%). There are 470 members in the IBWAA; 208 voted in this election.

 

Jeff Bagwell (2015), Edgar Martinez (2016) and Tim Raines (2015) did not appear on the 2017 IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot because they have already been honored in previous IBWAA elections.

 

With those exceptions, the IBWAA ballot was identical to the one used by the BBWAA. All voting is done electronically.

 

Per a group decision in January, 2014, the IBWAA allows members to vote for up to 15 players, instead of the previous 10, beginning with the 2015 election. In the 2017 election, 92 members voted for 10 or more candidates. Seventeen members voted for 15 candidates. The average vote per member was 8.94.

 

Complete voting results are as follows:

 

 

Player Name	Votes	Percentage
Iván Rodríguez	175	84.54%
Vladimir Guerrero	175	84.54%
Mike Mussina	155	74.88%
Trevor Hoffman	153	73.91%
Barry Bonds	152	73.43%
Roger Clemens	148	71.50%
Curt Schilling	120	57.97%
Larry Walker	117	56.52%
Manny Ramírez	109	52.66%
Gary Sheffield	91	43.96%
Fred McGriff	85	41.06%
Billy Wagner	84	40.58%
Jeff Kent	80	38.65%
Sammy Sosa	68	32.85%
Lee Smith	65	31.40%
Jorge Posada	32	15.46%
Tim Wakefield	8	3.86%
Jason Varitek	7	3.38%
Matt Stairs	6	2.90%
Magglio Ordóñez	5	2.42%
Edgar Rentería	4	1.93%
Arthur Rhodes	2	0.97%
Derrek Lee	2	0.97%
J.D. Drew	2	0.97%
Pat Burrell	2	0.97%
Casey Blake	1	0.48%
Melvin Mora	1	0.48%
Mike Cameron	1	0.48%
Carlos Guillén	0	0.00%
Freddy Sánchez	0	0.00%
Orlando Cabrera	0	0.00%

 

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates.

 

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

 

In 2010, the IBWAA began voting in its own relief pitcher category, establishing the Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year and the Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards.

 

Among others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden and David Schoenfield of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jon Heyman and Jesse Spector, Today’s Knuckleball; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; and Bill Arnold.

 

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a $75 lifetime fee. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Contact:

 

Howard Cole
Founding Director, IBWAA
baseballsavvy@aol.com

Mike Piazza & the Ethical Hall of Fame Debate

Mike Piazza is in the Hall of Fame, this much we know and this none of us can really change. For better or worse the first player to be linked or suspected of steroid use that played in the steroid era is in the Hall of Fame which has caused a stir around Major League Baseball. Did Piazza use and should he be in the Hall of Fame? These are just a couple of the questions that I am going to attempt, key word being attempt, to answer today in this blog post.


Before the comments and emails come flooding in I am well aware of Piazza’s autobiography where he admitted to using androstenedione and I am well aware that it was added to Major League Baseball’s list of banned substances in 2004. Andro is a muscle-building compound that was long banned by the International Olympic Committee before it was added to MLB’s banned list. Should he be punished for doing something that wasn’t illegal at the time? I think not, personally. That’s like locking up all the people in California, Colorado, Seattle etc. for smoking marijuana before it was made illegal in those states. It’s irresponsible and, in my opinion, not plausible.


It is worth mentioning that drug testing and Piazza’s home run power, or lack thereof, definitely had a direct correlation between each other. Piazza hit 33 home runs in 2002, the year before drug testing was talked about and before it was implemented in 2004 (and punishable in 2005), and that number dropped to 11 in 2003. Granted Piazza stayed injured for much of 2003 but that is also a side effect of prolonged steroid use per Jose Canseco, especially when you stop taking them. Piazza never went on to hit more than 22 in a season after drug testing was implemented but it is also worth mentioning that Piazza turned 35-years old in 2003. Playing behind the dish for 140 games a season takes a toll on your body, especially your lower half, so it could be chalked up as a coincidence and Mother Nature intervening rather than steroid use.


In the end we will never know EVERYONE who did steroids, either once or for a prolonged period of time. We will never know if someone in Cooperstown already had used steroids in the past and we’re likely to never know in the future if the BBWAA is electing steroid users into the Hall of Fame. This is why we must elect them all, suspicions or not, or none at all. With Piazza in I think that question just got answered, you have to elect them all now. Especially when you almost elected Tim Raines, an admitted cocaine addict that admitted to using cocaine DURING GAMES. There’s a fine line here people and many of you are jumping back and forth between it.

This Day In New York Yankees History 1/21: Joe D Misses the Hall

On this day in 1953 the Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio missed out on the Hall of Fame in his first try at Cooperstown. DiMaggio would have to wait until the 1955 season before 88.8% of the BBWAA added him to the ballot and inducted him into the hall. On this day Cardinal legend Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons were elected to the hall.

What is “Andro” and Why Is it Banned?

Every year about this time the debate whether steroid era players should be in the Hall of Fame or not gets heated but do people really know what they are talking about? That’s not meant to be an insult or a questioning of your intelligence by any means but I’m serious, do people actually know what these steroids are and do people actually know what they do or do they follow along with the other sheep and baaaaaa all the way to the pasture? I like to think of myself as a leader and a trendsetter but also an educator when I can and I will attempt to do the latter today as I try and explain what exactly “Andro” is and explain why it is banned by Major League Baseball.

The word Andro, or Androstenedione, is a hormone that you used to be able to buy over the counter at any local GNC or pharmaceutical company that was made famous when Major League Baseball added it to its banned substance list in 2004. This was long after a reporter saw a bottle of it in Mark McGwire’s clubhouse locker in 1998 when he went on to save baseball from the strike and when he went on to break the single season home run record held by former Yankees All-Star Roger Maris and long after Mike Piazza admitted to using it in a 2013 autobiography he wrote. Why did sluggers like McGwire and Piazza want to take this? Well it was a muscle builder that promised it could increase your testosterone levels by as much as 400%. Andro also reportedly keeps your red blood cells healthy, enhances your recovery and shortens your recovery time from injuries and exercise and heightens your sexual arousal and performance but Andro does not come without its risks.

Those risks led then President George W. Bush to sign into law the Anabolic Steroid Control Act in 2004 which added Andro to the list of banned non-prescription steroid-based drugs. It was then that MLB, the NFL, college sports and the Olympics followed suit also banning Andro from their games. Andro is dangerous as a sudden spike in testosterone levels could absolutely destroy your liver for example while the drug also significantly reduces your “good” cholesterol number which could increase the risk of heart disease in longtime users. But if it works it is worth it right? Well according to a study done by Iowa State the stuff didn’t even really work anyway on its own.

Iowa State students and scientists did a study on Andro in 1999 with 20 healthy men as their control unit. Ten of them took Andro and 10 of them took a dummy pill made of rice flour while both sets of men underwent eight weeks of weight training and the gains in muscle bulk and strength were recorded. At the end of the eight weeks the numbers were almost identical. Either rice flour should be banned as well from MLB or Andro, again as a stand-alone drug, was a bust.

Which leads me to my conclusion, Andro is good for one and not to other? When I say “good” for one I mean Mike Piazza who was just elected into the MLB Hall of Fame with the other being Mark McGwire who has not yet been elected and was damned from baseball for a few years after his retirement. Scientists don’t even think Andro is worth a damn, again by itself, and yet we’re still keeping players out of the Hall of Fame because of it? Instead of, and this is directed towards the BBWAA, thinking you’re God, judge and jury how about you take a second to read a book and become educated on the matters before altering the course of MLB history because you think Andro altered it first.

This concludes another steroid-laced Hall of Fame rant by Daniel Burch. 

IBWAA Hall of Fame Vote, Edgar Martinez and the Yankees

Quick! Someone tell former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera that if he’s reading to look away, this isn’t going to be pretty. The Baseball Writers Association of America elected Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza into the Hall of Fame while the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, or the IBWAA which I am a lifetime member of, elected Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez. In year’s past the IBWAA elected Piazza leaving the gate open for Griffey’s teammate and former DH. We’ve checked in and seen just what Griffey Jr. and Piazza has done against the Yankees so now it would only be right to see the damage that Edgar did to the Yankees during his playing career, especially against the Yankees closer Rivera who he had an extraordinary amount of success against.

I	Split	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	New York Yankees	138	594	95	158	44	22	103	6	88	86	.317	.423	.542	.965

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

By the way Edgar finished his career with a .579/.652/.1.053 triple slash against Mariano. As you can see Edgar was one of the few players to actually have the number of Mariano Rivera in his career. Some players went their entire careers without even making contact against the greatest closer of all-time and much of the contact that was made resulted in a new baseball bat but not Martinez. He owned the Yankees and he owned Rivera specifically. He’s now a Hall of Fame player for the IBWAA, will he ever make it in the BBWAA? Who knows?

Mike Piazza & the Ethical Hall of Fame Debate

Mike Piazza is in the Hall of Fame, this much we know and this none of us can really change. For better or worse the first player to be linked or suspected of steroid use that played in the steroid era is in the Hall of Fame which has caused a stir around Major League Baseball. Did Piazza use and should he be in the Hall of Fame? These are just a couple of the questions that I am going to attempt, key word being attempt, to answer today in this blog post.

Before the comments and emails come flooding in I am well aware of Piazza’s autobiography where he admitted to using androstenedione and I am well aware that it was added to Major League Baseball’s list of banned substances in 2004. Andro is a muscle-building compound that was long banned by the International Olympic Committee before it was added to MLB’s banned list. Should he be punished for doing something that wasn’t illegal at the time? I think not, personally. That’s like locking up all the people in California, Colorado, Seattle etc. for smoking marijuana before it was made illegal in those states. It’s irresponsible and, in my opinion, not plausible.

It is worth mentioning that drug testing and Piazza’s home run power, or lack thereof, definitely had a direct correlation between each other. Piazza hit 33 home runs in 2002, the year before drug testing was talked about and before it was implemented in 2004 (and punishable in 2005), and that number dropped to 11 in 2003. Granted Piazza stayed injured for much of 2003 but that is also a side effect of prolonged steroid use per Jose Canseco, especially when you stop taking them. Piazza never went on to hit more than 22 in a season after drug testing was implemented but it is also worth mentioning that Piazza turned 35-years old in 2003. Playing behind the dish for 140 games a season takes a toll on your body, especially your lower half, so it could be chalked up as a coincidence and Mother Nature intervening rather than steroid use.

In the end we will never know EVERYONE who did steroids, either once or for a prolonged period of time. We will never know if someone in Cooperstown already had used steroids in the past and we’re likely to never know in the future if the BBWAA is electing steroid users into the Hall of Fame. This is why we must elect them all, suspicions or not, or none at all. With Piazza in I think that question just got answered, you have to elect them all now. Especially when you almost elected Tim Raines, an admitted cocaine addict that admitted to using cocaine DURING GAMES. There’s a fine line here people and many of you are jumping back and forth between it. 

My Take on the Unpopular Popular Decision on Pete Rose

Pete Rose had one last shot to make it back into Major League Baseball and into the Hall of Fame and that hope lived and died on the decision made by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred promised to have his decision to us by the end of the calendar year and he did just that this week when he denies Rose’s application for reinstatement back into the game. This is it for Pete Rose. This was a popular decision to some and unpopular to others but truthfully I am on the fence. I have been a Rose supporter for so long and I have defended him for many years making the remarks that he should be judged as a Hall of Famer for his time as a player, not as a manager, but I’ve come to learn that Rose is one of those that absolutely cannot get out of his own way.

Rose had an opportunity to avoid the lifetime ban altogether if he just admitted to betting on the game. Rose chose the hard way, denied it and is now banned from baseball. Rose has later admitted to betting on baseball but only as a manager and only on his team, the Cincinnati Reds, to win games. Later on news broke that evidence was found that Rose bet on games as a player too, again the hard way for Mr. Rose. Baseball has had 26 years to change its mind and it didn’t and it’s not going to, and that is something we all now need to come to terms with.

Rose will die banished from the Hall of Fame. He can walk in and see his memorabilia and his name mentioned in the record books but he cannot ever see his plaque, and honestly it is probably for the best. I know what you’re probably thinking, isn’t this the same guy screaming for the steroid users to not only be forgiven but also be allowed into the Hall of Fame? Yes, it is, but with an explanation. Steroids were not against MLB rules at the time, betting on the game of baseball was. Those who have used steroids since, Alex Rodriguez for example, should not be in the Hall of Fame 100%.

Rose knew heading into the interview with Manfred that him and his investigators confirmed the information found in the Dowd Report that declared Rose not only gambled as a manager but as a player as well in 1985 and 1986. Rose was told heading into the meeting that Manfred knew he bet as a player and he still told him face-to-face that he did not. Later in the same meeting he admitted, once again, to betting as a player but only to bet that the Reds would win the games he was betting on. I guess that justified it to Rose. Rose later admitted that he is still betting on Major League Baseball games and other sporting events showing the world that, no Pete, you have not changed. You haven’t changed one bit. In fact you’re likely just exploiting this to sign more baseball, sell more posters and get more face time. That’s it. You’re greedy. You’ve made me look bad for defending you and I’m done with you, and so is Major League Baseball. 

Miami, Barry Bonds and the Path to Forgiveness

Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for a few seasons now but has yet to reach Cooperstown. Why? Steroids. The use and the suspicion, although Bonds has never failed a drug test and all his court cases are closed without being officially charged and sentenced for anything. That’s just the era many of us have grown up in and will have to expect. I have asked, begged almost, for forgiveness for all steroid users pre-testing and I will continue to do so until my final breath simply because it’s the right thing to do. Forgiveness, it’s the path that Bonds is now looking to take.

How does one who played and made his name in the steroid era with the best numbers in the history of the game (in many categories) begin to achieve forgiveness? Well one way is to get a job in the game and Bonds is looking to do just that. News broke this week that Barry Bonds is in discussion with the Miami Marlins to be their hitting coach. The greatest slugger of all-time could be coaching one of the greatest sluggers, Giancarlo Stanton, of current times. Wow.

Remember when Mark McGwire was once vilified for his supposed use of steroids? Well McGwire admitted to using steroids before becoming the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. McGwire is not in the Hall of Fame but is not the “monster” that many baseball fans and Hall of Fame voters once thought he was. It’s a journey and it’s a long path to forgiveness but you have to start somewhere. This is where it begins for Barry Lamar Bonds.

Good luck.

Bob Nightengale is Drinking the Kool-Aid

Bob Nightengale is apparently a fan of the “red” flavored Kool-Aid that is being passed around by Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz because with his latest piece for the USA Today he went way off course. Nightengale didn’t beat around the bush in his article, SEEN HERE, either he got straight to the point making his case for Ortiz to be sent to Cooperstown, New York four years after his playing career is over. His opinion is his opinion and I respect him for it but sometimes a writer tends to dig his own hole, jump in it and begin to cover himself without even knowing it and Nightengale did just that in my opinion with this piece.

Here is a direct quote from the linked article above:

The man has 498 home runs, just two shy of the magical 500 mark that gains automatic entrance into the Hall of Fame, with the exception of those who have been caught, or linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

“With the exception of those who have been caught or linked to performance-enhancing drugs.” Oh you mean like the Mitchell Report in 2007 that showed Ortiz had a failed drug test? That same Mitchell Report that is keeping Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and will likely keep Gary Sheffield out of the Hall of Fame this season despite him hitting that “magical 500 mark that gains automatic entrance into the Hall of Fame?”

Bob, you can talk about the decline in home run hitting since drug testing was implemented and you can mention that Ortiz was not mentioned in either the BALCO scandal or the Biogenesis clinic fallout but that does not and should not erase his failed drug test from back in 2003, whether he bought “the damn pills from the mall” or not. His postseason resume means squat unless you’re willing to look past Andy Pettitte’s HGH use and willing to consider him for the Hall based on his playing career and postseason stats, but they won’t. You respect Ortiz, and so do I as a player, but he’s not in the Hall of Fame unless everyone is in the Hall of Fame. Bottom line. You’re better than that.