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In the past baseball was a path out of the ghettos for Irish, Italians, Jewish, Germans...Today immigrants still need to learn baseball. In an era when we are wasting money on walls and deportations, one of the best ways to get into our nation is to be able to hit a baseball over the wall. In 2013 Fox News ran this story http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/04/03/over-28-percent-players-were-foreign-born-in-mlb-opening-day.html that 28% of the players in MLB were immigrants. The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, Columbia and Panama were the suppliers of those players – in that order.
Forbes tells us about 2016 – “During the 2016 season, Americans have watched a real World Series, with players born in at least 13 different countries. According to data made public by major league baseball, the leading country of origin for players on 2016 Opening Day rosters (and disabled lists) was the Dominican Republic (82 players), followed by Venezuela (63) Cuba (28), Mexico (12), Japan (8), South Korea (8), Canada (6), Panama (4), Colombia (3), Curacao (3), Brazil (2) and Taiwan (2). (Note: Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth.)
Today, approximately 26% of major league baseball players are foreign-born, a more than five-fold increase from the 1940s.” In that year the most popular immigrants were Jose Altuve (Venezuela) and David Ortiz (Dominican Republic).
 
The year that Blyleven went in to the HOF he was joined by Robbie Alomar Alomar was from Puerto Rico – Blyleven, as we know, was born in the Netherlands. In the HOF, Clemente, Marichal, Aparicio, Jenkins, Cepeda, Perez, and our Rod Carew were all foreign born. http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/throwback/201102/foreign-born-players-baseballs-hall-fame
 
I love this list – the first foreign born player from each country – not the only one and not necessarily the best one. and Bleacher report tries to name the 50 best foreign born - http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/1006505-50-greatest-foreign-born-players-in-baseball-history
 
 
But this is not new. I remember stories from my Grandfather’s and father’s generations when immigrants were told that if they wanted to fit in they needed to learn baseball. Baseball was the American Sport and if you knew baseball you would fit in. The following article captures the Italian efforts in the early 1900’s to learn baseball – some like the DiMaggio’s learned quite well - “Lawrence Baldassaro explores the role Italian-Americans have played in America’s pastime. He offers a straightforward “chronological history of the evolution of Italian Americans in professional baseball” from Ed Abbaticchio, who made his debut in 1897, to such recent players as Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio.”
 
From the start the Minnesota Twins had an international connection. In the 1960’s before the recent surge in Foreign born players, the Twins had a Cuban connection that brought us Camilo Pascual, Tony Oliva, Zoilo Versalles, Sandy Valdespino, and Luis Tiant. And from Venezuela – Cesar Tovar who took us to the 1965 World Series. In their first years, when I was an usher, I always tried to get near the first base bag as the game moved on and the seats were full so I could watch my favorite player – Vic Power from Puerto Rico. I loved Pedro Ramos who complimented Pascual on the mound and does anyone remember Elmer Valo from Slovakia? Or Reno Bertoia from Italy who lived in Canada and is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame? There were 9 foreign born players on our first Minnesota Twins team.
 
So what about the current team?
1. Ehire Adrianza – Venezuela
2. Miguel Sano – Dominican Republic
3. Jose Berrios – Puerto Rico
4. Adalberto Mejia – Dominican Republic
5. Fernando Rodney – Dominican Republic
6. Ervin Santana – Dominican Republic
7. Michael Pineda – Dominican Republic
8. Gabriel Moya – Venezuela
9. Lewis Thorpe – Australia
10. Eduardo Escobar – Venezuela
11. Jorge Polanco – Dominican Republic
12. Max Kepler – Germany
13. Eddie Rosario – Puerto Rico
14. Kennys Vargas – Puerto Rico
 
 
Maybe this is what make’s baseball the real American Game. It goes back to our roots and our roots spread around the world. Earlier I wrote a blog about American Indians that starred in baseball, beyond them everyone is an immigrant and our game is better because they are here.

In the past baseball was a path out of the ghettos for Irish, Italians, Jewish, Germans...Today immigrants still need to learn baseball. In an era when we are wasting money on walls and deportations, one of the best ways to get into our nation is to be able to hit a baseball over the wall. In 2013 Fox News ran this story http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/04/03/over-28-percent-players-were-foreign-born-in-mlb-opening-day.html that 28% of the players in MLB were immigrants. The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, Columbia and Panama were the suppliers of those players – in that order.
Forbes tells us about 2016 – “During the 2016 season, Americans have watched a real World Series, with players born in at least 13 different countries. According to data made public by major league baseball, the leading country of origin for players on 2016 Opening Day rosters (and disabled lists) was the Dominican Republic (82 players), followed by Venezuela (63) Cuba (28), Mexico (12), Japan (8), South Korea (8), Canada (6), Panama (4), Colombia (3), Curacao (3), Brazil (2) and Taiwan (2). (Note: Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth.)
Today, approximately 26% of major league baseball players are foreign-born, a more than five-fold increase from the 1940s.” In that year the most popular immigrants were Jose Altuve (Venezuela) and David Ortiz (Dominican Republic).
 
The year that Blyleven went in to the HOF he was joined by Robbie Alomar Alomar was from Puerto Rico – Blyleven, as we know, was born in the Netherlands. In the HOF, Clemente, Marichal, Aparicio, Jenkins, Cepeda, Perez, and our Rod Carew were all foreign born. http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/throwback/201102/foreign-born-players-baseballs-hall-fame
 
I love this list – the first foreign born player from each country – not the only one and not necessarily the best one. and Bleacher report tries to name the 50 best foreign born - http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/1006505-50-greatest-foreign-born-players-in-baseball-history
 
 
But this is not new. I remember stories from my Grandfather’s and father’s generations when immigrants were told that if they wanted to fit in they needed to learn baseball. Baseball was the American Sport and if you knew baseball you would fit in. The following article captures the Italian efforts in the early 1900’s to learn baseball – some like the DiMaggio’s learned quite well - “Lawrence Baldassaro explores the role Italian-Americans have played in America’s pastime. He offers a straightforward “chronological history of the evolution of Italian Americans in professional baseball” from Ed Abbaticchio, who made his debut in 1897, to such recent players as Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio.”
 
From the start the Minnesota Twins had an international connection. In the 1960’s before the recent surge in Foreign born players, the Twins had a Cuban connection that brought us Camilo Pascual, Tony Oliva, Zoilo Versalles, Sandy Valdespino, and Luis Tiant. And from Venezuela – Cesar Tovar who took us to the 1965 World Series. In their first years, when I was an usher, I always tried to get near the first base bag as the game moved on and the seats were full so I could watch my favorite player – Vic Power from Puerto Rico. I loved Pedro Ramos who complimented Pascual on the mound and does anyone remember Elmer Valo from Slovakia? Or Reno Bertoia from Italy who lived in Canada and is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame? There were 9 foreign born players on our first Minnesota Twins team.
 
So what about the current team?
1. Ehire Adrianza – Venezuela
2. Miguel Sano – Dominican Republic
3. Jose Berrios – Puerto Rico
4. Adalberto Mejia – Dominican Republic
5. Fernando Rodney – Dominican Republic
6. Ervin Santana – Dominican Republic
7. Michael Pineda – Dominican Republic
8. Gabriel Moya – Venezuela
9. Lewis Thorpe – Australia
10. Eduardo Escobar – Venezuela
11. Jorge Polanco – Dominican Republic
12. Max Kepler – Germany
13. Eddie Rosario – Puerto Rico
14. Kennys Vargas – Puerto Rico
 
 
Maybe this is what make’s baseball the real American Game. It goes back to our roots and our roots spread around the world. Earlier I wrote a blog about American Indians that starred in baseball, beyond them everyone is an immigrant and our game is better because they are here.

It’s the Hall of Fame selection, not the president of the United States that is being chosen. Its time for all the sabrematricians and the modern sports writers to get off their rocking horses and forget the angst. Jack Morris is in the Hall of Fame. He almost made it in the regular selection process and should have if I chose, but there was no hesitation on the veteran committee. He is in because he was a big game pitcher. He was the head of the rotation, he played for good teams and made good teams into winners. Stuff the ERA and other statistical nonsense. He was a winner and I like winners. I like the horse – the man who is willing to take the ball and give you as many innings as you need.
 
 
How Jack Morris Complicates Future Hall of Fame Selections is an essay on ESPN http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/85069/how-jack-morris-complicates-future-of-hall-of-fame-pitcher-selections
 
The fact is, I consider it nonsense. Do we really elect by comparison? The man who shines in any decade or period of baseball history does so because he meets the demands of his own time. I know that NY is mad because Jack is in and Mussina is not. But do you realize that the narrative was never the same. They did not talk about Mussina like they did Morris. They did not rely on Mussina like that did Morris. Nice pitcher Mussina, but I never thought of you as HOF.
 
 
Morris does not present any problems, the limit on how many can be voted on never created any problems. The problem for the voters is that they have to really think about who they are voting for. If there were so many great HOF candidates they could have put in 5 – 7 a year, but they did not. Because someone wants Bonds and someone else does not matters little in the long run. Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, Clemens and Bonds are getting more press for not getting in than they would have if they had slid in and we had moved on.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are not in because their resumes are weak. They had chemical induced homeruns, but nothing else. Move on. Frankie Frisch manipulated the committee to put in a number of questionable players – that’s done. We have no vote them out. They set low bars. So what. Move on.
When I think HOF I think of players that had great careers, but also players who stepped up in big moments, players who shifted our perspective. I am not looking to compare HOF players, I simply want the best of our generation in with the best of previous generations. I want Jack, I do not want Mussina. I want Thome, not Vlad, I want good stories and if some that I disagree with make it in, so what. I am fine with that. The HOF is about stories and the election process is a story in and of itself.
 
 
To those who obsess over Jack Morris – Buster Olney – I say give over it. Make your vote and move on. To Jack, I can only say I am delighted that you made it and proud to have you in the hall.

With Justin Morneau returning to Minnesota it just seems to fulfill destiny. The Canadians have only two teams – Toronto (officially) and that offshoot of Ontario called Minnesota with the Twins (Jumeaux). Canada should celebrate both and we should take pride in straddling the border with both temperature and hockey to welcome our northern kin.
 
Morneau was a natural and Colorado was just a blip on his resume. Now he is coming back home. Welcome Justin – you can let your o’s get longer and slip in an Eh! Or two.
 
While baseball in Canada does not get the same respect as Venezuela or the Dominican Republic or a few other slightly warmer places, it is still a viable location for our favorite sport. In fact, they have a Baseball Hall of Fame - http://baseballhalloffame.ca/
 
Since we have had such a great success with Justin I thought I should give it some additional perspective – who else has come from Canada to be Twins? We might have made MLB history when we replaced one Canadian pitcher – Scott Diamond with another Canadian call up – Andrew Albers. Add in Jesse Crain and we had a plethora of Canadian arms.
 
On February 4, 2015 Cordel Leonard (Corey) Koskie was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame! I suspect that Morneau will join him soon. Most surprising to me was Corey’s real name. For some reason I do not think I ever heard it.
 
Koskie had 936 hits 124 Hrs, and a career 825 OPS. http://m.mlb.com/player/136731/corey-koskie He was a good player! Justin Morneau 1603 hits, 281 BA, 247 hrs, and 828 OPS. Damn good player. Imagine Justin and Joe without concussions!
 
Not all our Canadians were stars – remember Rene Tosoni? I was rooting for him. And, of course, we crossed the border the other way too – Paul Molitor was a star for Toronto in the World Series.
 
We were not the only destination for Canadians, but we came out near the top. George Selkirk, a Yankee who played with Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Dickey is considered the greatest of Canadian Players, but maybe they will reconsider. I would put Ferguson Jenkins up for that honor and Joey Votto is moving up the list and Larry Walker is the most under rated.
 
And should you still need some Canadian love – look up Tip, The Woodstock Wonder, O’Neill, the Canadian Babe Ruth!
 
All I can say is Bienvenue (welcome back). By the way is a translation needed: jumeaux = twins.

With Justin Morneau returning to Minnesota it just seems to fulfill destiny. The Canadians have only two teams – Toronto (officially) and that offshoot of Ontario called Minnesota with the Twins (Jumeaux). Canada should celebrate both and we should take pride in straddling the border with both temperature and hockey to welcome our northern kin.
 
Morneau was a natural and Colorado was just a blip on his resume. Now he is coming back home. Welcome Justin – you can let your o’s get longer and slip in an Eh! Or two.
 
While baseball in Canada does not get the same respect as Venezuela or the Dominican Republic or a few other slightly warmer places, it is still a viable location for our favorite sport. In fact, they have a Baseball Hall of Fame - http://baseballhalloffame.ca/
 
Since we have had such a great success with Justin I thought I should give it some additional perspective – who else has come from Canada to be Twins? We might have made MLB history when we replaced one Canadian pitcher – Scott Diamond with another Canadian call up – Andrew Albers. Add in Jesse Crain and we had a plethora of Canadian arms.
 
On February 4, 2015 Cordel Leonard (Corey) Koskie was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame! I suspect that Morneau will join him soon. Most surprising to me was Corey’s real name. For some reason I do not think I ever heard it.
 
Koskie had 936 hits 124 Hrs, and a career 825 OPS. http://m.mlb.com/player/136731/corey-koskie He was a good player! Justin Morneau 1603 hits, 281 BA, 247 hrs, and 828 OPS. Damn good player. Imagine Justin and Joe without concussions!
 
Not all our Canadians were stars – remember Rene Tosoni? I was rooting for him. And, of course, we crossed the border the other way too – Paul Molitor was a star for Toronto in the World Series.
 
We were not the only destination for Canadians, but we came out near the top. George Selkirk, a Yankee who played with Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Dickey is considered the greatest of Canadian Players, but maybe they will reconsider. I would put Ferguson Jenkins up for that honor and Joey Votto is moving up the list and Larry Walker is the most under rated.
 
And should you still need some Canadian love – look up Tip, The Woodstock Wonder, O’Neill, the Canadian Babe Ruth!
 
All I can say is Bienvenue (welcome back). By the way is a translation needed: jumeaux = twins.

It’s the Hall of Fame selection, not the president of the United States that is being chosen. Its time for all the sabrematricians and the modern sports writers to get off their rocking horses and forget the angst. Jack Morris is in the Hall of Fame. He almost made it in the regular selection process and should have if I chose, but there was no hesitation on the veteran committee. He is in because he was a big game pitcher. He was the head of the rotation, he played for good teams and made good teams into winners. Stuff the ERA and other statistical nonsense. He was a winner and I like winners. I like the horse – the man who is willing to take the ball and give you as many innings as you need.
 
 
How Jack Morris Complicates Future Hall of Fame Selections is an essay on ESPN http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/85069/how-jack-morris-complicates-future-of-hall-of-fame-pitcher-selections
 
The fact is, I consider it nonsense. Do we really elect by comparison? The man who shines in any decade or period of baseball history does so because he meets the demands of his own time. I know that NY is mad because Jack is in and Mussina is not. But do you realize that the narrative was never the same. They did not talk about Mussina like they did Morris. They did not rely on Mussina like that did Morris. Nice pitcher Mussina, but I never thought of you as HOF.
 
 
Morris does not present any problems, the limit on how many can be voted on never created any problems. The problem for the voters is that they have to really think about who they are voting for. If there were so many great HOF candidates they could have put in 5 – 7 a year, but they did not. Because someone wants Bonds and someone else does not matters little in the long run. Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, Clemens and Bonds are getting more press for not getting in than they would have if they had slid in and we had moved on.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are not in because their resumes are weak. They had chemical induced homeruns, but nothing else. Move on. Frankie Frisch manipulated the committee to put in a number of questionable players – that’s done. We have no vote them out. They set low bars. So what. Move on.
When I think HOF I think of players that had great careers, but also players who stepped up in big moments, players who shifted our perspective. I am not looking to compare HOF players, I simply want the best of our generation in with the best of previous generations. I want Jack, I do not want Mussina. I want Thome, not Vlad, I want good stories and if some that I disagree with make it in, so what. I am fine with that. The HOF is about stories and the election process is a story in and of itself.
 
 
To those who obsess over Jack Morris – Buster Olney – I say give over it. Make your vote and move on. To Jack, I can only say I am delighted that you made it and proud to have you in the hall.

Ah, New Years, time for resolutions that will last a week or two. Let’s lose all our extra pounds, work out more, be smarter, be more beautiful… Well it is a time of reflection which is good and it is a time for hope. And no sport is better situated to take advantage of hope than baseball. Hockey and basketball are in the middle of their never-ending seasons and football just eliminated hope for over half their teams with the playoffs about to begin. But baseball is in the smoky haze of the hot stove. It is a time to reflect, speculate, lie, and hope. We are all equal, we can all sign the big star, we know the next great player is about to be called up from the minors, and we are all undefeated. So, until Spring training ends, I nominate the Twins as the 2018 World Series champions. I can revisit that prediction many times in the next few months and like most New Years resolutions and predictions it will be hard to remember anyway.
 
But there are some interesting stories in MLB that revolve around that eternal hope. In 90 years baseball had no team go from worst to first! Not one. Then over the next two dozen years we had 11 teams do it. That doesn’t happen in football – sorry Cleveland – but baseball is a resilient sport. Remember 1991? The Twins and the Braves both went worst to first and the greatest world series of all times took place that year. I am still excited remembering those games and walking down the street after each victory.
 
Then we cheat – instead of 2 leagues there are three divisions in each of the leagues giving six chances for worst to first. But if you won, who cares! Imagine the year 2000 and how impossible it would have seemed to have both the Red Sox and the Cubs win the World Series – both with the same GM! That is really worst to first.
Even the seven teams that have never won a World Series: the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Nationals, the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres can look ahead and hope. Seattle and Washington can hope to get to their first world series ever. It is all possible – probably not likely – but possible.
 
For teams that have been to the World Series, but have not won for a long, long time we always have hope – for the last two years Cleveland hoped to join the Red Sox/Cubs bandwagon, but now have a drought of 69 years since they won a championship. The Pirates are the National League team with the longest drought since winning. I remember the WE ARE FAMILY teams of Clemente and Stargell; well it has been 38 years since they won.
 
Perhaps the most difficult drought for me to accept is in Baltimore where we had all those great Earl Weaver teams with perennial 20 game winners throughout the rotation and the Robinsons at bat and in the field. But they have 34 years since their last greatness. And the list goes on with the Tigers, Mets, Dodgers, etc. But all have hope today. Today everyone is a winner.
 
In 2003 the Florida Marlins won a world series with Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett! I think that is the same team that just got rid of their MVP, all world slugger and anyone else that can lift a baseball bat, but maybe they can find the magic anyway (I doubt it). In 2003 they had Ivan Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Mike Lowell – not all studs, but they won! One of the worst world series champions, but who cares – there are no asterisks in the champion list and of course they then got rid of their best players – sounds familiar?
 
Or the unlikely 1987 Minnesota Twins. I remember watching the Hrbek wrestling match on first base while sitting in a bar in Arizona. The bar went crazy and I had one of the best laughs ever. Do you remember who pitched besides Viola and Blyleven? Good luck.
 
And if we are remembering worst to first we should also look back on the Florida Marlins again for some perspective. In 1997 the won the World Series and in 1998 their record was 54 – 108. What kind of ownership does this? Jeter was not around in those years.
 
The same potential lies in every player. Mickey Vernon hit 275 before going in to the service. Then he came out to win the batting title beating teammate Ted Williams. Going back to a more natural average he hit 251 until he was 35 and suddenly won his second title – yes, every year is a clean slate. I remember the shock of Detroit Slugger Norm Cash winning the batting title win a 361 average. For 17 years he was known for home runs and not average (he was also known for corking his bat), but that year he set the league on fire.
 
Who will be our surprise of the new year? Who will come out of no where to be the next Mark (Big Bird) Fidrych? The bird was as famous for his mound presence as he was for pitching, but a 19 – 4 record with a 2.34 era and a 1.08 Whip is hard to ignore.
 
I remember well the 1957 seasons when the Milwaukee braves called up Bob Hazle who went crazy and was the star of the team – that included Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn. He hit 403 in 41 games and was probably the world series winners MVP.
 
We all know Bill James for his Sabremetrics (Aside – I am not big on Marvin Miller, GMs, owners, umps, etc in HOF but I would put in Bill) however this is about the big surprises that carry the year and the Bill James that makes that list was a pitcher who was known as Seattle Bill. He completed 30 of 37 starts with a 1.90 era! He was outstanding in the WS as well with 11 scoreless innings for the 1914 Braves and then he faded – fast!
Joe Charboneau was a Cleveland star who was going to bring back the team glory. A slugger with charisma – he even got his own song - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
 
q=joe+charboneau+song&view=detail&mid=C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9&FORM=VIRE he was famous for opening beer bottles with his eyelids - Great story – short career! But how fun for Cleveland that one year.
There was Brady Anderson who hit 12 – 15 homeruns a year for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 1996 he hit 50! Some stars like Bob Grim who won 20 games as a Yankee Rookie, but was devastated by a line drive are a much sadder remembrances of how things can change.
 
Baseball is filled with stories and promise. So Happy New Year and congratulations to the 2018 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins (so far).

Ah, New Years, time for resolutions that will last a week or two. Let’s lose all our extra pounds, work out more, be smarter, be more beautiful… Well it is a time of reflection which is good and it is a time for hope. And no sport is better situated to take advantage of hope than baseball. Hockey and basketball are in the middle of their never-ending seasons and football just eliminated hope for over half their teams with the playoffs about to begin. But baseball is in the smoky haze of the hot stove. It is a time to reflect, speculate, lie, and hope. We are all equal, we can all sign the big star, we know the next great player is about to be called up from the minors, and we are all undefeated. So, until Spring training ends, I nominate the Twins as the 2018 World Series champions. I can revisit that prediction many times in the next few months and like most New Years resolutions and predictions it will be hard to remember anyway.
 
But there are some interesting stories in MLB that revolve around that eternal hope. In 90 years baseball had no team go from worst to first! Not one. Then over the next two dozen years we had 11 teams do it. That doesn’t happen in football – sorry Cleveland – but baseball is a resilient sport. Remember 1991? The Twins and the Braves both went worst to first and the greatest world series of all times took place that year. I am still excited remembering those games and walking down the street after each victory.
 
Then we cheat – instead of 2 leagues there are three divisions in each of the leagues giving six chances for worst to first. But if you won, who cares! Imagine the year 2000 and how impossible it would have seemed to have both the Red Sox and the Cubs win the World Series – both with the same GM! That is really worst to first.
Even the seven teams that have never won a World Series: the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Nationals, the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres can look ahead and hope. Seattle and Washington can hope to get to their first world series ever. It is all possible – probably not likely – but possible.
 
For teams that have been to the World Series, but have not won for a long, long time we always have hope – for the last two years Cleveland hoped to join the Red Sox/Cubs bandwagon, but now have a drought of 69 years since they won a championship. The Pirates are the National League team with the longest drought since winning. I remember the WE ARE FAMILY teams of Clemente and Stargell; well it has been 38 years since they won.
 
Perhaps the most difficult drought for me to accept is in Baltimore where we had all those great Earl Weaver teams with perennial 20 game winners throughout the rotation and the Robinsons at bat and in the field. But they have 34 years since their last greatness. And the list goes on with the Tigers, Mets, Dodgers, etc. But all have hope today. Today everyone is a winner.
 
In 2003 the Florida Marlins won a world series with Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett! I think that is the same team that just got rid of their MVP, all world slugger and anyone else that can lift a baseball bat, but maybe they can find the magic anyway (I doubt it). In 2003 they had Ivan Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Mike Lowell – not all studs, but they won! One of the worst world series champions, but who cares – there are no asterisks in the champion list and of course they then got rid of their best players – sounds familiar?
 
Or the unlikely 1987 Minnesota Twins. I remember watching the Hrbek wrestling match on first base while sitting in a bar in Arizona. The bar went crazy and I had one of the best laughs ever. Do you remember who pitched besides Viola and Blyleven? Good luck.
 
And if we are remembering worst to first we should also look back on the Florida Marlins again for some perspective. In 1997 the won the World Series and in 1998 their record was 54 – 108. What kind of ownership does this? Jeter was not around in those years.
 
The same potential lies in every player. Mickey Vernon hit 275 before going in to the service. Then he came out to win the batting title beating teammate Ted Williams. Going back to a more natural average he hit 251 until he was 35 and suddenly won his second title – yes, every year is a clean slate. I remember the shock of Detroit Slugger Norm Cash winning the batting title win a 361 average. For 17 years he was known for home runs and not average (he was also known for corking his bat), but that year he set the league on fire.
 
Who will be our surprise of the new year? Who will come out of no where to be the next Mark (Big Bird) Fidrych? The bird was as famous for his mound presence as he was for pitching, but a 19 – 4 record with a 2.34 era and a 1.08 Whip is hard to ignore.
 
I remember well the 1957 seasons when the Milwaukee braves called up Bob Hazle who went crazy and was the star of the team – that included Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn. He hit 403 in 41 games and was probably the world series winners MVP.
 
We all know Bill James for his Sabremetrics (Aside – I am not big on Marvin Miller, GMs, owners, umps, etc in HOF but I would put in Bill) however this is about the big surprises that carry the year and the Bill James that makes that list was a pitcher who was known as Seattle Bill. He completed 30 of 37 starts with a 1.90 era! He was outstanding in the WS as well with 11 scoreless innings for the 1914 Braves and then he faded – fast!
Joe Charboneau was a Cleveland star who was going to bring back the team glory. A slugger with charisma – he even got his own song - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
 
q=joe+charboneau+song&view=detail&mid=C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9&FORM=VIRE he was famous for opening beer bottles with his eyelids - Great story – short career! But how fun for Cleveland that one year.
There was Brady Anderson who hit 12 – 15 homeruns a year for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 1996 he hit 50! Some stars like Bob Grim who won 20 games as a Yankee Rookie, but was devastated by a line drive are a much sadder remembrances of how things can change.
 
Baseball is filled with stories and promise. So Happy New Year and congratulations to the 2018 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins (so far).

Ah, New Years, time for resolutions that will last a week or two. Let’s lose all our extra pounds, work out more, be smarter, be more beautiful… Well it is a time of reflection which is good and it is a time for hope. And no sport is better situated to take advantage of hope than baseball. Hockey and basketball are in the middle of their never-ending seasons and football just eliminated hope for over half their teams with the playoffs about to begin. But baseball is in the smoky haze of the hot stove. It is a time to reflect, speculate, lie, and hope. We are all equal, we can all sign the big star, we know the next great player is about to be called up from the minors, and we are all undefeated. So, until Spring training ends, I nominate the Twins as the 2018 World Series champions. I can revisit that prediction many times in the next few months and like most New Years resolutions and predictions it will be hard to remember anyway.
 
But there are some interesting stories in MLB that revolve around that eternal hope. In 90 years baseball had no team go from worst to first! Not one. Then over the next two dozen years we had 11 teams do it. That doesn’t happen in football – sorry Cleveland – but baseball is a resilient sport. Remember 1991? The Twins and the Braves both went worst to first and the greatest world series of all times took place that year. I am still excited remembering those games and walking down the street after each victory.
 
Then we cheat – instead of 2 leagues there are three divisions in each of the leagues giving six chances for worst to first. But if you won, who cares! Imagine the year 2000 and how impossible it would have seemed to have both the Red Sox and the Cubs win the World Series – both with the same GM! That is really worst to first.
Even the seven teams that have never won a World Series: the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Nationals, the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres can look ahead and hope. Seattle and Washington can hope to get to their first world series ever. It is all possible – probably not likely – but possible.
 
For teams that have been to the World Series, but have not won for a long, long time we always have hope – for the last two years Cleveland hoped to join the Red Sox/Cubs bandwagon, but now have a drought of 69 years since they won a championship. The Pirates are the National League team with the longest drought since winning. I remember the WE ARE FAMILY teams of Clemente and Stargell; well it has been 38 years since they won.
 
Perhaps the most difficult drought for me to accept is in Baltimore where we had all those great Earl Weaver teams with perennial 20 game winners throughout the rotation and the Robinsons at bat and in the field. But they have 34 years since their last greatness. And the list goes on with the Tigers, Mets, Dodgers, etc. But all have hope today. Today everyone is a winner.
 
In 2003 the Florida Marlins won a world series with Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett! I think that is the same team that just got rid of their MVP, all world slugger and anyone else that can lift a baseball bat, but maybe they can find the magic anyway (I doubt it). In 2003 they had Ivan Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Mike Lowell – not all studs, but they won! One of the worst world series champions, but who cares – there are no asterisks in the champion list and of course they then got rid of their best players – sounds familiar?
 
Or the unlikely 1987 Minnesota Twins. I remember watching the Hrbek wrestling match on first base while sitting in a bar in Arizona. The bar went crazy and I had one of the best laughs ever. Do you remember who pitched besides Viola and Blyleven? Good luck.
 
And if we are remembering worst to first we should also look back on the Florida Marlins again for some perspective. In 1997 the won the World Series and in 1998 their record was 54 – 108. What kind of ownership does this? Jeter was not around in those years.
 
The same potential lies in every player. Mickey Vernon hit 275 before going in to the service. Then he came out to win the batting title beating teammate Ted Williams. Going back to a more natural average he hit 251 until he was 35 and suddenly won his second title – yes, every year is a clean slate. I remember the shock of Detroit Slugger Norm Cash winning the batting title win a 361 average. For 17 years he was known for home runs and not average (he was also known for corking his bat), but that year he set the league on fire.
 
Who will be our surprise of the new year? Who will come out of no where to be the next Mark (Big Bird) Fidrych? The bird was as famous for his mound presence as he was for pitching, but a 19 – 4 record with a 2.34 era and a 1.08 Whip is hard to ignore.
 
I remember well the 1957 seasons when the Milwaukee braves called up Bob Hazle who went crazy and was the star of the team – that included Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn. He hit 403 in 41 games and was probably the world series winners MVP.
 
We all know Bill James for his Sabremetrics (Aside – I am not big on Marvin Miller, GMs, owners, umps, etc in HOF but I would put in Bill) however this is about the big surprises that carry the year and the Bill James that makes that list was a pitcher who was known as Seattle Bill. He completed 30 of 37 starts with a 1.90 era! He was outstanding in the WS as well with 11 scoreless innings for the 1914 Braves and then he faded – fast!
Joe Charboneau was a Cleveland star who was going to bring back the team glory. A slugger with charisma – he even got his own song - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
 
q=joe+charboneau+song&view=detail&mid=C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9&FORM=VIRE he was famous for opening beer bottles with his eyelids - Great story – short career! But how fun for Cleveland that one year.
There was Brady Anderson who hit 12 – 15 homeruns a year for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 1996 he hit 50! Some stars like Bob Grim who won 20 games as a Yankee Rookie, but was devastated by a line drive are a much sadder remembrances of how things can change.
 
Baseball is filled with stories and promise. So Happy New Year and congratulations to the 2018 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins (so far).

If you're a Minnesota Twins fan, you're probably already well aware of the allegations that independent photographer Betsy Bissen went public via Twitter a couple days ago with her #MeToo experience involving Twins star Miguel Sano. I won't go into all the details but you can easily find them with a quick browser search.
 
(This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com)
 
http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/metoo-300x169.jpg
 
In a nutshell, Betsy's account is that, following an autograph session at a memorabilia store in 2015, Sano forcibly attempted to pull her into a restroom. The struggle, from which she ultimately extricated herself, lasted several terrifying minutes.
 
Over the past few weeks and months, we've seen victim after victim of male abuse of power/position come to light, most predominantly in the Hollywood, political and corporate environments. However, to my limited knowledge, this is perhaps the first allegation against a major league professional athlete, at least since the #MeToo movement came to prominence.
 
Given the historically misogynistic world of professional sports, the only surprising thing is that it took this long for experiences such as Betsy's to become public. Her allegation may or may not have been the first involving a MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL player, but I think we can be pretty certain it won't be the last.
 
MLB is beginning an investigation into the allegations regarding Sano, as is their responsibility and duty, apparently, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement with the MLB Players Association. It is proper, I know, for those who know neither Sano nor Bissen personally, to decide they want to hold off on judgement until MLB does it's investigation thing.
 
Most of us who know Betsy at all (I consider myself her friend, though we are not what either of us, I'm sure, would consider to be close friends) are not generally feeling compelled to wait out an investigation before expressing our unequivocal support for her.
 
In fact, since she went public, she has received what would at least be considered public corroborative support from various parties who have, in the past, been at least somewhat familiar with Mr. Sano's treatment of women in manners not inconsistent with what Betsy described.
 
One person, Mike Holmdahl, recounted via Twitter that he had observed Sano making a female usher in Chattanooga uncomfortable during Sano's playing days with the Lookouts earlier in the same season that the event involving Bissen took place. That person was told by a senior usher there that they were so aware of Sano's activities with regard to female ushers that they had made an effort to avoid posting females near the home dugout. (You can find Holmdahl's full recounting as part of Brandon Warne's excellent piece at Zone Coverage.)
 
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports wrote that he had been told by, "five people, including teammates, ex-teammates and confidants, with whom he has spent time," that they characterized Sano as someone who, "saw the pursuit of women as sport," One of them called Sano "a ticking time bomb."
 
Jeff Goldklang, a member of the ownership group that currently owns the St. Paul Saints (for whom Bissen does some photography work) and previously owned the Twins' class high-A Ft. Myers Miracle related via Twitter that, "I've seen enough of both people to have absolutely no doubts in this story's veracity. I've personally seen Sano act inappropriately towards a woman- while in uniform, no less."
 
In fact, given these statements of at least partial corroboration, it does lead one to wonder what the Twins' front office knew about Sano's issues with women and when they knew it. But that's a question for another day and, if the MLB and the media do their jobs, we'll possibly get some answers some day.
 
All of this is just by way of saying that it would appear that Betsy Bissen is worthy of the support that her friends and many others are giving her.
 
But I'm not writing this to say I support her. She deserves more than that.
 
I'm writing to say, "Thank you," to Betsy for having the courage to speak out, knowing that the result would not be 100% supportive - that there would be a significant - and very vocal - segment of the population of Twins Territory who would demonize her for speaking out (conveniently hiding behind anonymous social media pseudonyms in most cases, of course}.
 
I will admit that Betsy's public allegations made me uncomfortable, just as the whole #MeToo movement has made me uncomfortable. But you know what? It's SUPPOSED to make me uncomfortable.
 
It's supposed to make me take stock of my own views and treatment of women - past, present and, in particular, future. And it has done just that.
 
I'm a 61 year old man. And while I certainly have never behaved toward any woman the way that Betsy related that Sano behaved toward her, I'm absolutely certain my words and actions toward women at various points in my life would not stand up to the spotlight that #MeToo is shining on us today.
 
I'm not naive enough to think #MeToo and people like Betsy Bissen are going to quickly and dramatically change the way we view and treat women in our society, especially, perhaps, in an era where our country has elected an openly misogynist President, sending a signal to a considerable segment of our population that it's OK to behave similarly toward our wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters and granddaughters.
 
In fact, I doubt we'll see the kind of change that is needed take hold fully during my lifetime.
 
But, thanks to people like Betsy and others possessing similar courage, I have hope that my two grandsons (ages 2 and 4) will grow up in a world where they don't even question whether it's appropriate to treat girls and women with respect and, frankly, just common decency.
 
More importantly yet, I have hope that my not-quite-yet born granddaughter will grow up in such a world.
 
I have hope that she will grow up knowing that, if she aspires to be a sports photographer (or an actress or a political aide or a corporate executive), she shouldn't have to accept that being subject to what Betsy Bissen went through (or much worse) is considered just the price of admission into her chosen profession or avocation.
 
So, on behalf of my granddaughter and myself, let me just say it.
 
Thank you, Betsy.

Maybe it was seeing Bo Jackson on a commercial, looking like a younger version of George Foreman that got me thinking about two sport athletes, maybe it is the big deal that is being made over Ohtani being a two way pitcher/hitter in the major leagues, or perhaps it was looking at the baseball cards from my old favorite Milwaukee Braves, but suddenly I was thinking about athletes, baseball players, who actually excelled in two sports at the major league level. Not the Michael Jordan type of athlete who day dreamed about being a superstar in another professional league, but those who actually made it to the professional ranks in two separate sports.
 
Bo Jackson achieved great legendary status as both a professional Football Player and a professional Baseball player. He not only played the two sports until injury ruined his career, but he made the all-star team in both Baseball and Football. His accumulated statistics for an eight year baseball career were: 598 H, 141 HR, 200 BB, 841K 415 RBI, .250AV, OPS 784 8.3 WAR
 
 
Another Football baseball player who really excelled and is in the hall of fame for one sport and made the all-star team in the other was Deion Sanders who made it as a two sport star two years after Bo Jackson and played major league baseball from 1989 to 2001 and football from 1989 – 2005..
 
 
Speed played well in both sports and in baseball he had an accumulated 5.5 WAR, 558 hits and a .263 batting average with 39 homeruns, and 186 stolen bases. His OPS was 711. One year he led the league in triples, twice he was second in stolen bases and he played in the 1992 world series for the braves.
 
 
Gene Conley had been a Boston Celtic and a Milwaukee Brave. He was tall, but especially for that time. This was before we got used to Randy Johnson and seeing a tall man make the mound seem to grow to a mountain. But Gene was not a HOF player in either basketball or baseball, just a good player and, somehow, I doubt if he had any coaching that new how to take advantage of his natural talent and his length. Today, we know that the angle of a tall pitcher is significant and so is the extra reach that gains them some inches if not feet to shrink the distance from mound to bat. http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b5fecb6f
 
 
He played in the major leagues for 11 years, with the Braves in both Boston and Milwaukee for six years and then with the Phillies and the Red Sox. His record was 91- 96 with a 3.82 era, 10 saves, 888K in 1588.2 innings, and a career whip of 1.33. He was on the World Series winning Milwaukee Braves team.
 
 
During that same period he played four years with the Celtics, during which they won 3 world championships and he averaged six points and six rebounds per game. He came back to the NBA after a period where he was only in one sport and played two more years.
 
 
He was born in 1930 in Oklahoma and in his high school years he was a three-sport star in Richland Washington, adding track to his repertoire. At 18, the six-foot eight-inch freshman chose Washington State where he was the star and leadING scorer for the Cougars. In 1949 he was a Northwest league all-star as a pitcher and played in New York in the Hearst all-star game beating Frank Torre (Joe’s brother who would be his teammate on the braves). In 1950 his college team was runner up for the national champion. He then turned pro.
 
 
In his first minor league year he won 20 games and had a 3 – 1 K/BB rate. He used a fastball and a curve and never added a third pitch to his arsenal, something that might have lifted him even higher in this career accomplishments. By 1952 he was the fourth starter in the braves rotation that was anchored by Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. That year he played for the Celtics (with permission) but was late for spring training and sent to the minors where he won 23 games and was the American Association player of the year.
 
 
In 1954 he was in a car accident which would give him back problems that would plague his career. Still he won 14 games and pitched in the All-star game and finished third for Rookie of the year behind Wally Moon and Ernie Banks.
 
 
In 1955 he blew out his rotator cuff and I mean blew it out. The popping sound that came at the moment of injury was heard by his catcher – Del Crandall. No Tommy John surgery then, he pitched with it and had over 100 cortisone shots during the remainder of his career.
 
 
Returning to the Celtics for another championship run he angered the Braves GM and was traded to the Phillies where he won 12 games for the last place team. Retiring to Foxboro, Massachusetts where he and his wife ran a paper company. His final victory was a personal one, when a fan told him he was too good to be seen drunk and he gave up liquor from that moment on. His sports from then on were golf and skiing.
 
 
The final question that I had was how many had this two-sport career? In the early years of baseball and the NFL there were many who crossed over with nearly 70 having a career in both football and baseball beginning with such career stars as Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, and George Halas. Seven football hall of famers played major league baseball. One of the later day stars that preceded Bo Jackson was Vic Janowicz, the 1954 Heisman trophy winner from Ohio State played baseball for the Pirates for two years and then football for the Redskins for two years.
Brian Jordan is not a household name (neither is Gene Conley) but he had a 15 year career with the St Louis Cardinals during which he accumulated a 32.8 WAR, had 1454 hits, batted 282 with 184 Homeruns and 821 Rbis. His OBP was 333 and slugging – 455. Nice career. He played three years with the Falcons had 5 interceptions and four sacks.
 
 
Drew Henson was the last of the two-way football/ baseball players, but he only makes this as a footnote and not because he excelled in either.
 
 
Basketball had a much lower number of two-way players, with 12. From that list the most impressive baseball talent was Dick Groat of the Pirates and Dave DeBusschere and Danny Ainge starred in basketball more than baseball. The National Hockey League has not had crossover stars, but this article gives you six prominent baseball players (including Justin Morneau and Tom Glavine) who were good at Hockey - http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/blog/article.jsp?content=article&content_id=44302058
 
 
Times have changed in many ways and one in particular – the length of seasons. Basketball playoffs are now finished in June – eliminating half the baseball season and baseball goes into November eliminating the beginning of basketball and football camp is in July and the Superbowl is half way through the basketball season. Too be honest, I preferred the more seasonal schedules. Basketball and Hockey cannot sustain my interest when it warms up and I am not ready for football until September.
 
 
There may not be duel sport heroes like these any more, but they deserve a special place in our sports history.

Last night I was doing research for a lecture I am going to give when I guide a trip to Nashville next fall. Nashville is most famous for the Grand Ole Opry and performers like Bill Monroe so I was looking at the history of Blue Grass – Monroe is the acknowledged creator of this form of music – and all of a sudden I was into baseball. Hard to imagine, but when a lecturer and college instructor begins researching the path can lead a number of directions. The passage from the book, Bluegrass, by Neil Rosenberg caught my attention was: “ At about this time Monroe added a new dimension to his show, taking advantage of his love of baseball to reconstitute the band as a baseball team. While the crew setting up the tent show finished their job (they traveled in advance of the band), Monroe or one of his band members would issue a challenge to the local ball club. Fiddler Jim Shumate, with Monroe in 1944-1945, recalls that “we had good crowds just for a ball game. We had a lot of fun. We played for keeps and had a good team. We had uniforms and everything. I played shortstop.” Former pro-ball player Clyde Moody pitched and Monroe, who would, but for his poor sight, “have liked to be a baseball player”…”
They would often have their tent show music right at the ball field and after the concert the musicians would change clothes and the ball game would commence. One of the band members said that “having the ball team was good for our spirit; it helped build morale in the band.” These road trips could be up to six months long and that wears on any performer so diversion was very important.
The concerts were very popular and the games probably drew more fans than most minor league games did. Monroe liked it so much that he formed two ball teams, one permanently in Nashville called the Bluegrass Ballclub, and one that toured – the Bluegrass All-Stars.
This was the age of barnstorming teams – image Ruth and Gehrig coming to your town to play against a local team! It was also an age when every town had a team. America was truly the National Past time and Monroe’s teams fit right in with the era. They would drive 3000 miles a week making their tent shows and ball games, always getting back to Nashville for Saturday night on Grand Ole Opry. With 5 or 6 games a week the team would play over 110 games a year.
Monroe loved to reminisce about the club, “When we would come to bat, we had two men that could, mind you, get on base. They was hard to get out. The third man, you couldn’t strike him out hardly at all – he could hit that ball. The cleanup man and the fifth man was mighty at drivin’ in runs. It was hard to get by them first five men up there. And we also had two men who could steal home.”
Monroe was not the first nor the only one to have a ball team. Louis Armstrong had a team called the Secret Nine and Cab Calloway Band’s team included both Cab and his bass player. These two black owned teams were before Monroe, but what set Monroe apart was the fact that he was White and no other white bands did this at that time. Later Tom Dorsey would sponsor a team as well as Lionel Hampton and Harry James.
Monroe’s biggest regret was that his team was scheduled to play The House of David Team and they cancelled the game. He really wanted that one, it would have felt like the majors to him. Monroe had arranged to have Dizzy Dean play for them if that game had taken place.
By the 1950s television changed things. Fewer fans went to see minor league teams play and there were fewer town ball teams. Monroe said, “It seemed like baseball kinda played out. I don’t really know what happened to it right there, but a in a lot of cities it just stopped.” Television would create new issues for the nation and for the sport. New revenue streams, more rich and poor teams, access to MLB in minor league cities. Monroe looked back at this change and said, “They’re a lot alike-it seems like the people that loves baseball are the people that loves bluegrass music.”
It is hard to imagine any sport being so ingrained into a national psyche the way baseball was. Maybe soccer in most countries has this status now, but in the first half of the twentieth century baseball was everywhere and the ultimate trip to the majors came through townball, school sports, semi-pro, minor league, independent leagues and finally the limited sixteen major league teams. The best of competitive athletes were baseball players.
http://research.sabr.org/journals/bluegrass-baseball-barnstorming-band-and-ball-club
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/266309/pdf

I really didn’t think I needed to write this article. I really didn’t think I’d let the awful commentary on social media get to me. I figured it would die down after a few days. I was wrong. Very wrong. For having signed two notable named Asian players, Twins Territory (and what I hope is a very vocal minority[see what I did there?]) sure is up-in-arms about potentially signing two more.
 
With the news of the Twins actively pursuing both Yu Darvish (who comes with his own set of health concerns) and Shohei Ohtani (a young Japanese phenom who can pitch and hit), there seems to be a few comments on every article or Twitter comment thread about the fears of signing another Asian ballplayer.
 
For being one of the largest continents on the planet (even encompassing parts of Russia), Asia is made up of 48 different countries. Some of the bigger countries of note are China, Russia, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and South Korea. Huh. There are a lot of countries in Asia where the people who reside there sure don’t look alike. In fact, they don’t even speak the same language or share a government.
 
But for Twins fans, it’s been an almost daily occurrence where some Rube (see: casually racist social media user) has made a comment about not taking a chance on another Asian ballplayer since Tsuyoshi Nishioka and ByungHo Park didn’t pan out in the major leagues.
 
Injuries aside, and the fact that they “look alike” (which they don’t at all, unless you just see a tan skinned person with black hair who comes from the same continent and assume they’re from the exact same place), the Twins have the potential to sign a possible once-in-a-lifetime player in Shohei Ohtani, and a 4-time All Star in Yu Darvish. Improvements to the one part of the team Twins fans have complained about improving for almost a decade: pitching.
 
I jumped ahead though. Let’s go back to Nishioka and Park. Nishioka is a Japanese baseball player who plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, based in Japan. Byung-Ho Park is a Korean baseball player who plays in the Korean Baseball Organization, based in Korea. While those two countries are relatively close to each other, they are not the same.
 
Neither are the Caucasian, Latino, and African ballplayers that have come through the Twins’ organization over the years, in much larger quantities too. Some Twins fans are now basing their choice to not pursue Ohtani specifically, based on the fact Nishioka and Park didn’t work out. Seems like an incredibly small sample size to base your opinion on, and it also comes off as racist. I don’t see these same people crying wolf that the Twins shouldn’t have chased after Royce Lewis, Hunter Greene, or Brendan McKay based on the fact that former Caucasian and African-American players didn’t pan out. If it didn’t matter then, why should it matter where Ohtani comes from?
 
The Twins have an opportunity to sign a superstar ballplayer to join an already impressive young core of talent from the across the planet. Take a look at the Twins’ 25-man roster this season and see what countries all of the players that helped contribute to a postseason berth for the first time since 2010 call home. After you’ve done that, find it in yourself to consciously stop using the “Nishioka and Park” argument against signing Ohtani. If you’re incapable of doing so because you can’t figure out how to say you don’t trust an unproven player with no MiLB or MLB experience (there, I figured it out for you!), then maybe you should keep your awful opinions to yourself.
 
And no, we don’t all look alike.
 
– Panda Pete (South Korean)

I read the announcement that the Twins were going back on to WCCO and I was delighted. It did not get as much attention now as it would have 30 years ago (of course they were on WCCO then) but that is because TV and all the cable networks have changed the way that we enjoy the game.
​Growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950's I would take my little transistor radio to bed with me and hide under the pillows to listen to Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh tell me about the Milwaukee Braves game. In the dark those voices brought the game to life and I felt like I knew the announcers and the team. I even rooted for them when a foul ball was hit and their fishing net would come out of the broadcast booth to try and catch it.
 
They painted word pictures and made the game something that Television could not. Today we talk about pace of game and I, like so many others, really do mind that the games I listened to are so much longer - https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/1/29/7921283/baseball-game-length-visual-analysis In those years of transistor radio enjoyment the game was done in less that 2 1/2 hours. I would not have made it through the 3+ hours that the same game takes today - I would have fallen asleep or I would have been busted. And of course TV is part of the problem. No forced radio time outs they could put their ads in during the lulls that are part of the game. The lulls in activity did not stand out like they do on TV where they have to run the replays 5 or 6 times. The conversation in the booth seemed to involve me and I was sometimes sorry when they got cut off by the play on the field.
​When the Twins came I heard Halsey Hall who was always good for mangling the narrative, the smooth Ray Scott and Bob Wolff for 1961; replaced by Herb Carneal which made the broadcast the best ever! So baseball remains a radio sport for me, the best of all sports on radio. The chaos of moving parts in Hockey, Soccer, and Basketball do not lend themselves to thoughtful listening for me and I drift away quickly. Football is the only other sport I can listen to because like baseball there are lots of open moments between plays when the announcer and the analyst can talk and fill in the blanks. They enrich while the three continuous action sports are a race for the announcer to keep up.
 
I love the sound of a baseball game in the background whether driving or splitting wood. I enjoy it biking, hiking, sitting on the deck and watching the feeders. I can tune it out and still catch the sense of excitement when a play happens that I do not want to miss because the intensity of the voices. I know they will replay it in ways that make seem like I saw the play myself.
 
But then the Twins went on a search for something better - KSTP, TWTN, and KGQO. Since I am very rural I have no idea where the last two stations are and they do not broadcast out into the woods where I live. It is true that many of us in the rural landscape have television (even though I do not) and they get cable, but when you are in the rural areas there are farm chores, woodland chores, repairs to be made, things to do, even travel to be done and those are not places where you can watch TV.
 
When the Twins needed support in the past they had a ready support from the rural area, but then they built the new stadium and shut off the voice in the rural landscape. In recent years I was able to listen to an affiliate station in our area that carried the broadcast, but traveling further afield I do not have Sirius Radio so I searched, often in vain, for the Twins game. For a team that carries the State's name this is not acceptable.
 
So WCCO I am pleased that your are back. Not only can I now find the Twins, but you might even catch me listening to something else on your station, something I have not done since the Twins left. Will you bring back Danny and Corey or will there be a new voice? If I might suggest - Corey is quite good, but I think I have heard all of Danny's stories.

I read the announcement that the Twins were going back on to WCCO and I was delighted. It did not get as much attention now as it would have 30 years ago (of course they were on WCCO then) but that is because TV and all the cable networks have changed the way that we enjoy the game.
​Growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950's I would take my little transistor radio to bed with me and hide under the pillows to listen to Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh tell me about the Milwaukee Braves game. In the dark those voices brought the game to life and I felt like I knew the announcers and the team. I even rooted for them when a foul ball was hit and their fishing net would come out of the broadcast booth to try and catch it.
 
They painted word pictures and made the game something that Television could not. Today we talk about pace of game and I, like so many others, really do mind that the games I listened to are so much longer - https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/1/29/7921283/baseball-game-length-visual-analysis In those years of transistor radio enjoyment the game was done in less that 2 1/2 hours. I would not have made it through the 3+ hours that the same game takes today - I would have fallen asleep or I would have been busted. And of course TV is part of the problem. No forced radio time outs they could put their ads in during the lulls that are part of the game. The lulls in activity did not stand out like they do on TV where they have to run the replays 5 or 6 times. The conversation in the booth seemed to involve me and I was sometimes sorry when they got cut off by the play on the field.
​When the Twins came I heard Halsey Hall who was always good for mangling the narrative, the smooth Ray Scott and Bob Wolff for 1961; replaced by Herb Carneal which made the broadcast the best ever! So baseball remains a radio sport for me, the best of all sports on radio. The chaos of moving parts in Hockey, Soccer, and Basketball do not lend themselves to thoughtful listening for me and I drift away quickly. Football is the only other sport I can listen to because like baseball there are lots of open moments between plays when the announcer and the analyst can talk and fill in the blanks. They enrich while the three continuous action sports are a race for the announcer to keep up.
 
I love the sound of a baseball game in the background whether driving or splitting wood. I enjoy it biking, hiking, sitting on the deck and watching the feeders. I can tune it out and still catch the sense of excitement when a play happens that I do not want to miss because the intensity of the voices. I know they will replay it in ways that make seem like I saw the play myself.
 
But then the Twins went on a search for something better - KSTP, TWTN, and KGQO. Since I am very rural I have no idea where the last two stations are and they do not broadcast out into the woods where I live. It is true that many of us in the rural landscape have television (even though I do not) and they get cable, but when you are in the rural areas there are farm chores, woodland chores, repairs to be made, things to do, even travel to be done and those are not places where you can watch TV.
 
When the Twins needed support in the past they had a ready support from the rural area, but then they built the new stadium and shut off the voice in the rural landscape. In recent years I was able to listen to an affiliate station in our area that carried the broadcast, but traveling further afield I do not have Sirius Radio so I searched, often in vain, for the Twins game. For a team that carries the State's name this is not acceptable.
 
So WCCO I am pleased that your are back. Not only can I now find the Twins, but you might even catch me listening to something else on your station, something I have not done since the Twins left. Will you bring back Danny and Corey or will there be a new voice? If I might suggest - Corey is quite good, but I think I have heard all of Danny's stories.

I read the announcement that the Twins were going back on to WCCO and I was delighted. It did not get as much attention now as it would have 30 years ago (of course they were on WCCO then) but that is because TV and all the cable networks have changed the way that we enjoy the game.
​Growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950's I would take my little transistor radio to bed with me and hide under the pillows to listen to Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh tell me about the Milwaukee Braves game. In the dark those voices brought the game to life and I felt like I knew the announcers and the team. I even rooted for them when a foul ball was hit and their fishing net would come out of the broadcast booth to try and catch it.
 
They painted word pictures and made the game something that Television could not. Today we talk about pace of game and I, like so many others, really do mind that the games I listened to are so much longer - https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/1/29/7921283/baseball-game-length-visual-analysis In those years of transistor radio enjoyment the game was done in less that 2 1/2 hours. I would not have made it through the 3+ hours that the same game takes today - I would have fallen asleep or I would have been busted. And of course TV is part of the problem. No forced radio time outs they could put their ads in during the lulls that are part of the game. The lulls in activity did not stand out like they do on TV where they have to run the replays 5 or 6 times. The conversation in the booth seemed to involve me and I was sometimes sorry when they got cut off by the play on the field.
​When the Twins came I heard Halsey Hall who was always good for mangling the narrative, the smooth Ray Scott and Bob Wolff for 1961; replaced by Herb Carneal which made the broadcast the best ever! So baseball remains a radio sport for me, the best of all sports on radio. The chaos of moving parts in Hockey, Soccer, and Basketball do not lend themselves to thoughtful listening for me and I drift away quickly. Football is the only other sport I can listen to because like baseball there are lots of open moments between plays when the announcer and the analyst can talk and fill in the blanks. They enrich while the three continuous action sports are a race for the announcer to keep up.
 
I love the sound of a baseball game in the background whether driving or splitting wood. I enjoy it biking, hiking, sitting on the deck and watching the feeders. I can tune it out and still catch the sense of excitement when a play happens that I do not want to miss because the intensity of the voices. I know they will replay it in ways that make seem like I saw the play myself.
 
But then the Twins went on a search for something better - KSTP, TWTN, and KGQO. Since I am very rural I have no idea where the last two stations are and they do not broadcast out into the woods where I live. It is true that many of us in the rural landscape have television (even though I do not) and they get cable, but when you are in the rural areas there are farm chores, woodland chores, repairs to be made, things to do, even travel to be done and those are not places where you can watch TV.
 
When the Twins needed support in the past they had a ready support from the rural area, but then they built the new stadium and shut off the voice in the rural landscape. In recent years I was able to listen to an affiliate station in our area that carried the broadcast, but traveling further afield I do not have Sirius Radio so I searched, often in vain, for the Twins game. For a team that carries the State's name this is not acceptable.
 
So WCCO I am pleased that your are back. Not only can I now find the Twins, but you might even catch me listening to something else on your station, something I have not done since the Twins left. Will you bring back Danny and Corey or will there be a new voice? If I might suggest - Corey is quite good, but I think I have heard all of Danny's stories.

I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he was there. No glove, no glory, he just played.
 
I read a passage from THE TURTLES BEATING HEART by Denise Low, an essay tracing her Delaware Indian heritage and she wrote, "The most substantial evidence of Grandfather's baseball career was his gnarled hands. Grandfather played the physically demanding position of catcher before padded mitts were standard equipment. Several times fastballs broke his fingers, which in old age were knotted with arthritis. The life of a professional baseball player was tough in the early 1900s. Grandfather told my brother about traveling with the Blues from one small town to the next by train. The Kansas City Public Library has records of the Blues, exactly as Grandfather remembered, but only with accounts of wins and losses, not rosters. Baseball was poorly documented during that era, and players were transient as the poorly organized teams."
 
Each year I hear the debates about Hall of Fame and every year I hear that the athletes now are so much better than what they used to be. But of course that is just our need to make our own generation the best ever. The fact is, we are bigger, faster, more athletic than they were in the past, but our diet, our understanding of physiology, our training, our health and our opportunities are better too.
 
The old athlete given everything we have today would be just as great. Jim Thorpe would rise to the medal stand today just as he did when he came off the reservation. The pitchers who tossed every game and won or loss 30 - 40 = 50 games years ago would be the studs today (of course we would only let them throw 5 innings every five or six days.
 
I remember seeing a line drive to third base, the most dangerous position on the field, hit to my grandfather. I remember the speed of the ball and I remember him catching it without gloves. He didn't flinch, he didn't call for the trainer. My god those guys were tough.
 
So, yes today's players are magnificent, but please - do not consider them to be better than the athletes of the past. Statistics do not measure diet, the need to work for the family to survive, the lack of equipment, or the desire of the player. Enjoy today's athlete and honor those who played for the simple love of the game.

I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he was there. No glove, no glory, he just played.
 
I read a passage from THE TURTLES BEATING HEART by Denise Low, an essay tracing her Delaware Indian heritage and she wrote, "The most substantial evidence of Grandfather's baseball career was his gnarled hands. Grandfather played the physically demanding position of catcher before padded mitts were standard equipment. Several times fastballs broke his fingers, which in old age were knotted with arthritis. The life of a professional baseball player was tough in the early 1900s. Grandfather told my brother about traveling with the Blues from one small town to the next by train. The Kansas City Public Library has records of the Blues, exactly as Grandfather remembered, but only with accounts of wins and losses, not rosters. Baseball was poorly documented during that era, and players were transient as the poorly organized teams."
 
Each year I hear the debates about Hall of Fame and every year I hear that the athletes now are so much better than what they used to be. But of course that is just our need to make our own generation the best ever. The fact is, we are bigger, faster, more athletic than they were in the past, but our diet, our understanding of physiology, our training, our health and our opportunities are better too.
 
The old athlete given everything we have today would be just as great. Jim Thorpe would rise to the medal stand today just as he did when he came off the reservation. The pitchers who tossed every game and won or loss 30 - 40 = 50 games years ago would be the studs today (of course we would only let them throw 5 innings every five or six days.
 
I remember seeing a line drive to third base, the most dangerous position on the field, hit to my grandfather. I remember the speed of the ball and I remember him catching it without gloves. He didn't flinch, he didn't call for the trainer. My god those guys were tough.
 
So, yes today's players are magnificent, but please - do not consider them to be better than the athletes of the past. Statistics do not measure diet, the need to work for the family to survive, the lack of equipment, or the desire of the player. Enjoy today's athlete and honor those who played for the simple love of the game.

I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he was there. No glove, no glory, he just played.
 
I read a passage from THE TURTLES BEATING HEART by Denise Low, an essay tracing her Delaware Indian heritage and she wrote, "The most substantial evidence of Grandfather's baseball career was his gnarled hands. Grandfather played the physically demanding position of catcher before padded mitts were standard equipment. Several times fastballs broke his fingers, which in old age were knotted with arthritis. The life of a professional baseball player was tough in the early 1900s. Grandfather told my brother about traveling with the Blues from one small town to the next by train. The Kansas City Public Library has records of the Blues, exactly as Grandfather remembered, but only with accounts of wins and losses, not rosters. Baseball was poorly documented during that era, and players were transient as the poorly organized teams."
 
Each year I hear the debates about Hall of Fame and every year I hear that the athletes now are so much better than what they used to be. But of course that is just our need to make our own generation the best ever. The fact is, we are bigger, faster, more athletic than they were in the past, but our diet, our understanding of physiology, our training, our health and our opportunities are better too.
 
The old athlete given everything we have today would be just as great. Jim Thorpe would rise to the medal stand today just as he did when he came off the reservation. The pitchers who tossed every game and won or loss 30 - 40 = 50 games years ago would be the studs today (of course we would only let them throw 5 innings every five or six days.
 
I remember seeing a line drive to third base, the most dangerous position on the field, hit to my grandfather. I remember the speed of the ball and I remember him catching it without gloves. He didn't flinch, he didn't call for the trainer. My god those guys were tough.
 
So, yes today's players are magnificent, but please - do not consider them to be better than the athletes of the past. Statistics do not measure diet, the need to work for the family to survive, the lack of equipment, or the desire of the player. Enjoy today's athlete and honor those who played for the simple love of the game.

I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he was there. No glove, no glory, he just played.
 
I read a passage from THE TURTLES BEATING HEART by Denise Low, an essay tracing her Delaware Indian heritage and she wrote, "The most substantial evidence of Grandfather's baseball career was his gnarled hands. Grandfather played the physically demanding position of catcher before padded mitts were standard equipment. Several times fastballs broke his fingers, which in old age were knotted with arthritis. The life of a professional baseball player was tough in the early 1900s. Grandfather told my brother about traveling with the Blues from one small town to the next by train. The Kansas City Public Library has records of the Blues, exactly as Grandfather remembered, but only with accounts of wins and losses, not rosters. Baseball was poorly documented during that era, and players were transient as the poorly organized teams."
 
Each year I hear the debates about Hall of Fame and every year I hear that the athletes now are so much better than what they used to be. But of course that is just our need to make our own generation the best ever. The fact is, we are bigger, faster, more athletic than they were in the past, but our diet, our understanding of physiology, our training, our health and our opportunities are better too.
 
The old athlete given everything we have today would be just as great. Jim Thorpe would rise to the medal stand today just as he did when he came off the reservation. The pitchers who tossed every game and won or loss 30 - 40 = 50 games years ago would be the studs today (of course we would only let them throw 5 innings every five or six days.
 
I remember seeing a line drive to third base, the most dangerous position on the field, hit to my grandfather. I remember the speed of the ball and I remember him catching it without gloves. He didn't flinch, he didn't call for the trainer. My god those guys were tough.
 
So, yes today's players are magnificent, but please - do not consider them to be better than the athletes of the past. Statistics do not measure diet, the need to work for the family to survive, the lack of equipment, or the desire of the player. Enjoy today's athlete and honor those who played for the simple love of the game.

I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he was there. No glove, no glory, he just played.
 
I read a passage from THE TURTLES BEATING HEART by Denise Low, an essay tracing her Delaware Indian heritage and she wrote, "The most substantial evidence of Grandfather's baseball career was his gnarled hands. Grandfather played the physically demanding position of catcher before padded mitts were standard equipment. Several times fastballs broke his fingers, which in old age were knotted with arthritis. The life of a professional baseball player was tough in the early 1900s. Grandfather told my brother about traveling with the Blues from one small town to the next by train. The Kansas City Public Library has records of the Blues, exactly as Grandfather remembered, but only with accounts of wins and losses, not rosters. Baseball was poorly documented during that era, and players were transient as the poorly organized teams."
 
Each year I hear the debates about Hall of Fame and every year I hear that the athletes now are so much better than what they used to be. But of course that is just our need to make our own generation the best ever. The fact is, we are bigger, faster, more athletic than they were in the past, but our diet, our understanding of physiology, our training, our health and our opportunities are better too.
 
The old athlete given everything we have today would be just as great. Jim Thorpe would rise to the medal stand today just as he did when he came off the reservation. The pitchers who tossed every game and won or loss 30 - 40 = 50 games years ago would be the studs today (of course we would only let them throw 5 innings every five or six days.
 
I remember seeing a line drive to third base, the most dangerous position on the field, hit to my grandfather. I remember the speed of the ball and I remember him catching it without gloves. He didn't flinch, he didn't call for the trainer. My god those guys were tough.
 
So, yes today's players are magnificent, but please - do not consider them to be better than the athletes of the past. Statistics do not measure diet, the need to work for the family to survive, the lack of equipment, or the desire of the player. Enjoy today's athlete and honor those who played for the simple love of the game.

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichalToday I was motivated by reading an article on ESPN by Bradford Doolittle - hitting the reset on pitcher wins http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21439977/hitting-reset-button-starting-pitcher-wins-baseball
 
As a baseball fan who started out rooting for Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Hank Aaron, and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves and then moving over to the new Twins as an usher for their first season my views are tainted by history and, while I like many new stats, I am bothered by the tendency to throw out the old stats with the recycling.
 
Over and over I hear that wins don't count, then we drool over our greater win totals. True it is a team game and the wins by an individual pitcher have to be looked at under a new lens since the idea of a complete game where the pitcher really does control the outcome has changed and now we have shifted to the bullpen as masters of the mound, but the true aces rise above this.
 
Sale and Kluber, Kershaw and Scherzer are not just great starters, they actually win games, even though they do not pitch very many complete games. To understand my love of the complete game and the true aces you should read about the Spahn/Marichal game in 1963 - https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichal
How nostalgic this game is for me.
 
Now admittedly in this era it is a thrill to see two starters go 7 innings against each other, but that does not diminish the win and loss records. It is true that the scorer never invokes his right to award the win to the most deserving so a relief pitcher can come in throw one ball and then get the win, but that is not all that common. The starter gets his record because he pitches long enough, often enough to get to the position to win.
​And I understand fielding and hitting are essential I remember when Ryan won the ERA title in 1987 came with an 8 - 16 record, hardly a great pct. Yet he overcame the poor teams he pitched for to surpass 300 wins just as Blyleven won 287 games pitching with some mediocre teams. I give him credit for this win total in addition to the new stats that pushed him in the Hall of Fame.
 
I do not want to negate the new approach. In fact the bullpen era will create some interesting statistical aberrations that challenge our ability to compare pitchers from one era to another, but take nothing away from those winners of yesteryear.
 
It is common place to always state today's athletes are the best ever. Kershaw is being anointed by ESPN weekly and he deserves his recognition, but necessarily his ranking. Give the same diet, training and opportunities, the greats of the past would be the greats of today and the greats of today put in another era would still rise to stardom.
 
So how do we judge players? Old stats, new stats, the eye test? Maybe all of them. If real baseball was just a statistical exercise we could dispense with the field and just play strato-matic, but the human element is what gives it greatness and is the reason we still talk about players like Cy Young and Honus Wagner even though they are simply grainy photographs and statistical lines in our life times.

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichalToday I was motivated by reading an article on ESPN by Bradford Doolittle - hitting the reset on pitcher wins http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21439977/hitting-reset-button-starting-pitcher-wins-baseball
 
As a baseball fan who started out rooting for Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Hank Aaron, and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves and then moving over to the new Twins as an usher for their first season my views are tainted by history and, while I like many new stats, I am bothered by the tendency to throw out the old stats with the recycling.
 
Over and over I hear that wins don't count, then we drool over our greater win totals. True it is a team game and the wins by an individual pitcher have to be looked at under a new lens since the idea of a complete game where the pitcher really does control the outcome has changed and now we have shifted to the bullpen as masters of the mound, but the true aces rise above this.
 
Sale and Kluber, Kershaw and Scherzer are not just great starters, they actually win games, even though they do not pitch very many complete games. To understand my love of the complete game and the true aces you should read about the Spahn/Marichal game in 1963 - https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichal
How nostalgic this game is for me.
 
Now admittedly in this era it is a thrill to see two starters go 7 innings against each other, but that does not diminish the win and loss records. It is true that the scorer never invokes his right to award the win to the most deserving so a relief pitcher can come in throw one ball and then get the win, but that is not all that common. The starter gets his record because he pitches long enough, often enough to get to the position to win.
​And I understand fielding and hitting are essential I remember when Ryan won the ERA title in 1987 came with an 8 - 16 record, hardly a great pct. Yet he overcame the poor teams he pitched for to surpass 300 wins just as Blyleven won 287 games pitching with some mediocre teams. I give him credit for this win total in addition to the new stats that pushed him in the Hall of Fame.
 
I do not want to negate the new approach. In fact the bullpen era will create some interesting statistical aberrations that challenge our ability to compare pitchers from one era to another, but take nothing away from those winners of yesteryear.
 
It is common place to always state today's athletes are the best ever. Kershaw is being anointed by ESPN weekly and he deserves his recognition, but necessarily his ranking. Give the same diet, training and opportunities, the greats of the past would be the greats of today and the greats of today put in another era would still rise to stardom.
 
So how do we judge players? Old stats, new stats, the eye test? Maybe all of them. If real baseball was just a statistical exercise we could dispense with the field and just play strato-matic, but the human element is what gives it greatness and is the reason we still talk about players like Cy Young and Honus Wagner even though they are simply grainy photographs and statistical lines in our life times.

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichalToday I was motivated by reading an article on ESPN by Bradford Doolittle - hitting the reset on pitcher wins http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21439977/hitting-reset-button-starting-pitcher-wins-baseball
 
As a baseball fan who started out rooting for Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Hank Aaron, and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves and then moving over to the new Twins as an usher for their first season my views are tainted by history and, while I like many new stats, I am bothered by the tendency to throw out the old stats with the recycling.
 
Over and over I hear that wins don't count, then we drool over our greater win totals. True it is a team game and the wins by an individual pitcher have to be looked at under a new lens since the idea of a complete game where the pitcher really does control the outcome has changed and now we have shifted to the bullpen as masters of the mound, but the true aces rise above this.
 
Sale and Kluber, Kershaw and Scherzer are not just great starters, they actually win games, even though they do not pitch very many complete games. To understand my love of the complete game and the true aces you should read about the Spahn/Marichal game in 1963 - https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichal
How nostalgic this game is for me.
 
Now admittedly in this era it is a thrill to see two starters go 7 innings against each other, but that does not diminish the win and loss records. It is true that the scorer never invokes his right to award the win to the most deserving so a relief pitcher can come in throw one ball and then get the win, but that is not all that common. The starter gets his record because he pitches long enough, often enough to get to the position to win.
​And I understand fielding and hitting are essential I remember when Ryan won the ERA title in 1987 came with an 8 - 16 record, hardly a great pct. Yet he overcame the poor teams he pitched for to surpass 300 wins just as Blyleven won 287 games pitching with some mediocre teams. I give him credit for this win total in addition to the new stats that pushed him in the Hall of Fame.
 
I do not want to negate the new approach. In fact the bullpen era will create some interesting statistical aberrations that challenge our ability to compare pitchers from one era to another, but take nothing away from those winners of yesteryear.
 
It is common place to always state today's athletes are the best ever. Kershaw is being anointed by ESPN weekly and he deserves his recognition, but necessarily his ranking. Give the same diet, training and opportunities, the greats of the past would be the greats of today and the greats of today put in another era would still rise to stardom.
 
So how do we judge players? Old stats, new stats, the eye test? Maybe all of them. If real baseball was just a statistical exercise we could dispense with the field and just play strato-matic, but the human element is what gives it greatness and is the reason we still talk about players like Cy Young and Honus Wagner even though they are simply grainy photographs and statistical lines in our life times.

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichalToday I was motivated by reading an article on ESPN by Bradford Doolittle - hitting the reset on pitcher wins http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21439977/hitting-reset-button-starting-pitcher-wins-baseball
 
As a baseball fan who started out rooting for Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Hank Aaron, and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves and then moving over to the new Twins as an usher for their first season my views are tainted by history and, while I like many new stats, I am bothered by the tendency to throw out the old stats with the recycling.
 
Over and over I hear that wins don't count, then we drool over our greater win totals. True it is a team game and the wins by an individual pitcher have to be looked at under a new lens since the idea of a complete game where the pitcher really does control the outcome has changed and now we have shifted to the bullpen as masters of the mound, but the true aces rise above this.
 
Sale and Kluber, Kershaw and Scherzer are not just great starters, they actually win games, even though they do not pitch very many complete games. To understand my love of the complete game and the true aces you should read about the Spahn/Marichal game in 1963 - https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichal
How nostalgic this game is for me.
 
Now admittedly in this era it is a thrill to see two starters go 7 innings against each other, but that does not diminish the win and loss records. It is true that the scorer never invokes his right to award the win to the most deserving so a relief pitcher can come in throw one ball and then get the win, but that is not all that common. The starter gets his record because he pitches long enough, often enough to get to the position to win.
​And I understand fielding and hitting are essential I remember when Ryan won the ERA title in 1987 came with an 8 - 16 record, hardly a great pct. Yet he overcame the poor teams he pitched for to surpass 300 wins just as Blyleven won 287 games pitching with some mediocre teams. I give him credit for this win total in addition to the new stats that pushed him in the Hall of Fame.
 
I do not want to negate the new approach. In fact the bullpen era will create some interesting statistical aberrations that challenge our ability to compare pitchers from one era to another, but take nothing away from those winners of yesteryear.
 
It is common place to always state today's athletes are the best ever. Kershaw is being anointed by ESPN weekly and he deserves his recognition, but necessarily his ranking. Give the same diet, training and opportunities, the greats of the past would be the greats of today and the greats of today put in another era would still rise to stardom.
 
So how do we judge players? Old stats, new stats, the eye test? Maybe all of them. If real baseball was just a statistical exercise we could dispense with the field and just play strato-matic, but the human element is what gives it greatness and is the reason we still talk about players like Cy Young and Honus Wagner even though they are simply grainy photographs and statistical lines in our life times.