04/26/24
December 09, 2018
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
For several years, my friend Steve has had to work every other weekend.
Whenever the Patriots play the Dolphins when Steve is on duty, the Dolphins win. Always.
Steve is on duty today.
posted by beaverboard at 04:13 PM on December 09, 2018
Steve: the hero that the rest of America needs but doesn't deserve.
posted by NoMich at 05:47 PM on December 09, 2018
I feel justified in my low opinion of the MLB HOF
posted by tron7 at 10:19 PM on December 09, 2018
Harold Baines?!
Really?
His claims to fame:
- Played 12 seasons after a team retired his number (White Sox).
- Since the age of integration in baseball (1947), 63 players have accumulated at least 10,000 plate appearances. In terms of WAR (baseball reference calculations), Baines finishes second last (38.7), ahead of just Bill Buckner (15.1).
- WAA (wins above average) is a way of calculating players that weren't just filling roster spots, but providing ABOVE AVERAGE value during a season/career. Among all 42 inactive players that accumulated between 35 and 40 WAR (post-integration), Harold Baines' WAA total is the lowest (1.8). Other luminary players in that list: Tim Wallach (9.2 WAA), Magglio Ordonez (11.3), Reggie Sanders (18.1), and Jessie Barfield (21.9).
- He led the league in one stat, in one season, over the 22 seasons he played (SLG, .543, 1984).
Edit: From a reddit thread about Baines:
here's a list of things Harold Baines never did on a baseball diamond:
get 200 hits in a season
hit 40 doubles in a season
hit 30 home runs in a season
steal more than 10 bases in a season
score 90 runs in a season
finish higher than 9th in MVP voting
have a season of 5.0 or higher WAR (r or f) or better than 3.5 WARP (that's Baseball Prospectus for the uninitiated)
posted by grum@work at 11:44 PM on December 09, 2018
Baines is the guy who belongs to your local club or political organization. He shows up for every meeting, contributes modestly to the activities, but he never really does much of note. His claim to fame is that he has stayed around so long, and after his active membership expired he continued to extol the virtues of the group, everyone feels like he has done something really great. Length of career and post-career activity should not be qualification for the Hall of Fame.
posted by Howard_T at 03:28 PM on December 10, 2018
Length of career and post-career activity should not be qualification for the Hall of Fame
I don't recall anyone saying that about Cal Ripken Jr.
posted by BornIcon at 02:05 PM on December 11, 2018
Probably has something to do with Ripken being almost 3x as valuable by WAR in his time in the game. Harold Baines was a good hitter for a long time. That's not the elevator pitch for a Hall of Fame player.
posted by yerfatma at 03:27 PM on December 11, 2018
RIP Tim Rossovich, who was a legendary figure when I was in high school. It seemed as though there was a new story about him every week. Each more outrageous than the last.
Here's an article written at the time that captures the flavor of his zany antics. I vividly recall reading it when it was published.
He sets fire to himself less frequently than you would think. "It is not something you do every day," he says.