Adding it up

Yaz

Baseball has a ton of stats. There are stats for everything. You have hits, runs, number of strings on the webbing of a first baseman’s mitt, and other assorted great things. Some are pretty much ignored, others almost worshipped.

One of my favorites, which sits somewhere between ignored and worshipped, is Total Bases. For those who don’t know the stat is singles+ (doublesx2)+(triplesx3)+(homerunsx4)=total bases. It’s a quick way of seeing exactly what a player has done on the basepaths. The higher the total bases, the more hits and the more slugging a player has contributed to his team. I like it because it’s simple and it does its job well. It has a huge flaw and if you’re quick, you’ve already noticed it. It doesn’t include walks, which is sort of equivalent to a single. Despite what you may have been told in Little League by a coach saying “A walk is as good as a hit,” it’s not exactly the same because with a man on base a walk gives him one base. A single might give him two or more.

So I decided to take a look at the men at the top of the total base list. Their names are Aaron, Musial, Mays, Bonds, Cobb, Alex Rodriguez, Ruth, Rose, Pujols, and Yastrzemski. You’ve probably heard of them. What I did was take their total bases (as given by BaseballReference.com) and add to that number their walks (same source). I didn’t factor out intentional walks because they are not complete for early players like Cobb. I also didn’t add in hit batsman or catcher’s interference (other ways to get on base) because those numbers are so small that they didn’t make a difference in the calculations. If you’re interested in doing this yourself, feel free to add them in (and to factor out intentional walks if you think that’s best). The list above (Aaron, Musial, Mays, et.al.) is in order of total bases. With walks factored in, the list reads:

Barry Bonds-8534

Henry Aaron-8258

Babe Ruth-7855

Stan Musial-7733

Willie Mays-7530

Carl Yazstremski-7484

Pete Rose-7318

Alex Rodriguez-7151

Ty Cobb-7103

Albert Pujols-6946

A couple of quick points. First, Pujols is still active so will rise up the list probably. Second, I didn’t look at the total bases and walks of players not in the top 10 in total bases. It is entirely possible that someone listed 11th or lower would, when walks are added, move ahead of one of the current top 10.

I found this interesting and thought I’d pass it along.

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1919: 100 Years On

Judge Landis’ plaque at Cooperstown

It’s now 2019. That makes it 100 years from the nadir of Major League Baseball. It’s not something to celebrate, but it is something to note.

In 1919, the Black Sox Scandal occurred. A number of gamblers bribed members of the American League champion Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The players were promised $10,000 each and most of them never got that much, but they did manage to lose the Series. In 1920 it came out into public view and the sport was rocked to its core.

As far as I know, MLB isn’t going to even acknowledge the event, let alone commemorate it. That’s a shame. They say we learn from our mistakes, and some of us do, at least occasionally. This is a time to look back at the event and let MLB talk about what it learned from the Black Sox.

It learned quite a lot, actually. It learned that there needed to be someone in charge who could make decisions without the consent of the owners (or the players either). That got MLB the Commissioner system and Kenesaw Mountain Landis. It’s difficult to like Landis, but he did move immediately to clean up the gambling aspects of the sport. Those measures still hold today, as Pete Rose finally discovered. Baseball learned that innovation wasn’t necessarily bad and allowed the explosion of home runs as epitomized by Babe Ruth to continue, changing the nature of how the game was played. Those are both valuable lessons.

But MLB didn’t learn to deal with one of the more significant issues that led to the Scandal, the pay of players. It would take into the 1970s, a union, and an arbitrator to begin addressing the problem. If you can double your salary by losing five games (the 1919 World Series was a best of nine), why wouldn’t you at least consider it? With million dollar salaries today, that’s virtually impossible.

In all this I make no comment on the guilt or innocence of any particular player. That’s not my point. I don’t want to see baseball take an inordinate amount of time detailing the guilt or innocence of Joe Jackson. Rather, I want it to look at the Scandal in an open manner and address it as an historical event that changed the game.

And by the way, I’m not holding my breath waiting for anything to happen. I’ve also commented on this recently, but I wanted to insure that it remained fresh in the new year.

Padding Time

Way back when I was a little kid, my grandfather, who was by trade a tenant farmer, got a job as a gravedigger. It was far enough back that you still used a shovel to dig the grave. He worked on an hourly wage scale, but sometimes they had to work overtime. They didn’t have overtime wages at the cemetery where he put in his time, so if the crew had to work late the owners would allow them to take a day off when their overtime hours reached eight. So, of course, if there was a grave to be dug late in the day, they’d move a little slower and manage to go an hour over. The crew called it “padding time.”

Baseball has that, sort of. One of the all-time greats, Albert Pujols, is doing “padding time” now. He’s a shadow of his former all-star self. He’s still a decent player, but nothing like what we saw 10 years ago when he was the greatest first baseman I’d ever seen. Right now he’s simply “padding” his career stats and moving up the list on a lot of statistical charts. Currently he’s tied with Jimmie Foxx for 22nd in runs scored, 27th in hits (less than 20 from Rod Carew), 11th in doubles (three from David Ortiz), seventh in home runs all of four behind Ken Griffey, within shouting distance of Lou Gehrig and sixth on the RBI list (and Barry Bonds is only one RB beyond Gehrig), and eighth in total bases (a long way from Pete Rose in seventh).

Now that’s not a knock on Pujols. He’s a great player who is the “padding time” mode and it’s not the first time a player’s done that. Rose, to some extent, did it when trying to pass Ty Cobb in hits.  There’s nothing either immoral or illegal about it and it’s well within baseball’s acceptable traditions.

But it comes with a built-in problem. There are a lot of fans, most of them in California, who will know and remember Pujols only as a nice ball player and not recall the wonderful athlete that became arguably the second greatest St. Louis Cardinals player ever (behind Stan Musial). And that’s a shame. It’s not Pujols fault so much as it’s the fault of the fans, but nonetheless it is bound to happen.

I think that part of the aura that surrounds players like Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax is that there is no “padding time” for either of them, or at least not much with Williams. He’d been falling off for a few years, but there was no collapse into mediocrity for “Teddy Ballgame” and the last homer in the last at bat is the stuff of legends. For Koufax, there’s no long slow decline as his curve doesn’t and is fastball isn’t. For those who saw both and can watch the film of both, there’s no watching a great become a former great. Barry Sanders is like that in football, as is Jim Brown.

It’s kind of painful to watch, but I wouldn’t trade getting to see Pujols, even at half the player he was, perform.

Rose Denied

In case anyone hasn’t seen it, today the Commissioner denied Pete Rose reinstatement to baseball. That means Rose will remain ineligible to participate in any MLB related activities except by special permission of the office of the Commissioner. He will also remain ineligible for election to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Without knowing for sure, I presume this means Rose will remain ineligible through the rest of his lifetime unless there is new evidence in his case, he shows genuine remorse, or there is a new Commissioner.

My only comment is “Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.”

 

The 1980 NLCS: All the Marbles

With the NLCS tied at two games each, Philadelphia and Houston squared off in the Astrodome for game five of the 1980 series. The winner went on to the World Series, the loser went home. For both teams winning would be a unique experience. Houston had never been to a World Series and Philadelphia hadn’t been to one since 1950.

Del Unser

Game 5, 12 October

To send the Astros to the World Series, Houston put Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan on the mound. Philly countered with rookie Marty Bystrom, who hadn’t pitched in the NLCS and was 5-0 in six total Major League games. At the beginning it looked like a bad choice. Astros lead off man Terry Puhl singled to start the bottom of the first, stole second, and came home on a Jose Cruz double. That put Houston up 1-0. But it didn’t hold up for even one inning. In the top of the second a single and walk put Manny Trillo on second and Garry Maddox on first. A ground out moved both up one base with two outs. Phils catcher Bob Boone singled off Ryan to plate both runs and put Philadelphia up 2-1.

That held up through the top of the sixth as Bystrom matched shutout inning for shutout inning with Ryan. In the bottom of the sixth, Denny Walling lofted a fly to left that Greg Luzinski misplayed into two bases for Walling. Then an Alan Ashby single tied up the game 2-2. In the bottom of the seventh Houston exploded for three runs as Puhl singled, came home on a Walling single after Cruz walked. A wild pitch by Phils reliever Larry Christenson brought Cruz home. Art Howe then tripled to score Walling.

But this was game five in 1980 and, well, it wasn’t extra innings yet, so Philadelphia came back in the top of the eighth. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for Pete Rose. He coaxed a walk out of Ryan to make the score 5-3. A Keith Moreland ground out scored the second run. A single by Del Unser, playing right after pinch hitting earlier, and a triple by Trillo gave the Phils a 7-5 lead with six outs to go. They got two. Singles by Craig Reynolds and Puhl put runners on first and third and back-to-back singles tied the game at 7-7.

Philly got a  man as far as third in the top of the ninth but failed to score. Houston went in order in the bottom of the ninth and for the fourth game in a row, and four of five, the NLCS went into extra innings. With one out, Unser doubled. An out later, Maddox doubled plating Unser with the go ahead run. With Dick Ruthven now on the mound, a popup, a liner, and a long fly to center finished off Houston 8-7 and sent Philadelphia to the World Series, where they defeated Kansas City four games to two. Trillo was chosen NLCS MVP.

It was a great series of games, with four of five going into extra innings. Philly outhit Houston .289 to .233, but scored only one more run (20-19).  There was a major difference in the two team’s walks and strikeouts. Philly struck out 37 times and walked 13, while Houston struck out 19 times and walked 31. Greg Luzinski had the only homer for either team (in game 1) but Houston had five triples. Houston had a team ERA of 3.49, just slightly more than Philadelphia’s 3.28, while Philly pitching gave up 40 hits to the Astros’ 55.

Individually Manny Trillo led Philly hitters (players who appeared in all 5 games) by hitting .381 and racking up eight hits. Luzinski and Trillo both had four RBIs while Luzinski and Rose each scored three runs. Steve Carlton’s eight walks led both teams, while Nolan Ryan’s 14 strikeouts easily outpaced everyone else (of course it did).  Tug McGraw picked up two saves (and took a loss) and Dick Ruthven’s 2.00 ERA led Philadelphia starters with five or more innings pitched. Joe Niekro’s 0.00 ERA over 10 innings led all starters.

For a long time now, I’ve said that the 1991 World Series was the best I ever saw. But I’m not sure that for drama, emotion, and utter excitement that the 1980 NLCS wasn’t its equal.

The 1980 NLCS: Games 3 & 4

The Astrodome hosted the third and fourth games of the 1980 NLCS. Houston was neither a hotbed for baseball nor noted for quality sports teams in general. The Astros had been around since the 1960s but were not noted for their winning ways. they had three chances to change that.

Denny Walling

Game 3, 10 October

For game three, the Astros started Joe Niekro. He faced Phillies starter Larry Christenson.  Christenson started only 14 games in 1980, but was 5-1 with a decent walk to strikeout ratio. Both men were excellent. Through six innings no one scored and nobody got beyond second base. Christianson gave up only three hits and Niekro was equally good. In the seventh, the Phils pinch hit for Christianson and brought in Dickie Noles to replace him. Essentially nothing changed. Noles gave up one hit in one and a third inning and Niekro kept chugging along. By the tenth inning there was still no score, Tug McGraw replaced Noles, Niekro kept pitching, and still no one had reached third. In the eleventh, Niekro finally yielded the mound to Dave Smith. Smith allowed a hit and intentionally walked Larry Bowa, but Philadelphia failed to score. Joe Morgan led off the bottom of the 11th with a triple and finally a baserunner reached third. A pair of intentional walks loaded the bases and set up the force play everywhere. Denny Walling, who’d started at first and moved to right field later in the game, came up with no outs. He lofted a long fly to left that scored the first run of the game. It gave Houston a 1-0 victory and a 2-1 lead in games. For the game the Phillies pitchers gave up only six hits, but walked eight (several of them of the intentional variety). Houston allowed seven hits and only two walks. It was an excellent pitching duel that left Houston one win from the World Series.

Manny Trillo

Game 4, 11 October

Down two games to one, Philadelphia brought back ace Steve Carlton in hopes of setting up a game five showdown. Houston countered with 12 game winner Vern Ruhle. The two teams traded zeroes until the bottom of the fourth when Enos Cabell led off with a double and went to third on a groundout. A walk put runners at first and third. Art Howe hit a long sacrifice fly to left that scored Cabell and provided the game’s initial run. A triple and single in the bottom of the fifth put the Astros up 2-0.

The Phillies finally broke through in the eighth when consecutive singles put men on first and second. Pete Rose drove in the first Philadelphia run with another single, both runners advancing on the throw to the plate. An infield single scored the second run to tie the score and put Rose on third. A Manny Trillo fly brought Rose home with the go ahead run. Philly was now six outs from tying up the NLCS. They got three. A leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth put the tying run on base. A ground out and a Terry Puhl single tied the game at 3-3 and for the third straight time the game went into extra innings.

With one out in the top of the tenth, Rose singled. After a second out, Greg Luzinski doubled plating Rose and Trillo followed with another double that scored Luzinski. Now up 5-3, Philadelphia brought in Tug McGraw to close the game. A strikeout and two fly balls accomplished the goal and the Phillies had tied up the NLCS at two games each. A deciding game five the next day would determine who went to the World Series.

Although it did not lead to any runs, the top of the fourth gave the 1980 NLCS its most memorable play. With runners on first and second and no one out, Garry Maddox hit a soft sinking liner to pitcher Ruhle. Ruhle claimed he caught it, then threw to first to double off the runner (Manny Trillo). The first base umpire ruled McBride out but home plate umpire (and Hall of Famer) Doug Harvey said Ruhle didn’t catch the ball. Without calling time, the Phillies manager Dallas Green came onto the field. While he was starting to argue the call, Art Howe, Houston first baseman and current possessor of the ball, raced down to second and tagged the bag, arguing that the runner on second, Bake McBride who was currently standing on third without having returned to second, was out. The second base umpire agreed and called McBride out (making it a triple play). The problem was that the umpiring crew couldn’t agree on whether Ruhle caught the ball or not. After a 20 minute argument and consultation the umps ruled a double play and allowed McBride to return to second with both Maddox and Trillo out. Umpire Harvey ruled that his call of no catch “put the runner (McBride) in jeopardy and he advanced on my call,” an erroneous call. No one was quite sure what happened most people argued there was either one or three outs, but not two. The ruling stood and McBride went back to second with two outs. Larry Bowa then grounded out to finish a totally bizarre half inning.

 

The 1980 NLCS: The games in Philadelphia

Back in 1980 the League Championship Series’ were a best of five with one team hosting the first two games and the other getting game three and the if necessary games. In 1980 that meant the first two games were played in Philadelphia with the follow-up games coming in Houston.

Greg Luzinski

Game 1, 7 October 1980

For game one the Phillies started Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton on the mound while Houston countered with Ken Forsch. Although neither pitcher did particularly well (there were several hits by both teams), there was no scoring until the top of the third when, with one out, Jose Cruz and Cesar Cedano hit back to back singles. After a second out, Gary Woods, playing for regular right fielder Terry Puhl, laced a single scoring Cruz with the games first run. The run held up through the fourth and fifth innings. In the bottom of the sixth Phillies first baseman Pete Rose singled and two outs later Greg Luzinski slugged a ball to deep left center to plate both runs and give Philly a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the seventh Garry Maddox singled. A bunt sacrifice and a stolen base put him on third with Carlton due up. The Phils sent up Greg Gross to pinch hit. He banged a single to left that scored Maddox. With Carlton out of the game Philadelphia went to its closer Tug McGraw in the eighth. He set Houston down in order and when Philadelphia failed to score in the bottom of the eighth, he took a 3-1 lead into the ninth. A walk put a man on first where he stayed as McGraw finished off Houston to give the Phillies the win. It was the last time in the NLCS that the game would end with the ninth inning.

The big heroes were Carlton, who pitched seven innings giving up one run, and Luzinski who powered the winning runs across the plate. Luzinski was injured for much of the year and failed to produce big numbers. Driving in the winning runs served as something of a redemption for him.

Dave Bergman

Game 2, 8 October 1980

Game 2 saw Nolan Ryan take on Dick Ruthven. Neither pitcher had put up stellar numbers during the season, but both began the game pitching well. In the top of the third a walk, a sacrifice, and a Terry Puhl single scored Houston’s first run. It held up until the bottom of the fourth. Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski hit back to back doubles to score Schmidt and tie the game. One sacrifice later a Maddox single scored Luzinski to put Philadelphia ahead 2-1. That scored lasted until the top of the seventh when, with two outs, Ruthven committed one of those baseball sins that haunt teams. He walked the opposing pitcher. Puhl immediately followed the walk with a double that scored Ryan to tie up the game. Both teams picked up one more run in the eighth and were blanked in the ninth, leading to a 3-3 score going into the first extra inning of the NLCS. It was a long, long inning, especially for Philly. Puhl led off the top of the 10th with a single. A bunt sent him to second, then Joe Morgan was intentionally walked. Jose Cruz singled to score Puhl, then a fielder’s choice by Cedeno led to out two, but scored a second run for Houston. With two on Dave Bergman, who’d come in to play first in the eighth inning, tripled to score both Cruz and Cedeno to make the score 7-3. The Phils weren’t through yet. A single, a walk put runners on first and second. A fly produced the first out, then a grounder to short got the second out, but the inability to complete the double play scored a fourth Philadelphia run. Another walk brought the tying run to the plate, but Schmidt flew out to Puhl in right to give Houston a 7-4 victory and even the NLCS at one game apiece.

After a day off, the Series would resume in Houston. It was now a simple best two of three series with Houston having home field for all three games. None of them would finish in nine innings.

 

the 1980 NLCS: Philadelphia

Lefty

Unlike the Astros, the Philadelphia Phillies were, by 1980, something like perennial contenders. They’d made playoff runs in the late 1970s and by 1980 were in one again. Much had changed from those 1970s runs.

After a 30 game stint at the end of 1979, manager Dallas Green was in his first full season as manager. He led a team that finished first, second, or third in almost every major hitting category. It was also a team whose pitching numbers were all over the place.

Part of the problem with the pitching was that the staff was made up of one all-time great and a bunch of other guys. The other guys included starters Dick Ruthven (17 wins), Bob Walk (11 wins), Randy Lerch, Larry Christianson, and Nino Espinosa. Those were all the men who started a dozen or more games. Lerch and Espinosa had losing records; Ruthven, Walk, and Lerch all gave up more hits than they had innings pitched; and Espinosa walked more men than he struck out. Their combined WAR was 2.8. Of course Steve Carlton made up for much of the pitching problem. He went 24-9 with an ERA of 2.34 (ERA+ 162). He led the league in strikeouts ( by more than 80), wins, ERA+, and pitching WAR (10.2). At the end of the season he’d add his third Cy Young Award to his resume.

The bullpen featured ex-Mets hero (and Faith Hill’s father-in-law) Tug McGraw. He put up 20 saves with a 1.46 ERA (260 ERA+), and struck out 75 in 96 innings. Ron Reed and Dickie Noles had a handful of saves and as a whole, the bullpen was equal to, and some might say better, than the starters.

The infield consisted of one of the better known keystone combinations of the era and two potential Hall of Famers at the corners. Larry Bowa was a longtime member of the Phils. He hit .267, stole 21 bases, didn’t walk a lot. His OPS+ stood at all of 71 and his WAR at 0.7. The second baseman was Manny Trillo. He hit .292, had an OPS+ of 104, and was fourth on the team with 3.4 WAR. Cincinnati refugee Pete Rose held down first base. He couldn’t do much in the field anymore, but could still catch the ball. He hit .282 with 12 stolen bases, 185 hits (a critical stat for him), 95 runs scored, on OPS+ of 94, and -0.4 WAR (but +0.6 OWAR). Mike Schmidt at third had a beast of a year. He led the National League in home runs with 48, RBIs with 121, in total bases, in slugging, OPS, OPS+ (171), and had 8.8 WAR. At the end of the season he’d add the MVP to his list of accomplishments. As a third baseman he wasn’t all that great, but was taking a long, slow road toward improvement. Backups included John Vukovich, Luis Aguayo, and Ramon Aviles. Additionally, 38-year-old Tim McCarver got into six games, two at first ( and the rest as a pinch hitter).

The catcher was Bob Boone. Known more for his fielding than hitting, he was considered a good handler of pitchers and had a caught stealing rate of about 33%. Offensively he hit only .229, but logged nine home runs. His backup was Keith Moreland, who got into 62 games in his rookie campaign (he’d played in 15 total games the previous two years). He hit .314, and a 113 OPS+ (0.6 WAR), and was such a good catcher that he ended up playing 1226 games, 169 as a catcher.

The outfield  was in a bit of turmoil with five men getting into 100 or more games (and later Cubs darling Bob  Dernier adding 10 games). Much of the problem lay in left field. Regular left fielder Greg Luzinski banged up his knee and only got into 106 games. And when he was in, he wasn’t producing all that well. He hit .228 with 19 home runs (but did have 56 RBIs), struck out 100 times (but ended up with an OPS+ of 113), and finished with 0.4 WAR. And to top it off he wasn’t much of an outfielder. The problem was his replacement wasn’t much better in the field. Lonnie Smith was called “Skates” for a reason (he looked like he was on ice in the outfield). He did hit well. going .339, with 33 stolen bases (13 caught stealings), 69 runs scored, a 130 OPS+, and 2.3 WAR. Garry Maddox and Bake McBride held down the other outfield positions. Both were much better fielders than either left fielder. McBride hit .309 with 87 RBIs, 116 OPS+, and 3.2 WAR. Maddox had 25 stolen bases, hit .259, hit 11 home runs, had an OPS+ of only 80 (with 1.9 WAR), but was probably the finest center fielder in the league. The other outfielder with 100 or more games was Greg Gross. He hit .240 with no power, but, along with Del Unser, was used as a pinch hitter.

As with Houston, the Phillies were a flawed team. Beyond Carlton the starting pitching was suspect. The infield was better at defense than at offense (Schmidt excepted), and the outfield was in disarray (at least a little–Luzinski was back by the playoffs). They were favored, but not by a lot.

A Rose by Any Other Name

Well, I see that Pete Rose has petitioned the new Commissioner for reinstatement to baseball. For those who’ve forgotten, Rose was banned for life back in the late 20th Century (Geez, has it actually been long enough to be in another century?) because he allegedly bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds. Later on, in his book, he admitted it was true.

There are a lot of comments on the matter, but I’m going to suggest you go to Bleeding Royal Blue at

https://mudshvlst.wordpress.com

It’s a site that normally looks over the goings on of the Kansas City Royals. But he’s just done an article titled “Every Rose has a Thorn.” He sums up nicely the case against Rose being reinstated and, upon reinstatement, being eligible for the Hall of Fame. Go read it. I’d like to say I wrote it, but I didn’t. Wish I had. It sums up very nicely the opposition to Rose. Check it out.

The Core of the Hall: Notes

The post just below this one touches on the 50 people who I think most belong in the Hall of Fame (of those already enshrined). The public comments have been positive, but I’ve also received a handful of private comments (and emails) with questions about the list. This is an attempt to answer those.

1. SportsPhD in his comment below notes a paucity of 19th Century players and speculates that I’m purposefully leaving off players who were active primarily before the advent of the mound. He is correct. I think the change in pitching distance and motion have so effected the game that players before and after those changes must be viewed in entirely different categories. And, yes, there is a certain amount of justice in placing Campanella above Anson.

2. A number of comments have asked why so many Negro Leaguers, especially Turkey Stearnes and Martin DiHigo. I am entirely comfortable in believing that five Negro League players are among the 50 finest players ever. Look at the National League in the 1950s and you’ll note that guys like Aaron, Mays, Clemente, and Frank Robinson are on my list. I don’t think it unreasonable to believe that five players from the period 1920-1950 who were Negro League stars should be included. If you can find four in ten years, surely you can find five in thirty. As to DiHigo I placed him here because of his playing ability, his versatility, and his impact on the game among Latin players. He is instrumental on growing the game in Latin America (as is Clemente) and when coupled with his skills that puts him on my list. Stearnes is a little harder to justify and frankly was one of the last people I included. Most sources claim he is the leader in home runs among Negro Leaguers. That probably is worth adding him, even at the expense of guys like Buck Leonard and John Henry Lloyd.

3. Most people, including those who made public comment on the first Core post, indicate they might have changed a half dozen or so. Actually I think that’s really good. It means that, at least among those people who read this blog, there is a fairly solid consensus as to the top 40 or so players.

4. Someone asked if I was sorry to have to leave off current players or Hall eligible (or in the case of Joe Jackson and Pete Rose ineligible) players. Yes, I was. I’d love to put Albert Pujols on the list as well as Greg Maddux and possibly Rose although I’d have to think long and hard about Charlie Hustle. I’m not sure I see him as a top 50 without reference to the gambling issue. Maybe, maybe not.

5. I was asked “If Campanella was the last man on, who was the last man off?” The answer is Eddie Murray. I really miss putting Murray on the list and I have to admit that a personal prejudice may have gotten in the way here. I always liked Murray, but I loved Campy. I guess in the end that made a difference.

6. Someone asked “If you could cut it down to 10 who would you pick?” Pass.

All this typed for the information of those who asked. This way I don’t have to write up a dozen different responses to a dozen different emails.