Hall of Fame Archives - Page 5 of 10

Baseball Hall of Fame 2018

One could make a good case for Omar Vizquel

Somehow, I missed the fact that the ballots for the 2018 Hall of Fame were distributed in November to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). They voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players and were returned by December 31. The results will be announced on January 24.

The candidates can be found here – inductees will need 75% of the vote.

The ones I would have picked:

1 Barry Bonds (6th year of eligibility, out of 10; 53.8% of the votes last ballot)
2 Roger Clemens (6th year, 54.1%)

Still, by far, the best players on the ballot. One of the greatest position players (Bonds) and pitchers (Clemens) of all time. Performance-enhancing drugs were not really regulated until 2004, and their achievements before any allegations were stellar. They each received over 50% of the vote last time, with 75% needed, which is on the upswing.

3 Vladimir Guerrero (pictured, 2nd year, 71.8%) – the outfielder had career batting average of .318, with 449 home runs. If the ballot wasn’t so stuffed last time, he would have made it then

4 Chipper Jones (1st year) – the third baseman/outfielder spent his 19-year career with the Atlanta Braves and hit over .300, with 468 homers

5 Trevor Hoffman (3rd year, 74.0%) – painfully close for the guy with 601 saves

6 Jim Thome (1st year) – with 612 home runs, he is 8th on the all-time list

7 Larry Walker (8th year, 21.9%) – though having a .313 batting average, his 9.5 years playing his home games in Colorado, advantageous to a hitter, has made him a less attractive choice

8 Edgar Martinez (9th year, 58.6%) – voters have been resistant for voters to select a full-time designated hitter to the Hall, though they’ve picked Frank Thomas, who was a DH about 58% of the time

9 Jeff Kent (5th year, 16.7%) – solid infielder at three positions, solid hitter, and has the same birthday as mine

10 Mike Mussina (5th year, 51.8%) – solid pitcher for many years, not always the ace of the staff – he won 270 games at a point that winning 300, once the gold standard, is almost impossible to achieve with a five-man rotation

One could make a good case for Omar Vizquel, the slick-fielding infielder with over 2800 hits
***
The National Football League playoffs start this weekend. My rooting interests this postseason, in order:
1. Buffalo Bills – only team that plays its home games in New York State
2. Pittsburgh Steelers – the favorite team of Chuck Miller
3. Philadelphia Eagles – my favorite bus driver’s favorite team
4. Carolina Panthers – where my parents moved to in 1974
5. Jacksonville Jaguars – they’ve been terrible for a decade, went from 3-13 in 2016 to 11-5 in 2017, and the city took a beating from Hurricane Irma in September 2017
6-11. whoever
12. New England Patriots

November rambling #2: Narco-a-Lago

“The fish rots from the head”: a historian on unique corruption

What’s killing America’s new mothers?

American hyper-capitalism breeds the lonely, alienated men who become mass killers and Samantha Bee on why “abused women are the canary in the coal mine for mass shootings”

Before Sutherland Springs, the Pulse nightclub and San Bernardino. Before Mother Emanuel church, Sandy Hook, and Aurora. Before Gabby Giffords and Fort Hood, there was Binghamton

A Statistical Companion to “The Vietnam War”

Russia used hundreds of fake accounts to tweet about Brexit

Walking While Black

Can my child be friends with white people?

“We’re not über-ICE” – Albany, NY mayor Kathy Sheehan, interviewed by Tucker Carlson, discussing Albany’s status as sanctuary city (11/16/2017)

I Forgot My PIN: An Epic Tale of Losing $30,000 in Bitcoin

Apparently, the new Firefox download, Quantum, is a pain. One user wrote: “I had the extensions I needed, the page design I was comfortable with, and working more efficiently and effortlessly than ever. This makeover is terrible.” Also, Finding and fixing a Disqus problem

Economic Development: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

In which John Green is stunned by Kiwi kindness

A five-minute animation about the Dunning-Kruger Effect

10 “Spiritual” Things People Do That Are Total BS

Short film: The journey from underdog to basketball star

Traditional Radio Faces a Grim Future

Sitcoms could be better

Now I Know: Pizza It Forward and When the Government Outlawed Love

The Akond of Swat – Edward Lear

Not me: Eighth-grade teacher Roger Green was heading to the press box back in March to announce the varsity baseball game, but he began to feel achy.

THE KAKISTOCRACY

We are reaching Hrench Revolution levels of inequality and injustice

Why billionaires destroy jobs

The Final Victory of JR Ewing

Narco-a-Lago: Making Millions from Panama Development Used to Launder Drug Money

Every scandal plaguing him

“The fish rots from the head”: a historian on unique corruption

Trophies from elephant hunts in Zimbabwe WERE banned in the US

He may be related to 16th-century serial killer ‘Werewolf of Bedburg’

Johnstown Never Believed He Would Help. They Still Love Him Anyway

Tweeting Condolences About The Wrong Mass Shooting

John Oliver Delivers Scathing Review Of Year One

Plus, an oldie (October 2016), but goodie: The growing list of women who have stepped forward to accuse Trump of touching them inappropriately

MUSIC

Thunderstruck – AC/DC

On the Beautiful Blue Danube

Disney medley – Voctave

-ly – Tom Lehrer (Electric Company)

Coverville 1193: Cover Stories for Blue Oyster Cult, Petula Clark and Miley Cyrus (!)

K-Chuck Radio: The Monster Soulful Groove

Stringman – Neil Young

#ROCKHALL2018:THE CARS INTERVIEW

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame snubs

On the subject of Musical Excellence, I restate my case for Billy Preston and a slew of the Wrecking Crew, starting with bassist Carol Kaye.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for 2018:

Bon Jovi
Kate Bush – first time
The Cars
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits – first time
Eurythmics – first time
J. Geils Band
Judas Priest – first time
LL Cool J
MC5
The Meters
Moody Blues – first time
Radiohead – first time
Rage Against the Machine – first time
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Nina Simone – first time
Sister Rosetta Tharpe – first time
Link Wray
The Zombies
“To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of induction which means the 2018 nominees had to release their first official recording no later than 1992.”

Since we can vote for these folks, I cast my ballot for these:

The Moody Blues: #1 on Culture Sonar’s Top Ten Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs. Commercial and critical cred, evolving in musical styles.

Nina Simone, the high priestess of soul – listen to Feeling Good

Two artists I think they should just plop into the Hall as early influencers are Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Godmother of Rock & Roll, and Link Wray, the father of the power chord.

One band that should be in via the Musical Excellence route, and that’s the Meters, who defined New Orleans funk. And on the subject of Musical Excellence, I restate my case for Billy Preston and a slew of the Wrecking Crew, starting with bassist Carol Kaye.

Again, I’m pushing for Estelle Axton, the AX of STAX Records, as a non-performer. Her brother and business partner Jim Stewart has been there since 2002.

Chuck Miller made the case for Neil Sedaka; I’ll buy that, and would suggest that they include his longtime writing partner Howie Greenfield. Like Mann and Weil and Goffin and King, they were successful Brill Building creators.

If I knew the Meters, Tharpe, and Wray would get in another way, I probably would vote for Culture Sonar’s #9 pick The Cars, plus Dire Straits and Eurythmics.

I’m guessing that Bon Jovi, the Cars (high on the fan ballot in previous years) and the Moody Blues will make it.

High on my disappointed they weren’t even nominated:

Emerson Lake & Palmer – while I’d like to see King Crimson, Greg Lake’s previous band, go in first, I’d take whatever prog rock I could get

The Doobie Brothers- oddly enough, the death of Steely Dan’s Walter Becker has made me, even more, a fan of this choice. Only Becker and Walter Fagen are in the Hall, which means original Dan guitarist Jeff Baxter is not. Neither is Michael McDonald, who had a stellar solo career after singing and playing for Steely Dan then reviving the Doobies.

Warren Zevon – yes. a critical darling, whose songs were heavily covered.

Three Dog Night – yes, they didn’t write their own songs. But they made credible recordings covers of a wide range of artists, including musicians that people didn’t know at the time, including Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Elton John and John Hiatt. I really enjoyed their early stuff. And they had 21 consecutive Top 40 hits.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Is Looking for a Librarian

The only cataloging of music material I’ve ever done was for my personal use.

About a half dozen people sent me, usually via Facebook, an article about a job ad: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Is Looking for a Librarian. Now it is true that I am a librarian, and for nearly 25 years. It’s also correct that I am interested in rock and/or roll, based on the one or two articles I’ve written on the subject the past dozen years. I’ve even been to the place in Cleveland, OH the past year, as I indicated here and here.

So I just HAD to look at the job description: “The Librarian reports to the Senior Director of Library and Archives and performs descriptive cataloging of library resources; assists in providing instruction and reference service and engaging users through outreach activities; assists in the collection development of library resources; and supervises the work of the Library Assistant, interns, and volunteers.”

I have done instruction, engaged users online on a few webinars, supervised interns. I’ve had only passing opportunity to do collection development. But I really haven’t done cataloging at all.

Moreover, in looking at the full posting, I have NO “Experience cataloging using RDA, AACR2, Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements (LC-PCC PS), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Library of Congress Genre-Form Terms (LCGFT), and MARC formats.”

In fact, the only cataloging of music material I’ve ever done was for my personal use. For instance, I have several LPs that are compilations with various artists, such as the Warner Brothers Loss Leaders, benefit concerts such as The Secret Policeman’s Ball, and some soundtracks. I created a 3X5 card for each artist, with song and album name, better to make mixed tapes; ah, Arlo Guthrie’s Voter Registration Rag is on Burbank.

And that was about a decade before I even went to library school, which SHOULD have told me something. Was that geeky or what?

So I shan’t be moving to Cleveland, alas. But I appreciate all the notices from the people who have been thinking about me.

Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017

CHICAGO - 1987: Lee Smith of the Chicago Cubs pitches during an MLB game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Smith pitched for the Cubs from 1980-1987. — 1987: Lee Smith of the Chicago Cubs pitches during an MLB game at Wrigley Field. Smith pitched for the Cubs from 1980-1987.

No, I don’t have a vote for who gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017. Those who do must vote by Saturday, December 31, with the results announced Wednesday, January 18, 2017. Here’s the background about each player eligible.

Last year of eligibility:

1) Lee Smith, 15th year of eligibility (received 34.1% of the votes last year; 75% is the threshold)
A guy in USA Today wrote: “I happened to be a huge Lee Smith fan as a kid, and now the longtime closer’s in his 15th and final year of eligibility (though various Eras Committees will give him more shots).

“Smith seems an unfortunate victim of timing: If [Mariano] Rivera hadn’t come up just as his career was winding down, he might be long enshrined by now. But Rivera, especially, set inhuman standards for closing baseball games, and it doesn’t look like Smith will get elected on BBWAA voting.” And he DIDN’T put Smith on HIS ballot!

2) Tim Raines, 10th year (69.8%)
Probably the second-best leadoff hitter, after Rickey Henderson, with speed and power. I have hope he’ll get in this time.

Someone from the freshman class:

3) Ivan Rodriguez, 1st year
Not only a good hitter in his prime but a fine catcher. I picked him over Manny Ramirez, because of the latter’s 2009 suspension for prohibited Performance Enhancing Drugs, which hurt his team. I also considered Vladimir Guerrero, and he’d probably be on my ballot some other year.

The PED guys

The rules regarding performance-enhancing drugs were not clear before 2004. Moreover, as someone noted, this year they inducted former Brewers owner Bud Selig. “‘Under Selig’s ownership, the Brewers grew into a powerhouse, winning the AL pennant in 1982.'” If Selig was selected for his tenure as Commissioner, then so should every PED player that played while he was Commissioner.”

I won’t go that far – I’m not picking the single-dimension hitter Sammy Sosa – but I would put in the two best players in the past 30 years.

4) Barry Bonds, 5th year (44.3%)
Even by 1998, he had near HoF stats

5) Roger Clemens, 5th year (45.2%)
Seven ERA leading seasons

They were close last time:

6) Trevor Hoffman, 2nd year (67.3%)
One of the greatest save pitchers ever

7) Jeff Bagwell, 7th year (71.6%)
Should have gotten in a couple of years ago.

This category also includes Raines

Other worth candidates:

8) Curt Schilling, 5th year (52.3%)
I find him personally offensive for all sorts of reasons. But he was a fine pitcher, bloody sock and all.

9) Edgar Martinez, 8th year (43.4%)
I guess I’m getting over the fact that he was a designated hitter for most of his career, and I HATE the DH.

10) Mike Mussina, 4th year (43.0%)
He was seldom the best pitcher on his team, just a solid pitcher for a lot of years

If I had an 11th vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, it’d be for Jeff Kent (4th year, 16.6%) who doesn’t get enough love