Friday, January 25, 2008

Time For A Road Trip

Not much going on out there in Yankeeland. The Yanks and Cano look like they're about to reach an agreement on a 4-year deal. That's great news. Cano has shown he's got a great stroke at the plate and his defense has improved each year. Nice move by the Bombers.
Me and 2 friends are heading down to Williamsport, PA ( 4 hour drive) tomorrow for the 15th Annual Mike Mussina Fan Club Appreciation Dinner. For those not familiar with Moose's fan club it kind of runs like this. You pay $28.95/yr to join. He sends you some cool stuff (an autographed 8x10 being my fave) and twice a year he has "meet and greets" with the members. The M&Gs are held in Baltimore and in NY. You basically buy tickets to the game and get to meet Moose beforehand, assuming of course he isn't pitching. And then every winter on the weekend before the Super Bowl, he invites everyone to the annual dinner, cost is $35/person and you can bring 2 guests. This is the first year I've been a member and I haven't attended this event yet but from what I gather it's a pretty good time. And if any members of the MMFC happen to check this post out, let me know if I'm off on my details.
I'm pretty geeked up about going actually. It should be a great time. I've been looking forward to it since I joined. When am i going to get the opportunity to hang out with a major leaguer?? I know there's a Q&A with Moose. He visits and spends time with everyone. And there's also a silent auction. I'm bringing some cheddar and I plan on winning something.
Anybody know of any other guys that do this with their fans? Moose is a class act. It's one of the many reasons I'm a fan.
Have a great weekend.
J

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Add This To Your Vocabulary

The other day I came up with a new phrase. Granted somebody out there has probably used this phrase before but I've never heard it, so I'm taking all the credit.
Last week the missus was down in our basement breaking down cardboard boxes that needed to be hauled to the street so they could be recycled. It was a job I was supposed to do, but hey, I'm a little lazy and she got tired of seeing the boxes pile up and asking me to do it so she just did it herself. This kind of thing happens a lot but my laziness isn't the point. So anyway, I walked into the basement and she was just about done, and I said to her:
"You want me to Mariano that for you?"
Pure gold. I don't know where it came from. The sentence just flowed naturally out of my mouth as if I had spoken that way for years. And if you need me to explain what that means then you shouldn't be visiting Yankee blogs.
So what do you guys think? Am I a genius or highly delusional?
3 weeks until pitchers and catchers!!
J-Boogie

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Turning Two

It was 2 years ago today (1/20/06) that this blog was born. Happy Birthday Boogie Down! I just wanted to say thanks to the everyone who has stopped by and checked the place out. Whether you're a reader or a commenter, your continued patronage is much appreciated. It still boggles my mind that anyone takes the time to check out what I have to say. What's even more mind boggling is that this site has been viewed by people in 90 countries?!?! Crazy.
For those interested, here's a link to my first post. I know I haven't been around much the past few weeks. I've been really enjoying spending time with my 5-month old son Cooper. But pitchers and catchers are about a month away, so I'll begin to return more regularly as spring training starts to heat up.
So again, thanks so much for making the first 2 years an absolute blast. I look forward to the 3rd year being just as great.
Peace, love and Pinstripes,
J-Boogie

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Goose Gets The Call For The Hall

Congrats to Rich "Goose" Gossage on being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The honor is well-deserved. I just want to know why it took so long?
Here's what I don't get. Gossage missed out on being elected last year by 21 votes. This year his vote total jumped significantly. What changed? I don't get why it takes a guy so long to be elected. To me, you're a Hall Of Famer the day you retire. It shouldn't take someone 15 years to figure it out. Jim Rice is the perfect example of this. He has one year of eligibility left on the writer's ballot and it looks like he'll finally gain election. I don't get why it takes 15 years for the writer's to get it right.
It's painfully obvious that the whole voting process needs to be reevaluated. It's apparent that writer's withhold votes based on who is on the ballot. Why else would there have been such a significant jump in the vote totals that a lot of these guys received this year? It's pretty clear that the writers wanted Ripken and Gwynn to be the only guys elected last year. It's ridiculous. It's also ridiculous that some writers won't cast votes for people to be a first-ballot HOFer. It's also ridiculous that sure-fire HOFers don't get 100% of the vote. How does a guy like Ripken not go in as a unanimous selection? It'll be interesting to see if anyone ever gets 100% of the vote.
And why is it that only writers get to cast votes? Why don't broadcasters or analysts get the honor of voting? You mean to tell me that Vin Scully doesn't know enough about the game to have any input? Ridiculous. Most baseball writers, to my knowledge, only cover 1 team. No different than a broadcaster. Most writers rarely, if ever, see many of these guys play, and when they do, I don't think it's often enough to make the best call. At most you'd see a "visiting" team 19 times. Some teams maybe 3 times every 3-4 years? I understand they're a lot closer to the game than the average fan as they have access to a lot more, but what's the real difference between a beat writer and a fan who watches every game on TV, and peruses the box scores and newspaper articles daily and watches all the highlight shows? To me, there is none. We're both watching the same thing, day in and day out. There definitely needs to be a larger pool of voters and it shouldn't be limited to just writers.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like this process will ever change. I'm not sure how many of you have visited this blog since it started almost 2 years ago. In the 11th post I ever wrote I talked about an interview I heard on XM that Charley Steiner did with Furman Bisher, baseball writer for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Bisher spoke out against allowing non-BBWAA members to cast HOF votes, citing that they'd be too inclined to vote for people they covered because they "work for the team." At the close of the interview, when asked who he voted for, Bisher replied that he voted for Dale Murphy, "because he was an Atlanta Brave." What a doosh. I'm glad Steiner called him out on it but the segment ended so Bisher didn't get to justify his response. The other bit of ridiculousness (is that even a word) to spew from Bisher's mouth in that interview is that he'd never cast a vote for a reliever because he didn't feel that it's a valid position. I ranted about this 2 years ago and it still ticks me off to this day.
If you look at this year's voting results you have to wonder what game some of these guys are watching. How does anyone cast a vote, or in some instances 2 votes, for Rod Beck, Travis Fryman, Shawon Dunston, Chuck Finley, Dave Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, and Todd Stottlemyre?? They're kidding right? There is no justifiable reason whatsoever to cast a vote for any of those guys. The BBWAA should be embarrassed. Ridiculous.
I can only hope that next year they get it right and induct those that are deserving. If I had a vote, in addition to the obvious choice in Rickey Henderson, I'd cast votes for Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven and Andre Dawson. I'd also take a good hard look at Tommy John and Lee Smith. They were HOFers the day they retired. There's no reason to keep them out.
Let these guys enjoy being part of the fraternity that is being a HOFer and quit with all the BS. Set aside the personal agendas and do what's right. There was a writer last year (the name escapes me) who didn't cast 1 vote because he didn't know that everyone on the ballot was clean because of the "steroid era." Here's what I want to know: 1) Did he cast any votes the year before and if so what caused you not to vote for them again? and 2)How do you not vote for Ripken and/or Gwynn or any other candidate that the majority of your brethren feel are worthy? It doesn't make sense to me.
I know not all writers deserve this criticism. But it's the writers like Furman Bisher, the unnamed writer who didn't cast a vote last year, and all the guys that vote for non-deserving scrubs like Walt Weiss and Travis Fryman, that do nothing but make the BBWAA look like a collective bunch of A-holes.
J-Boogie