Baseball (MLB, WBC, College, etc.)

The baseball Hall of Fame announced the results today for 2011, only 2 got in, 75% was needed to gain admittance, notice how some of the "alleged cheats" did not fair so well. :twisted:

Player - Total Votes - Percentage
Roberto Alomar- 523 90.0 %
Bert Blyleven-- 463 79.7 %
Barry Larkin- 361 62.1 %
Jack Morris- 311 53.5 %
Lee Smith- 263 45.3 %
Jeff Bagwell- 242 41.7 %
Tim Raines- 218 37.5 %
Edgar Martinez- 191 32.9 %
Alan Trammell- 141 24.3 %
Larry Walker- 118 20.3 %
Mark McGwire- 115 19.8 %
Fred McGriff- 104 17.9 %
Dave Parker- 89 15.3 %
Don Mattingly- 79 13.6 %
Dale Murphy- 73 12.6 %
Rafael Palmeiro- 64 11.0 %
Juan Gonzalez- 30 5.2 %

^ I read that earlier... Bert Blyleven got in. :applaud: :victory:

Yup, glad for Rik Aalbert Blyleven :woot: first HOFer born in the Netherlands!!

Can't believe Tim Raines only got 37.5% of the vote though. :crazy:

Thought Raines could have been a solid choice along with Larkin and perhaps the Crime Dog, I've always thought too that Murphy was such a great hitter in the pre-steroid era, just as good as Rice. Next year anyone close has a good shot as there is no one, I mean no one who is new to the ballot who will be close to making it. :shakehead: The following year we should see Piazza, Biggio go in, also that's the first year Bonds, Sosa and Clemens will be eligible. :twisted:

FINALLY! A Blue Jay will be in the HOF!

:bow:

gaijinmark wrote:Yup, glad for Rik Aalbert Blyleven :woot: first HOFer born in the Netherlands!!

Can't believe Tim Raines only got 37.5% of the vote though. :crazy:

Born there but raised in CA, first player from the Dutch Pro League to play in MLB was that household name, Win Remmerswaal, ex-BoSox pitcher, who was sadly passed over by the HOF voters despite his career .750 winning percentage. :puppydog:

Rev wrote:FINALLY! A Blue Jay will be in the HOF!

:bow:

Finally???? Why, didn't Molitor, Winfield and Henderson play for the Jays? :mwahaha:

hitomi #1 wrote:The following year we should see Piazza, Biggio go in, also that's the first year Bonds, Sosa and Clemens will be eligible. :twisted:

Those three will be scraping the bottom of the eligibility barrel.

hitomi #1 wrote:
Finally???? Why, didn't Molitor, Winfield and Henderson play for the Jays? :mwahaha:

I meant that Alomar will be wearing the Jays cap on his plaque when he enters the HOF. Molitor, Winfield, and Henderson chose not to ;)

Rev wrote:

I meant that Alomar will be wearing the Jays cap on his plaque when he enters the HOF. Molitor, Winfield, and Henderson chose not to ;)

:hehe:
[image]

It kind of slipped under the radar, but former Yankees' relief pitcher Ryne Duren passed away thursday at the age of 81. He was the original "Wild Thing". He had coke bottle thick glasses and while warming up would usually let loose with one over the catchers head against the backstop. Casey Stengel once said, "I would not admire hitting against Mr. Duren because if he hit you in the head you might end up in the past tense."

^^ Lot of players now from that era are passing away, you don't really think about it but so many are old, 80+ years old, he was 81.
[image]

Duren was a showman. In those days the Yankee bullpen was a part of the short-porch right field and only a low chain link fence served as the boundary. When called upon by Casey Stengel to relieve, he wouldnft use the gate, but preferred to hop the fence with one hand and begin a slow walk to the mound with his blue Yankee warm-up jacket covering his pitching arm; he followed this routine even on the hottest days. When he finally took the ball and began his warmups, the first pitch was typically a hard fastball 20 feet over the catcherfs head. The succeeding warmup pitches would be thrown lower and lower (but not slower) until Duren would finally "find" the plate.

Only 75 days until opening day, here's a nice catch to get everyone in the mood. :hehe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYdpBNonxA4

Think Japanese baseball fans are rabid? The Nippon Ham Fighters have a new rookie pitcher, Yuki Saito. The 17th was his first workout and here's a report from Sanspo Sports:

At 6:55am, most of the parking lot was full. The stadium was opened 15 minutes ahead of schedule (at 8:45am) because there was a line that extended about 300 meters and contained about 2,000 people.

Kamagaya sent 60 officers and 1 helicopter to patrol the area around Kamagaya Stadium. The Fighters beefed up security and placed 48 security guards (3 times normal) on the Kamagaya grounds.

Five TV stations, including TBS and NHK, sent in helicopters of their own. A total 41 media outlets and 272 reporters covered the event.

^^ Had never heard of him but have been reading up on him, pretty impressive things he's done so far, hopefully he can keep it up, things like this are what legends are made of. :applaud:


Yuuki Saitou (Ö“¡ —CŽ÷, Saitou Yuuki) was the star pitcher for Sadaharu Oh's high school alma mater in 2006, helping the team win the Summer Koshien tournament by throwing 6 complete games, totaling 69 innings, 262 of 264 total batters and 948 pitches, including a two-day championship (the first in 37 years) which ended in a 1-1 tie after 15 innings the first day and winning 4-3 the next. Instead of opting for the NPB draft, he decided instead to go to college. He followed by leading his team to a victory in the Kokutai High School Baseball Tournamen, beating Masahiro Tanaka 1-0 in the finale.

^ Saitou and Tanaka were the two big high school pitching stars back then and I think Saitou is more popular because he went on to college whereas Tanaka took the money and turned pro.

If that had happened in this country, people would have said Saitou was nuts for going to school. Good example of the difference in attitudes between America and Japan.

Ran across this. Turns out it's not just the fans that are rabid. When was the last time an American player said he was "ready to die" for his team??

Kobayashi ready to die for Hanshin

OSAKA, Jan. 20 (15:45) Kyodo


Free agent reliever Hiroyuki Kobayashi said Thursday he is
''ready to die'' for Hanshin on Thursday after accepting an offer to
join the Tigers.

The 32-year-old Kobayashi, who had been waiting for a major
league contract offer this offseason, is thought to have agreed on a
multiyear deal after holding talks with the Central league club at an
Osaka hotel.

''(Hanshin) have continued to show keen interest in me and that
passion really came across,'' said Kobayashi, who helped the Lotte
Marines win the Japan Series as their closer last year.

''I will pitch as though I'm READY TO DIE to help win the championship."

^ So after he wins the championship, he's going to commit seppuku?

That'll definitely be a first in baseball. :beaten:

Blue Jays finally did something right and found a taker for Vernon Wells, the Angels of LA, :naughty: who send C/1B Napoli and OF Rivera to the Jays in exchange for Wells, who is still under contract for another 4 years...for $86M!!!! :doh:

Another big move(s) by an AL East team as the Rays sign Damon for $2.5M and Manny for $2M plus incentives, think though both have seen better hitting days, :doh: sure they did it to shore up their OF defense. :rofl: