On Monday, we will find out which players go enough votes to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Although Rickey Henderson is a lock, there is a lot of Hall of Fame worthiness discussions surrounding all the other players. Who do we think will make it into Cooperstown?
Players Who Will Be In The Hall
Bert Blyleven
Andre Dawson
Rickey Henderson
Tim Raines
Players Who Won’t Be In The Hall
Harold Baines
Jay Bell
David Cone
Ron Gant
Mark Grace
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Jesse Orosco
Dave Parker
Dan Plesac
Jim Rice
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
Greg Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Matt Williams

Is it the height of conceit to display a photograph of oneself reading one’s own book in an attempt to lure people into buying said book? Quite possibly it is. Regardless, I’m pleased to announce that the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual is now available. You can buy it as a hard copy or a PDF download, depending on your taste.
The book is subtitled “More than any sane person should ever need to know about the San Diego Padres,” and I think that pretty well covers it. You’ll find 200+ pages of analysis and commentary on the 2007 Padres season, the …read more

   Photo by ewen and donabel   some rights reserved
Congratulations to Rich “Goose” Gossage on his election into the baseball Hall of Fame. Gossage received 86% of the votes. He will be the only member of the Class of 2008.

{democracy:32}

Michael Knisley and John Shea debate Andre Dawson’s Hall of Fame credentials over at ESPN. Dawson, to my way of thinking, is the very definition of a borderline candidate. Check out his list of Top 10 most similar players according to Baseball-Reference:

Billy Williams (133 OPS+)
Tony Perez (122)
Dave Parker (121)
Al Kaline (134)
Harold Baines (120)
Dwight Evans (127)
Ernie Banks (122)
Dave Winfield (130)
Luis Gonzalez (119)
Vada Pinson (110)

As a point of reference, Dawson’s OPS+ was 119. Anyway, five of these guys have been enshrined in Cooperstown: Williams, Perez, Kaline, Banks, and Winfield. Of those five, three were clearly superior players: Williams, Kaline, and Winfield.
The other …read more

I seem to be on a Hall of Fame kick lately. Maybe it’s because I actually visited the place this summer. Or maybe there’s not much else going on right now (seriously, don’t make me bust out some transaction haiku on the Darin Erstad and Miguel Olivo signings). Whatever the case, that’s where my head is at, so let’s take a look at another worthy candidate, Rich “Goose” Gossage.
On second thought, let’s take a look at someone else taking a look at Gossage. In this case, we’ll check in on a couple of guys with a vote, ESPN’s Phil Rogers …read more

As I’ve mentioned on several different occasions, I drove from San Diego to Cooperstown in July to see Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. At long last, I have photos — 158 of them, in fact — to prove it. Click on the montage below to view the entire set. Enjoy!

I teased last week with a brief recounting of my trip to Cooperstown to see Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Now I’ve got something a little more fully formed up at Hardball Times. Enjoy!

On our way back from Cooperstown, we stopped in Springfield, Mo., and got to see the Springfield Cardinals take on the Arkansas Travelers. Springfield is clear across the state from St. Louis — about a three-hour drive — but there’s no doubting fans’ allegiance (hint: note the sea of red).

Also, if you get sick of watching baseball, you can always shoot hoops:

Finally, check out what the industrious members of the Arkansas bullpen did:

The message etched into the dirt surrounding that little blue cup reads “25 cents in the cup, win a ball.” Yep, folks would toss quarters into the bullpen …read more

Okay, I’ve attended some crazy events in my day, but Cooperstown was complete madness this weekend. I got to watch a few outs of the annual minor-league game played at Doubleday Stadium on Saturday before the rains hit (Aberdeen ended up beating “hometown” Oneonta for those interested), wander around the museum, and see a little of the “red carpet” event that evening — basically a bunch of Hall of Famers and their families get together for dinner and arrive via trolley, then enter the museum on a red carpet to the cheers of thousands. Not exactly my thing, but it …read more

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m driving from San Diego to Cooperstown to see Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. inducted into the Hall of Fame. Transmissions may be sporadic for the next 10 or so days, but I will try to check in as often as possible with updates from the road. Wish me luck…