The Designated Hitter has been a debated topic over here for a while. The weak support for Edgar Martinez‘s Hall of Fame candidacy tells me the writers are not in favor of the position, but what about the fans? Back in 2009 I proposed that baseball expand the DH to the National League; while my colleague, Howard [...]

The terms “Cincinnati legend” and “lifetime Cincinnati Red” were used to describe Barry Larkin yesterday after his election into the Hall of Fame. He also became the 48th member of the Hall to spend his entire career with one team. Born in Cincinnati, Larkin won the 1990 World Series, MVP in 1995, and become the first shortstop [...]

Forget any stats – advanced or otherwise- let’s do a fun exercise and vote for the Hall of Fame based on “feel.” This isn’t easy since you would have to see someone play for a majority of their career. As mentioned before, if I had a Hall of Fame Ballot it would include  Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jack [...]

We are a little over a week away from the Baseball Hall of Fame announcing its 2012 selection. Each year, I give the readers of NYBD an opportunity to cast their own BBWAA-style ballot. Last year Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar garnered the most fan support, but not the requisite 75% needed for induction. In December, Gil Hodges received the most [...]

Back in the 40s and 50s the United States was facing a huge threat – communism. During this era, thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government. Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy led the brigade with the “Hollywood Blacklist” and investigations by the House [...]

It’s been nearly 15 years since the BBWAA elected to not enshrine someone in Cooperstown. During the 1996 election, Phil Niekro received 68.3% of the vote, followed by Tony Perez (65.7%), and Don Sutton (63.8%). Ironically, all three would be enshrined by 2000.  I believe there is a good chance no one will be inducted by the [...]

If I asked you what pitcher lead the American League from 1990-1995 in wins, complete games, and innings you probably would say Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens. You would be wrong on both counts as it was none other than the 1993 AL Cy Young Award winner, Jack McDowell. Sometimes overlooked during a career that was [...]

The Yankees were robbed by the umpires last night as they blew the Billy Butler home run call in the third inning. The Yanks should have lodged a protest on this one. It was so obvious on slow motion replay (click here and fast forward to the 1:50 mark). The last protest to be upheld [...]

Mark Simon of ESPN NY tells us how last night’s Mets starter R.A. Dickey is “21-for-91 since joining the Mets in 2010, good for a .231 batting average. He also has 14 sacrifices.” This article got me wondering who the best all-time hitting pitchers are. We all know the best hitting pitcher of all-time was Babe Ruth. To [...]

Phil Hughes was handed a 14-2 lead last night and couldn’t make it out of the fifth. Nothing would frustrate me more as a manager than watching a starter unable to navigate a ballgame that could be done by a pitching machine. His velocity topped out at 90 mph (a couple of miles below last year) [...]

When you have 100 plus years of history it’s hard to list every opposing player that tormented your organization. When it comes to the Yankees, a few from the last 15 years come to mind immediately: Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Mike Piazza, Cliff Lee, and Roy Halladay. I don’t think anyone would [...]

To wrap up this 24 hours of Hall of Fame, I decided to take an early look at the 2012 ballot, and perhaps project who I would support, and maybe lay out some questions that could be answered over the next twelve months. It appears that Barry Larkin might have the best shot for induction [...]

Later today the BBWAA will announce the latest member(s) to join the Baseball Hall of Fame. A year ago everyone assumed Roberto Alomar would be a shoo-in his first time on the ballot. Instead, the BBWAA threw everyone a curve and only elected Andre Dawson. As a matter of fact, Alomar got a lower percentage [...]

Over the past week I created a survey so we could conduct a BBWAA style ballot for the readers of NYBD. Last year, you elected both Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven to the Hall of Fame. The BBWAA disagreed and elected only Andre Dawson. This year we had greater participation in the vote, and the [...]

In addition to voting for our “Man of the Year,” I want to gather an unscientific Hall of Fame vote from the NYBD community. Last year NYBD readers selected Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven for the 2010 class. The BBWAA disagreed and only elected Andre Dawson. This year I will be using Survey Monkey to [...]