Almost Cooperstown

Ichiro Suzuki has the all-time #MLB record for hits in one season with 262.  He broke George Sisler's 84 year-old record of 257 in 2004.  Since then there have been a number of 200-hit seasons recorded by players but the number is decreasing.  And we talk about why that is the case. 

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.

Good teams always seem to have a guy or two who's a versatile utility player.   This helps keep the roster efficient since a good utility player can cover a variety of field positions.  We discuss that being a versatile player is a good thing but overall a utility player is most often not quite god enough to have an every day place in the lineup.  Have there ever been any utility players elected to the Hall-of-Fame in Cooperstown?   We answer that question and more in this episode! 

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Bench-clearings still happen fairly often in #MLB.  Actual bench-clearing brawls are less common due to the players being suspended, losing pay, and generally hurting the team. But in the heat of the moment a batter can snap when a high hard one goes right at his head or upper body. Fortunately baseball brawls don't end up having players injured such that they can't play but even that has happened. We talk about which current MLB teams might be poised for a fight in this quick and fun episode! 

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Do you recognize the photo of the AL Rookie-of-the-Year from 2004? Jackie Robinson won the very first Rookie-of-the-Year (for both leagues) in 1947.  Since then one team has dominated ROY selections.  Can you guess which team it is?  We talk about the Hall-of-Fame Rookies of the Year as well as a few winners whose ROY winning statistics are less than impressive.  Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Before our podcast started, we like so many others, sat around and talked about baseball.  What recently got us going was the idea that Ty Cobb's .366 career batting average back before and after the 'Dead-ball' era was fattened up by facing tired pitchers in innings 7/8/9.  Pitchers today rarely throw complete games  and today hitters have to face a bevy of hard throwing late-inning relievers who have nasty stuff.  

How did Cobb perform in the first six innings vs. the last three?  How about Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams?  And what of today's players like Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera?  Those two will-be HOFers had to face much more dominating relief pitchers late in games than did their HOF forebears from forty or more years ago.  

The answers were not always exactly what we expected!  

Correction: Barry Bonds had an OBA of .582 in 2002 when he hit .370.  He actually exceeded that in 2004 with an OBA of .609 w/a BA of .362. 

Thanks for listening, follow us on Twitter @Almostcoop, FB page Almost Cooperstown or email us at [email protected] and please tell your friends!   

Thanks to Mark Rickard for the show concept!  

With some sense of certainty this will be the last year in MLB in which there will not be a DH in the National League.   This will be negotiated as part of the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Player's Association and MLB in what promises to be an acrimonious negotiation.  No pitcher has finished the season with a .300 average since 2008 when Micah Owings hit .304.  In general MLB pitchers are lousy hitters and getting lousier. Why? Because it's hard!  And they don't get much practice, and they are discouraged from hitting once they decide to be a pitcher primarily.  

We talk about the best hitting pitchers, and the worst. We also talk about position players getting into games to pitch which happens more than a handful of times each season.  But going forward after this season, aside from Shohei Otani, pitchers will pitch and hitters will hit and occasionally take the hill in a game that does not matter! 

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It's a new season already and the start of a 2nd season from Almost Cooperstown!  Only 10 months after the delayed start of the 2020 MLB season, here comes the 2021 season.  A planned 162-game season that is sure to test the pitching staffs across both leagues. 7 inning double-headers are back as are some of the new rules introduced in 2020. We talk about the rule changes from last year and how they worked out, some new ones that are being experimented with at the minor league level, as well as all 30 teams, their prospects for success and which teams we believe will play in this year's World Series.  We also pick  MVP's and Cy Young award winners.  

Corrections:  

- Rays 1B Ji Man Choi did not go back to Korea after all but is injured and will not start the season on the active roster.
- The Madoffs did not own the Mets but the Wilpon's and Mets were impacted by the Madoff scandal
 
Thanks to all for listening and please hit us up on Twitter @almostcoop, visit our FB page https://www.facebook.com/AlmostCooperstown, Instagram @almostcoop, or email at almostcooperstown.com! 

Pitchers don't often get hit by line drives and get it to the skull even less frequently.  But it does happen, as much as 2 - 3 times per season.  We note a number of well known current MLB pitchers that have been the victim of a shot to the head.  Currently there are no MLB pitchers wearing protective headgear on the mound.  There are a number of reasons for that and we discuss all that and more with former major league pitcher Willie Blair who was felled by a line drive off the bat of Julio Franco in 1997 and returned to pitch not only the same season, but for four more seasons.  We are grateful for the introduction to Willie from Jason Berge - a friend of the podcast. Willie Blair a terrific guy and very open and honest about his own experience as well as what might be done to protect pitchers from a catastrophic injury or even worse.  Thank you Willie! 

If you are interested in reading there's also a related article posted on Gary Livacari's site https://www.baseballhistorycomesalive.com/protecting-pitchers-from-line-drives/

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  
 

Remember there used to be a MLB statistic for GWRBI - Game Winning RBI's?  The one that gives your team a lead it never relinquishes.  Because players could get the GWRBI conceivably (and in reality) in the first inning @MLB junked it after 1988 which was about  8 years too long.  One of our 'Almost' guys Keith Hernandez has been in no way helped by the stat that he has the all time record for GWRBIs.  Because and rightly so, it's a dumb stat! 

Are pitcher starts as important as they used to be?  How about appearances?  Are RBI's an overvalued statistic?  How about Sacrifice Flies which have changed a few times over the years.  With better analytics and data baseball statistics have become more complicated and difficult to understand.  Do you know how to calculate WAR (wins above replacement)?  Or the difference between fWAR and bWAR?  Or FIP (fielding independent of pitching)?  Few fans do or are necessarily all that interested.  

Fans still like some of the old fashioned stats - HRs, BA, RBI's, K's.   We do too but the modern game of baseball calls for modernized stats and progress will not be halted in the ever present search for better players and better player production.   

This is our longest episode so far.  We did not expect it but once we get to talking it's hard to stop!

Correction:  Hack Wilson had 191 RBI's in 1930.  David Peterson (not Doug) is the potential #5 starter for the Mets. 

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Here at Almost Cooperstown we believe there's room for more at the Inn.  We're not talking about boxing BTW!  When it comes to Gold Gloves (only awarded since 1957), a player who is a borderline Hall of Famer (an 'Almost' guy we like to say), can be pushed over the top by superior fielding and a collection of Gold Gloves.  There have been 8 players to win GG's in both leagues which is kind of hard to do since often the incumbent would need to be unseated.  In the past Gold Gloves seemed to be earned on reputation as much as anything else. Not that the winners were not good or great fielders, more that some of the winners are players you would not expect (like Pete Rose) and were not renowned for their defensive prowess.  Today advanced analytics from Bill James, FanGraphs and other sources create the Fielding Bible Awards which are a more data-centric approach than traditional fielding %. Fielding range is more important than it's ever been to separating a good from a great fielder.  

How important are pitcher Gold Gloves?  
Are there separate awards for RF, CF, LF?  
Who has won the most GGs? 

We answer these questions and a few more!  Thanks for listening and if you have an idea or comment you can email us at [email protected] or tweet to us @AlmostCoop or hit us on our FB page.  And Tuesday is AC Trivia Day!