Fans of baseball in the 80's

This is a wonderful day to be a Padre fan. My childhood hero is a Hall of Famer. It was an honor and a privelege to grow up in the 80's in San Diego, watching a rising star named Anthony Keith Gwynn go from the anonymous outfield at Jack Murphy Stadium into the national spotlight.... and the record books. I went to hundreds of Padres games, watching hundreds of players come and go, but for twenty years, like a rock, there was a sturdy and reliable anchor in right field.

Thank you, T.

The only question is how anybody (besides this pantywaist douche) could have left T. off their HOF ballot. Only 97.61 percent? Not nearly enough. Less than Ripken? A slap in the face. If ever there was a unanimous Hall-of-Famer, this was it.

We all know about his 3000+ hits, his pile of batting titles, and his illustrious career here in San Diego. Yes, he got fat, but as Tony's waistline grew, so did our respect and admiration for him. Nobody, before or since, has ever meant more to Padres fans. And I don't think anyone ever will.

A few things you might not know:
He was a star basketball player for San Diego State and got drafted by the San Diego Clippers of the NBA.
He stole more than fifty bases in 1987 and was a multiple Gold Glove award recipient.
He holds just about every offensive record in Padres franchise history.
Petco Park in San Diego is located at 19 Tony Gwynn Drive.
The SDSU Aztecs baseball team, managed by Tony Gwynn, plays its home games at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
He is San Diego's greatest treasure (although LaDainian Tomlinson, Trevor Hoffman, and the Zoo are pretty spiffy, too).
He is Mr. Padre.



(By the way, I vote for the YOUNG Tony on the Hall of Fame plaque. The Padres' Taco Bell uniforms need to be represented in Cooperstown.)

Congratulations, T!

Andy Van Slyke or Danny Darwin?  Who did you like more?  :)

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.... re-enacted on "RBI Baseball."

Quite amusing. Probably moreso if you can stomach Vin Scully.

( Behold, for the King of Kings was born on this dayCollapse )

This site was featured on the daily links at Bill Simmons' espn.com page. Anyone who loved playing RBI baseball for the old NES  should appreciate it as much as I do. Finally someone who is as passionate as I am about something and not too lazy not to do anything about it.

I absolutely adore whatifsports.com and last week I joined an 80's franchise league. I picked the California Angels for reasons unbeknownst to me. The league had a very low salary cap so unfortunately I couldn't afford such Angel greats as Wally Joyner, Mike Witt, and Bob Boone but hopefully you still think favorably of my roster and perhaps seeing some of these old names will conjure up some nice memories:

Name (Bats)% PA AB HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG Salary
Gary Pettis '85 (S) 95 94 83 0 0 8 .229 .312 .289 $2.93M
Doug Decinces '83 (R)100 70 65 1 9 0 .323 .357 .477 $3.34M
Bobby Grich '81 (R)100 98 87 8 28 0 .425 .490 .770 $5.51M
Tony Armas '89 (R) 96 38 37 2 6 0 .324 .342 .568 $1.22M
Reggie Jackson '82(L)100 103 89 6 16 0 .247 .340 .517 $4.10M
Devon White '89 (S)100 109 105 3 16 9 .276 .294 .390 $2.67M
Ed Ott '81 (L)100 67 62 2 6 0 .226 .269 .355 $1.03M
Tim Foli '82 (R)100 88 83 0 2 0 .217 .253 .253 $2.04M

BENCH
Name (Bats)% PA AB HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG Salary
Kent Anderson '89 (R)100 43 38 0 1 0 .184 .279 .237 $859K
Bobby Clark '82 (R) 95 17 13 0 0 1 .077 .294 .077 $200K
Tom Donohue '80 (R)100 23 23 0 1 1 .217 .217 .217 $246K
Daryl Sconiers '83 (L) 95 61 57 0 6 0 .175 .213 .211 $1.97M
Max Venable '89 (L) 90 11 11 0 1 0 .455 .455 .727 $469K
Rob Picciolo '84 (R) 96 23 22 0 1 0 .182 .217 .182 $250K

STARTERS
Pitcher % W-L SV IP ERA OAV WHIP K/9 BB/9 Salary
Chuck Finley '89 (L) 100 2-1 0 31.0 5.23 .279 1.55 8.71 4.06 $6.36M
Steve Renko '81 (R) 100 2-0 0 26.2 2.36 .147 0.75 5.40 2.03 $4.17M
Bruce Kison '82 (R) 23 1-2 0 29.2 3.34 .221 1.08 7.58 2.12 $4.69M
Alfredo Martinez '80(R) 17 1-2 0 32.0 4.78 .267 1.34 5.06 2.25 $3.67M
Jim Slaton '85 (R) 100 0-3 0 12.0 9.75 .288 1.83 3.75 5.25 $3.20M
Dave Lemanczyk '80 (R) 100 3-1 1 25.2 1.75 .176 0.86 3.16 2.45 $1.92M

BULLPEN
Pitcher % W-L SV IP ERA OAV WHIP K/9 BB/9 Salary
Ralph Botting '80(L) 100 0-0 0 6.0 12.00 .424 2.33 9.00 0.00 $247K
Andy Hassler '82 (L) 100 0-2 0 9.1 7.71 .333 1.93 4.82 4.82 $2.00M
Greg Minton '89 (R) 100 1-1 4 15.0 2.40 .154 1.07 6.00 4.80 $2.83M
Gary Lucas '87 (L) 100 2-0 0 13.2 1.32 .149 0.66 6.59 1.32 $2.09M
Pat Clements '85 (L) 100 0-0 1 13.2 0.66 .149 0.66 3.29 1.32 $1.90M


Those aren't their real life stats, just what they've done for me thus far. Suffice to say Bobby Grich is my new hero. And for anyone that enjoys baseball's history like I do I would wholeheartedly recommend whatifsports.com. Check it out some time.

how great is this? my favorite baseball player of all time, and i get to see him play on the west coast =)...

May 9, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Rickey Henderson is ready to run again

Baseball's career leader in runs and stolen bases will play in the new independent Golden Baseball League this season, agreeing on Monday to join the San Diego Surf Dawgs.

"He still just wants to play," Surf Dawgs manager Terry Kennedy told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I think he wants to be the first one to hit a home run, cross home plate and collect his salary check, pension and social security all at the same time."

The 46-year-old Henderson started the last two years with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League. He finished 2003 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing in 30 games.

"He still hopes to play in the majors," agent Jeff Borris said. "He still feels that he can be competitive."

Henderson will make $3,000 a month in salary, and more with a lucrative marketing agreement with the league -- including a Rickey Henderson bobblehead night.

"When I spoke to him I said, 'Are you in shape?' and he said, 'You know I am.' Who else has that kind of body at age 46?"

The Golden Baseball League is in its first season and will play games in California and Arizona. The Surf Dawgs open the season May 26 at Tony Gwynn Stadium, home of San Diego State. They started spring training Monday in Mesa, Ariz.

"I wanted to be a part of something special and contributing to the launch of a new league was very exciting to me," Henderson said in a statement. "I love playing this game and every spring training feels like the first."

By continuing to play professionally, however, Henderson is delaying his Hall of Fame eligibility.

Henderson scored 2,295 runs and stole 1,406 bases in his 25-year career in the big leagues. He had 3,055 hits and was the career leader in walks with 2,190 before Barry Bonds passed him.

I saw an earlier posting about RBI Baseball. It really is the greatest baseball game of all-time. I personally am competing in an RBI Baseball tournament in Ohio this June, and I run a Fantasy RBI Baseball league, where we draft teams, build the ROMs, and simulate the games on watch mode. Good times.

Anyone who is interested should definitely check out the Dee-Nee Forums. It's a one-stop shop for RBI Baseball information, opinion, and crude humor.

With the Hall of Fame inductions, we need to get this group a bit more active! I'm stoked to have found it, and hope we can get some more discussions flowing.

For example, Willie McGee received 26 votes, exactly the five percent of HoF votes needed to keep him on next year's ballot. Darryl Strawberry received six votes total.

Fact or fiction: Willie McGee was a better player than Darryl Strawberry. Strawberry was an eight-time All-Star, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times. McGee was an MVP in 1985, was a four-time All-Star and lead the league in hitting twice. I'm not arguing that Darryl should be in the Hall of Fame, but should Willie McGee get on the ballor again while Darryl is one and done?

Also fact or fiction: Willie McGee was uglier than Otis Nixon. I think this is one of the toughest calls in all of sports. I'll go with Willie on this one, but it depends on how much crack Otis had done on the day you took his baseball card photo.

I don't know if you're interested but here would be my 2005 baseball hall of fame ballot if I could (and I should) be able to vote. I'm going in order of most deserving to least deserving. Of course I want thoughts/reactions/anger from you:

* = 1st time on the ballot

Wade Boggs*
Ryne Sandberg
Jim Rice
Jack Morris
Andre Dawson
Dale Murphy
Bruce Sutter

I've actually become a lot more strict with my guidelines. Last year I had Gossage and Blyleven in here but now I'm not so sure. Ryno is probably my favorite player from the 80's and he should have been a first-ballot HOFer but Boggs' batting average and OBP numbers are staggering. He definitely deserves to be valedictorian of this HOF class. Of course if he ends up having a D-Rays cap on his plaque he can go to hell. Rice should have been in the hall years ago. I think too many people are infatuated with these certain "numbers" -- 400 home runs, 3000 hits, a .300 batting average. They lose sight of the fact that people like Rice and Dale Murphy were GREAT PLAYERS. Dawson had the distinct disadvantage of playing most of his career in Canada but I feel his numbers are HOF-worthy. People forget just how good those Montreal teams were in the early eighties. Bruce Sutter was a much, much better closer than Gossage in his prime (he also wins the battle of best facial hair).

Well there ya go. Let the arguments begin.