Joe Posnanski

I’m really not much for awards. I mean, of course, everyone likes winning them (and you already know it’s an honor just being nominated) but one of my core professional beliefs is that if I put a lot of stock in awards, I also have to put a lot of stock in the people who daily write in to say that I’m the single biggest idiot who ever walked on the face of the earth. And anyway, I’m just a goofball who ... Read More

I made a mistake the other day ... one of many, no doubt. I was doing a quick synopsis of Joe Carter to illustrate a point, and I mentioned that over a 12-year period he led all of baseball in homers and RBIs, and that he played centerfield for a while, and that he stole some bases -- all true -- and then pointed out that he hit one of the three greatest home runs ever. I had not really put much thought ... Read More

The question -- and I think it is one that everyone is asking these days -- is simple: Did Rob Reiner have a good enough peak to get into the Hall of Fame? This question comes up now because it appears from early reviews that The Bucket List -- a seemingly can’t-miss movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two old farts trying to live out their greatest aspirations before they die -- missed badly. Seriously, how could you put Nicholson and ... Read More

Well, not sure I quite made the intended point with the earlier post ... I wanted to show that there are a LOT of good players outside the Hall of Fame with not a whole lot to choose between them. I listed off 26 and left off numerous really good players like Joe Torre, Vada Pinson, Rocky Colavito, Ted Simmons, Ken Boyer, Graig Nettles, Frank White, Steve Garvey, Maury Wills, Joe Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Jack Clark, Dave Concepcion, Boog Powell, Dolph Camilli, ... Read More

First off, congratulations to Goose Gossage, a deserving Hall of Fame candidate. Congratulations to Jim Rice for getting so close -- I feel certain that he will get in next year -- and it now looks like Andre Dawson made enough of a move that he too will get in. I will be happy for him. Class act. Bert Blyleven, I think, is on the cusp but I think he will get in also. Mark McGwire went backward, I think. And nobody ... Read More

Talking about stuff that makes my teeth hurt ... I’m sitting here in the New Orleans airport looking at this: Ohio State is ranked fifth in the final AP poll. Kansas is ranked seventh in the final AP poll. I know that I’m missing something. I know it. Read More

OK, we’ve already talked too much about Jim Rice, Jack Morris, the Hall of Fame and all that. Tuesday, the Hall of Fame will announce some new inductees, and I feel pretty sure that Goose Gossage will get in, I predict that Jim Rice will get in, I suspect that Bert Blyleven will get closer, and the world will keep on spinning. This blog will move on to some more important issues, such as what the hell happened to Francis Ford Coppola ... Read More

Brilliant Reader Dan Gould has thrown out a challenge ... and you know how we LOVE challenges. Ursus makes a good point about the hitters behind Rice. Naturally IBBs are going to be less frequent when there are few Punch & Judy hitters in a lineup. As for the made-up stat, I am wondering where Rice’s contemporaries fall, since none of them are in the top 25. Where’s Reggie? Where’s Brett or Darrell Evans or for that matter, Dewey? Whatever happens on Tuesday, I’ll ... Read More

Well, it has been a little while since I’ve invented a completely meaningless baseball statistic. But all this Jim Rice talk lately has gotten me to think a little bit about fear. More than one person this Hall of Fame season voted Jim Rice in because of fear. I believe it was Dan Shaughnessy -- and I like Dan -- who said that Rice was so feared that some managers considered walking him with the bases loaded, an odd statement. He was ... Read More

I was going to begin this post by listing off all the things are as fun as tallying up Pozcars ballots, but ... actually, I just did. There are more painful ways to punish yourself, I’m sure, than creating a fake award and then totaling by hand (or by spreadsheet) the 254 voters. For instance, here’s one way to make it more painful -- you can forget to tell people to send in their ballots in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. That way people will ... Read More