MLB Showdown Obsession

 There are rules for pitching a perfect game, and they're very strict. No one can reach first base for any reason. Obviously this means no hits or walks allowed, but it also applies to everyone else on the field doing their jobs too. No errors or catchers interference. A pitcher can do everything right, but a lapse in concentration by one of his teammates can cost him perfection or a no-hitter. But there's also the umpires. David Cone with the Mets once had a no-hitter going deep into a game when the umpire blew a call and a hit was recorded. Cone was livid, and held the grudge for a long time, but there was nothing he could do about it. An entire team can be perfect, but an umpires call can still be costly. One such situation takes us to Saturday, July 4, 1908. All across baseball, scheduled double headers are celebrating the country's birthday. Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants takes the mound for game one against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds. What foll...

 I previously mentioned that the Don Larsen perfect game was the greatest pitched game of all time, and I stand by that true statement. However, there are people who believe that Sandy Koufax is up there on the all time list with his own perfect game on September 9, 1965. The lowly Chicago Cubs weren't exactly like the NL champion Brooklyn Dodgers that Larsen pitched against, but Koufax and his 14 Ks is an impressive counter argument. Sandy Koufax had a 12 year career where the first half was very ho-hum and pedestrian...but boy, what a 2nd half. The man punched his ticket to Cooperstown with 6 of the most dominating years of pitching very few could ever hope to replicate. 4 no-hitters, 3 Cy Young awards and an MVP to go with 2 World Series MVPs. When you talk about an all time Dodgers lineup, the only question for the pitching staff is who follows after Koufax in the rotation. Some cards, you question how they pulled off a perfecto. Not with Sandy where he offers fantastic control...

 27 up, 27 down. A perfect game is when a pitcher retires every batter he faces without allowing anyone to reach base at all. No hits, no walks, no errors, no hit batters, etc. There have been 24 perfect games in MLB history. Here are a collection of every perfecto, and a few not perfect games of note. Perfect Games: Lee Richmond -June 12, 1880 Worchester Ruby Legs vs Cleveland Blues John Ward -June 17, 1880 Providence Grays vs Buffalo Bisons Cy Young -May 5, 1904 Boston Americans vs Philadelphia Athletics Addie Joss -October 2, 1908 Cleveland Naps vs Chicago White Sox Charlie Robertson -April 30, 1922 Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers Don Larsen -October 8, 1956 -Game 5 of World Series New York Yankees vs Brooklyn Dodgers Jim Bunning -June 21, 1964 Philadelphia Phillies vs New York Mets Sandy Koufax -September 9, 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers vs Chicago Cubs Catfish Hunter -May 8, 1968 Oakland Athletics vs Minnesota Twins Len Barker -May 15, 1981 Cleveland Indians vs Toronto Blue Jay...

 Yes, Jose Canseco is a cheater, but let's be frank, he was honest about it. And since he at least isn't lying to the world, it's kosher to have some fun and see what all his Showdown cards would look like. You may rule them illegal cards due to the nature of where his power numbers came from, but they sure make some fun to see. 1985, the story begins for Jose. A September callup, not a huge sample size to work with, but you can tell there's some power potential here. Canseco was the favorite to win the 1986 Rookie of the Year award, and he didn't disappoint. He even was an All Star and landed some MVP votes. Some would shy away from a guy with a 1-6 K rate on his own chart, but it comes with the territory for a power hitter. 1987 was a big year for A's fans. McGwire joined the fray and had a mammoth power year as a rookie, which may have overshadowed Canseco a bit. But Jose showed his own rookie campaign wasn't a fluke with another 30 bomb year. The Bash Br...

 With all due respect to the '01-'05 sets, The MLB Showdown 2000 set is the definitive version most fans remember. The set took from the 1999 season stats for all its players, and while that gave us iconic prime years to refer to greats such as Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson, Chipper Jones or Jim Thome, and a snapshot of a lone standalone great year for otherwise anonymous guys like Jason Kendall, there was one drawback that couldn't be avoided; greats well beyond their prime were given less than stellar cards that didn't reflect the greatness of years previous. Also, rookies who would go on to have great careers from 2005 and beyond didn't have the chance to shine in the Showdown years, or guys who would only have that one standout year already had it a year or so before 1999.  Thus, I began a project with the 2000 Showdown cards and looked at the "bad" players to see if they had a season outside of the Showdown era that would have done them better. Guys like...

 And with this, the "Righting Wrongs" series will finally come to a close. I have other ideas to try out here but wanted to close the book on this theme before I branched out and diverted my attention. Wade Boggs ended his career in the 2000 Showdown set, finally reaching the coveted 3000 hit club with a rare home run. His 85 season shows you just how rare those homers were, but he made up for it that year with a whopping 240 hits! That insane 14 on-base means he can reach base and create RBI opportunities for the heavy hitters behind him in your lineup. Alvarez would go on to be selected by the expansion Devil Rays and kicked off their inaugural campaign, and his '94 card shows you why they were so interested in him. Solid control for 7IP. Rolando Arrojo had a bad 0 control in the 2000 set and his future cards didn't do him any favors. In the first season with the D-Rays he had a more average effort. Before he went on to be better known nowadays as a manager, Martine...