MLB Showdown Obsession

 So today the New York Yankees retired the number 21 for Paul O'Neill. O'Neill was the right fielder for the legendary Yankees dynasty of the 1990's. He didn't have the loudest voice on the team, or the most runs, home runs or stolen bases, but he did everything with the consistency that you demand of the 3 hole hitter of 4 world championship teams. He hit over .300 every season, regularly drive in over 100 runs, hit doubles with the league leaders and played amazing defense that would save not only world series wins but perfect games as well. Water coolers were never safe from his intense temper, but neither were opposing pitchers. The man usually played hurt and never gave in or wanted to sit out a game. The Warrior was the heart and soul of the Yankees during their dynasty run, eliciting chants of his names from the Yankees faithful during his final home game in 2001 (the World Series at that). O'Neill came to New York in a trade from Cincinnati for Roberto Kelly...

 The Veteran's Committee this year went off with a bunch of 2nd look inductees for the 2022 class. In addition was the one BBWAA vote, who seemed to have avoided the stigma of obvious PED use that has kept other greats out of the hallowed halls. Here though he won't escape such scrutiny, thus his HoF card will only utilize seasons in which he wasn't on the juice. As usual for the rest, their best seasons have been selected to make the most worthy card possible of such immortals. Also inducted: Buck O'Neil (Executive) Early Baseball Era Committee selection Bud Fowler (Executive) Early Baseball Era Committee selection

 Perfect games are rare. I remember the 1998 and 1999 Yankees features a perfect game each year and thought that was a crazy short amount of time....that actually had nothing on the true record. A mere 5 days after Lee Richmond became the first man ever to pitch a perfecto, John Montgomery Ward made it happen for the 2nd time. It would be 76 years before the National League would be a part of another perfect game, and 84 years before an NL pitcher would pull it off themselves. On June 17, 1880, Ward was untouchable as his Providence Grays beat the Buffalo Bisons 5-0. Ward ultimately ended up in the Hall of Fame more for his union work, but nevertheless he has the first perfect game pitched by a future member of Cooperstown. He is also the youngest perfect game pitcher ever. Just like with Richmond, this game was subject to odd variations of the rules when compared to todays game. Ward was pitching in his home park, but Buffalo won the coin toss and were acting as the home team in t...

 A perfect game is when a pitcher retires all his opponents in order in a victory. Usually referred to as "27 up, 27 down" but if extra innings are required, then the perfect game isn't official until the win is achieved no matter how many innings it takes. 23 men have officially pitched perfect games in Major League Baseball and I plan to recognize each in time. Lee Richmond pitched off and on from 1879-1886 for the Boston Red Stockings (future Atlanta Braves), Providence Grays, Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Worcester Ruby Legs. It is with the Ruby Legs that he achieved his immortality as the first ever pitcher to pitch a perfect game on June 12, 1880. Otherwise he had a very unassuming 75-100 record. The rules weren't the same back then as they are today. Foul balls that are caught after a bounce count as outs, foul balls don't count as strikes, the strike zone didn't exist and the distance to home plate was 45 feet, with underhand pitching. But, a perfec...

 Mike Piazza, you might have heard of him. He is considered to be one of the greatest hitting catchers of all time. He was drafted as a favor by the LA Dodgers, but many only remember him as a New York Met. Even fewer recall he ended his career in San Diego and then Oakland. And even FEWER remember that he spent little more than a week as a member of the Florida Marlins. Mike started the 1998 season in LA, and ended it in NY, but sandwiched in between those two was a brief stint in Florida. Not quite the all star caliber we're used to from Piazza. Lots of power, but results would be limited from that on-base. Maybe a change of scenery would help out... Ugh...maybe not. In his 5 games as a Marlin, Piazza managed a triple. Half the chart of a C speed catcher nets you a triple. Very odd. Unique chart, but this isn't the dead ball era, and you don't put Piazza in the lineup for triple potential. Mike wasn't longed for Florida, and they traded him before long up north... THE...

So for years I heard one of the best pitchers to pull in a pack of Showdown cards was undoubtedly Pedro Martinez. I never pulled one of those in all the years of the game, but now thanks to the Bot , I can make my own.  Not bad. Not bad at all. Control is pretty average, but with the advantage, Pedro is nearly untouchable. Between popouts and strikeouts, your chances of even having productive outs is slim to none. Cost is high for a reliever, but damn does he look worth it. A year later leaves a bit to be desired. Control improves, but the chart takes a major hit. 1993 was clearly a superior year. The wheels completely fell off for Martinez when he was part of the massive trade with the Astros. Bad control that doesn't justify his chart.  After that he ended up traded to the Mets. Attempts at finding pictures of the rest of his career results in some other schmuck who also played for the Mets, but the Mets minor league affiliate only ever had the one... Reds grabbed him off wa...

  Steve Rogers goes back in time at the end of Avengers: Endgame and stayed true to his love of baseball...but since everyone knew who he was in America, he decided to head to Canada to take advantage of his talents incognito. The real Steve Rogers had a pretty great 1982, coming in 2nd for the Cy Young and winning almost 20 games for the Expos. Very nice chart, decent control, and 8IP so he can eat up those innings to save the bullpen some work.

 So yeah, lockout. No baseball so far and as of this post the first 2 series across baseball for the 2022 season have been cancelled. More cancellations are likely to follow and at this point who knows what fate may befall the entire season. So while the lockout is ongoing, MLBs own website isn't allowed to use any active players image, so the site is pretty odd to be around. Lots of talk about minor leaguers or retired players, but nothing current. Anyway, one of the articles were talking about movies, and "The Rookie" came up. The rookie in question is Jim Morris. Never saw the movie, but I noticed his career spanned the 1999-2000 seasons, right at the beginning of the Showdown game...yet no cards for the man exist. Sure, he barely pitched, but lets rectify this situation anyway. Morris was a September callup in 1999 and only pitched 4.2 innings, but still made for a pretty decent card. Average Control with a chart I don't hate. I don't love it either, unless I ...

 It's that time of year again. When we look to see which greats of yesteryear will make the cut to the pantheon of greatness. 2021 featured zero new inductions from the ballot so people are excited to see if this year can bring us new blood. It's also the last chance for a few notable bridesmaids... Bobby Abreu. Year 3. Previous year: 8.7% Barry Bonds. Year 10. Previous year: 61.8% Mark Buehrle. Year 2. Previous year: 11% Roger Clemens. Year 10. Previous year: 61.6% Carl Crawford. First year on ballot. Prince Fielder. First year on ballot. Todd Helton. Year 4. Previous year: 44.9% Ryan Howard. First year on ballot. Tim Hudson. Year 2. Previous year: 5.2% Torii Hunter. Year 2. Previous year: 9.5% Andruw Jones. Year 5. Previous year: 33.9% Jeff Kent. Year 9. Previous year: 32.4% Tim Lincecum. First year on ballot. Justin Morneau. First year on ballot. Joe Nathan. First year on ballot. David Ortiz. First year on ballot. Jonathan Papelbon. First year on ballot. Jake Peavy. First ye...