2021 HOT STOVE

@undermysac

 I actually did live in SF with my second wife in late 70s but in 78 my Grandfather was on his last legs and my Idiot OLDER Brother,most people older than me have lost more than a few marbles even when we were young,or I never got along with the fool,

but back to SF,I spent 3+years in Conn.and it was cold as you could get,the City I lived in was on the Long Island Sound and it turned that snow into a wet snow which my guess would be Chicago has something similar to it,and any wind would just chill your bones.I lived in the middle of a 3 storied flat that was 4 bedrooms and about 3500 S/F,nice place but cost a bundle to heat,it was more than rent sometimes,it faced the Golden Gate Bridge and when I would try to open the door which was a job with the wind pushing back,then when I got outside it was or felt like I was back on east coast,cold wind chilling the bones.So that made up saying that has been around longer than your 27 years sac has a lot of truth to it.

so now back to Grandfather,at that point in life the only ones I got along with were Grandparents I went cross country to get away from family,and now my Grandfather is telling me he has cancer in his liver and he wants me to move to Carmel area and he has a 2 bedroom Victorian style house I can rent for 185 a month,even then in this area nice price and reason being that my Grandmother was going to need help after he died and I was it,they were wealthy and everyone always was asking them for something and it really bother them that everyone wanted them to bail them out.Shit they even bought my Dad's house for him in 1959 with cash and my Dad is 89 and still lives in it,in fact if I manage to outlive him I will be selling it,lol.Bit my Dad looks good,only thing that might get him is when my Step Mom goes,they been married 56 years about,

Now KEY AND LC,where you listening to Amos and Andy on the Radio in 1926 or did you catch the first show in 1951 and you are right both those are before my time so the dirt you are putting in my posts are also things a young guy like me knows nothing about,but for that time it does seem to have some humor to it,I am surprised they used people of color back then on TV,I had to goggle to make sure they didn't.

So SAC I told that whole story to tell you it has been since 1979 that I lived in SF,spent a lot of nights in Hotel rooms as I got free rooms from the place I worked until our whatever decided the virus was not real,and the Carmel area is about 60 degrees all year,it is about the perfect weather there is but I am thinking of selling my house and moving because this stupid state will kill me on a fix income if I let it.That is my Trump lesson he forced on me for 2020.

So sac you should be bawling about now instead of a single tear down your young cheek,now how many of you said how many wife's has he had,hope not as many teams as he roots for,.

JEG, if I was listening in 1926, that would make me around 95 years old. Don’t think I’ll be posting or gambling if I make it that far....

You guys are insufferable 

Jethro Tull beat out Metallica in 1989 for best Heavy Metal Performance at the Grammys.

I was a pissed off little 8 year old.

highway robbery 

Surprised to read this:

https://www.redlegnation.com/2020/12/05/cincinnati-reds-are-reportedly-working-hard-to-trade-sonny-gray/

Why?

I like David Bell, I like how quickly the Reds put together a competitive roster. Gray is their Ace assuming Trevor Bauer leaves. If they trade Gray, they better get a bucket full of talent in return.

Still not sure what the thinking is.

@undermysac

 They paid those pitchers big bucks to pitch 7 or 8 innings a week,and having a relief pitcher starting games is just stupid,but if you really want to save money and mess with the union,sign a whole pitching staff of relief pitchers,average salary about 2.2 mill.a year,have a staff of 13 for a  salary of 28,600,000,but it would even be less maybe if you had a few guys getting the 500,000+ which is min.wage somewhere over that #.

A loaded team like the Yankees who BTW should win the WS this year as we are the best going in to Spring,but they over pay worthless pitchers that can not win even with 10 runs a game,so now with the money we save not having to pay a bunch of Primadonna's 100 million for X amount of years so now we can spend more money for our bench players and I could see my Yankees and Dodgers scoring 13 runs a game.

THIS IS WHERE BASEBALL IS HEADED,THEY NO LONGER WANT A 2-1 SCORE,WHICH TO ME IS A GREAT GAME,BUT NO FAN APPEAL.

And LC you took the Jethro Tull post right out from under me,who is your fav.team?Want to make sure not one of mine,.

Does this mean we get to still vote as we get older,.

JEG, though I was just a kid, my favorite team of all time was the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. They left an indelible impression on me with so many good players. They had Aaron, Matthews, Crandall, Adcock, Spahn, Burdette....Today, my favorite team is the team I have $ on that day in any sport. And since I no longer bet MLB, I have no baseball favorite.

If you guys have read JEG's posts since I posted then you know what I mean and I can rest my case.

"Some day, I got to have a long talk wit dat boy."

Now, sac, I don't know about any modern podcast but the original quote can be attributed to Mark Twain, and what he said was, "The coldest winter I ever spent was one summer in San Francisco". No podcasts back in his day, but the quote has been around far longer. 

We may be insufferable (sac learned a new word), but when LC and I go to that classic dugout in the sky you will miss us. You young whipper-snappers ought to be paying attention to the gems we offer and the wisdom we can add to this otherwise insufferable forum. I have spoken, heed my words.

 LC ->  <- Me

I'd like to get your guy's take on Mike Trout. He's committed himself to the Angels, very admirable. He's a genuinely good guy, doesn't put himself in the spotlight, doesn't complain etc...

I honestly think that when his career is over, he most definitely should be in the discussion for best player to have ever played. We could get into the nuts n bolts of why, but that would just spark prolonged auxiliary discussions. See I learned another new word Key.

I just think that the guy has a very good chance of playing a career with ZERO WS rings. And that's a crying shame. When some of the guys you guys have mentioned have multiple rings.

Food for thought.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-conversation-with-1960s-slugger-jim-gentile-part-one/

What a great read. How a guy could sit in the minors for so long with the #'s he put is unheard of in today's baseball.

LC has mentioned the dwindling talent pool in the MLB many times. Maybe the old fogey isn't so off his rocker.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-conversation-with-1960s-slugger-jim-gentile-part-two/

Part two. My favorite quote, "today's strike-zone is like a stamp, from the belt to the knees. Back in my day, it was from the armpit to the knees".

Wow, I really need to do some study on the history of the game. Thanks 

I was still just a sperm in 1960

Nor is he a Mantle (whom you conveniently forgot). Today they count post-season home runs. Mickey tops everyone at 18 and they were ALL World Series home runs. He never played in a play off game. Hit them off the-best-of-the best.

Sometimes LC, it is just IRONically insufferable what we have to teach these kids. 

I remember a AAA career guy that would be an every day in the bigs now, if he just hadn't had his peak years in the early 80's when the Royals were loaded. His name was "Bombo" Rivera and the fans loved him. He went up to KC and back to Omaha two or three times a year because he just couldn't hang with the big club, but hit the bigs every time there was an injury or sickness. I think he played AAA until he was at least 35+ years old, and the fans hated it when he finally retired; but he never gave up, age just caught up with him. We don't see guys like that anymore either.

Now, as for Trout being the GOAT, I will reserve judgment on that for a long time. He has a chance, and W.S. rings don't make any difference. TEAMS win the W.S., not individual players. It takes many, MANY years to have a GOAT discussion about anybody, and Mike just hasn't put in the time yet, but I won't rule it out. The thing that gets me is; after all these years and thousands of players, Ruth would STILL have to be in the discussion. No-one ever impacted his era in any sport like Ruth did MLB. 

So, I see where Dick Allen passed away. He was a heck of a player but a bit of a spur under the saddle. Not terribly popular with either fans or teammates, but that is not to deny him his place in history. He always seemed to have the belligerent-black-guy attitude back before it was popular and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, sort of like Mohamed Ali (a.k.a., Cassius Clay). Opinion, LC? Oh well, R.I.P.

According to WAR(fwiw) Babe Ruth is #1 all time on the list. The nerds calculations, not mine.

Makes sense since he pitched and hit, and did both extremely well.

Every guy LC mentioned is above Mike Trout. All though, as Key said, his career is far from over.

Any guesses on the #1 all time catcher according to WAR?

Key, I remember Dick Allen being from Wampum, PA. He’s another guy you could make a HOF argument for. I know he was an all star numerous times. Strong as a bull. 

Sac, my guess for greatest catcher would be Bench or Yogi.

Johnny Bench 

Obviously never seen him play live, but what I've read and little highlights I saw were great. Saw a documentary on the Big Red Machine, what a collection of talent.

Yogi seems like a real life hero. And didn't Casius Clay dodge the draft?

Just like Trump who faked shin splints 

Only Key and LC might remember this guy,he was from the town I grew up in,Don Landrum,and he was not a star so they might not remember him,he had 8 so so years, plus he was on the Cubs for half of it,other than Ernie Banks why would you remember any Cub player from the 60s but him,they also had a good Pitcher then but his name escapes me for the time being and I do not want to google,but Billy Williams and Ron Santo are all I can remember off the top of my head.He was not close to a Jim Gentile type but signed by Phillies and a few years with Cards and then Cubs until he finish his last year with SF,non of those teams were good in that time frame and he lost his job to Don Kissinger who took over second base for years and if he would of been a bit older Landrum would of had a 4 year career as Cubs would not have needed him.

Back then if you were on a team that had a star in your position you would be stuck in minors,and reason I mentioned this guy was he opened a Chicken fast food place for his off season job,those players were making less that I made making boxes and in Det.with Auto Makers made 5 times what most baseball players made in the slave period,and even now after the Players have won they still have anger with owners and they do not even know why.But it has been passed down from era to era by baseball players to other players and it will last forever IMO,they have nothing to be upset about now but it is part of baseball to look at the Owners as the Enemy.

Some great players never got out of the minors esp.if they were good because it was better to have them in your Org.than trading them to a team that takes you out of the pennant race,out of those 16 teams one from each side made the World Series,no div.winners or added wild card teams,most wins out of 154 and that was it.There were players that spent 10 years in minors before they got a late call up,unless you went to the town someone played in you never heard of them,all we had was 5 TV channels and a phone on your kitchen wall,now someone

that knows how to play the drums can just start playing,post it on facebook and if your good it gets posted to U-Tube and millions can see you,life was so different back in the GOOD OLE DAYS,WHICH ENDED 4 YEARS AGO.