HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Elster to DL?????
Date: 15 Apr 92 07:24:40 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

In article <1992Apr14.040049.4911@pica.army.mil> skitchen@pica.army.mil (D. Scott Kitchen (CCAC) <skitchen>) writes:
>In <1992Apr13.160113.19920@eng.umd.edu> golob@eng.umd.edu (Laurence Golob):

>>Does anybody know the Mets plans concerning Kevin Elster?  The
>>addition of Schofield coupled with Kevin's weak throw yesterday,
>>(attempting to turn a quick double play off of a bunt) indicates to me
>>that he is headed for the DL. Is Pecota headed to short (how is he
>>defensively), Magadan back to third and Schofield to a back-up roll,
>>or will they be content to give up some hits for a better glove?

>Well, I wish I could say I knew what was going to happen to Elster
>(he's on one of my rotisserie teams, so I have a bit of a stake in
>his future :), but I honestly don't know.  Tonight, Schofield
>started for the Mets after arriving only 20 minutes before game
>time.  And Pecota started at third, so it looks like they're going
>with defense until the bats heat some.

And I have to say that I don't understand this trade at all.  Not that
Julio Valera is going to be great or anything, but why would you trade
him for Schofield?  This seems to be just like the Charlie O'Brien trade 
-- trading a pitching prospect for an almost useless player that you could 
get for free.  I mean, Alvaro Espinoza was just released; he's available
for nothing.  Why would you give up a pitcher to get Schofield, when
Espinoza is almost as good (bad)?  If you're going to make a trade, pick 
up a prospect or a GOOD veteran; not Dick Schofield.
-- 
David M. Nieporent              |ALEast 92: 1.Baltimore 2.Boston 3.Toronto
niepornt@phoenix.princeton.edu  |4. Detroit 5.Milwaukee 6.NY 8.Cleveland
"Baseball stathead, and card-carrying member of the ACLU.  And proud of it."
From: dittrich@aludra.usc.edu (MotrinMan)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: '92 Cubs lineup
Date: 6 Apr 1992 03:01:35 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu
Summary: Grace #5

According to Lefevbre on the annual preseason WGN Cubs/Sox special Sunday,
Grace will bat 5th, and Sosa 2nd.

Projected opening day lineup:

1) Dunston (will lead off until Walton comes back)
2) Sosa
3) Sandberg
4) Dawson
5) Grace (let's hope he responds to this position better than he did the #2)
6) Dwight Smith (& co.)
7) Girardi (Wilkins)
8) Scott (.321 in spring training... hope he makes a better showing than last 
            year in the bigs.  I understand he played few enough games last
            year to still qualify for rookie of year in '92... confirmation
            please?)
9) Maddux

I guess this will get shaken up quite a bit when Villanueva plays.
-- 
 ____________________________________________________________
|Matt Dittrich, a.k.a. MotrinMan| "Strange is your language  |
|        dittrich@usc.edu       |  and I have no decoder..." |
|>>>>>>>>FIGHT ON TROJANS<<<<<<<|           - Peter Gabriel  |
From: king@cogsci.ucsd.EDU (Jonathan King)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Natty Bo vs. IC Lite for rust removal (was Re: Oriole Park at C.Y.)
Summary: I'd have to go for Grain Belt
Keywords: national bohemian, iron city (lite), rolling rock, grain belt
Date: 6 Apr 92 01:40:05 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of California, San Diego

lsmith@cs.umn.edu (Lance "Cogsworth" Smith) writes:
>dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes:
>>warrior@wam.umd.edu writes:
>>>5) They no longer serve National Bohemian! 
>>
>>They couldn't get a Toxic Waste Disposal permit for the new site.
>>(For those of you out there who've never experienced Natty Bo... don't.)
>
>Given a choice between Natty Bo and Iron City, I think I'd prefer to 
>throw myself off of section 205 and hope Kirby might catch me. (He'd
>probably let me drop for a single but this another matter.) 

Aren't you guys going a bit far?

I got to see a game at Old Memorial once a few years ago, and the beer
we drank was National Bohemian.  And, after we choked down the first
couple, it tasted pretty good.  Good enough that we tried out the hot
dogs, and started to peck each other with these weird Orioles "beak"
things that they had given out and that you wear on your head.
Everybody else looked at us like we were nuts, but Eddie Murray won
the game in the bottom of the ninth with a long homer to left, which I
would have caught except for this blurry vision thing that set in
while the Blue Jays were batting in the sixth.  Probably due to the
hotdogs.  Thank God I wasn't driving.

And I've also pumped many an Iron in my day with very little ill
effect, except for that one time "cramping" thing I don't want to get
into since it was probably the pierogies.  But our usual at-home beer
was Rolling Rock, which was cheaper, came in green bottles, and said
"Premium" right there on the label.  It's a good thing, too, since you
can actually get Rolling Rock out here in San Diego; at some bars,
it's considered a "micro-brewery" label and goes for $3.00 a bottle in
some of your tonier places.  There's also a place I know that serves
Iron City Light, but they *do* make you sign some disclaimer thing if
you order it.

>Should we include Old Style in this discussion?
>(At the Metrodome they serve the usual non-regional American Lagers. No
>Schells, Summit, or Leinenkugels in sight.) 

Is Grain Belt available at some ball park somewhere?  Now there's a
fine solution for cleaning rusty tractor parts...

jking
From: rsmith@strobe.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Russ Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Minor League Card questions
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:53:13 GMT

Since there are so many Cardinal fans on the net now, I thought I would
ask whether anybody can tell me what minor league teams the following
Card prospects were assigned to?

Dmitri Young 3b/of
Andy Bruce   3b
Eddie Williams C
Basil Shabazz  of
Allen Watson  lhp    ALL five drafted last year
John Ericks   rhp




Russ Smith
*******************************************************************************
"If this were at all legible, you would see what I'm talking about"

                            Chevy Chase in Fletch 
******************************************************************************
From: andy@misha.central.sun.com (Andy Knipp Metro SE)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Wall St Journal Article
Date: 7 Apr 92 12:55:03 GMT
Reply-To: andy@misha.central.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: misha.central.sun.com

In todays (4/7/92) Wall Street Journal,  the front page has a very 
interesting article on the first baseball prospect to be signed out 
of Russia.  He is a 23 year old lefty pitcher,  tall & lanky.  He
was signed by the Angels,  with a whopping $1500 signing bonus.  He
did not even know what a contract was.   It will eb interesting to 
see if he pans out.  BTW,  the scout who picked him was the same scout to 
sign Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn, and Jim Abbott.


---
Andy Knipp  SE                |
Sun Microsystems              | The secret of success is sincerity,
Schaumburg, IL                | once you can fake that,  you have it made.
andy@sunbird.central.sun.com  |
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: snichols@adobe.com (Sherri Nichols)
Subject: Re: Interleague-play, anyone??
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 21:16:29 GMT

In article <167C4DCE5.CAVGEOE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu> CAVGEOE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu writes:
>     It seems ludicrous to me that there are playoffs between teams who
>have already been proven to be better or worse during the regular season.
>If two teams have faced two different sets of opponents, it adds meaning
>to the playoff series -- this is why the World Series is so much better
>than the NLCS or ALCS. 

I have a somewhat different perspective on playoffs.  Playoffs are not
about determining the best team, they're about excitement.  If the goal is
to determine the best team, than lengthen the schedule and go to
interleague play.  But it wouldn't be as exciting as playoffs.  

I actually find the LCS's more exciting oftentimes than the World Series.
Not that all teams don't want to *win* the World Series, merely *getting*
to the World Series is a big enough goal that it really promotes a
winner-take-all feel to the LCS.  If you can remember who won the World
Series in a given year, you can usually remember who lost it, but (I at
least find) it's much harder to remember who lost the LCS's that year.  

Would interleague play diminish the excitement of the LCS and World Series?
I don't think so.  I hold no strong opinion either way about interleague
play, though the best argument I've heard against it was the argument that
it would limit the development of rivalries, because it would cut down on
the number of games between any two teams.  I do believe that rivalries are
good for the game.

> No one really believes, for example, that the 1987
>Twins were *better* than the Tigers, we all know that they got hot at the
>right time.  But it can still be argued that the 1990 Reds were better than
>the A's -- they had no common opponents.  Interleague play would diminish
>the respect accorded to the world champs -- it would be easier to argue that
>another team was really the best in baseball.

It's already pretty easy to argue that.  Does anybody really believe that
the '87 Twins were the best team in baseball?

Sherri Nichols
snichols@adobe.com
From: kenneth@ducvax.auburn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Will Clark as a Triple Crowner?
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:01:42 GMT

> Clark?  Ok, an outside shot at BA.  But since the rabbit-ball year, he's
> only hit 19-29 home runs a season (and more of those at Candlestick
> than on the road, so it's not completely the park.)

I think he has an _excellent_ shot at a batting title.  As for HR, probably
not, and RBI, he has as good a shot as anyone.  A lot depends on the seasons
of the people hitting in front of him.

> Thomas and Griffey Jr. are the only real TC threats I see who are
> currently active.

Jose Canseco is the best threat I can see if he can stay healthy for a 
whole season. the guy sucks at defense, but that ain't a part of the TC.
The part he'd have the most trouble with is the BA, but I remember he hit
.307 a few years ago, so it isn't such a reach for him.  However, I think
that as long as Wade Boggs is in the league, it will be very hard for anyone
to win the TC.  Ruben Sierra has a good shot at it, to, BTW.


Ken
From: riff@coos.dartmouth.edu (Christopher P. Riff)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Cubs 25-man roster?
Date: 7 Apr 92 14:25:15 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH


Who is on the Cub's opening day roster?
Thanks in advance,

Chris Riff
riff@dartmouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: jlundy@bilbo.encore.com (Joe Lundy)
Subject: Re: Eckersley NOT better than Fingers
Keywords: Look it up.  I'm tired of talking to deaf hamsters.
Organization: Kirschna Conciousness.
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:45:30 GMT

In article <1992Apr16.223528.24376@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, glb50263@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Gary L. Blickhan) writes:
|> zuhars@madrone.eecs.ucdavis.edu (Gary Avenue Of Shattered Skulls Huckabay) writes:

[Net.bickering deleted]

|> >*   Gary Huckabay   * "You spent 5409 points out of 30,000 on ONE player?" *
|> >* "Plays 'Over My   * "On Frank Thomas."  "No one's worth THAT much."      *
|> >* Head' better than * "This from someone who spent 3028 on Jay Buhner?     *
|> >*  Bubbles Lundy."  *  Blow me a kiss, sweetheart.  Eat my dust." - GH & BL*
|> 
|> 
|> 
|> Nobody wins when you are being such a hypocrite yourself. 

Yeah, ya big goof.  I don't even like Fleetwood Mac.

...although I heard Kirsch plays a mean version of "Lunatic Fringe" on the
accordion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Joe Lundy           Encore Computer Corporation, 6901 W. Sunrise Blvd.    |
| jlundy@encore.com   Mail Stop 811, Ft. Lauderdale, FL  33313-4499         |
| "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" - The Hollies			    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: cscdc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Dan Carpenter)
Subject: Cardinal Club  constitution  :-)
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 22:07:05 GMT

Wanted:  Constitution     

         To be included:
        	Behavioral conduct towards Cub fans on net.
                     "	      "       "    Mets fans on net.
                Requirements to be a member of the club.
		

	I want something humorous, light, without flames (they can come
later).

Please send all ideas to me, E-Mail, so the opposition fans can throw
flames at us before we strike.

Dan, cscdc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu


Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: dmiller@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Dan Miller)
Subject: Re: Cardinal Club
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 06:12:08 GMT

Sign me up!  Been a baseball fan all my life, and grew up 40 miles
from the best baseball town in America! Saint Louis!
-Dan Miller (dmiller@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)

Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent)
Subject: Re: Rickey Henderson v Nolan Ryan -- Stat-head call to arms!
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 07:04:42 GMT

In <167CBD917.X005CB@tamvm1.tamu.edu> X005CB@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Chris Barnes):
>In <1992Apr15.160550.7070@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
 
>>The whites are much more likely to be described as classy players,
>>the blacks as troublemakers.

>   Then please explain the Rod Dibbles & Len Dykstras of bb.
>Not exactly guys I would call classy....
 
Dykstra is 'fiesty, spunky, aggressive.'  Rickey is lazy, Eric Davis is a
baby who won't play hurt.

I'll grant you that Dibble has a bad image, but that doesn't disprove
Ted's point, which is that black players are MORE LIKELY to be described
as troublemakers..  (He also mentioned the board game in which Latins
are always designated as hot-tempered.)

>    Sorry, but I give the (sports) media and fans a little more
>credit than that.

Look at the Whitaker/Trammell thing, which is the ultimate example.
They were extremely similar players (Whitaker seems to be healthier now.)
But Trammell was a HOF player, while Whitaker was a lazy black who never
lived up to his potential.

Ryne Sandberg is a great player who deserved a huge contract for all
he's done for baseball; Bonilla is a shiftless greedy overrated player.

This isn't to say that there aren't white players that are disliked, or
black players that are liked (although they never seem to get hired as 
managers), but the evidence seems clear that racism often does play a role.

It's just like in other sports, where the whites are players who worked
really hard to get where they are, whereas the blacks are born talented
and don't have to do anything to get their paychecks.

>      ----------------------------------------------
>Chris Barnes            |  "Success is the realization of your
>x005cb@tamvm1.tamu.edu  |       worthwhile dreams" ---  Dexter Yager
>(409) 846-3273 (home)   |  "A goal is a dream being acted upon"
>(409) 845-8454 (work)   |                          ---  Don Wilson

-- 
David M. Nieporent              |ALEast 92: 1.Baltimore 2.Boston 3.Toronto
niepornt@phoenix.princeton.edu  |4. Detroit 5.Milwaukee 6.NY 8.Cleveland
"Baseball stathead, and card-carrying member of the ACLU.  And proud of it."
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: billoj@aix.rpi.edu (Jeremy Louis Billones)
Subject: Re: Misc. Baseball Ramblings
Keywords: James, Orioles, Injuries
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 01:14:09 GMT

gotribe@cbnewse.cb.att.com (richard.g.barry) writes:
>Just some thoughts on the early baseball season:
>1. Is Johnny Oates nuts?  Is he really playing both Joe Orsulak *and*
>   Brady Anderson?  My God - how did this man get to a position to
>   manage a major league club?  He's got a 30+ homer guy in Chito
>   Martinez on the bench, a .300 hitter and .400 OBP guy in the minors
>   (Mercedes), and his best pitcher (Mussina) is the 4th starter?

Yeah, that's pretty weak.  I would play Martinez in LF, Anderson
in CF, and Orsulak in RF.  Versus a RHP...

>   Did he really start Tim Hulett as the DH Wednesday night against
>   the Indians?  I really thought the O's were going to have a good
>   season, but if this dingbat Oates keeps it up, they ain't going nowhere!

The Orioles have 10 position players who can hit right handed.  Glenn
Davis is injured (again), so the other 9 all played vs the LHP.  Vs a RHP,
they play all their lefties except Martinez.  Why not Martinez?  Don't
ask me...

Jeremy Billones     billoj@rpi.edu  or  jbillone@jarthur.claremont.edu
He waded through the ankle-deep debris and shreds of crumpled paper on the
table on which Saavik was curled asleep, clutching a mangled page in her
hand.  The words were malformed, torturously carved, but they were legible
and correctly spelled: SPOCK NOTGO MY NAME IS SAAVIK.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Camden Yards
From: kvigen@morita.gac.edu (Karl K Vigen)
Date: 14 Apr 92 13:37:13 -0600

In article <1992Apr13.215833.16128@wam.umd.edu>  writes:
> In article <1992Apr13.092926.731@dvorak.amd.com>  
twhite@mozart.amd.com  
> (Tom White) writes:
> > 
> > 
> >    So who hit the first homer in the Orioles' new park?
> 
> Mike Devereaux...nice shot too..
> 
It was actually Paul Sorrento, whom the Twins traded to Cleveland.
(He also got the first hit.)
Nice trade, McPhail.

K.Vigen



-- NewsGrazer, a NeXTstep(tm) news reader, posting --
M>UQR=&8P7&%N<VE[7&9O;G1T8FQ<9C!<9FUO9&5R;B!#;W5R:65R.WT*7&UA
M<F=L,3(P"EQM87)G<C$R,`I<<&%R9%QT>#DV,%QT>#$Y,C!<='@R.#@P7'1X
M,S@T,%QT>#0X,#!<='@U-S8P7'1X-C<R,%QT>#<V.#!<='@X-C0P7'1X.38P
M,%QF,%QB,%QI,%QU;#!<9G,R-"!);B!A<G1I8VQE(#PQ.3DR07!R,3,N,C$U
M.#,S+C$V,3(X0'=A;2YU;60N961U/B`@=W)I=&5S.EP*/B!);B!A<G1I8VQE
M(#PQ.3DR07!R,3,N,#DR.3(V+C<S,4!D=F]R86LN86UD+F-O;3X@='=H:71E
M0&UO>F%R="YA;60N8V]M("!<"CX@*%1O;2!7:&ET92D@=W)I=&5S.EP*/B`^
M(%P*/B`^(%P*/B`^("`@(%-O('=H;R!H:70@=&AE(&9I<G-T(&AO;65R(&EN
M('1H92!/<FEO;&5S)R!N97<@<&%R:S]<"CX@7`H^($UI:V4@1&5V97)E875X
M+BXN;FEC92!S:&]T('1O;RXN7`H^(%P*270@=V%S(&%C='5A;&QY(%!A=6P@
M4V]R<F5N=&\L('=H;VT@=&AE(%1W:6YS('1R861E9"!T;R!#;&5V96QA;F0N
M7`HH2&4@86QS;R!G;W0@=&AE(&9I<G-T(&AI="XI7`I.:6-E('1R861E+"!-
98U!H86EL+EP*7`I++E9I9V5N7`I<"@I]"FAI
`
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: texdude@camelot.bradley.edu (Philip Allen)
Subject: Kevin Brown = Cy Young?
Organization: Bradley University
Distribution: usa
Date: 14 Apr 92 02:39:03 GMT

2 wins, 2 complete games, 1 shutout.....
only a handful (I'm not sure how many) of hits in 18 innings
2 K/BB (not wonderful, but still good for Brown)

Ok, the Cy Young is pretty unlikely, but Kevin's been doing pretty well.

Any comments?


Phil
From: mgustafs@bomber.prime.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Pre-Season Poll RESULTS
Date: 9 Apr 92 12:13:28 GMT
Organization: Computervision, Bedford MA


Thanks to all who answered my poll question. If you didn't catch it, I asked
who you would take in an AL rotisserie draft between Kevin Mitchell or
George Bell. The results:


			85% would take Mitchell

			15% would Take Bell

Some of the reasons to take Mitchell:

o The Kingdome is more of a homer haven than the Sox Stadium.

o I think the Kingdome is probably a little better hitters park.  Bell is older.

o Bell is good, but Mitchell is going to hit at least 35-40 homers this year
  maybe more. It's just plain scary to think of him playing 80 games in the
  Kingdome.


Some of the reasons to take Bell:

o He is not injury-prone like Mitchell the past 2 years.

o He does not have a weight problem.

o I would probably take Bell only because he's likely to play 150-155 games.
  Mitchell will probably play 135-140.


So know you're asking why I had asked (maybe you're not ;-) this question. Well,
I happen to have the #1 pick in my draft (Sat.). 100 total players were protected
from last year. Having finished dead last and keeping the minimum required (5)
I have pick #'s 1, 4, 7, 11-13... to start with (I aquired a couple of picks
in trades. That's how I got #'s 12 & 13).My keepers are Griffey, Tartabull, 
Bernie Williams, R. Alomar & Schooler. It appears I have a good chance of gettin'
outta the basement. I just wanted to censor the news-group to see who valued
one more than the other... Mitchell/Bell. I was leaning to Mitchell anyway, but
when Bell came over to the AL.......... I went Hmmmmmmmm.......


I'll not waste bandwidth with my draft results. I enjoyed reading all the 
responses.

Thanks again,
Mark Gustafson

PS - Who'd ya take between Viola & Smiley. Got today & tomorrow (Fri) to field
     responses!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: claudius@leland.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu)
Subject: Bobby Valentine uses Al Newman to leadoff!
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 18:14:55 GMT

I didn't see the Opening Day box score from that Seattle/Texas game, since it
was late, until today, and boy, was I surprised to see Al Newman as the
*leadoff* hitter.  Brian Downing, the regular leadoff man last year, batted
5th.  If he had started and led Jeff Huson off, I could understand it, but
Al "I can't hit *or* walk" Newman leading off?

===============================================================================
GO CALIFORNIA ANGELS!
Charter Member of the Acker-o-phobics Anonymous
===============================================================================
Nelson Lu (claudius@leland.stanford.edu)
From: roger@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Henderson vs. Ryan
Date: 16 Apr 92 17:56:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

In article <1992Apr16.151912.7420@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> justus@cat4.cs.wisc.edu (Curtis Justus) writes:
>Hey... I've been reading some of the articles on the subject, and I think
>there is something else that could be looked at...

>Let's compare attitudes...  Henderson is constantly accused of not trying
                                                     ^^^^^^^ 
>his hardest.  It is great that he does as well as he does while sluffing
>off, but I take away a lot of credit from a guy who needs a wheelbarrow
>full of money from his teammates in order to "lure" him to spring training.

Guilt by accusation, eh?

Try again.  Look at the man's attitude between the lies.  Have you EVER
seen anyone focus harder on the pitcher, whether he's at the plate or
moving off of first base?  Look atRickey Henderson slide into second.

That, sir, is attitude.

>Now let's look at Ryan... he is a rather low-keyed guy.  Sure he does a bunch
>of commercials, but that has only happened lately, not when he was the age
>Henderson is now.   Give Ryan credit as a role model, not Henderson who thinks
>it is, as another discussion in the group says, "a ME sport."

How do you know what Rickey Henderson thinks?  Have you ever asked him?
Or do you rely on what the sportswriters tell you?  They hate Rickey,
because he doesn't like them.

But then, he's not paid to do that.  He's paid to play.  Which he does,
and does in a way that few ballplayers EVER have.  And when he's hot, he
can keep a team in contention better than almost anyone else.  The
1985-7 Yankees had more holes than Blackburn, Lancs., yet they were in
every race; and te Oakland teams of the past several years need no
comment.