HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: savoy@hg.uleth.ca (Jim Savoy)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: rule question
Date: 21 Jul 92 07:58:20 GMT
Reply-To: savoy@hg.uleth.ca
Organization: University of Lethbridge


>> dmsu@athena.mit.edu (Danny M Su) writes:
>>
>>	If a right handed hitter comes into the game inherenting a 2-0 count
>>against a switch hitter from a left handed pitcher, is the hitter allowed to
>>switch side?

I think there is a rule prohibiting a batter from switching sides in mid-count
(for obvious reasons - a switch-hitter who hits equally well from both sides of
the plate could really mess with the defensive alignment by constantly 
swapping sides after each pitch!). But I don't know if this rule applies to
situations where a new pitcher has been brought in in mid-count which, although
rare, does happen ocassionally.


 _____________________________________________________________________________
     Jim Savoy          University Of Lethbridge         savoy@hg.uleth.ca

  Meanwhile in Washington, at the headquarters of F.E.A.R. - the Federal Egg
  Answering Room - in reality a front name for F.E.E.B.L.E. - the Free World
  Extra-Earthly Bodies Location and Extermination Centre... all was not well.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: s5170748@deimos.ucc.umass.edu (THAN LEE)
Subject: Grand-slam trivia
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Keywords:  Trivia, homerun, grand slam
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 22:47:00 GMT

The recent glut of grand slams by the Phillies and Red Sox has brought to
attention Jim Northrup's record of three slams in one week.  This record
was unofficially broken in the early eighties, when someone hit three in
one series.  Hoewever, the third was ruled a double by a poor excuse for
an umpire (the shot hit a light standard, ump thought the ball hit the
wall).  Who was this player?

Than Lee
From: rcbi105@muvms3.bitnet (Matt Leary)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Red Sox - The long term
Date: 22 Jul 92 14:56:03 GMT
Organization: Marshall University

They should of dumped Boggs When they could get something for him.  Dump
Greenwell, Burks and all thoes overpaid jerks.  Young and Darwin Too.
Play the kids and build for the future.  Get some relief,  losing 3 out of 4 to
theTwins after leading in all the games.  Please help me Bosox, you killing me.

Matt

Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: lsmith@cs.umn.edu (Lance "Not Here" Smith)
Subject: Re: Value of Stats
Organization: The Little Psychologists of the Poor
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:54:41 GMT

In article <5035@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>
>I think where this "choosing the lesser player who has a good
>attitude" comes into play is when the players are reasonably close.
>For example:
>
>Player A:   OBA: .340    OPS:  .800   Grumpy, hard to get along with.
>Player B:   OBA: .325    OPS:  .765   Leader-type, known to help
>                                      loosen folks up in the clubhouse.

OK, assume that you have to make a trade for one of these players. 
(You have a solid outfield and you want to get rid of Dan Gladden.) 
How do you know the stuff in the psych column. Where do you get your
source of information?

Do you read the newspaper? I've seen enough writers with chips on their
shoulder to know that isn't dependable. Just about every writer/columnist
seems to have their favorite and least favorite players. Even good writers
will often hype some player based on his intangibles. Seems that the
Boston press tended to ride Ted Williams pretty hard considering his
talent.

Do you base your opinions on what you see when you face that player. Bit
of a problem if you're in different leagues or different divisions of the
NL. Plus players seem to improve when their on your team. The difference
between a "complete ass" and a "competitor" is often the difference in
uniforms.

Do you ask the other players? Two problems with this. First, players
will lie or hedge when talking about their teammates. Second, how do
you know that the player you're asking isn't the grumpy player that
happens to disagree with the leader-type you're looking at? 

As the aesthetics-drunk non-statheads keep pointing out, the game is not
played by robots. Human relationships are complex things. Why Gary
Sheffield is grumpy in Milwaukee and suddenly a likeable guy in San Diego
is something I don't want to deal with. Maybe a player is getting a bad 
rap because of personality conflicts. Maybe he is a leader-type, but the
team already has some entrenched leaders.  

Unless you have much better insight into human relations than I do, I say
take the player that can produce more on the field and let the manager
worry about what happens in the clubhouse. (Unless you have Chuck Tanner
as your manager that is.) A players rep is no guarantee of how a player
will interact with your team.

>Now, if A's OBA was .380 and his OPS .950, well, that's a different
>story.  I'd put up with grumpyness for that much difference.

Plus a winning team often makes the grumpiest of players agreeable.
-- 
   Lance "Zeppelin" Smith      | "O hateful error, melancholy's stat!
    (lsmith@cs.umn.edu)        |  Why dost thou show, to the idle thoughts of
 Prove it! Show us your work!  |  Mediots, the things that are not!
    Huh? What's your point?    |                 _Jose Caesar_, V. iii. 67
From: dtate+@pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Value of Stats
Date: 23 Jul 92 18:41:48 GMT
Organization: Factors of Ys, Inc.

In article <BruMG7.6oG@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> djohnson@cayley.waterloo.edu (David Johnson) writes:

[40 lines of text that should have been deleted earlier.  Please edit down
 your replies.]

>Of course Ducey would like to play and of course Ducey is probably ticked off
>at management for not giving him a chance but he never complained or was
>disruptive in the Clubhouse.  

HOW DO YOU KNOW?  How do you know what Ducey has or hasn't done in the 
clubhouse?  Are you guessing?  Do you live there?  Have you wired the place
for sound?  Is Rance Mulliniks your brother-in-law?

>The thing is if Toronto thought he could hit 40-50HRs or even 25 HRs they 
>would have found a spot for him.  

In other words, Toronto was *wrong* about Fielder.  Their management made
an *incorrect* (yea, even *inept*) judgement about Fielder's talent.

If they can pull such glaring boners with regard to easily-seen things like
hitting ability, why can't they also be wrong here and there about attitude,
leadership, and so forth?

>Right.  Bell may have been a great guy but the way he flatly refused to DH is
>what ticked off management and the fans and that is why he isn't here now.  

He sure played a lot of DH, for someone who "flatly refused".  How is Bell's
flat refusal to be exclusively a DH any different from Winfield's similar
flat refusal this year?

[ *Please* edit down your text.  It's hard to find your comments in among all
  the ">>>>"s and overly-long lines... ]

-- 
        David Tate         |   When I was a rookie arm and bit 
  dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu  |   And the greenest hurler to take the mound
  Prof. of Story Problems  |   (Sighed the old southpaw, dying of innings)...
  Member ORSA, TIMS, SABR  | 	"Lament", Dylan 'Big Frank' Thomas
From: dtate+@pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: The Expos...Surprise of the second half...
Date: 27 Jul 92 23:25:21 GMT
Organization: Factors of Ys, Inc.

In article <19387@plains.NoDak.edu> sivaram@plains.NoDak.edu (Sivaram Hariharan ) writes:
>What does people have to say about the Expos....only
>2 behind the NL-east leading pirates...

I picked the Expos to win the East.  I haven't changed my mind.  I give them
about a 40% chance at this point...


-- 
        David M. Tate        | "And that inverted Bowl we call The Dome
   dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu   |  Whereunder crawling coop'd we field and bat,
   Edward "Mike" Fitzgerald  |     Lift not your eyes to *it* for help--for it
     from "The Ruthaiyat"    |  Will drop the tow'ring fly upon your hat."
From: alird@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Rob Ducey (Was Re: Cuyler: put on DL?)
Date: 31 Jul 92 15:46:33 GMT
Reply-To: alird@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Distribution: na
Organization: Montana State University

In article <1992Jul31.060449.4585@leland.Stanford.EDU>, claudius@leland.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu) writes:
>In article <1992Jul31.034708.4347@zia.aoc.nrao.edu> dadler@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (David Adler) writes:
>
>>Fox...Hell, maybe Rob Ducey will get some playing time in
>>California....
>
>Did Ducey get traded to the Angels?  If so, when did this happen, and who
>was he traded for?  I like Ducey, but I'd rather see Tim Salmon get the
>playing time.
===========================================================>
GO CALIFORNIA ANGELS!
>GO TEAM CHINESE TAIPEI!
>GO TEAM USA!	(Hey, I can sit on the fence, can't I?)
>===============================================================================
>Nelson Lu (claudius@leland.stanford.edu)

THe Jays traded Ducey and Greg Meyers to the Angels for Mark Eichorn yesterday.
In a deal of earth shattering proportions. Boy I miss the good ole dayswhen
trades at this time of year actually meant something, bfore the days of
megabuck contracts and free agency. please excuse my diatribe (sp) but i feel
much better now.

Rick
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: <none>
From: gsparaco@cardinal.sc107.wesleyan.edu
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 23:29:33 GMT
Organization: Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT USA


gerry sparaco
email via: dfarrell@eagle.wesleyan.edu
								*********
From: a_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: The End of an Era
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:06:46 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <2178315@overmind.citadel>, transarc.com!Ken_Ziolkowski@overmind.mind.org writes:
> 
> 
>   From the wednesday, July 22nd issue of USA Today:
> 
>   "The Mariners released RHP Jim Acker Tuesday for
>    the purpose of giving him his unconditional
>    release. Acker, who was 0-0 with a 5.28 ERA in
>    17 appearances this season, has been on the
>    15-day DL since June 15 with a broken bone in
>    his left wrist."
> 
> 
>    The King is dead, long live the King.

	Maybe the Mariners could attone by signing Steve Trout? :-)

	BTW, did Ken Griffey Sr. go ahead and retire?

Brandon Cope
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: ven@eecg.toronto.edu (Ven Seshadri)
Subject: Re: A *Sure* sign of the apocalypse...
Keywords: Email me for entry-level mid fi and hi fi equipment, cheap.
Distribution: na
Date: 30 Jul 92 21:21:54 GMT

In article <15668@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zuhars@madrone.eecs.ucdavis.edu (Gary Not Just For The Dead Huckabay) writes:
>In a move unparalleled for raw defiance of the odds, Oakland Athletics
>foliage Carney Lansford played shortstop against the Twins last night.
>
>There were no reports of injuries or deaths.
>
>What's next?
>
>Cecil Fielder - Center Fielder.

Something like this has already happened.  Do any Blue Jays fans out
there remember the times Cecil played 3rd base and 2nd base in late
inning situations in (I think) 1987?  I seem to recall that he made
a game-losing error in one of those 2 games.


Ven Seshadri.
From: king@cogsci.ucsd.EDU (Jonathan King)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: The Indians:  heads up the butt again (was Mesa form Indians?)
Date: 22 Jul 92 00:11:12 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <1131@netxcom.netx.com> jwc@netx.com (Jeff Comer) writes:
>ron@osf.org (Ron Birnbaum) writes:
>>Anyone know how the Indians got a hold of tonight's pitcher - Mesa? Any
>>Indian experts out there? Did they get him through the Alex Cole trade?
>>The paper says he's 3-8 this year but I don't think he's played with the
>>Indians! Thanks.
>
>Hooo, boy, are you Tribe fans gonna like this guy! Once word gets out that 
>Jose "Meat on the Table" Mesa is pitching for the Indians, attendance at
>Cleveland Stadium should skyrocket. 

Actually, other things may follow an upwards trajectory as well.

>Y'see, the Joser was released from the
>Orioles because he couldn't pitch worth beans. 

You're so mean.  This year, he's managed to bring his lifetime ERA down
to a measly 5.36!

>Yeah, he's got that fast
>ball allright, but it's anybody's guess where it's going to be when it
>reaches the plate area. 

I prefer "batting area", since you can extend that to include anything
between the on-deck circles. :-)

>Jose was designated for assignment and before he became a free agent, 
>Cleveland snatched him up, for a AA-outfielder named Kyle Washington. 

OH MY GOD!  You mean to say the Indians gave up Kyle "I hit .343 last
year with a .525 SLG and a .432 OBP *and* 50 steals in Class A last
year" Washington for Jose "The Hose" Mesa?  A guy who at last count
was hitting over .300 with a .400+ SLG and a decent OBP in AA this
year?  If this guy is a day under 24 (hell, he's probably 22), this is
an absolute steal for the Orioles.

It is to vomit.  What in the hell were the Indians thinking here?  Does
anybody know?  Or am I missing something really obvious?

jking




Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: usscoop1@bnr.ca (Chuck McCusker P015)
Subject: OBPxSLG 
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, BNR-RTP 
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:40:09 GMT

Yesterday I read in the Village Voice that they use team OBP times SLG
to get an offensive measure of a team and ERA as a pitching measure.
I would like to hear some opinions on this. BTW they picked Toronto, 
Minnesota, Atlanta, and St.Louis to win their divisions. Although they
were a little vague on the NL East.

Chuck Ross - just a fan - dont really know a lot about the game.
From: rob@chili.hnrc.tufts.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Smith vs. Reardon
Date: 27 Jul 92 16:14:51 GMT
Organization: USDA HNRC at Tufts University


How many saves till Lee Smith passes Reardon for lifetime saves.

(hope its soon since Reardon's appearances make me groan like I haven't
 since Bob Stanley was around)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: claudius@leland.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu)
Subject: Re: Info needed
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 21:32:39 GMT

In article <28JUL92.18493824.0035@UNBVM1.CSD.UNB.CA> Don Soucy <AB47@UNB.CA> writes:

>.I'm quite sure Don Wakamatsu is from Hawaii.  He went into a terrible
>.batting slump  in the second half of last season and showed few signs
>  of recovery by the time Triple A folded in the fall.  So he may not
>  resurface.

I think Wakamatsu is from the Bay Area, but you are right that he's not from
Japan.  I think he's 3rd generation.

===============================================================================
GO CALIFORNIA ANGELS!
Committee to Elect Johnny Ray as Angels Second Baseman
Committee to Elect Mike Witt as Angels Ace
Committee to Elect Cookie Rojas as Angels Manager
===============================================================================
Nelson Lu (claudius@leland.stanford.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: crichard@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu (richardson craig s - CS500)
Subject: Re: Cone threw how many pitches?
Organization: Washington State University
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 20:38:57 GMT

In article <Jul.27.15.47.35.1992.8185@remus.rutgers.edu> zelek@remus.rutgers.edu (Grey Wolf) writes:
>   
> Who says that making a pitcher work a little harder will shorten his career?

Craig Wright, in _The_Diamond_Appraised_ (anyone who disagrees with Tom House
as much as Wright does gets my vote :-) ).

>There's considerable debate going on these days on whether or not it's the 
>LACK of consistant use that does a pitcher in these days.  

Wright shows (IMHO very convincingly) a *strong* correlation between number
of batters faced (NOT complete games, number of starts, or total IP) and
length of career.  *Especially* in the formative years (i.e. before age 25).
A pitcher who is worked too hard (by this metric) is *much*
more likely to have a less lengthy and less successful career than he would
otherwise have had (e.g. Fidrych, Valenzuela, Tanana).

>Not terribly long
>ago staff aces used to throw 20+ complete games a year and well over 300 
>innings per season.  That's probably enough pitches for almost two full
>seasons in today's game.  Two pitchers in all of baseball have manaed to throw
>250+ innings in each of the last four years.  [Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux]

Note that, in the old days (when we used to walk ten miles to school, through
eight feet of snow, in midsummer, uphill both ways :-) ), pitchers threw
*much* fewer pitches per game.  The hundred pitch start was unusual until the
Live Ball era, at which time (and even before), IP totals, CG totals, etc.
began to gradually decrease to the point they are today.  Also, nearly every
pitcher who threw that many innings tended to have a much poorer season the
year after.  Once his arm recovered, an ace tended to return to efficiency,
at which time he would be overused, and around and around...

> Besides, look at ole Nolan.  How many pitches do you think *he's* thrown so
>far?  [So far meaning he's not done *yet*!]

Again, total number of pitches doesn't count.  Also note that (1) Nolan wasn't
worked hard for *all* his formative years (he had a couple of light seasons),
(2) Nolan had to be kept on a strict pitch count for quite a few years, (3)
as Wright mentions, pitchers who have hellacious exercise programs (Ryan,
Carlton, Cy Young) tend to age better than those who don't, (4) Ryan is a
mutant :-).

>Chris [zelek@aramis.rutgers.edu]

--Craig

-- 
These remarkable insights were brought to you from the fertile imagination of:
Craig S. Richardson  (crichard@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu)
GM, Pullman Sleepers (Original Bitnet Fantasy Baseball League)
GM, Seattle Rainiers (Internet Federal AL League)
From: msw10@nepenthe.as (Michael S. Wong)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Wiffleball Equipment?
Date: 31 Jul 92 17:07:24 GMT
Reply-To: msw10@nepenthe.as
Organization: Sun Microsystems


In article 23026@oasys.dt.navy.mil, kiviat@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Brian Kiviat) writes:
>What type of bats and balls do most people use in wiffleball. I haven't
>played in years and this thread has got me excited to play again.
>We used to use the thin yellow bats and the balls with holes on one
>side. Curve balls were easy with those balls, even for ten year olds like
>us.
>
> O    Brian Kiviat
> I\   kiviat@oasys.dt.navy.mil
> I \  David Taylor Model Basin
>/
> \________________________
>			\\

Although there are many copies, there is only one "wiffle ball", just as there is
only one "Frisbee". Balls and bat are still as you describe.

Michael Wong.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: madigan@bmtlh178.BNR.CA (Lenny Madigan)
Subject: Re: Info needed
Reply-To: madigan@bmtlh178.BNR.CA (Lenny Madigan)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 00:53:59 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.223809.1882@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu>,
twromero@McRCIM.McGill.EDU (Michael Lin) writes:
|>
|>In article <1992Jul28.173135.26150@encore.com>,
dtodd@wizard.encore.com (Donald Todd) writes:
|>|> 
|>|> A group of co-workers were having a discussion and the topic of Oriental
|>|> Baseball Players came up.  We were wondering if there were any Oriental
|>|> players in MLB.
|>|> 
|>|> Someone suggested that Rafael Belliard (SS, for Atlanta) may be Oriental,
|>|> even though his name implies that he may be Hispanic.
|>|> 
|>|> Does anyone know what his nationality is?
|>|> 
|>|> Thanks!
|>|> 
|>|> -Don
|>|> 
|>|> Please send responses to dtodd@encore.com
|>|> 
|>|> 
|>
|>
|>   Yeah, I think, Rafael Belliard is hispanic. Of course, sometimes
|>the term "oriental' is a bit ambiguous. Do you consider a Filipino a
|>hispanic or oriental?  They can have either Spanish or Chinese or Japanese
|>blood. There is no right answer to that. I think most 
|>problably Belliard is either from Central or South America if not from
|>the US. There was a fellow by the name of Dave Lum who used to play for
|>the Reds in the 70's. I think one of the coaches of the current edition
|>Giants is Kim who I believe is Korean, he may have also played pro balls
|>but not sure if he ever made it to the Majors.
|>
|>Michael
                                
Let's not forget Len (Lenn?) Sakata, of the baltimore orioles, early
80s.  Suprised
there are not more Japanese in MLB, given the popularity of baseball in Japan.
It would be fun to see a list of players by country, to see just how many have
been covered (compared to the 173 in the Olympics).  

p.s. Update on Jackie Guitierrez (?), a native Colombian.
A Colombian friend of mine reports that the one time bright
spot/sensation/shortstop
of the Red Sox is back in Colombia, victim to you know what.  During his
rookie season,
it seems he was front page material every time he got a couple of hits.

Len (Lenn?)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: rwd4f@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Rob Dobson)
Subject: Olympics--US Chokes to Cuba
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 12:49:56 GMT

First, Id like to bitch a little about NBC's non-coverage of this game.
Am I missing something? I thought baseball was the "National Pastime".
And here we were, playing the best team in the world in baseball, and one
of the few communist teams left to boot, and all we get is a 5 minute
summary of the game. I think NBC is worried that if they mention the 
word 'baseball' sports fans will tune out the description of some olympic
divers tragic upbringing out and tune in the braves game.

Ok, enuf bitching. The US looks upset bound, takes a 5-0 lead over cuba in
the top of the first. But it evaporates like water. Bases loaded, US pitcher
grooves a high hard one against a cuban strongman, and instantly its 5-4.
An error on a pickoff play, and its 5-5.

The US just never got back in this one. Cuba pulls farther away, and after the
great first inning, the US can only manage 1 more run. Final: Cuba 9 US 6.

:-(

-rob


Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: CZ94 <CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA>
Subject: Re: Spike Owen
Organization: McGill University
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:11:06 GMT

In article <3436@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> dtate+@pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes:
>In article <1992Jul21.035927.7041@cbfsb.cb.att.com> sager@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (mike.r.sager) writes:
>>
>>Any Expos fans know how serious Spike Owen's injury is?
>
>Owen is hurt?  Does this mean that Wil Cordero will be brought up?
>
Owen injured his leg (pulled hamstring, I believe) running the bases
in the 1st inning Sunday.  He's not on the DL, and is expected to
miss about a week.  Tom Foley played ss Sunday and Monday.  Alou
reportedly thinks Barberie's fielding problems at 3b were serious
enough that he doesn't want to play him at short.  I've heard no
mention of calling up Cordero.

Tom Box
CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA