HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kenneth@ducvax.auburn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Biased announcers
Date: 9 Apr 92 09:22:45 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.210955.5426@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, glb50263@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Gary L. Blickhan) writes:
> Are Ken Harrelson and Tom Paciorek the only announcers on TV in the country
> that do such obnoxious things as:
> 
> say "Yess!!!" (so professional, aren't they)

I know it! That is so funny! I know exactly what you mean.

> say "He'll grab some bench" about twenty-seven times per game
> say "You can put it on the board" like I control the scoreboard...
> 
> Don't just say that they're on an independent station (WGN, SportsChannel
> Chicago).  The ones on WTBS,KPLR, etc. are very professional and unbiased.
> 
> We don't need cheerleaders, we want real announcers!

Well, I know of no real rule that announcers must be unbiased.  Obviously
not, since there are so many that ARE biased.  I think the ones on major
networks are supposed to be unbiased, with the exception of WTBS.  After all,
Ted Turner does own the thing by himself pretty much, and I've seen Skip
Caray say things like, "Well, let's hope the Braves can get something going
here." or some such thing.  Well, Skip is just bizarre anyway. :)

Ken
From: thornley@cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Interleague-play, anyone??
Date: 9 Apr 92 20:09:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Apr9.200938.19610
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.

In article <1992Apr8.185415.28666@cs.brown.edu> cs132107@cs.brown.edu (Michael Kalman) writes:
>In article <92097.151845ALWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET>, ALWHC@CUNYVM.BITNET writes:
>|> [Could we have interleague play?]
>|> 
>[I like the idea.  Each team could play two games against each team in
> the other league.  To reduce travel time, teams could play an
> opposite-league team when they play a nearby team of the same league.]
>
>         The extra travel that this would cause, especially if the 2 
>inter-league meetings between clubs would be home & home, could pose a 
>potential obstacle.  But this could be minimized by what Al touched on
>above- many AL & NL markets are quite nearby each other.  Consider:
>
>Cincinnati-Cleveland
>New York-NewYork
>Chicago-Chicago
>Houston-Arlington
>San Francisco-Oakland
>Los Angeles-Anaheim
>Kansas City-St. Louis
>Seattle-Denver
>Toronto-Montreal
>Pittsburgh-Baltimore
>
Your idea of "quite near" is not mine.  I don't know how far apart
Cincinnati and Cleveland are.  Houston and Arlington are nowhere near
each other.  Kansas City is about a four-hour drive from St. Louis.
Neither Seattle nor Denver are anywhere near any other team.  Toronto
and Montreal are both in the eastern half of Canada, but not real close.
Pittsburgh is a ways from Baltimore; wouldn't Philadelphia be closer?

Actually, you missed one - Milwaukee is a lot closer to Chicago than
some of these pairs.

>      Admittedly some of these pairings may be a little bit of a reach, 
>but wouldn't it be simple, for instance, for an NL club playing a series 
>in St. Louis to play a game in K.C. the next day?
>
It's about two hundred miles away.  That sounds like a travel day to me.
The Players' Association will *not* agree to adding 10-12 extra travel
days to a season without *good* reason.

David Thornley
"Knows more geography than either of his cats"
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: How do I apply for this job?
From: guilford@otago.ac.nz
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:05:56 +1300
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

In article <1992Apr4.201928.20632@panix.com>, spira@panix.com (Greg "Sarcasm Is A Way Of Life" Spira) writes:

> In <204326@unix.cis.pitt.edu> dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes:

>>This guy has access to every source of information about baseball there is,
>>including the players and managers and GMs.  He's prestigious; people will
>>talk to him.  And yet he still says things like "If Andre Dawson goes down
>>with knee problems, Mark Grace may have to bat cleanup."

> Gammons is probably talking about what the club will do, not what he would
> do.  And besides, does it really matter all that much who bats cleanup?

Also, he may be up on Jim Lefevbre's limitations, and is assuming that
Grace will have to bat clean-up because the manager lacks the imagination
to put anyone else there.  You don't think you can look at Mariner boxes
for the last 3 years and find some kind of optimal line-up, do you?

Bill Guilford

> Whitestone NY 11357          (Insert your favorite baseball moment here) 

                                Suddenly it dawned on me just how good 
                                Griffey Jr. was going to be.
From: traven@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Neal Traven )
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Trivia: Strikeouts, Career & Season
Date: 12 Apr 92 18:08:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: unix.204787
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <92102.013700DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu> DGS4@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>We had a few trivia questions about homers during a player's career
>and season, so I thought I'd post a similar one on Ks.

I don't know much about the deleted question, but I *do* know this answer:

>There is one pitcher with more than 2,000 career Ks who once struck out
>more than 300 batter in one season, but never again exceeded 200.  Who is he?

Vida Blue
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
neal	traven@unix.cis.pitt.edu	    Beisbol been bery bery good to me!
	traven@vms.cis.pitt.edu				  -- Chico Escuela
From: grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: More on errors/hits
Date: 7 Apr 92 02:45:37 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Dept. of Mathematics
In-reply-to: snichols@adobe.com's message of Mon, 6 Apr 1992 05:11:49 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.051149.13148@adobe.com>, Sherri Nichols writes:

> So, we can see from these numbers that there is a slight difference in
> errors and hits; about 7% of the time, errors are going to result in an
> extra base over a hit.  If we take the case of our two hypothetical players
> who make the same number of plays but have a difference of 20 errors, then
> the guy with the twenty extra errors is going to allow an extra base about
> one and a half times a season compared to the other guy.  

This allows us to discuss the importance of errors or fielding average.
If official scoring were consistent (which it isn't), then fielding
errors would be as significant as batters' strikeouts.

Both errors and strikeouts describe a play on which the player failed,
but would have received credit for his success (a putout or assist, or a
hit or walk) if he had not failed.  Both describe the clearest failure.

Both are only a part of the failures.  You can also fail to make a play
by being out of position, getting a poor jump on the ball, diving and
missing, or making a weak throw.  You can produce an out at bat by
grounding out, flying out, popping out, or lining out.

Both do represent an obvious ability.  Batters who strike out a lot, or
make a lot of errors, tend to do the same next year.

Both are very slightly more costly than an average failure.  A study in
the Bill James Baseball Book suggests that a strikeout is .01 of a run
more costly than an ordinary out; the estimate above suggests that an
infield error is .06 of an extra base, which is .02 of a run, more
costly than a hit.

In either case, the difference doesn't mean much.  Rob Deer costs his
team one extra run a year with all of the strikeouts (but he gets it
back and then some because he never grounds into double plays); a
fielder would have to make 50 errors to cost his team one run more than
just letting all of the balls go by.

Thus neither one says much about a player's value to his team, but both
say something about the player's skills, and possibly about his
potential.

--
David Grabiner, grabiner@zariski.harvard.edu
"We are sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary."
"Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again."
Disclaimer: I speak for no one and no one speaks for me.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: CAVGEOE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: Re: Unbearable Braves Promotion
Organization: Yale University
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 92 17:06:16 EDT

In article <Mdt08Lq00iV1A0pf1l@andrew.cmu.edu>
Pravin Devineni Ratnam <pr0i+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
 
>
>I knew something like this would happen. I hope the Reds make it to the
>playoffs, instead of the Braves. For some reason, the Pirates loss to
>their traditional 70s rival(REDS) in 1990 was much easier to take than
>their 1991 loss to the Braves.
 
     Ah, the 70s, when the same 8 teams won all the time (NY, BAL, OAK,
KCY, PIT, PHI, CIN, and LA) with few exceptions.  That's a great way to
get more people interested in baseball.  Let the traditional winners
win more and the fans of the perennial also-rans continue to suffer.
And let the fans of the other traditional powers gang up and bad mouth
any new team that comes along and shakes things up.  Rooting for the
underdog is fun until they actually rise up and knock you off your high
horse, huh?
 
Jeff Caveney
GO BRAVES!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: CAVGEOE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: Re: Bucs after 6
Organization: Yale University
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 16:18:03 EDT

In article <QduAzhO00Vom8H50Vp@andrew.cmu.edu>
al1x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Amit Likhyani) writes:
 
(lots of good ideas for Pirates deleted)
 
     Just one more thing:  how does Buechele's salary compare to what
Smiley was getting/would have gotten?  If they're anywhere near each
other, re-signing Buechele seems even stupider, as they could have
afforded to keep Smiley with the money.
     Seeing as an NLCS rematch is quite possible, I'm glad Ted Simmons
is the Pirates' GM and not you.
 
Jeff Caveney
GO BRAVES!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: dave@snitor.UUCP (Dave Till)
Subject: Re: garcia,wilson,moseby
Organization: Henke and Ward Caulking Services (We Close The Gap), Inc.
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 17:34:19 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.834.30523@dosgate> "russell tisseman" <russell.tisseman@canrem.com> writes:
>RH>Does anybody know where the baseball players,Domaso Garcia,Mookie Wilson,and
>RH>Lloyd Moseby are now?
>
>        I heard that Domaso Garcia has a cancer and is having a tough
>        fight.

He does have cancer (a brain tumour).  However, as far as I know (Jays radio
broadcasts), the operation went well, and the prognosis is good.
-- 
--Dave Till, Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems, Sietec Open Systems Division,
2235 Sheppard Ave. E. #1800, Willowdale, Ont. (dave@sni.CA or dave@snitor.uucp)
"Whatever you do, Jerry Lee Lewis has already done it.  Probably better, too."
  --Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell
From: dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Cardinals
Date: 9 Apr 92 01:13:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Bradley University

nittmo@camelot.bradley.edu (Christopher Taylor) writes:

>dave@bradley.bradley.edu (David Vessell) writes:
>
>>Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they draw 4 million last year?
>
>St. Louis did *NOT* draw 4 million fans last season.  In fact, I doubt that
>they even drew 3 million.  Toronto was the team that broke the 4 million
>barrier last year--becoming the first major league team to do so.  So you
>were wrong and I am correcting you.

Well, I'm glad you were so polite about it, otherwise I'd think you were
complete dickhead who couldn't breathe without an enema bag.

You should correct me more often.
-- 
=========*davE*.....making the world safe for intelligent dance music.=========
As you're cleaning the orange carpet, you will hear a voice that says, "Fetch 
my cigarettes."  Another voice will say, "THEY'RE ON TOP OF THE REFRIGERATOR."
--(David Vessell)--(Bradley University Computing Services)-(dave@bradley.edu)--
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: richarr@bullet.ecf (RICHARDSON  ROBBIE)
Subject: Contest!
Originator: richarr@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 17:51:50 GMT

   All this talk of the Jays and the Bosox....well why don't we have the 


    CHAMPION OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE LEAST  contest!!!


You know, we'll all send in our vote on who will win this weakened division!


   PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY EMAIL (votes) AS I WILL HAVE NO USENET ACCESS
AFTER THIS FRIDAY!!!!

-=*>robb


p.s. The Jays pulled off a very nice 4-2 win over Detroit yesterday, Morris
looked solid until he got tired in the ninth. BTW- I thought Pat Borders got
the first homerun of the year, not Kirby Puckett...any truth to this?


Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: glb50263@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Gary L. Blickhan)
Subject: Eckersley NOT better than Fingers
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 18:32:39 GMT

Simply put, Eckersley is not better than Rollie Fingers.

1)Fingers is already in the Hall of Fame.  A Sporting News poll of baseball
writers concluded that Eckersley's chances are about "even money."

2)Fingers won the Cy Young award ***and*** the AL MVP in 1981, making him
the first pitcher to win both in the same year.  (Willie Hernandez did it
in 1984, but his name is not in this discussion.)  Eckersley has not won
either award once.

3)Fingers led the majors in saves three times (1977,1978,1981).  Eckersley
has only done that once.

4)Fingers has the all-time record for saves. (341)   Eckersley had 188 at
the end of 1991.

5)In three World Series apiece, Eckersley did hardly anything.
1988- 0 wins, 1 loss, 10.8 ERA.  He was the goat.
1989- 1 save in 1 2/3 innings. 0 ERA.  Pretty good.
1990- 0 wins, 1 loss, 6.75 ERA.  0 Saves.  Not good.
 
 Fingers was great.  
 1972- 1 win, 1 loss, 2 saves, 11 k's, 1.74 ERA.
 1973- 0 wins, 1 loss, 2 saves, 8 k's, 0.66 ERA.
 1974- 1 win, 0 losses, 2 saves, 6 k's, 1.93 ERA.

 Awesome.
 Fingers holds the World Series record for saves, 6.  As you see, Eckersley
 has only 1 save with two losses.

 Fingers would have pitched in the 1982 World Series with the Brewers, but
 he was injured.

 6) Fingers has a 2.90 ERA compared to the 3.47 ERA of Eckersley.

 7) Eckersley is no longer effective.  I believe he was tagged for 11 or so
 long balls.  Donnie Hill of the Angels got his only homer of the season
 of the Eck.  

 Gary Blickhan

Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: SASCHO <SASCHO@mvs.sas.com>
Subject: Re: Rickey Henderson v Nolan Ryan -- Stat-head call to arms!
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 10:18:00 GMT
X-Bytes: 2116

>Nolan Ryan is a white hero.  A true TWG.  He's humble, he's friendly
>and skillful with the media, and his exploits have been portrayed,
>over the past five years or so, in an extremely favorable light.
>
>Why?
>
>Part of the answer is because he's WHITE, whether you like it or not.
>His face will sell more razors than Rickey's will.  Nolan's public
>persona is that of a humble, hard-working, good-ole-boy white man.
>
>Rickey is portrayed as a malingerer, a whiner, and cocky.  Part of the
>reason for this is his background is different than Ryan's.  He
>learned to communicate in a black inner city, rather than white farm
>country.  Like or not, the communication patterns are different in
>those two areas, and to white bread America, Rickey's is more
>intimidating, and more accusatory.
 
If race is an issue with the media and public, and with endorsements,
as you suggest, why are Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan, 2 of the highest
paid athletes when it comes to endorsements? I think Rickey is a jerk.
He is also a GREAT ballplayer. Rob Dibble is a white jerk. Great pitcher
Racism is a huge problem in our society (heck, the world), and I hate
to see that. It is truly unfair and terrible. It makes matters worse
when every time two people are compared that happen to be of different
race, the inequities are attributed to racism. The issues in this
argument are:
          1) Who is a better ballplayer. Rickey is getting the
             overwhelming majority of votes here.
          2) Who is a better person. Not the original question, but it
             evolved to this. Nolan is winning this one.
If we were comparing Kirby Puckett and Jack Clark, what does Jack Clark
have to attribute Puckett's popularity to? Better market? Racism?
Assholes don't get endorsements because they have a bad public image
(rightfully so). Guys with a good image get endorsemants and interviews,
etc. Racism is a bad enough problem without it unnecessarily being
thrown into an argument. I am 100% sure that Rickey Henderson has been
a victim of racism in his life. I don't think this is one of those
times.
 
Chuck
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: de2brown@descartes.waterloo.edu (Darren Brown)
Subject: Re: Blue Jays -- First Game of the Season
Keywords: Tiger Stadium
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 03:30:24 GMT

>Pat Borders hits a home run in the 4th after Lulu (or whoever) the Kissing
>Bandit startles him and finally hugs him.  Lulu want to come to Toronto. :-)
>By the way, Pat didn't hit a home run before the All-Star break last season.

Lulu has already been to Toronto.  Have you forgotten the Duane Ward incident already?
From: dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Will Clark as a Triple Crowner?
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:00:19 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <32861@darkstar.ucsc.edu> srobson@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Seth I Robson) writes:
>
>The best threats reside in the AL, the most obvious being Frank Thomas.
>Griffey Jr. and Sierra probably don't have the necessary HR acumen to
>pull it all off, but they're worth considering.  

Everyone seems to be forgetting that Ken Griffey, Jr. is barely old enough
to drink beer in most states.  He *will* have the necessary HR power, next
year or the year after or the year after...

Griffey is the only active player with a reasonable chance to be the best of
all time at his position.  Yes, that would involve being better than Mantle
and Mays and Speaker.  No, it's not probable; it's not improbable, either.

(Other active players who have some small chance: Roberto Alomar, Roger
 Clemens.  A longshot case could be made that Gary Carter already is.)

 

-- 
          David M. Tate            |"The man who hath no music in himself
     dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu       | Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sound
  A poem should be dumb, / As old  | Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils
 medallions to the thumb.-MacLeish | 	Shakespeare, "Merchant of Venice", A.V
From: traven@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Neal Traven )
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: What do the numbers mean?
Date: 15 Apr 92 14:54:32 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr13.172312.27514@asd.com> scott@asd.com (Scott Barman) writes:
>In article <167C66791.O1DOUG@AKRONVM.UAKRON.EDU> O1DOUG@AKRONVM.UAKRON.EDU (Doug Miller) writes:
>>5). 61*  - In 61 by Maris, note the astrix......Ruth fan.
>       ^
>It's been removed.  Who cares if you are a Ruth fan, it's still THE OFFICIAL
>record!

Actually, the asterisk never existed at all.  For a number of years, the 
'official' records said something like:

	Maris		61	1961	(162 games)
	Ruth		60	1927	(154 games)

In recent years, even official baseball has come to its senses, at least wrt
this particular record.  After all, shouldn't they also have carried separate
records for K in a season, saves, and others?  And what about the records for
140 game seasons?

Anyway, the 'asterisk' was never anything but someone's figurative way of 
trying to retain the sainted Ruth record.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
neal	traven@unix.cis.pitt.edu	    Beisbol been bery bery good to me!
	traven@vms.cis.pitt.edu				  -- Chico Escuela
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network
Date: Thursday, 9 Apr 1992 00:20:59 CDT
From: Mark Weishaar <WEISHAAR@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject:    Information on Pat Mahomas

I was wondering if people could give me their insights on Pat Mahomas.  A
friend of mine (MAJOR TWINS FAN) has been trying to tell me that this guy is
the next Doc Gooden, which I have ALOT of trouble believing.  Would like to
know anything about him, as I do not know much about him.  Thanx in advance.

Please email the info to: weishaar@ndsuvm1.bitnet
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: navarra@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Navarra)
Subject: Re: Fred McGriff
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 23:31:36 GMT

In article <3356@equinox.unr.edu> schnell@pyramid.unr.edu (Household Word) writes:
>Did everyone see that grand slam that McGriff hit against the Dodgers
>on Friday (4/10)?  It was in the air about two seconds, and landed
>halfway up the seats above the right-center wall.  If he hits 40,
>I think my Padres can contend.  
	
	May be true. Depends on a few other things too. Dodger pitching,
Reds relieving, and the 'repeat-jinx'. However, McGriff has been 
impressive the first week. Nice home run last night.
>
>What they need to do is take down that plastic fence that was installed
>c. 1984.  That way, only Fred can homer in the Murph.  Does anyone
>have a better swing than McGriff?  I haven't seen one...

	Yeah, not only can I think of a person with a better swing, I can
think of two, two first baseman, both national leaguers: Will Clark and
Mark Grace.

-tms

-- 
From the Lab of the MaD ScIenTiST:
					
navarra@casbah.acns.nwu.edu		
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball