HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: snichols@adobe.com (Sherri Nichols)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: god, i'm immature
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:04:01 GMT
Article-I.D.: adobe.1992Sep30.200401.16229
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

In article <30SEP92.17510458@vax.clarku.edu> hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu writes:
>While you're looking through the encyclopedia, can you keep an
>eye out for palindromic names -- not last names, but a combination
>of first and last, creating a palindrome.  I don't think any
>exist, but it's been the subject of discussion in my household.

I don't think there are any, either, though I haven't checked.  Maybe if I
get bored, I can check.

>The palindromic last names are: Harrah, Salas, and Otto.

This isn't an exhaustive list.  In addition to Harrah, Salas, and Otto, the
list of palindromic last names include Hannah, Kazak, Nen, and Reder.

While I'm on this subject, I may as well post of the list of reversals:
that is, where the last name of one player reverses to form the last name
of another player.  

Deer/Reed
Foor/Roof
Graham/Maharg
Koons/Snook
Leber/Rebel
Redus/Suder


Sherri Nichols
snichols@adobe.com
From: traven+@pitt.edu (Neal Traven)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: R.S.BB FAQ V1.22 (9/25/92)
Date: 1 Oct 92 17:32:07 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <BvG3AJ.5Mo@news.cso.uiuc.edu> hbrooks@uiatma.atmos.uiuc.edu (Harold_Brooks) writes:
>In article <1992Oct1.014709.20685@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca> 91287041@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca (Roger Maynard) writes:
>>
>>What is the purpose of this sentence?  Every poster on this net is equally
>>"prominent".  Wipe the brown stuff off your nose Kurt...
>
>Count the number of posts people make.  Dave(s), Sherri, Nelson, Gary, etc. 
>post a lot more than, say, Neal Traven.  Your obnoxious last sentence doesn't
>warrant the dignity of a reply.

Thanks for thinking of me, Harold!  You're right -- I'm not at all prominent
here, unlike Mr. Maynard.  Of course, over on Internet, I'm the net-guru of
STATLG-L, the 'Baseball (and lesser sports) Discussion List.  Can't spread
yourself too thin.

>>Hardly.  Certainly some of them are more so.  But from what I can see the
>>vast majority of so-called "statheads" don't get any closer to the game
>>than the morning newspaper.

I just love it when somebody questions my manhood without even the remotest
knowledge of anything whatsoever about me.  Roger, do you even get as close to
games as the newspaper?  Can you comprehend a box score (I won't even ask about
your ability to understand the double switch or Defensive Average)?

As a matter of fact, this year I've gone to approximately 11 major league games
in 5 cities.  I've seen Sherri, Harold, Dr. Dave, John Rickert, Barry Mednick,
and perhaps other rsbbers at those games (I *haven't* seen my friend, the 
boycotting Paul Galvanek, at those games, however).  However, for most of the
season I *haven't* had a morning newspaper to look at.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
neal	traven+@pitt.edu	      You're only young once, but you can be
	traven@vms.cis.pitt.edu	       immature forever.   -- Larry Andersen
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: andrew@marie.physik.tu-berlin.de (Andrew Shields)
Subject: Broadcasts in Berlin?  (Germany, that is)
Organization: ZRZ/TU-Berlin
Distribution: tub
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 15:53:30 GMT

Does anyone know how I can see ALCS/NLCS/WS games in Berlin?  I
am not sure what channels they might be on, if any ...

Thanks for all help, 
Andrew Shields

PS:  Please email rather than post if you know ...  Thanks ...
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: mlstocku@zeno13.math.UWaterloo.ca ()
Subject: Re: Morris: more fuel for this debate
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 00:48:33 GMT

  The Blue Jays won the division about an hour ago! 

 My opinion of Morris is this, and having watched just about every game
he's pitched this year, and going to games in person in which he's pitched
I think my opinion is valid.
 He has the uncanny ability to bear down in big games. No question about it, Morris _is_ the big game pitcher. I know it sounds corny, but it is entirley true.
Morris receives all of this run support comparitively to say Key, purely because
of his gamemanship on the mound. Players respond to this atmosphere he creates
when he is pitching. I believe he really should be considered for the Cy Young
award this year. His era, when it has really counted, has been miniscule.
/Michael Stockus


P.S. Jays win against Oakland in five.
      Braves win against Pirates in seven.
      Jays win against Braves in five.
From: thf2@quads.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Whats Wrong With the Dodgers, Part 25
Date: 30 Sep 92 21:09:28 GMT
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

It's September, folks.

In article <1992Sep30.153018.13275@cs.rose-hulman.edu> rileyrm@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu writes:
>In article <1abfg7INNe4m@mizar.usc.edu> pcaster@mizar.usc.edu (Dodger)  
>writes:
>>[entire article was included; deleted now for brevity]
>No one liked the reds until they won a series.  I have loved the  
>Dodgers since 1982.  

The year after they won a series.  Imagine that.
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: Bonds "choke"?
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 06:06:16 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.055359.308@odin.corp.sgi.com> kubey@sgi.com (Ken Kubey) writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.223917.682@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>>In article <1992Sep29.005602.528@odin.corp.sgi.com> kubey@sgi.com (Ken Kubey) writes:
>>>Extra Disclaimer:  I have nothing against the Pirates, their fans, 
>>>or Mr. Bonds.  I just happen to believe in clutch hitters and 
>>>choke hitters and I believe that Mr. Bonds will choke again.
>>
>>Like Reggie Jackson's 3 for 18 in his first three World Series?
>
>Did Reggie's team lose any of those Series?

I see.  So if Gene Tenace had played as poorly as Reggie Jackson
*then* Jackson becomes a choker, while performing just as poorly?

Strange definition of "choke" that relies on whether or not your
teammates perform.  As long as your team wins the game, you can
go 0 for 5 and leave fifteen runners on base, but God help you
if you perform one standard deviation below your average over
a small sample space of a dozen games if your teammates don't
rescue you.  
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
From: snichols@adobe.com (Sherri Nichols)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: PIRATES AGIAIN!!!
Date: 2 Oct 92 19:38:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: adobe.1992Oct2.193825.23742
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated

In article <6970@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>Why? Drabek is a good pitcher, and it'll be too bad if the 
>Pirates lose him.

The Pirates are unlikely to retain both Bonds and Drabek.  Both Bonds and
Drabek will command lots of money in a long-term deal on the open market.
Looking at what the replacement options for the two of them are within the
organization, and looking at the age of the two players, and that position
players are more consistent than pitchers, it would seem to me to be
definitely preferable to sign Bonds rather than Drabek.  

>Bonds
>> comes back, their offense will be better with Kevin Young getting  
>400
>> AB's and Garcia replacing LInd.
>
>Why replace Lind. He may be the best defensive 2B in baseball
>right now.  Is Garcia good enough offensively to make up for
>the loss of Lind in the middle.

And Lind is an offensive zero.  He's a little better than Rafael Belliard,
but not a lot.  Yes, Lind is a good defensive second baseman.  But he's not
enough better than average to make up for the offensive loss.  Garcia
appears to be capable of playing shortstop at the major league level.
Players capable of playing shortstop at the major league level have made
very good defensive second basemen (like Jose Oquendo).  Actually,
defensively, it wouldn't surprise me if Garcia is better than Bell, but
the Pirates are unlikely to move Bell to second and play Garcia at short.

>man.  He gave the Pirates several good years, and it's silly
>to say that the Pirates are a better team without him. 

I agree.

Sherri Nichols
snichols@adobe.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Grebeck, Guillen, Beltre, Knee Injuries...
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 14:51:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.045107.29965@Princeton.EDU> niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent) writes:
>In <Bv615w.Bwt@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jds23971@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Neff) writes:
>>dkeisen@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dave Eisen) writes:
>
>>>That's just plain not true. Even if the White Sox have noone at
>>>all to drive him in, even if Bell gets stranded every single time 
>>>he hits a bases empty single or he walks, these hits are worth 
>>>something.  Every out Bell makes makes it that much less likely 
>>>that Thomas and company get to the plate later in the game. Add
>>>to that the fact that he will score at least some of the time
>>>when he gets on base and you see how much a bad OBP costs a team.
>
>>>Outs are precious. You only get 27 a game. A player who makes
>>>a lot of outs instead of those "worthless" bases empty singles
>>>and walks is costing his team dearly.
>
>>First of all, if you are saying that Bell basically sucks, "Thomas and 
>
>That's a little strong.  He doesn't *suck.*  He's actually a really good
>hitter, for a shortstop.  Oh, wait -- that's not the same Bell?  That's
>*Juan* Bell?  George doesn't play shortstop?  Oh, then he sucks.  He's a
>below average hitter for a DH.

I thought you were taking all this seriously, until I read "He's actually a 
really good hitter, for a shortstop". Juan Bell? The proud owner of a .628
OPS this year? Career SLG of ~.250? Last year, a whopping .450 OPS? If he
gets a LOT better, he might make himself into a pretty good hitter for a
PITCHER, but that's about it.

Who says you guys don't have a sense of humor?
Mike

-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: zuhars@madrone.eecs.ucdavis.edu (Gary Didi Seven Huckabay)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Grebeck, Guillen, Beltre, Knee Injuries...
Keywords: What IS it about this site?
Date: 28 Sep 92 16:17:00 GMT
Organization: Lance Blankenship Appreciation Society (BB Division)

Neff, at the same place where Blickhan posts from writes:

>First of all, if you are saying that Bell basically sucks, "Thomas and 
>company" is reduced to basically Thomas because I've seen lots of Sox games 
>this year, and Bell has been the second best hitter in that lineup
>no matter what you and the stats say.

Do you have any idea how stupid this sounds?  What you are basically
saying here is "My observations are considerably more thorough and
reliable than not only David Tate's, but also all those other people
that write down EXACTLY what George Bell did in each at bat."  I'm not
putting words in your mouth, either...  This is a direct implication
of what you're saying.

>One more
>win does the Sox absolutely NOTHING.

And therefore, an extra win is undesirable?  Get outta town.  Are you
saying that that 'extra' win (whatever THAT means) is expendable, in
order to get George Bell into the lineup?

>Third, you missed my point completely.  Everybody on a team has a role.
>George Bell is there to DRIVE IN RUNS.

Sorry, you're wrong, but thanks for playing.  How about a nice copy of
our home game?  The role of EVERY player on a ballclub is the same -
to help the team WIN GAMES.  (Or, as Mike Fester will point out,
correctly, to put butts in the seats.)  If Bell has a different agenda
than this, sit his butt on the next plane to San Francisco.

>He has done this.  To say
>that if Pasqua batted behind Thomas and Raines that he would have
>108 RBI's is nothing short of ridiculous.  Ventura is my favorite player
>in the world, but Bell has just been a better hitter this year.

Bzzzt.  Again, wrong, but thanks for playing.  To quote Dave Stewart
(sort of), Bell can't hold Ventura's jock.  Check their numbers,
junior.

>I'm
>not saying that Bell should be the MVP, I just don't think the guy should
>be knocked for the job he's done this year.

He's been a generic DH [tm].  If he's the best you've got, great.  But
he's not.  Give Newson the same PT as Bell got, and I GUARANTEE you
that the Sox would have won AT LEAST one more game.  (Of course, this
might be one of those EXTRA wins you were talking about.)

>*                                  *     Sandberg is OVERRATED!!           *

I've bashed Sandberg as much as the next guy, but what the hell do you
want from the guy?  I said I didn't like him because his power wasn't
good enough for a HoF caliber player, and he started bashing the ball.
Then, I said he didn't walk enough.  Lo and behold, he started
walking.  Even after park adjusting his stats, the man can play ball.



-- 
*    Gary Huckabay   * "I hope Atlanta does.  The A's have a chance of    *
* "Proud NOT to have *  beating them, since they don't walk much, and     *
*  a wacky sitcom on *  rely heavily on lefty pitching." "But Canseco's   *
*     network TV."   *  gone.  Gary?!  Are you Ok?  You want me to call...*
From: genetic+@pitt.edu (Dr. Dave)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Better than Runs
Date: 29 Sep 92 18:17:02 GMT
Organization: Department of Industrial Engineering

Thus spake IOR@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Thomas Hyer):

>  OK, I was stupid.  I posted an argument without an
>example.  So here's one:

>  Team A scores 1 run each inning.
>  Team B scores 9 runs 1/9 of the time, 0 the rest.

>In the course of a season, both teams will score the
>same number of runs (neglecting statistical fluctuations).
>However, Team A will certainly win more games.

True.  However, since neither Team A nor Team B can exist in major league
baseball, this isn't really a practical concern.


>I hope this is sufficiently clear by now.  Again, does
>anyone have the distribution of runs/inning for either
>league?

Some of us tried last year to see if we couldn't find a good model for
run-scoring distributions.  Negative binomial (or "Pascal") distributions
seem to give very good results.  I'll post more on this if I get time.

-- 
       David Tate        |"Out of the dugout endlessly swinging,
 dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu | Out of the manager's throat, the sound fundamentals,
 Prof. of Story Problems | Out of the six-month season..."            
 Member ORSA, TIMS, SABR | 	Walt "Lefty" Whitman
Organization: Senior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 23:53:19 -0400 
From: Amit Likhyani <al1x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: If you thought last year was bad

Excerpts from netnews.rec.sport.baseball: 29-Sep-92 Re: If you thought
last yea.. by Glenn R. Waugaman@nac.en 
> I see where Saturday, in addition to the Pirates' playoff game, Miami is
> at Penn State in the afternoon and Notre Dame is at Pitt at night (that's 
> one hell of a sports weekend!).  That can't help the attendance situation
> any, nor can competing with the beloved Steelers on the tube on Sunday... 

Game 5 was moved from 4:05 to 8:30.  This move was announced today. 
Now, I get to freeze.  This does alleviate the competition with the
Steelers.


Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: snichols@adobe.com (Sherri Nichols)
Subject: Re: Bonds "choke"?
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 17:17:34 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.014307.18126@odin.corp.sgi.com> kubey@sgi.com (Ken Kubey) writes:
>>Hey, Jay Bell hit .414 in the 91 NLCS, and the Pirates lost.  Why do you
>>think Bonds hitting .300 would mean the Pirates would win?
>
>What did he hit?  .150 maybe?  How many precious outs did he use up?
>How many men did he leave on base?  

Couldn't have left many, because the Pirates as a team didn't put that many
on.  

Besides, nobody is arguing over whether Bonds performance was bad or not.
That's not the question.  


>If Jay Bell had hit .560 it could easily have put the Pirates over the
>top.

Certainly not easily.  Bell is still dependent upon his teammates
performance to be there for him to drive in, and to drive him in.  Games
are not won by individuals, they're won by teams.

>Now, what's more likely, Bonds hitting .300 or Bell hitting .560?

In a short series of at bats, there's probably not a lot of difference in
the likelihood.

>>It would seem to me that if you believe in "choke"/"clutch", you would
>>believe that the variance in performance over a seven-game playoff series
>>is higher than the variance in performance over some random 7-game stretch.
>>Do you?  And why?
>
>Yes.  The pressure.  And I'm sure you can come up with plenty of random
>7 game stretches where Bonds hit worse than he does in the playoffs.
>That only proves that you could be right and that I am probably wrong.
>But it doesn't prove anything. 

But that's not how I would structure the study.  That wouldn't be an
interesting study.

Here's the way to structure the study: pick a random, 5-10
game stretch.  Look at the distribution of OPS, say, and compute the
variance of that sample.  Then look at the distribution of OPS in LCS and
World Series games, and compute the variance of that sample. 

It would seem to be that if there is a choke/clutch effect, it would show
up in a higher variance.  Other factors you might have to isolate are that
in the playoffs, you're facing only the top pitchers on the team: does that
affect the variance (perhaps rather than using 5-10 consecutive games, use
5-10 games only against better pitchers)?  Does cold weather, which is
unfriendly to hitters, increase the variance (maybe compare to early season
stretches)? 

>Okay, if you don't like the money angle... there are 2500 people in
>my company.  It's pretty hard for 1 person to blow it for the whole team.
>If I worked for a 25 or 30 person company, things would be different.
>Everything I did would likely make a big difference on the bottom line.

Still doesn't mean you are a choker/clutch performer.  The whole issue is,
is this something under the control of the player or not?  So far, all
evidence is that it isn't.

Sherri Nichols
snichols@adobe.com



Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: (Gerry Voyeur is My Middle Name Gryschuk)
Subject: Re: running <-> errors?
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 05:21:55 GMT

From article <1992Oct1.030534.10425@cs.cornell.edu>, by tedward@cs.cornell.edu (Edward [Ted] Fischer):
> In article <1992Sep30.225140.9215@news2.cis.umn.edu> kirsch@staff.tc.umn.edu (Dave Heart Condition Kirsch) writes:
>>
>>>>(Paul R Krueger) writes:
>>>>Fifth, the Brewers finished the last 69 games of last year at 40-19, the
>>>>best in the majors. If they went 36-18 the rest of the way, they'd duplicate
>>>>that feat and end up at 90-72, which would at least keep them in the pennant
>>>>race. 
>>>
>>>And if they play .667 ball from here on out, I'll french kiss Dave
>>>Kirsch.  (Think anyone will save this text?   :-)
>>
>>  Lessee .. the Brewers now have 90 wins with five games to go. Shudder. 
>>
>>  Consider me on the next flight to Belize .. or Iceland .. or New Zealand.
> 
> Actually, Paul was confused.  Through July 27, the Brewers had a 54-44
> record.  Leaving *sixty*-four games remaining, not *fifty*-four.  At a
> two-out-of-three pace, that is 43-21, for a final record of 97-65.
> Milwaukee lost their 66th game on September 16th.  So relax, Dave,
> you're safe.
> 
> Unless the Brewers find away to win games already lost...

Oh sure but statistics don't tell the whole story. If you factor in the
intangibles then there's no doubt in my mind the Brewer's look like they've
been playing .667 ball.
--
Gerald Gryschuk            Saskatoon,Saskatchewan = a place with 9 months
gerry@sask.usask.ca           of hockey and 3 months of poor skating.
Go Habs!!!
From: hobbs@a.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (Gerald R Hobbs)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Lead off walks....
Date: 1 Oct 92 19:43:36 GMT

>>Effect of first event in inning, both leagues, 1984-1991
>
>
>>Leadoff		Prob of >= 1 run	Avg. number of runs
>>-------------------------------------------------------------
>>single	.428			.855
>>walk		.432			.865

>I'm assuming that over eight years of data, the difference is statistically
>significant.

It is. Back of the envelope estimates based on a little over 300,000
lead off hitters have a standard error of just under .001. So about
all the values in Sherri's column 1 are significantly different. What 
confuses the issue and why I said it looks like noise is that other 
factors are present. Recall the question has to do with whether a
walk or single or error is desirable. I'm pretty sure that we if did
a big study we'd determine that 1 and 2 hitters do indeed walk more
relative to getting singles than 7-8-9 hitters. Managers not named
Chuck Tanner have figured out that guys who do walk a lot do make
pretty good top of the lineup hitters. 1 and 2 hitters score more
because the best hitters in the lineup follow directly. That doesn't
mean it is better to get a walk to lead off an inning though. As
Roger said, its one of those 3 decimal place effects. It is of
minor importance and can likely by attributed to other factors we
can't/haven't taken into account. 

All which is in rough agreement with

>My hypothesis: more runs score with a leadoff walk than a leadoff
>single because walks are relatively more likely to come in the middle
>of the lineup with good hitters up.  (In other words, with the 7-8-9
>sequence of batters, the #7 hitter is going to have a higher ratio
>of singles to walks than the #3 hitter.)

     Gerry
From: dfl@math.wayne.edu (David Frohardt-Lane)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: The Superlatives of the NL
Date: 7 Oct 92 00:42:20 GMT
Organization: Wayne State University Math Department, Detroit

In article <6877@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> jrmst8+@pitt.edu (Joseph R Mcdonald) writes:
>In article <ahn-041092012617@branford-college-node.net.yale.edu> ahn@pop.cis.yale.edu (Eugene R. Ahn) writes:
>>Most disappointing pitcher: Andy Benes
>
>Dwight Gooden.

Only if you look at W-L.  His ERA is almost the same as last year's.

>>MVP: Terry Pendleton (the core of the Atlanta Braves each day)
>
>Bonds was as much Pittsburgh's core as Pendleton was Atlanta's.  And Bonds
>put up better numbers.
>
>>Best hitter: Gary Sheffield (great in the clutch, superior power, average,
>>RBI)
>
>Sheffield and Bonds.  Tie.

If Sheffield is as good a hitter as Bonds, then why isn't he the MVP?
He plays a more difficult defensive position.  Don't tell me it's
because he doesn't play for a contender.

Note: I'm not saying Sheffield *is* as good a hitter as Bonds.  He's
not.

>>Best leadoff hitter: Bip Roberts
>Otis Nixon and Brett Butler.

Butler is probably on the same level as Roberts, but Nixon is far
behind.  The most important stat, by far, for a leadoff hitter is OBP.
Roberts had an OBP of .396, Nixon had .353.  Roberts also outslugged
Nixon by > 50 points.

Barry Bonds would have been the best batting leadoff this year, but only
counting players who did bat leadoff, call it a tie between Roberts and
Butler.


--
David Frohardt-Lane   dfl@math.wayne.edu 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Go Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Red Wings and Wolverines !!!!!!!!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++