HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kettler@mitme5.mit.edu (KETTLER, THOMAS R.)
Subject: Re: Another HR Trivia question
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: MIT Lab for Nuclear Science
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 00:31:00 GMT

In article <1992Apr2.202155.7166@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>, sinhaa@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Anand Sinha) writes...
>With a number of rookies about to make their mark in MLB this year,
>I thought I'd post one of my favourite rookie trivia questions...
> 
>Who is the only rookie to hit a Grand Slam in his first game in 
>the Major Leagues?
> 
>I'll give you a couple of days, then issue an appropriate hint :-)
> 
>Anand Sinha
>Jays #1 -> all the way in '92...lets hope Morris and Winfield break some
>legs and are unable to play.
> 
Could we get some better trivia questions on this newsgroup. Almost anybody who
knows baseball trivia knows the answer is Barry Bonds' father, Bobby.

					Sincerely yours,

					Thomas R. Kettler "Expos Fanatic"
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: claudius@leland.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu)
Subject: Re: Question
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 19:35:29 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.023851.14451@Princeton.EDU> niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent) writes:
>
>The New York Times keeps reporting that the Yanks and ChiSox are close
>to a trade for Jesse Barfield.  Why?
>
>The trade would be Barfield for minor league pitchers.  
>
>Why would they want Barfield?  What can he do that Pasqua can't, besides
>a little defense?  What would they do with Pasqua then?

Not only that, but the really odd thing is that the rumors seem to say that
Barfield would *DH*.  I presume this means Raines in right and Bell in left,
which should be bad defensively.  Why would you want to DH Barfield, anyway?

===============================================================================
GO CALIFORNIA ANGELS!
Charter Member of the Acker-o-phobics Anonymous
===============================================================================
Nelson Lu (claudius@leland.stanford.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: beineke@molest.ugcs.caltech.edu (Phil Beineke)
Subject: Re: garcia,wilson,moseby
Organization: /home/beineke/.organization
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 23:58:14 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. Apparently Lloyd Moseby has not been picked up by any
	   team and I heard he may end up in Japan. And as for Mookie I am
	   not sure what happened to him.
I just heard on the radio (WJR 760 Detroit) that Moseby had "signed with
a team in Japan."  The announcer didn't specify which team.

phil
beineke@ugcs.caltech.edu
Michigan sophomore using caltech computer account
GM/Mgr Fort Wayne Kekiongas, Internet Baseball League
From: snichols@adobe.com (Sherri Nichols)
Subject: Re: NO-HITTERS
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 16:15:46 GMT

In article <9204142017.AA125802@fenway.aix.kingston.ibm.com> mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com writes:
>I'd make an attractive wager that if, by chance, one of Nolan Ryan's
>no-hitters had been wiped out by the new defintion it would have died a very
>quiet death.

No, no, it would have died a big, ugly, noisy death.  You see, the
Committee for Statistical Inaccuracy probably would have forgotten to check
and see if they wiped out a Ryan no-hitter, but eagle-eyed sportswriters
like Jerome Holtzman would have immediately rushed to their record books
and checked.  Once Holtzman discovered that a Great American Hero(tm) had been
robbed, he would have started writing columns about it, just like he did
when he discovered that the Macmillan had had the audacity to stop
crediting Honus Wagner with 16 hits that he didn't get.

Sherri Nichols
snichols@adobe.com




Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: cheese@next05wor.wam.umd.edu (Jason Steinhorn)
Subject: Re: Yankees Trivia
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 14:54:02 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.030949.14087@mercury.cair.du.edu>  
baxtman@zephyr.cair.du.edu (Captain Chaos) writes:
> Does anyone know where the Yankees first town was?  
> 
> Just a stupid trivia question that I thought I would ask
> send replys to me or whereever.
> 
> Captain Chaos

The Yankees moved from Baltimore at the turn of the century.

Jason
cheese@wam.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: carl@cae.wisc.edu (Carl Peterson)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: openning day
Date: 6 Apr 92 16:51:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: doug.1992Apr6.115151.11048
Distribution: na
Organization: College of Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison


     Just thought I'd take the time to wish everyone a happy openning day!


-- 
Carl Peterson              Go Bucky!
carl@cae.wisc.edu            Go BrewCrew!
From: roger@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Park adjustments
Date: 8 Apr 92 15:12:22 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

In article <204578@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
 rrmst3@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Roberto R Molinari) writes:
>>>so that's expected.)  I think Boston does have as good an offense IN THE
>>>NUMBERS as the Jays, but there is one other very
> important thing.  The Red Sox
>>>are putting up there numbers in Fenway...on of the best hitters parks in the
>>>majors.  

>>And the Blue Jays are putting up their numbers in SkyDome, an even better
>>hitters park.  Between 1988 and 1991, White's only had one better season
>>than Reed (and he was still worse in OBP in all four), the only bias in
>>calling them close is a Toronto bias.

>>Quick, which park favored hitters more?	

>Err, is this comparison made to see which team is better playing on an ideal
>field with "normal" dimensions?  I don't see the point in adjusting for parks
>if the comparison is done for the reason of predicting the team's performance,
>since the sox play 81 games in fenway 
>*every* year, and play the rest of their
>games in the same stadiums as the jays. 
>Unless the teams are suddenly going to
>switch parks with each other, thus making a need for park adjustments, I don't
>see the point in all this.  The sox and jays build their teams to take 
>advantage of their home parks since they play half their games there, taking
>that advantage away would seem to introduce an impurity to the stats.

The Sox *may* build their teams around the park somewhat, but they also
take that team on the road.  Also, visiting teams receive much of the
benefit/drawback of a park when they come in.  Yes, one has to be an
expert to play the Monster and all that, but it's easier for ANYONE to
hit in Fenway or Toronto than it is in Anaheim or Oakland.

Now, if you're going to predict team performance (by which I assume you
mean wins and losses), you must take the park into account.  Why?
Because of those 81 games in one park!  Remember, it takes almost an
extra run per game to win at Fenway (slight exaggeration, perhaps); so
if you have a team with a four-run-per-game offense, and that team plays
81 games/yr in Fenway, you're heading for a very different win/loss
outcome from the same team playing 81 games in Oakland.

>Of course all of this is gobbledygook if the argument is a purely theoretical
>one.  BTW, how are park adjustments made?  Is there some sort of "normal"
>stadium that the stats are mapped to?

No, unfortunately.  (It would be very difficult, since we don't even
know the relative importance of the factors that make a stdium easy or
hard to hit in...)  Instead, home and visiting records of each team and
its opponents are compared; the differences in total runs are considered
to be park-related.  See Total Baseball for more detail.

Roger

>- diehard sox fan (red that is)

PS: seeya there on Easter Sun.
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: nittmo@camelot.bradley.edu (Christopher Taylor)
Subject: Re: Cardinals
Organization: Bradley University
Distribution: usa
Date:  8 Apr 92 04:59:41 GMT

In <1992Apr8.041035.4899@bradley.bradley.edu> 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.


Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: foonberg@aero.org (Alan M. Foonberg)
Subject: Re: ESPN sked
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 03:49:09 GMT

In article <Adt3uly00iUx01O2ku@andrew.cmu.edu> Bill Thomas <bt16+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>Does anyone know the ESPN baseball schedule?

According to my 1992 Dodgers Media Guide, this is the ESPN Sunday night
baseball schedule.

All games start at 5:05pm PDT.

Week	Date	Primary Game		Backup Game
1	4/12	Rangers @ Twins
2	4/19	Braves @ Dodgers
3	4/26	Royals @ Blue Jays
4	5/3	Pirates @ Astros
5	5/10	Blue Jays @ Angels
6	5/17	Rangers @ Brewers
7	5/24	Twins @ Tigers		Indians @ Mariners
8	5/31	Red Sox @ Mariners
9	6/7	Cardinals @ Phillies	Twins @ Rangers
10	6/14	Dodgers @ Reds
11	6/21	Yankees @ Orioles	Red Sox @ Rangers
12	6/28	White Sox @ Yankees
13	7/5	A's @ Indians		Yankees @ Rangers
14	7/12	Philles @ Padres	Indians @ Rangers
15	7/19	Cubs @ Pirates		Orioles @ Rangers
16	7/26	Twins @ Red Sox
17	8/2	A's @ Royals		Angels @ Rangers
18	8/9	Mets @ Cubs		Mariners @ Rangers
19	8/16	Yankees @ White Sox	Tigers @ Rangers
20	8/23	Cardinals @ Braves
21	8/30	Reds @ Mets		White Sox @ Rnagers
22	9/6	Red Sox @ A's
23	9/13	Cubs @ Cardinals	Mets @ Expos
24	9/20	Dodgers @ Giants

You don't think ESPN wants to broadcast another Nolan Ryan no-hitter, do you?
-- 
Alan Foonberg
foonberg@aero.org
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: henning@banana.ithaca.ny.us (Henning Pape-Santos)
Subject: Re: Mets Defense after 8 games
Organization: The Twisted Banana BBS, Ithaca NY (US)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 03:03:27 GMT
Keywords: It sucks

reynard@susie.cs.scarolina.edu (John Reynard) writes:
> Elster who may never play for the Mets again with his weak bat and poor 
> range.

Excuse me? Poor range? Have you ever seen the guy play?
Whatever else you may want to say about Elster, the walking 
wounded, but CERTAINLY NOT poor range. Sheesh.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"There's a little dribbler along first, and it's BEHIND THE BAG!!"
   hps@memory.ithaca.ny.us   --or--   henning@banana.ithaca.ny.us
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: CAVGEOE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: Re: Rickey Henderson v Nolan Ryan -- Stat-head call to arms!
Organization: Yale University
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 21:20:06 EDT

In article <maj1.703426331@Ra.MsState.Edu>
maj1@Ra.MsState.Edu (Mark "Beren" Jamison) writes:
 
>
 
>>>>(I wrote:)
 
>>>> you'd capture the opinion of a lot of anti-Rickey, pro-Ryan people...not
>>>> that I'm accusing anyone on the net of being racist, but you bet there
>>>> were a lot of racist Americans who just loved it when the press deified
>>>> Ryan and vilified Rickey.
>
>>No one like the be called racist.  But racism is built into the
>>system.
>
>Ok. I have to agree with that.. But The original poster didn't blame the
>system, he implicitly said that everyone who was flameing him about
>his "Rickey is Twice as Good as Nolan" statement was racist..
>
     Hi, it's me again, the Original Poster.  Read what I wrote again.
I don't think I implied anyone on the net was racist, I said lots of
racists revelled in the Rickey-bashing that took place after he made
his speech.  Those are two different things.  Most of all, I wanted
to see the race issue *discussed* on the net, and at least in that
I seem to have succeeded.
 
Jeff Caveney
From: 00bjgood@bsu-ucs.uucp
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!
Date: 13 Apr 92 18:13:53 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.191043.18634@news.iastate.edu>, mjkugel@iastate.edu (Michael J Kugel) writes:
> In article <19920408105604SASCHO@mvs.sas.com> SASCHO@mvs.sas.com (SASCHO) writes:
>>>I only saw the third(?) inning, the one where Scott dropped the ball, the
>>>Phillies ended up scoring two runs, etc.  I was really having my doubts about
>>>the trade, the season, and the Cubs.  I must say it sure was a nice
>>>suprise to hear they won. There's hope
>>>Joe
>> 
>>Grace hit that ball an awfully long way for a guy with no power! :-)
>>Couldn't resist, I like the guy.
> 
> 
> For the first time in his career Grace might actually be trying to hit
> for power as opposed to average.  Time will tell if he'll be successful
> at it, but he's of to a good start.


	Its great that Grace hit that homerun, but why does everyone think he
needs to hit for power? Grace is one of the games best pure hitters, he's
capable of leading the league in batting average, so why doesn't everyone just
leave him alone and let him hit .330 with 10 to 15 homeruns?
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: spira@panix.com (Greg "Sarcasm Is A Way Of Life" Spira)
Subject: Re: Rickey Henderson v Nolan Ryan -- Stat-head call to arms!
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 00:26:17 GMT
Organization: A Slightly Warmer Place Than Dave Kirsch's Winter Wonderland

In <204975@unix.cis.pitt.edu> dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes:

>In article <1992Apr15.103009.951@gacvx2.gac.edu> klund@guajillo.gac.edu (Kevin T Lund) writes:
>>In article <204924@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Dr. Dave writes:

>>Also, whenever Ryan pitches the stadium has a  
>>major increase in attendence.  

>This is certainly true, but I suspect that the total Ryan-factor in increased
>gate receipts is more than compensated for by the total Rickey-factor in 
>increased revenues due to perennial competitiveness of the team.

Also, the Ryan attendance factor has only really been major during his last
3 or four years; I doubt he was all that much of a pull before that.  Now,
of course, he's probably draws more extra fans than any other pitcher since
... I don't know.                          

Oh, and I doubt he'd be as powerful a fan attraction these days if he played
out of Texas.

Greg  
-- 
  spira@panix.com       "The one-O delivery to Fisk.  He swings.  Long drive,  
 cmcl2!panix!spira      left field!  If it stays fair, it's gone!  Home Run!"  
158-17 Riverside Dr.                     Ned Martin, 10/22/75   
Whitestone NY 11357          (Insert your favorite baseball moment here) 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: craig@jido.b11.ingr.com (Craig Presson)
Subject: Re: Mets Romp in '92 laffer
Reply-To: craig@jido.b11.ingr.com
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 17:50:02 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.030451.1@wharton.upenn.edu> chen70@wharton.upenn.edu writes:

   Date: 7 Apr 92 08:04:51 GMT

You're just about a week late.

   The NL East is all but clinched by the NY Mets.  They are so dominating
   that they will clinch the division by the All-Star Break-which won't even be
   a break for a lot of them, because they will all be playing in the  All
   Star game.  I would say I'm being facetious, but the division is so weak-
   teams such as the Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, the Chicago Windbags, and
   the Pittsburgh Buttpirates can't expect to win even one game against the

   mighty Metropolitans. [amusing rant deleted]
Ah, yes, the ones that got bullwhipped by the Cardinals last night,
NINE to TWO?

Nice try.

-- Craig
--
--  *************************-><-*************************
    ** Craig Presson              pressonc@ingr.com     **
    ** Intergraph Corporation             MS CR1104     **
    ** Huntsville, AL 35894-0001     (205) 730-6176     **
    *************************-><-*************************
"The free man asks neither what he can do for his country,
nor what it can do for him." -- Milton Friedman
From: niguma@ug.cs.dal.ca (Gordon Niguma)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Biased announcers
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:31:04 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada


  You want biased announcers? The worst of all time had to be Fergie Olver
from Blue Jay telecasts. He got so excited when the Blue Jays win, I think
he should post to alt.sex.masterbation. Everytime the Jays start their 
telecast he'd scream "How about those Blue Jays?" and go off on how great they
were.
  In their only telecasts of the year so far that I've seen they started off
by saying the Jays had no weakness. Look McFly, anybody home? Manny Lee is at
shortstop. The left handed relief ace is Bob MacDonald. 
  Then they asked Joe Carter and Cito Gaston why Jack Morris was the best there
is in the game. I would've answered with "Why the hell do you THINK he's the
best in the game?" (Ever hear of Roger Clemens? Oh wait he never pitched 10
innings of shutout baseball in the World Series. He mustn't be as good as
Morris then)
  I hate the fact that these play-by-play men look at everything so biased.
They never criticize anyone on Jay telecasts anymore. They didn't even put down
Jim Acker last year. Well more specifically they'd ignore mistakes players 
made and write them off as nothing. When TOny Kubek was around here, he was
reasonably objectional. He'd say flat out that Ripken was a better fielder 
than Octavio Fernandez. He'd say he thought the Kansas City Royals would beat
the Jays in 1985. He was a straight shooter.
  Now all we've got here is Tommy Hutton and Don Chevrier. Hutton's OK I guess,
you get the feeling he wants to criticize moves but he holds back. Chevrier
should stick to hockey.

					Gord Niguma
					(fav play-play man: Kubek hands down)
From: dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Alfredo Griffin, Clubhouse Deity {tm}
Date: 17 Apr 92 15:11:16 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr17.124316.2576@otago.ac.nz> guilford@otago.ac.nz writes:
>
>Anyway, the interesting
>thing -- to me, anyway -- about Alfredo Griffin isn't that he is so bad, 
>but that he is so typical.  Pick a year.  1982?  Fine.

[Long list of no-hit shortstops from many different years deleted.]

>Major League teams obviously believe, continue to believe, that
>their interests are served by having offensive zeros at shortstop.
>Claiming that Alfredo "is the sorriest excuse for a ballplayer
>in my memory or lifetime" is a bit silly, with names like Enzo
>Hernandez or Johnnie LeMaster to draw on.  

As the person who started this whole conflagration, let me hasten to say
that I never claimed Alfredo was "the sorriest excuse for a ballplayer"
or anything like that.  Merely that he was quite bad, and played for a
long long time.  That's the part that fascinates me: that he consistently
played so poorly, and yet was never really in any danger of being benched.

Certainly Johnnie LeMaster was a worse player than Griffin.  But the league
realized this, collectively, and STOPPED PLAYING HIM.  It took a while, but
they did it.  Among the other zero-hit SS's you mention, the only ones who
played as long as Griffin has were guys who were considered not just good
but *astounding* defensive players: Belanger, Brinkman, Guillen, etc.  

As someone pointed out to me by email once, in connection with Brock2
projections, the key to how long someone will play is not really how long
they stay above replacement level, but rather how long they are perceived
as being above replacement level (plus fan-appeal factors).  In a league
where people thought that Larry Bowa was a good defensive SS, this can lead
to some anomalous effects.


-- 
          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: dae@cbnews.cb.att.com (david.a.elliott)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Misc. Baseball Ramblings
Keywords: James, Orioles, Injuries
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:13:44 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <1992Apr9.050140.29192@cbnewse.cb.att.com> gotribe@cbnewse.cb.att.com (richard.g.barry) writes:
>Just some thoughts on the early baseball season:
>5. The Royals and Angels have got to be the two worst looking teams
>   in the AL.  The Angels have 3 good starters and 1 good reliever
>   and that's it.  Absolutely no offense (well Polonia is decent).
>   KC looks just as pathetic.  Great hitting combo at 2B and SS with
>   Shumpert and Howard.  Great leadoff hitter in McRae.  Great left
>   fielder in Miller.  McReynolds has to rank in the bottom 3rd in
>   AL right fielders also.  That leaves Jefferies, Joyner, and Mike MacF.
>   as the only decent hitters (no I don't include Brett as a good
>   hitter any more)

I've been saying this all winter.  They have enough players to field a
decent lineup.  Put Miller back at second.  Put McReynolds back in left,
where he's played his whole career.  Platoon Thurman and Gwynn or Eisenreich
in right.  Bat McRae 9th until he shows he can get on base enough.

McRae might be a gutsy manager, but his lineup maneuvers just defy logic.

I'm willing to give Howard a year to show he can hit enough to stay in the
lineup, although I'm not optimistic.  Even if he hits .250, he's likely to
have a sub-.600 OPS.


Dave Elliott
From: pcaster@mizar.usc.edu (Dodger)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Late Night with Dodger -- Saturday night's game
Date: 11 Apr 1992 23:36:47 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu

The Dodgers blew a fine performance by Kevin Gross tonight and
lost to the Padres 3-2 in 10 innings.
Gross and Hurst pitched similar games for 4 innings.  The Dodgers
broke through in the 5th on a home run by Eric Davis.  They scored
again in the 6th.  But the Padres answered with 2 of their own
thanks mainly to an error by Offerman on a sure double play ball.
The ball was hit hard, but Offerman tried to stab at it from the
side instead of getting behind it.
The game remained 2-2 until the 10th inning.  McDowell was
pitching for the Dodgers and was falling behind on most of the
batters he faced.  The Padres had the top of the order up.
Gwynn hit up the middle on a hit and run play, with the
runner moving to third.  With the outfield drawn in the next
guy up (sorry, I forgot his name...may have been Sheffield) hit
a fly ball to center field.  Butler caught it, backpeddling, and
couldn't throw the runner out who tagged from third.
Sorry about yesterday's report...typed Eiler instead of Eiland.
Maybe I should wait until morning to type this things :-)
					BleedsDodgerBlue
PS No report tomorrow--a day game.

Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball