The Pecan Park Eagle

Bill Gilbert: Rating the 2014 HOF Candidates

January 5, 2014

Rating the 2014 Hall of Fame Candidates Based on Win Shares

By Bill Gilbert

One of the first items of business in baseball each year is the announcement of players elected to the Hall of Fame. This leads to lots of speculation and a little analysis prior to the announcement which is scheduled for January 8, 2014.

Many systems exist for evaluating player performance. One such system, the Win Shares method, developed by Bill James in 2002, is a complex method for evaluating players which includes all aspects of performance – offense, defense and pitching. James has stated that, “Historically, 400 Win Shares means absolute enshrinement in the Hall of Fame and 300 Win Shares makes a player more likely than not to be a Hall of Famer. However, future standards may be different. Players with 300-350 Win Shares in the past have generally gone into the Hall of Fame. In the future, they more often will not”.

The 2014 class of Hall of Fame candidates consists of 17 holdovers and 19 players eligible for the first time. Thirteen holdovers have over 300 Win Shares, Barry Bonds with 661, Roger Clemens 421, Craig Biggio 411, Rafael Palmeiro with 394, Tim Raines 390, Jeff Bagwell 387, Mark McGwire 342, Fred McGriff 326, Alan Trammell 318, Sammy Sosa 311, Mike Piazza 309, Larry Walker 307 and Edgar Martinez 305. Five newcomers have over 300 Win Shares;

In 2013, no players received the necessary 75% of the vote for election by the Baseball Writers of America (BBWAA). The 2013 ballot included 24 newcomers and 13 returning candidates. The newcomers who received the 5% of the votes required to remain on the ballot were Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa. Bernie Williams with 3.3% of the vote dropped off the ballot after only one year. Dale Murphy dropped off the ballot after failing to be elected for 15 years.

With the relatively strong incoming class last year, only four of the thirteen holdovers received more votes than in the previous year. Murphy received the biggest increase with 23 votes but was far short of being elected. Bagwell and Raines each picked up 18 votes and Jack Morris picked up only 3 votes in his next to last year on the ballot. With another strong, incoming class this year, predicting the results is more difficult than usual and holdovers will have a hard time picking up more votes.

Several players on the ballot have the numbers to be elected but remain tainted with the steroid cloud. Voters are likely to wait until more is known about the extent of steroid usage before giving them a pass. This, along with the number of strong newcomers on the ballot the last two years has resulted in the ballot becoming quite crowded. As a result, voters should vote for more than the typical 5 or 6 candidates each year. If they don’t, some changes in the voting procedures may be in order.

Following is a list of Win Shares for the 36 players on the ballot. Players on the ballot for the first time are shown in bold. Voting results for 2012 and 2013 are shown for the holdovers.

ELIGIBLE PLAYERS	WIN SHARES	2013 VOTES	2013 %	2012 VOTES	2012 %
Barry Bonds	661	206	36.2
Roger Clemens	421	214	37.6
Craig Biggio	411	388	68.2
Frank Thomas	405
Greg Maddux	398
Rafael Palmiero	394	50	08.8	72	12.6
Tim Raines	390	297	52.2	279	48.7
Jeff Bagwell	387	339	59.6	321	56.0
Mark McGwire	342	96	16.9	112	19.5
Jeff Kent	338
Fred McGriff	326	118	20.7	127	23.9
Alan Trammell	318	141	24.3	211	36.8
Luis Gonzalez	318
Tom Glavine	314
Sammy Sosa	311	71	12.5
Mike Piazza	309	329	57.8
Larry Walker	307	123	21.6	131	22.9
Edgar Martinez	305	204	31.2	209	36.5
Moises Alou	277
Mike Mussina	270
Don Mattingly	263	75	13.6	102	17.8
Ray Durham	231
Curt Schilling	227	221	38.8
Jack Morris	225	385	67.7	382	66.7
Kenny Rogers	206
Lee Smith	198	272	47.8	290	50.6
J.T. Snow	170
Sean Casey	156
Richie Sexson	154
Armando Benitez	128
Paul LoDuca	127
Mike Timlin	124
Jacque Jones	124
Todd Jones	119
Hideo Nomo	108
Eric Gagne	86

The last 19 players elected by the Baseball Writers have averaged 353 Win Shares, a figure exceeded by eight players on this year’s ballot.

INDUCTED PLAYERS	YEAR	WIN SHARES
Dave Winfield	2001	415
Kirby Puckett	2001	281
Ozzie Smith	2002	325
Gary Carter	2003	337
Eddie Murray	2003	437
Paul Molitor	2004	414
Dennis Eckersley	2004	301
Wade Boggs	2005	394
Ryne Sandburg	2005	346
Bruce Sutter	2006	168
Cal Ripken	2007	427
Tony Gwynn	2007	398
Goose Gossage	2008	223
Rickey Henderson	2009	535
Jim Rice	2009	282
Andre Dawson	2010	340
Roberto Alomar	2011	375
Bert Blyleven	2011	339
Barry Larkin	2012	347
	AVERAGE WIN SHARE	353

Win Shares are fundamentally a quantitative measure of a player’s accomplishments. A measure of the quality of a player’s offensive performance is OPS+ which compares his OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) adjusted for park effects and era with the league average during his career. An OPS+ of 120 suggests that his performance is 20% better than that of a league average player. A similar approach (ERA+) can be used to compare a pitcher’s ERA against the league average during his career.

Following is a rank order of OPS+ and ERA+ for the 36 candidates on the 2013 ballot:

BATTERS	OPS+	STARTERS	ERA+
Barry Bonds	182	Roger Clemens	143
Mark McGwire	163	Greg Maddux	132
Frank Thomas	156	Curt Schilling	127
Jeff Bagwell	149	Mike Mussina	123
Edgar Martinez	147	Tom Glavine	118
Mike Piazza	143	Kenny Rogers	107
Larry Walker	141	Jack Morris	105
Fred McGriff	134	Hideo Nomo	97
R. Palmiero	132
Sammy Sosa	128	RELIEVERS	ERA+
Moises Alou	128	A. Benitez	140
Don Mattingly	127	Lee Smith	132
Tim Raines	123	Mike Timlin	125
Jeff Kent	123	Eric Gagne	119
Richie Sexson	120	Todd Jones	111
Luis Gonzalez	119
Craig Biggio	112
Alan Trammell	110
Sean Casey	109
J.T. Snow	105
Ray Durham	104
Jacque Jones	98
Paul LoDuca	97

The Win Shares system favors players with long productive careers like Raines, Palmeiro and Biggio, although it appears to under-rate pitchers, while OPS+ rewards strong offensive players who had shorter, more dominant careers like Martinez and Mattingly. ERA+ favors relief pitchers since their ERAs are generally lower because they are not charged with runs scored by inherited runners.

Conclusions:

1. Maddux, Thomas and Biggio will be elected in 2014.

2. Morris will fail to win election on his final year on the BBWAA ballot.

3. Bagwell, Piazza and Raines will continue to move up but will fall short of 75%.In the past, I haven’t paid much attention to whether or not a player is elected in the first year he is eligible. However, it may be a bigger issue this year. Bonds and Clemens obviously have the credentials to be elected in their first year and will eventually be elected but their involvement with steroids will prevent their election this year.

4. While the 2014 class is very strong at the top, it is weak at the bottom. As many as 12 newcomers may not receive even one vote. Five or six newcomers should receive enough votes to remain on the ballot.

5. The incoming class in 2015 is also very strong – Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Gary Sheffield. This will continue to make it difficult for holdovers to get elected.

6. There will not be a groundswell of support for Jacque Jones, Paul LoDuca, Richie Sexson, Hideo Nomo and Mike Timlin among others.

If I had a ballot, I would cast votes for Maddux, Thomas, Bagwell, Biggio, Piazza, Raines, Schilling, Trammell, Glavine and Mussina.

Bill Gilbert

1/4/2014

Pecan Park Eagle Footnote: Bill Gilbert was a long-time Houston area resident during his years of employment at Exxon and a stabilizing leader of the Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research) during its early years in southeast Texas. Now retired in the Austin area, Bill remains active with the Rogers Hornsby Chapter of SABR, where he continues his “passionate dispassionate” ongoing evaluation of Houston Astros baseball. Thank you, Bill Gilbert, for making your assessments available to an even larger base of fans through the readership of The Pecan Park Eagle. God Willing in favor of us all, we shall look forward again to both your monthly Astros evaluation contributions in 2014 – and to whatever else you care to write for us, anytime, along this joyful baseball way.

Bill Gilbert may be reached at billcgilbert@sbcglobal.net

Tags: Bill Gilbert Report, Rating HOF Candidates Based on Win Shares
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Pecan Park Eagle Extra: Phil Everly Dies

January 5, 2014

Don and Phil Everly

Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers is dead. His death strikes home with me on a personal note that causes me to bypass a number of things I could say, and others will say, about how important their music was to a whole generation. The news just reached us here from friend and colleague Mark Wernick that Phil Everly has died in California of unspecified causes. It happened yesterday, Friday, January 3, 2014. Phil was age 74.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/03/showbiz/singer-phil-everly-dies/

For those of you who are too young to remember, Phil and his two-years-older brother, Don Everly, now 76, were known to those of us adolescents from the rock and roll baptismal generation of the late 1950s as “The Everly Brothers,” the guys who basically sang stories in harmony with a driving melody and beat that pretty well captured our ongoing angst over finding and losing love – and getting in trouble with your girl friend’s mother for going to sleep in a snuggle hug at the drive in movie theatre in a way that kept you from getting her home by curfew time, as promised.

It happened to my girl friend and me on a Friday night at the Trail Drive In Theatre on O.S.T. in Houston during the late summer of 1957. We actually had gone to sleep in the car from the power of a comfort hug I had given her after she had become frightened at the last showing of the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” – We only awakened as the theater operators turned on the “show’s over” glare lights and the loud, irritating adult music box that was designed to run us life-blood younger customers away for the night.

I still recall the race home after we awoke. “What are we going to tell my mother?” my girl friend asked. “We have no choice,” I said, “we’re just going to have to tell her the truth – that we fell asleep because you got scared and because I was already tired from having worked all day unloading produce when he got there.” It never occurred to me that the truth sounded about as credible as the old “the dog ate my homework” excuse.

Irony of ironies (or high probability) followed while we were still racing east on O.S.T. to the Wayside- Telephone area where my girl friend lived. Over the radio, here came The Everly Brothers, singing our theme:

Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We’ve both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock, and we’re in trouble deep
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say “ooh-la-la”
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

I told your mama that you’d be in by ten
Well Susie baby looks like we goofed again
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, we gotta go home

Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
The movie wasn’t so hot, it didn’t have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well

Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say “ooh-la-la”
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie

Well, we survived it, but it was close. Had it not been for my girl friend’s sweet mama, who liked me and wanted to trust me, we probably would not have. As a widow, she had her hands full supporting her family with no help during an era in which working mothers were more of a rarity than an everyday pattern. I still remember feeling terrible about the pain we had caused her. She kept saying two things to both of us: “I expect better from both of you” and “I’m not going to let you two do this to me.”

We never did that one again, but it wasn’t even a year later that we went our separate ways, as young couples often do. Still, the lesson lingered. It came across as Lesson #1 in my “Recovery from Personal Selfishness” notebook. At age 19, other lessons were still out there – just waiting for me like potholes on the road of life. But I will always associate The Everly Brothers and “Wake Up, Little Susie” with opening the door on the fact that no relationship works well, if both people do not take personal responsibility for building and maintaining trust.

If you’ve never heard “Wake Up, Little Susie,” here’s a link to the original 1957 version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X7b2E_Jq-k

Thank you, Everly Brothers, for being serendipitous buddies in bringing that first lesson home to me so concretely, even if that was not your intention.

And “Rest In Peace, Phil Everly,” but don’t forget to wake up if there’s anyplace else you need to be at a certain time.

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April 8, 1951: MLB Meets the Texas League

January 4, 2014

Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio both homered against the Houston Buffaloes in the spring of 1951 – and the Pecan Park Eagle will always count it among his most treasured days that he got to see it all, standing in the first row behind the SRO rope in left center field. We only wish that he had brought his camera with him that day because the pictures that still exist in my mind are truly awesome from the time that descriptive word really still meant something.

Sunday, April 8, 1951 was near the wrap on spring training and several of the big league clubs were making their annual homestretch run through Texas on their way to Opening Day, most making their last minute roster decisions against the talent of AA Texas League clubs. The New York Giants (NL) and the Cleveland Indians (AL) also made most f the same city stops, but preferred the pleasure of each other’s company in direct competition. Here’s how some of those games from that particular Sunday were summarily reported on Monday, April 9, 1951 by various Associated Press writers:

Games of April 8, 1951 ~

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Yanks Maul Buffs

Houston, April 8. (AP) – Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle belted homers Sunday as the New York Yankees crushed the Houston Buffaloes, 15-9, before an overflow crowd of 13,963.

DiMag(gio) played the full nine innings despite a strained Achilles tendon in his left heel and enjoyed his first three-hit day of the spring. The homer was his fourth and came with a runner on in the ninth.

Rest of the Story: Jerry Witte played first base for the Buffs that day. He reported this other fact to me while we were working on our 2003 book, “A Kid From St. Louis.” Witte had asked DiMaggio for one of his bats as a souvenir prior to the game. DiMaggio had promised him one, but did not respond until he hit that ninth inning home run. Then Dimaggio delivered that very same HR bat to Witte, via a bat boy, after returning to the Yankee dugout following his homer. Witte then turned right around and used that same gift bat to hit a homer of his own in the bottom of the ninth for the Buffs. – It may be the only time in baseball history, at this level of play, that two professional opponents have used the same bat to hit home runs against each other’s teams in the same inning of the same game.

********************

Browns Rap Missions

San Antonio, April 8. (AP) – Roy Sievers, Ken Wood, and Don Lenhardt blasted out home runs to help the St. Louis Browns to an 11-5 triumph over the San Antonio Missions Sunday.

It was the Browns fifth consecutive victory – all against their Texas League farm club.

********************

Ruffs Shade Cards

Beaumont, April 8. (AP) – The Beaumont Roughnecks finally wore down big Red Munger in the eighth inning to take a 6-5 victory from the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday.

Munger held the Beaumont club to two hits for seven innings, but let go with two walks and three hits for two runs in the eighth.

********************

Braves Rap Tulsa

Tulsa, April 8. (AP) – The Boston Braves “plane” team rampaged for ten runs in the seventh inning Sunday as they outslugged the Tulsa Oilers, 16-11.

The Braves were down three runs to the Texas Leaguers when they sent 16 batters to the plate in the seventh and knocked out two pitchers as 5,400 fans watched.

********************

Cats Bow to Braves

Fort Worth, April 8. (AP) – Veteran third baseman Bob Elliott and rookie outfielder Bob Addis each drove in four runs Sunday as the Boston Braves “train” team walloped the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League, 14-5.

The Tribe clouted the minor leaguers for 15 hits as only a small crowd of 1,024 fans watched.

********************

Other Scores of Sunday, April 8, 1951

@ Dallas TX: Dallas Eagles (Texas League) 17 – Wichita Falls Spudders (Big State League) 5.

@ Crowley LA: Crowley Millers (Evangeline) 4 – Texarkana Bears (Big State) 2.

@ Birmingham AL: Boston Red Sox (AL) 20, 13 – Birmingham Barons (Southern) 6, 6.

@ Dallas, TX: New York Giants (NL) 10 – Cleveland (AL) 3.

@ Atlanta GA: Atlanta Crackers (S0uthern) 8 – Brooklyn Dodgers (NL) 6.

@ Charlotte NC: Cincinnati Reds (NL) 6 – Washington Senators (AL) 1.

@ Baltimore MD: Philadelphia A’s (AL) 7 – Baltimore Orioles (AAA American Association) 1.

@ New Orleans LA: Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 10 – Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 9.

@ Nashville TN: Chicago White Sox (AL) 6 – Chicago Cubs (NL) 5.

@ Memphis TN: Memphis Chicks (Southern) 5 – Detroit Tigers (AL) 4.

********************

Source for Above Material: Associated Press, Abilene (TX) Reporter News, Page 4.

********************

Have a nice weekend, Everybody!. Get warm. Stay warm. Enjoy warm.

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A Biggio Awakening

January 3, 2014

Craig Biggio's 285 HBPs put him in 2nd place, all time, behind Tris Speaker.

Craig Biggio’s 285 HBPs put him in 2nd place, all time, behind Hughie Jennings.

To a heavy degree, most of us who followed the 20-year major league career of Craig Biggio as a Houston Astro are of a supportive like mind that the man belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His 3,060 career hits included 668 doubles, 55 triples, and 291 home runs. He also wound his way to second place, all time, by getting hit by the pitch a total of 285 times. He also lived his life as a contributing pillar to the Greater Houston community, most notably. through his work and support of the Sunshine Kids program. He also became Houston’s poster husband and father, even retiring in time to assist coaching his two sons in football, and then, taking over as head coach of the St. Thomas High School baseball program – and then leading the Eagles to a state championship during his coaching tenure.

Biggio’s achievement awards are almost too many to mention: He won four gold gloves as a second baseman; he won five Silver Slugger awards; and he played in seven All Star games, making it here as both a catcher and a second baseman. Craig also won the 1997 Branch Rickey Award, the 2005 Hutch Award, and the 2007 Roberto Clemente Award.

This is all “down-the-center-of-the-plate” information. Craig Biggio belongs in the Hall of Fame and we all hope that 2014 is the year that the baseball writers make it happen. Biggio is not going to be more deserving next year, or five years from now. He’s ready now. He’s been ready. And he’s most deserving. They just need to get it done right this time.

Something else came to my attention yesterday that may help. I received a link to a new video about Craig Biggio that introduced me to new facts about the man’s character and deeds of giving to others. It blew me away, but, since the link came from my trusted good friend, Greg Lucas, I was most grateful to have received it.

The Hall of Fame is not about electing only choirs boys, as is self-evident by many of the players who already are in there. It’s about career performance on the baseball field.

Still, just knowing now from this brief film as to how much Craig Biggio gives back and pays forward to others is enough to increase one’s convictions that he may belong in more than one kind of hall of fame.

Is there a Hall of Fame for Super Heroes? Check out the film and decide for yourself. Just make sure you keep a box of Kleenex handy. You are going to need it.

Here’s the Biggio film link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWF-e9lG_U4

Thank God It’s Friday!

Tags: Biggio for Hall of Fame, Craig Biggio Video
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Hot Stove League: Seems Like Old Times, Sort of

January 2, 2014

Hot Stove League: 2014.

Well, we finally did it. We passed New Years Day, and even with the hiring of a new Texans coach, the NFL Playoffs just getting cranked, the BCS college football championship and the Super Bowl coming up, while college bowl games explode all around us from morning until late night and the Rockets even looking, at times, like an NBA contender, the noses of true blue Houston baseball fans understand that it’s NOW really the Hot Stove League phase of the baseball season, the time of year that precedes and does not relent until well into and near the end of the spring training phase of the season, when the rosters begin to settle or resolve, if only temporarily.

Hope speaks loudly this time of year – and not because we always have a good reason as fans to be hopeful. We simply need, as fans, to hope for a better tomorrow – even if the team we follow has lost over 100 games in each of the past three seasons. Hope floats in the long run that the Luhnow Youth Plan for Resuscitating our Houston Astros into a winner will work. In the short run, some see hope in a 2014 club that is capable of playing an entire season without reaching the triple digit loss level for the first time since 2010.

However we slice it, we have to start our hope for better days with an acceptance of the fact that, even with our recent attempts by GM Luhnow to improve the club, especially in the immediate readiness of the relief pitching staff, that the Astros will still enter the 2014 season as one of the worst, if not still the worst team in MLB. Good team? The Astros aren’t even a mediocre team until they prove otherwise – and that can only be demonstrated over the regular season of everyday play.

A thumbnail examination of the free agent acquisitions by the Astros suggests that here were some affordable guys who may help the pitching. There’s room to “hope” that Feldman will help the rotation and that former Astro vets like Qualls and Albers. plus Crain, if his surgical recovery goes well, could help the pen climb back to mediocrity and work to keep the club from losing another 100 games in 2014. Who knows about Guzman? Do we really need another guy who can’t hit for a quarter? Fowler sounds OK, but it’s hard to see him as much of a need-filled difference maker in center field – and especially if George Springer hatches as a big leaguer in 2014.

Here’s the quick sketch on our free agent acquisitions to date. It would be nice to feel more inspired, but that buzz is not screaming at me as I hoped it might – and sometimes has in many earlier January looks at the upcoming season. Perhaps, my restraint of early hope is also influenced by the knowledge that there’s a good chance the Astros games again will not be available to those of us who do not use Comcast and that most of us won’t really get to follow the team without buying a ticket, anyway.

Astros Free Agency Acquisitions for the 2014 Season Through January 1, 2014

Pitchers	Age	2013 Club	Won	Lost	E.R.A. ((IP)
Matt Albers (RHP)	30	Cleveland Indians	3	1	3.14 (63.0 IP)
Anthony Bass (RHP)	26	SanDiego Padres	0	0	5.36 (42.0 IP)
Jesse Crain (RHP)	32	Chicago White Sox	2	3	0.74 (36.2 IP)
Darin Downs (LHP)	29	Detroit Tigers	0	2	4.84 (35.1)
Scott Feldman (RHP)	30	Chi Cubs / Bal Orioles	12	12	3.86 (181.2 IP)
Chad Qualls (RHP)	35	Miami Marlins	5	2	2.61 (62.0)
Raul Valdes (LHP)	36	Philadelphia Phillies	1	1	7.46 (35.0)

Fielders	Age	2013 Club	B.A./O.B.P.	R.B.I./S.A.	HR/SB
Dexter Fowler, OF (BB/TR)	27	Colorado Rockies	.263/.369	42/.407	12/19
Jesus Guzman, IF (BR/TR)	29	SanDiego Padres	.226/.297	35/378	9/3

Hope your first work day of the new year goes well! And please speak your piece about the upcoming baseball season. It can’ be much of a hot stove league discussion without you.

Tags: Pre-2014 Baseball Discussion
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Happy New Year, 2014!

January 1, 2014

Happy New Year, 2014!

The Pecan Park Eagle wishes all of you the best, happiest, safest, spiritually settling New Years of all time. Since we already wrote the best column on our personal historical experience with the American New Year celebration several years ago, here it is again, if you’re interested:

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/new-years-eve-icons/

As for now, 2014, I simply want to express the wishes I hold for all of us a little more specifically:

1) May we all continue to grow in our understanding of Shakespeare’s immortal words: “To thine own self be true.”

2) May we continue to look for ways to serve, rather than be served.

3) May we continue to search for ways of commerce and life that expand hope and opportunity for all those who are willing to work in behalf of their own successes, and not leave us on the bleak shores of either having to settle for the welfare state, on the one hand, or the empire state on the other, that is, the one in which the privileged few controllers of everything get rich on the backs of all the rest of us.

4) May we grow in our understanding of who we are in relation to the almighty universal force that created us – and reach peace in our embrace of the realization that grows from that journey within us – that “God” is “Love”.

5) May we always understand that rules and laws are created to protect the basic rights and freedoms of us all. No one else, however, no church or religious dogma, no priest, no preacher, or no rabbi can make the choice for or against the belief in anything for us. To hear and learn from others, ministers or not, we must first become seekers of truth in our own rights, and begin the journey in a faith that may only grow stronger from our openness to learning from the loss, disappointment, and pain of personal experience on the trail of life’s unfolding discovery.

6) Life’s lessons are a lot like learning to field ground balls. There’s not much problem with practice grounders, at first. As long as you get in front of the ball, get your glove down, and prepare to stop the ball with your body, if necessary, and, if the bounce of the ball is true – and not coming at you too fast. But then come the lessons of game play. – Balls come screaming at you, on uneven bounces, sometimes with either side English on them, you freeze in shock, you fail to get your glove down, you don’t have time to body cover. and – the ball rushes through you, or by you, for a hit or an embarrassing error on YOU. – We learn and, hopefully, over time, we get better. – We never get perfect. – Only the greats of the ground ball stopper game – and the narcissists too young to know better – are left to think that perfection is going to happen. As in general life, we can all do better at anything, once we learn something that’s important to the performance of a specific task. And that awareness is the realization that teaches us – not perfectionism.

That’s it. Forgive me if I bored you. Older writers sometimes want to share what they think they’ve learned, whether anyone else wants to hear it – or not. I don’t expect you to hear me, unless these words make sense to you. All I can tell you for sure is – I don’t know nearly enough. I get lost every time I try thinking about what was going on prior to either Genesis or The Big Bang.

Happy 2014, folks. And remember that “now” is the only time we actually have. Live it fully. We cannot capture what is yet to be with our promises about the future. We cannot regain what might have been with our regrets about the past. Now is the only time field we really have – but it comes to us with the breath of life itself.

Love and Peace. To One and All.

Tags: a New Years Essay
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Happy New Years Eve, CHIEF N.O.T.S.U.O.H!

December 31, 2013

1493 AD: Chief Notsuoh heads to Houston with his three four-legged friends and his iron rattler stick.

Happy New Years Eve, Everybody!

A year ago today, The Pecan Park Eagle wrote about the Legend of Chief Notsuoh and how his late 15th century bad experience in the area that is now roughly the downtown and inner city core of present day Houston seems to have led to a curse upon our local fates in team athletics. Spooky as it may be, the 2013 arrival of Houston as only the first city ever to finish dead last in both professional baseball and football in the same calendar year seems to ride home as confirmation of Chief Notsuoh’s poison wishes for us.

In case you never read last year’s report on Chief Notsuoh, here it is again verbatim from our original report of December 31, 1912:

********************

By the second new moon of the year we know today as 1493 AD, the drums of wary change about the coming of the pale face from the waters of the Pond of the Morning Sun had beaten their way across the face of the land known to every native tribe as the Home of all Family Nations and had then faded quietly into a humming red mist across the Pond of the Evening Stars beyond the Great Rock Mounds of the far west.

Most human beings of that time were content enough to simply let the news be heard as an ominous message from the Great Spirit that further personal purification was essential for them all to one day take up residence in the Perennial Summer Forest of the Great Sky that awaits everyone beyond the Time of Endless Sleep that comes to all.

Not so much did Comanche Chief Notsuoh (pronounced Not*Sue*Oh) hold on to the idea that the drums intended to merely fall silent as an “ominous warning” about the need for reform and personal purification. Oh no. Chief Notsuoh heard the drums as a beckoning to organize and come forward as a tribal gathering of human beings and turn back the threat of invasion from the pale ones, should they soon decide to return to these sacred shores with greater numbers of their kind and an intent to pollute all that was then pure.

From his home region in the valley we know today as the Basin Prairie of the Big Bend, Chief Notsuoh set forth each morning toward the Sky of the Rising Sun in leadership of one thousand Comanche braves who believed in his cause.

Chief Notsuoh had in his possession three horses that had been captured from the first pale faces, but he did not understand their true purpose. He called them “My Four Legged Friends on Four Legs Who Listen Well and Never Talk Back.”

The chief also possessed a loaded late 19^th century model Winchester rifle that one day on the journey fell through a time-warp black hole and killed a six-foot long rattler before it could strike the great leader. Again, Notsuoh failed to grasp the utility of the instrument that had befallen him, but he kept it as a friendly weapon, nonetheless, calling it “My Iron Stick for Killing Rattlesnakes in a Wahoo Whack.”

Armed with believers, good intentions, and much misinformation, Chief Notsuoh set forth each morning toward the sky of the rising sun. About sixty sunrises later, the chief and his native land crusaders had traveled a distance roughly equivalent of the space between present day Alpine, Texas and the banks of a muddy slow-moving stream in southeast Texas that back then was heavily populated by a herd of 10,000 bison or buffaloe.

Tired of the morning walks into the sun, and impressed by the abundance of buffaloe to eat. Notsuoh decided to settle the area until further notice. With the help of his one thousand warriors and the hundreds of camp-following squaws who had trailed their men east, Notsuoh established a far-reaching Comanche community in the areas of downtown present day Houston, and stretching southwest to the former site of the Summit, southeast from there to Rice Stadium, further south to Reliant Stadium and the Astrodome, east to the University of Houston and Buff Stadium, and back northwesterly, downtown to the areas covering all current sporting venues.

One day in 1494 AD, when the Notsuoh Braves were rocking along to a prideful lacrosse win over a tribe of barnstorming Apaches, the whole town, including the team, choked on some very bad buffalo meat, snatching the agony of defeat from the jaws of victory, causing a loss of the game, a loss of pride, and, in seven days time, a loss of life for everyone in the community.

Before his own death, Chief Notsuoh blamed himself and the white man.

Blaming the tragic event upon his failure to continue his pursuit of the loathsome pale-face menace in favor of mindless and unrewarding sporty pursuits in the area that is now modern Houston, Chief Notsuoh swore out this curse upon all future pale face settlers of this same geographical area:

“To all pale faces and all other non-native invaders of this land, by the power of our holy spirit in the sky, I henceforth place this curse upon you: Should you ever decide to settle this land as your own, building your personal paleface dreams upon the ground that covers our bones, may this special curse be visited upon you:

“May your athletic teams of any sport devised be doomed to inevitably break your hearts in the end. May they sometimes pull your hearts high into the sky and the land of hope, but may they always finish by dropping your dreams flat as a dead eagle, falling splat to earth from the mighty clouds of high aspiration.”

That’s my Chief Notsuoh story – and I’m sticking to it. Especially after today’s Texans game.

Oh, yeah. – Happy New Year!!! Things are about to get better because everything that really is important – already is OK.

~ The Pecan Park Eagle, December 31, 2012.

********************

That bold type advisory from the last day of 2012 still applies on the final day of 2013: Things are about to get better because everything that really is important – already is OK.

In the meanwhile, all serious Houston sports fans who cannot assume the same wisdom are once more advised and warned —–>>>>

“Don’t Mess with CHIEF N.O.T.S.U.O.H!”

“HAVE A SAFE, FUN, AND REASONABLY SOBER NEW YEARS EVE, EVERYBODY!” ~ THE PECAN PARK EAGLE.

Tags: One Legend of Chief N.O.T.S.U.O.H.
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In Memoriam of Baseball’s 2013 Deceased

December 30, 2013

Almost Time to Say Goodbye.

In Memoriam …

The world lost some great people in 2013 and we only know the most famous ones and, of course, the ones close and dear to our personal lives. Nelson Mandela is undoubtedly our most famous loss in 2013, but he is joined at Heaven’s Gate, or wherever else it is that good souls go from here after living their lives as unspoken gifts to the world of their cherished others. To all the millions of little anonymous people who passed with Mr. Mandela from Earth in 2013 from quieter, smaller. less famous service to others everywhere, we say thank you. About all of them, we say, may their deeds be always remembered and acknowledged, wherever possible. Placing something larger than our personal acquisitive goals in play as our service to a greater peaceful cause that does no harm to the innocent is the highest calling that awaits all of us – if we listen for it – and if we are willing to hear it.

In behalf of those of us who love the game of baseball, 2013 also was a year in which we said goodbye to 48 former MLB position players, 40 former pitchers, and 2 former managers. They were not all saints, but one came close. His name was Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals. A less famous guy like Harry Elliott is recalled by some of us as a former member of the Houston Buffs prior to the city’s 1962 jump to the big leagues. Both of the two deceased managers listed here also had a connection to Houston. Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver played for the Houston Buffs early in his all minor league playing career – and Grady Hatton managed the Houston Astros late in the first decade of their big league existence. Cot Deal, a former Astros pitching coach, also left this world in 2013 – as did three former pitchers of the St. Louis Browns, Lou Sleater, Virgil Trucks, and Bob Turley, plus former Browns catcher, Babe Martin.

Andy Pafko at the Polo Grounds. 10/03/51, waiting on the ball that is not coming down in the field of play.

And how can I not mention outfielder Andy Pafko. As a kid, I just loved the all-out way Andy Pafko played the game. He was in left field at the Polo Grounds in 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit his famous “Shot Heard Round the World.” You could tell from Pafko’s body language in the old newsreel films that he was both stunned and hurt by his closest view of the Dodger-fatal home run leaving the field of play. Poor Andy. Now we have to go through missing you all over again. God bless you.

The list still does not include the name of Paul Blair, who passed away on 12/26/13. He was also a favorite of mine.

Please check the list from Baseball Reference.Com for the names of those who left us this year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2013-deaths.shtml

Rest in Peace, 2013 baseball souls, and thanks for each of your contributions to our national pastime.

Tags: 2013 baseball deaths
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It’s Good Riddance Day in Houston Sports!

December 29, 2013

After just seeing this idea this morning on the ABC Good Morning, America news, it hit home as a useful concept to plug this general year’s end housecleaning notion from NYC into the specific issues facing those of us who are Houston sports fans. Whereas, the newscast showed a woman who was saying “good riddance” in writing a public note to the husband she had just divorced, we think Houston sports fans are capable of expressing themselves here with a public statement of which persons or local conditions they would love to say “good riddance to” in all sincerity about our local sports experience.

As a special bonus here at The Pecan Park Eagle (TPPE), those who post at least one “good riddance” item will be eligible to Rub the old genie lamp for one wish they would make now about some area of Houston Sports, if they knew that wish was bound to come true. Of course, we cannot stop you, nor do we really want to stop you from bypassing the “good riddance” item and going straight to the “one magical wish” step, if you so choose. But just know that you will be cheating if you do. 🙂

I’m limiting myself to one “good riddance” and one “magical wish” here, simply because I don’t want to skew the arena of consideration too much, but the ones I’ve picked hit the general field of ideas hard enough, as is:

Our TPPE Good Riddance To: 2013 – and what we hope will be the only season in history in which Houston fields the worst professional baseball and football clubs in the world of big league sports.

Our TPPE Magical Wish: That 2014 will see us find a way to save and preserve the Astrodome in a dignified, meaningful, and productive way.

Now, please step up to the plate yourself on these two points. And feel free to express as many “good riddances” as you have – and use that one magic wish wisely.

Most all. Have fun. We don’t get magical wishes everyday.

An Astrodome Note. Just a parting note on my Astrodome salvation wish: Most of the wisest people I know agree that the Astrodome is not going to be saved by all of us little guys with a million pleasant memories and can-clinking coin contributions. Some of our big money people are going to have to step up and kick the can down the street with their millions – or its not going to happen. – Therein rests the problem. – What is it going to take to attract their interest, attention, and commitment to the dual ideas of saving an architectural landmark that is internationally as important as the Eiffel Tower by instilling the old structure with a legitimate business venture?

It’s like a native Houstonian attorney friend of mine says: “Houston is home to some people with very deep pockets. Unfortunately, most of them have very short arms.”

Tags: Good Riddance and Magic Wish Day in Houston Sports
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Memorable Not So Famous Thoughts and Words

December 28, 2013

Texas Gov. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson

Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was elected as the first female Governor of the State of Texas in 1924 after her husband, Gov. James Ferguson was impeached and convicted of various improprieties in that same post. Running on a special election slogan that stated to the voters, “now you can have two governors for the price of one,” Ma was elected to her first term. She would subsequently be defeated after her first term (1925-27), for one thing, purportedly selling gubernatorial pardons, but she would later return for second helpings (1932-35). Ma’s not so famous memorable words are now suspected as fiction created by opponents who wished to characterize her as an uncaring buffoon, but my dad always shared them in some form with me as one of the truths he the truth he learned about her while he was a student at St. Edward’s in Austin during her first term. Dad was also proud of the fact that the Governor and her husband once picked him up hitchhiking on Congress Avenue and took him to class at St. Ed’s in the governor’s limo.

And, back to subject, here are those not-so-famous, but quite memorable words (or one version of them):

Asked by the press why she failed to support the initiation of bilingual education in the heavily Latino populated areas of South Texas, Ma Ferguson supposedly answered: “There’s no need for it. If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the school children of Texas.”

Sometimes memorable words are the result of so-called “Freudian slips” of the tongue, when people speak out the unintended unconscious feelings they are having about a given moment in time. One of these moments probably occurred on May 22, 1971, when former President Lyndon Johnson was personally showing former President Richard Nixon around the grounds of the new LBJ Library in Austin on its dedication day. If you’ve ever seen the video of that moment, no explanation will be necessary. One-on-one, LBJ was practically shoving the somber, but smiling Nixon from room to room, with his loud drawling voice leaving no room for hearing anything the silent Nixon may have wanted to say or ask.

The “slip” was an easy spot for all of us who both saw the presidential walk-around and then heard Nixon speak these words at the mike during the dedication ceremony. It came quick. In Nixon’s very first uttered sentence:

“A few minutes ago, while President Johnson was throwing me through this beautiful new library…”

Long Before NCIS LA

Several years ago, in the ordinary, everyday local news broadcast world of reporting the latest cops and robbers events to their listeners, a Los Angeles radio broadcaster, whose name I’ve long since forgotten, finished up his report with words about the apprehension that I have found it impossible to forget:

“The arrest was made by Sgt. Joe Friday, a defective of the Los Angeles Police Farce.” *

* That’s right. I forgot the arresting officer’s actual name too. See “Freudian slip” explanation above for a deeper understanding of why I may have forgotten.

Paul Richards

A good example here is pretty well-known in Houston and among baseball people, but it is worthy of an even larger recollection because of its wittiness. When the great Paul Richards was fired as General Manager of the Houston Astros in 1965 because the club did not live up to the expectations of principal owner Judge Roy Hofheinz, he was apparently inconsolable and angry over his abrupt dismissal. If memory serves, our nationally famous writer Mickey Herskowitz tried to help calm Richards with words that went along this familiar trail:

“Take it in stride, Paul,” said Mickey Herskowitz, in words to this effect, “sometimes the Judge is his own worst enemy!”

“Not as long as I’m alive, he isn’t!” Richards quickly responded.

Dorothy Parker

And finally, for now, there’s one attributed to 1920s writer Dorothy Parker that will probably remain my all time favorite for its genius wit and spontaneity. Parker was a regular member of the Algonquin Club during the 1920s. The club amounted to a group of Manhattan writers who gathered at the Algonquin Hotel to drink lunch on an ongoing basis while they also shared stories and played mind games with each other. One day, the task was to make up complete sentences with certain obscure words that also contained an element of humor to them. Thinking they would stump Parker with this one, the word they gave her was “horticulture.”

Parker shot back immediately with, “You can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think.”

Enough said.

I could go on all day, but will resist the possibility of again exceeding the attention spans of my readership, if, indeed, I have not done so already. Please kick in your own favorite memorable, but not-so-famous examples of words and thoughts worth remembering as comments on this column.

Tags: memorable quotes
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