Three Thoughts

Some thoughts on everything:

*I'm a believer in chiropractic. Our colic-ridden son was taken to the friendly family chiropractor, and now he takes naps. When baby takes naps, wife is happy. When wife is happy, dad is ecstatic.

*I revisited some historical numbers for pitchers, and it's clear that it doesn't take nearly as much win share contribution - either in aggregate or in peak years - to be HOF eligible as a pitcher as it does as a hitter. Fielders hit several times per game and play everyday, pitchers don't.

I don't know what that means for Rivera and Hoffman in my HOF book. Are they among the greatest 80 pitchers of all time? That will pretty much determine my decision, which is only important in practice and not in application. The problem, though, is that there's way more to consider when evaluating pitchers; Bill James likens it to weighing 200 factors with each pitcher against those of others. (Park factors, saves v. win v. win pct, strikeout rate, defense behind them, run support, era, ERA, etc....).

*Apparently this blog is getting noticed! Yours truly has been invited for membership into a new online blog/thinktank/magazine of sorts to be launched later this summer. Called 'The Only Orthodoxy,' the site will be built around challenging our modern 'givens' to arrive at new, perhaps outside-the-box thoughts without fear of chastisement. The site is still under construction, but add this link to your bookmarks.