Oscar Gamble Society

In the wake of the report George Mitchell produced for Bud Selig without player input, Selig is putting its recommendations into practice, also without player input. In today’s case, MLB has established a Department of Investigations. One assumes it will adhere to Mitchell’s rules (i.e. none) governing the gathering and authentication of evidence, and dispense with other timewasters such as the presumption of innocence. The only saving grace is likely to be the ineptitude with which the MLB braintrust implements its plans. As an inquisitor Selig is likely to prove much less Torquemada than Cardinal Fang.

Interesting article in Reason on the anti-gun policies of the NFL and NBA. I’m not sure I agree with it entirely - the prudence of encouraging Rasheed Wallace to carry a firearm seems open to question - but interesting nonetheless. Sean Taylor could certainly have used a gun. The leagues have legitimate business interests in seeking to limit their players’ association with off-the-job violence. At the same time, dressing up that legitimate interest in the false claims and erroneous statistics of the anti-gun lobby is dishonest at best, and quite arguably racist.

Goose Gossage? I’m always pleased to see a Yankee elected to the Hall of Fame. Though this is mitigated by the fact that he was also a White Sox, Pirate, Padre, Cub, Giant, Ranger, Athletic and Mariner. If a GM of that era never had Goose on his roster, he wasn’t really trying. And the glory of his first stint in New York isn’t completely unsullied by his return in the Worst Bullpen Ever, in 1989. “When Lee Guetterman gets tired of throwing bp to the other team, wheel out Goose.”

What really strikes me about this year’s voting though is the paucity of votes for 1) Mark McGwire, which I think either overestimates the impact of steriods on his performance, or else holds him to a “moral” standard that is applied selectively, to be polite about it, and for 2) Tim Raines, which I find utterly inexplicable.

Jim Rice seems to be like a classic bubble-level player. There are credible arguments for putting him in and for leaving him out. I don’t think the most popular reasons for leaving McGwire out hold water, but at least they exist. Can anyone really make a credible argument that Tim Raines wasn’t a Hall-of-Fame player?

I propose that we add a page to this site, to be called the Baseball Hall of Merit. It seems clear that the contributors to this site are far more capable of making consistent, rational evaluations of players’ accomplishments than the HOF voters. Who’s with me?

The spreads are out for this coming weekend.  I’ve displayed my (lack of) acumen in this arena many times before, most notably this past weekend.  So anyone daring enough to lay some Pounders down against me… be heard.

My picks:

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Interesting blog post on coaching cost per win.

I’m not sure which aspect of this I find most unsettling - probably the gross misallocation of the resources of academic institutions to athletics (Alabama, for example, could spend 80% less on a perfectly capable coach and use the savings to build, say, one of the best English departments in the country). But the disparity between compensation for coaches and players runs a not-too-distant second.

So ESPN moved from Sunday night to Monday night this season - and brought their own announcers, production team, etc… but they left the lead-in song.  It’s still Hank Williams, Jr and it still gets me fired up, but for some reason… it’s just not the same as before.  I can’t figure out why.  But… it’s still far better than what NBC gives us before their telecasts (having taken over for ESPN on Sunday nights, and now having done the Saturday games on Wild Card Weekend).

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Ignoring spreads, straight picks:  I’ve got the Bucs and the Titans.  Let me ’splain… 

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