16-Game Standings: National League
Part 2 of our way too early predictions, plus more updates on BIG FAN.
Happy Wednesday, everyone. Today’s birthdays include the wildly underrated Willie Davis — I think you could make a compelling argument that over the length and breadth of his 18-year career, Willie Davis was at least comparable to each and every one of the Veterans Committee selections, going back more than a decade.
No, he didn’t walk much, so his .312 lifetime on-base percentage stands out.
And, as his teammate John Roseboro — who had no use for Davis — said: “He never hit .330, and he should have.” There was a lot of this sort of talk surrounding Davis throughout the 1960s, talk that suggested he should have been better. Frank Robinson talked about how often he missed cutoff men. Davis apparently was not always an easy man to like.
That last part might help explain why people tended to see the worst in him. But Willie Davis was a glorious defensive center fielder who chased down everything; he knocked almost 2,600 hits, he stole almost 400 bases, and he did it all while playing in the worst hitters’ ballpark during the worst hitters' time. Baseball Reference has him with 60.8 career WAR. That’s six more wins than this year’s veteran’s ballot electee, Jeff Kent.
Got a couple more announcements on the BIG FAN Tour, which is now a month away!
We have lined up all of our guest moderators for each stop.
We’re at The Strand in New York on Monday, May 18, and we will be joined by Seth Meyers! Unfortunately, that show is sold out, though we will be giving away a couple of tickets here on JoeBlogs — stay tuned.
We’re at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge on May 19, and we will be joined by two-time Casey Award winner Howard Bryant! There will be FIVE Casey Awards on one stage, plus whatever awards that Mike Schur guy has won.
We’ll be joined by the great Gerald Early at the St. Louis Library on May 20, which is super exciting for me because (1) Gerald is my hero and (2) I did an event with Gerald for Why We Love Baseball, and it might be my all-time favorite event.
We will be joined by Jason Kander at Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City on May 21, and it will be very exciting just to watch Jason and Mike go at it the way they always do on the PosCast. Incidentally, this is the greatest graphic ever — with Jason peering out of a little circular window and the wonderful tagline: “With Jason Kander!”
Finally, on Friday, May 22, we will be in Los Angeles — at the Hermosa Community Center, to be exact — and will be joined by the amazing Colin Hanks.
Thanks for reading that, if you did. And thanks for skipping that, if you did. Just thanks for being here. Time now to jump into The Clubhouse for the ABS Challenge Scorecard and our way-too-early National League breakdown.
If you’re a Clubhouse member, come on down — the door’s open below.
And if you ever feel like joining us in The Clubhouse — not for more, exactly, but to be a bigger part of our world — we’d love to have you.
