Hi Everyone —
Not much time for pleasantries this morning — lots and lots of baseball stuff to catch you up on, including Hall of Fame stuff, Aaron Judge, the red hot Rangers, Blylevens, the best team in baseball (for the moment), and more talk about near cycles.
But, yeah, for the handful of you who will get it, I’ll ask: Did you get as much of a kick out of Gladys putting that sister in her place as we did?
If you know, you know.
A Hall of Fame Headline
I’m probably reading too much into this. No, check that, I’m DEFINITELY reading too much into this — but here’s the Hall of Fame headline at MLB.com.
My question: Why is that word “rightful” in there? Is there any chance at all that someone would get elected into the Hall of Fame and MLB.com would not see it as rightful? Like, was there a chance that the headline could have been:
“Suzuki, Sabathia, Parker, Allen take rightful spots in Hall. But Wagner? Meh.”
No. There was no chance. I guess what I’m saying is: They’re all rightful members. There are no bad players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. There are immortals, and there are stars, and, sure, there are some borderline choices too. But the borderline choices were outstanding players, too. Rightful? There are no wrongful players in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Now, executives and owners? That’s another story.
A Haiku for Each Player
One Haiku for each of our new Hall of Famers:
Ichiro
Stretches in the box
Then slaps the baseball through holes
Only he can see
CC Sabathia
A pitching mountain
Relentlessly attacking
Til the Last Out
Billy Wagner
A zippy sports car
Like a Miata — how can
It have that much gas?
Dave Parker
He wrote his own verse
In the days before he died
The Cobra lives on
Dick Allen
He struck fear in men
Rocketed balls into space
Lived on his own terms
The Cobra is in the Hall of Fame
It is always a little heartbreaking when a great player dies before being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This was especially true for Dave Parker, who died less than a month before his induction.
But he knew. That’s what really matters, I suppose. He knew he was going in, and he was writing his speech — a poem — right up to the end. And while it obviously would have been beautiful for Dave Parker himself to be there, it was truly beautiful to have his son, David Parker II, read that joyful poem.
Here are my two favorite stanzas.
Join JoeBlogs to keep reading
Parker’s poem. Ichiro's jab. Judge's elbow. The Rangers are hot, the Blue Jays are (apparently?) good, and we dig into near-miss cycles. Plus: Subscribe now and get a free copy of The Last At-Bat PDF as a bonus gift!
Upgrade