Glove-first dead ball shortstop who ran well and walked a lot. During his prime (1909-15), Bush had 691 walks (led the league 4x). Second best (another tiny guy - Miller Huggins) had 598.
Later ran his hometown Indianapolis Indians for 30-odd years. They named the stadium after him - it's now a really cool apartment complex incorporating the ballpark
You may have done it already, but ranking the major league parks could be a fun quick one.
Alternatively, you could rank your top however-many-you-feel-like minor league parks. Imagine it would be a bear to rank all of them but to the extent you have insight could be fun.
In my usual time waste at Baseball Reference, I thought of a top countdown idea that is the mirror of McGonigle: the best old player careers. Today is Paul Molitor's 70th birthday. Through his age 29 season, he had 1203 hits, a 113 OPS+, and 30 bWAR. But by regaining his health and moving to DH he was able to improve well into his 30s. In his 30s, he had a bit more than 1800 hits, a 133 OPS+ and 44 bWAR. He then added two more solid seasons in his 40s to bring his hits total over 3300, 9th all-time when he retired.
Another birthday boy ranks just ahead of Molitor on the career hits totals, Carl Yastrzemski who turns 87 today. But Yaz doesn't really fit into the best old player careers. Yaz, in his 30s, was largely a solid contributor and respected elder, but his best was in his 20s when he won his triple crown and, at 12.4 in '67, had the best position player season for anyone whose season came in integrated ball. I suspect that season will appear in JoeP's next book. (Edit: Mike Yastrzemski almost shares a birthday with grampa; Mike turns 36 tomorrow!)
Some more bday boys: (a) Wally Schang, a catcher from the teens and twenties who has a solid argument for inclusion in the HOF, (b) Randy Wolf, a solid mid-rotation starter in the early part of this Century whose brother Jim had an even longer MLB career albeit as an Umpire, not player, (c) Ned Hanlon, an 18th Century player and manager who was a key figure in the short-lived Players League that tried (and failed) to eliminate salary caps and the reserve clause, (d) Ray Burris, the tall sinkerball pitcher who came *this close* (holding thumb and pointer finger mere centimeters apart) to pitching the Expos to the World Series in 1981, (e) Jeff Weaver, one half of the Weaver brothers, both of whom were drafted in the first round before becoming reliable starters, and (f) a very well named Ryan Feierabend whose last name, in German, means, roughly, evening celebration, that time after work ends and one enters upon one's private life.
I understand why you didn't say Shoeless Joe played for the 1911 Guardians, but he didn't play for the 1911 Indians either. He played for the 1911 Cleveland Naps.
Mcgonicle is having a really incredible year. I do a runs above average (not replacement) which includes hitting , base running and fielding and I have him at +38.5 runs created/saved this year. AL WAR leader Bobby Witt Jr I have at +32.5. (Witt plays all his games at SS with the WAR advantage there and Mcgonicle only half, so the positional adjustment WAR makes probably makes that difference)
It is a great season, not only a ROTY lock, but he should get top 3 (or definitely be in everyone's top 5) in AL MVP voting.
I would welcome a list of best baseball books, but I would understand why Joe - who is friends with so many authors - would hesitate to create such a list.
There's a Baseball Books Facebook group that's pretty good. They did a poll a year or so ago and created a spreadsheet from the results. A total of 217 members voted on over 1000 books. The top 10, in order, were (1) The Glory Of Their Times, (2) Ball Four, (3) The Boys of Summer, (4) New Bill James Historical Abstract, and (5) Veeck As In Wreck, (6) Moneyball, (7) Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, (8) Summer of '49, (9) The Summer Game, and (10) Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.
If you join the group you can get access to the spreadsheet with complete results.
Your "I Pounded Poz" story reminded me of the days when Bill James had a fantasy baseball game and, one season, I won the coveted, "I Beat Bill James at his Own Game" T-shirt.
I'd love a countdown of Joe's favorite players (or just people) to interview. Not best performers who he has interviewed, but just fun (and informative) to talk to. I'd assume Priest Holmes would be near the top of the list, just before or just after Rulon Gardner with Tom Glavine in the top 50 too.
Joe is too nice to do it, but I'd welcome the other end of the list as well. The old unnamed BBWAA member who insultingly told Joe to decamp from his seat in old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, the named (but I've forgotten) aging tennis star who was famously frosty so much that Joe asked no questions ...
*Years later, in Cincinnati, Lendl played in one of his final pro tournaments. I was telling one of the ATP guys that Lendl was my favorite player when I was younger, and the guy got a huge kick out of that. He said, “You have to tell him that.” I suspect that Lendl has not had many sportswriters tell him that he was once their hero. So I agreed to talk to him, but unfortunately Lendl lost the match, and afterward he looked like a man who would rather be anywhere on planet earth, including Folsom Prison, than in the interview room. I was the first one in there, and the ATP guy said, “Oh, hey, do you have any questions for Ivan before everyone else gets down here?”
I looked at Lendl and saw nothing but pain and an eagerness to unload on somebody.
“No,” I said. “I’m fine.”
And to this my old tennis hero said the only two words he ever said to me: “Good plan.”
For countdowns, separate ones for best football, basketball, hockey, tennis books. And for baseball, best books by category: Fiction, Biography, Memoir, History, General Non-Fiction.
Loved the baseball movie countdown. I would love to see a countdown of the best football, basketball, hockey, golf, etc. movies. Some of those won’t be a list of 75, but the top however many for those sports would be a lot of fun over the next several months.
Joe! Can you do an Sal Stewart and JJ comparison in the ROY race in the NL? WAR gives it to JJ but Sal is having an impressive traditional season. 30 HR/100 RBi’s.
where is the Chubb Tribute?
I've been a huge baseball fan all my life. Who TF is Donie Bush?
Glove-first dead ball shortstop who ran well and walked a lot. During his prime (1909-15), Bush had 691 walks (led the league 4x). Second best (another tiny guy - Miller Huggins) had 598.
Later ran his hometown Indianapolis Indians for 30-odd years. They named the stadium after him - it's now a really cool apartment complex incorporating the ballpark
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/04/unlocked-indiana-abandoned-baseball-stadium-apartment-building.html
You may have done it already, but ranking the major league parks could be a fun quick one.
Alternatively, you could rank your top however-many-you-feel-like minor league parks. Imagine it would be a bear to rank all of them but to the extent you have insight could be fun.
In my usual time waste at Baseball Reference, I thought of a top countdown idea that is the mirror of McGonigle: the best old player careers. Today is Paul Molitor's 70th birthday. Through his age 29 season, he had 1203 hits, a 113 OPS+, and 30 bWAR. But by regaining his health and moving to DH he was able to improve well into his 30s. In his 30s, he had a bit more than 1800 hits, a 133 OPS+ and 44 bWAR. He then added two more solid seasons in his 40s to bring his hits total over 3300, 9th all-time when he retired.
Another birthday boy ranks just ahead of Molitor on the career hits totals, Carl Yastrzemski who turns 87 today. But Yaz doesn't really fit into the best old player careers. Yaz, in his 30s, was largely a solid contributor and respected elder, but his best was in his 20s when he won his triple crown and, at 12.4 in '67, had the best position player season for anyone whose season came in integrated ball. I suspect that season will appear in JoeP's next book. (Edit: Mike Yastrzemski almost shares a birthday with grampa; Mike turns 36 tomorrow!)
Some more bday boys: (a) Wally Schang, a catcher from the teens and twenties who has a solid argument for inclusion in the HOF, (b) Randy Wolf, a solid mid-rotation starter in the early part of this Century whose brother Jim had an even longer MLB career albeit as an Umpire, not player, (c) Ned Hanlon, an 18th Century player and manager who was a key figure in the short-lived Players League that tried (and failed) to eliminate salary caps and the reserve clause, (d) Ray Burris, the tall sinkerball pitcher who came *this close* (holding thumb and pointer finger mere centimeters apart) to pitching the Expos to the World Series in 1981, (e) Jeff Weaver, one half of the Weaver brothers, both of whom were drafted in the first round before becoming reliable starters, and (f) a very well named Ryan Feierabend whose last name, in German, means, roughly, evening celebration, that time after work ends and one enters upon one's private life.
I understand why you didn't say Shoeless Joe played for the 1911 Guardians, but he didn't play for the 1911 Indians either. He played for the 1911 Cleveland Naps.
Dottie dropped it on purpose. My wife and daughter came to with that response, too, without knowing my thoughts.
How about top 20 Baseball commercials of all time? Bob Uecker would be in a lot of them.
Mcgonicle is having a really incredible year. I do a runs above average (not replacement) which includes hitting , base running and fielding and I have him at +38.5 runs created/saved this year. AL WAR leader Bobby Witt Jr I have at +32.5. (Witt plays all his games at SS with the WAR advantage there and Mcgonicle only half, so the positional adjustment WAR makes probably makes that difference)
It is a great season, not only a ROTY lock, but he should get top 3 (or definitely be in everyone's top 5) in AL MVP voting.
I really did not expect to see Tom Brunansky on that list!
I would welcome a list of best baseball books, but I would understand why Joe - who is friends with so many authors - would hesitate to create such a list.
There's a Baseball Books Facebook group that's pretty good. They did a poll a year or so ago and created a spreadsheet from the results. A total of 217 members voted on over 1000 books. The top 10, in order, were (1) The Glory Of Their Times, (2) Ball Four, (3) The Boys of Summer, (4) New Bill James Historical Abstract, and (5) Veeck As In Wreck, (6) Moneyball, (7) Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, (8) Summer of '49, (9) The Summer Game, and (10) Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.
If you join the group you can get access to the spreadsheet with complete results.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/60231470621
Please count down the best sports books.
Joe did that with his own list within the last year. I think when he was on the last site but hopefully you can find it here in the archives
See my reply to Josh Rovner re: the poll by the Facebook Baseball Books group.
Your "I Pounded Poz" story reminded me of the days when Bill James had a fantasy baseball game and, one season, I won the coveted, "I Beat Bill James at his Own Game" T-shirt.
I'd love a countdown of Joe's favorite players (or just people) to interview. Not best performers who he has interviewed, but just fun (and informative) to talk to. I'd assume Priest Holmes would be near the top of the list, just before or just after Rulon Gardner with Tom Glavine in the top 50 too.
Joe is too nice to do it, but I'd welcome the other end of the list as well. The old unnamed BBWAA member who insultingly told Joe to decamp from his seat in old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, the named (but I've forgotten) aging tennis star who was famously frosty so much that Joe asked no questions ...
Good memory on all the stories! The BBWAA decampment story in Atlanta is in https://www.joeposnanski.com/p/free-friday-umpire-state-of-mind (coincidentally in his write-up of Tom Glavine).
The tennis player was Ivan Lendl. His posterisk in https://www.joeposnanski.com/p/the-joeblogs-top-10-my-favorite-year:
*Years later, in Cincinnati, Lendl played in one of his final pro tournaments. I was telling one of the ATP guys that Lendl was my favorite player when I was younger, and the guy got a huge kick out of that. He said, “You have to tell him that.” I suspect that Lendl has not had many sportswriters tell him that he was once their hero. So I agreed to talk to him, but unfortunately Lendl lost the match, and afterward he looked like a man who would rather be anywhere on planet earth, including Folsom Prison, than in the interview room. I was the first one in there, and the ATP guy said, “Oh, hey, do you have any questions for Ivan before everyone else gets down here?”
I looked at Lendl and saw nothing but pain and an eagerness to unload on somebody.
“No,” I said. “I’m fine.”
And to this my old tennis hero said the only two words he ever said to me: “Good plan.”
Detailed memory of what Joe has written? Sure! Memory of things I've written? Not so much, especially what I write professionally.
For countdowns, separate ones for best football, basketball, hockey, tennis books. And for baseball, best books by category: Fiction, Biography, Memoir, History, General Non-Fiction.
Loved the baseball movie countdown. I would love to see a countdown of the best football, basketball, hockey, golf, etc. movies. Some of those won’t be a list of 75, but the top however many for those sports would be a lot of fun over the next several months.
Joe! Can you do an Sal Stewart and JJ comparison in the ROY race in the NL? WAR gives it to JJ but Sal is having an impressive traditional season. 30 HR/100 RBi’s.