It’s baseball awards week, which, you know, is a lot more predictable than it used to be, but hey, it’s still fun. We’ll talk a bit about it.
But first, let’s go through the notebook.
Thank you to everyone who forwarded this piece, titled Joe Posnanski Can Get My Grandfather into the Hall of Fame, by Joe Judge’s grandson, Mark (including Mark himself). I’m flattered, of course, but, alas, I cannot get anyone into the Hall of Fame. Still, I think that Mark’s overall point that Joe Judge is a viable and interesting Hall of Fame candidate is a good one.
I’ll write a bit more about Joe Judge and other Hall of Fame candidates in the coming weeks. By popular demand (?), I’m planning this offseason to redo my Outsiders Series, where I rank the 100 best players not in the Hall of Fame.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame: The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee announced the eight people on this year’s ballot. They’ll meet on December 6 and announce the new Hall of Famer … I’ll have more to say about them leading into the vote, but here are the eight:
Sandy Alderson. A’s general manager who built three pennant winners and was the Father of Moneyball.
Dusty Baker. Three-time Manager of the Year. His 2,183 wins rank eighth all-time among managers. Won the World Series with Houston in 2022.
Bruce Bochy. One of only six managers to win at least four World Series. His 2,252 wins rank sixth all-time among managers. Won three World Series with San Francisco in 2010, 2012, 2014, and one with Texas in 2023.
Joe Maddon. Manager of three teams. Three-time Manager of the Year. Won two pennants and guided the Chicago Cubs to their first championship in 108 years in 2016.
Lou Piniella. Manager of five teams. His 1,835 wins rank 17th all-time among managers, and he won the World Series with Cincinnati in 1990.
Brian Sabean. Giants general manager for their three World Series wins in 2010, 2012, and 2014. As scouting director, he helped build the dynasty Yankees of the 1990s.
Ted Turner. Braves owner and television pioneer whose WTBS Superstation brought baseball to Americans everywhere (even if it was often terrible Braves baseball). His Braves won 14 division titles, five pennants, and a World Series between 1991 and 2005.
Bill White. Eight-time All-Star who became president of the National League. Winner of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
Let’s be honest: it’s a pretty spectacular ballot. Two will definitely get elected (I suspect you can pick out the two). I wouldn’t be overly surprised if there is a third.
Speaking of spectacular ballots, the BBWAA has announced the three finalists for the prestigious (but poorly named) Career Excellence Award. They are:
Scott Miller
Bill Plaschke
Tom Verducci
We lost Scott last year after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Scott was just a bowl of joy on the baseball beat. As you know, baseball is the long season, it comes at you every day, and that’s a big part of what’s wonderful about it. But it can also wear down even the most enthusiastic baseball writers and analysts. Baseball never wore down Scott. He was always so fired up for the next game. He was always so ready to talk about baseball. He was a prince.
Bill was given the impossible task of replacing Jim Murray as columnist of the Los Angeles Times.* This is like taking over for Bear Bryant (or Nick Saban) at Alabama, taking over for John Wooden at UCLA, and taking over for Don Shula with the Miami Dolphins all rolled into one. I don’t know anyone else who could have done it. Bill has been telling great stories, particularly about baseball, for 30 years now, and his love of baseball shines through all his work.
*Bill tells a hilarious story about covering a Dodgers playoff game some years ago as a beat writer when Jim Murray was the columnist. The LA Times had a seat in the press box and another one in the auxiliary press box outside in the stands. Jim Murray, being Jim Murray, gave Bill the press box seat and was happy to go out to the auxiliary. Trouble was that the game was on television, and in, like, the second inning, the phone next to Bill rang. It was the Los Angeles Times sports editor who said, and I’m riffing this story from memory, “Hey Bill, I think my TV must be broken because I could have sworn I just saw JIM MURRAY sitting in the auxiliary press box. I know that can’t be right; I know that we would not have JIM MURRAY, the greatest sportswriter who ever lived, sitting out in the bleachers while some young beat writer who hasn’t done anything sits in the press box. It must just be a problem with my TV. I’ll keep watching, and if I happen to see JIM MURRAY still sitting out there the next time the camera pans out there, I guess we’ll have to find a new beat writer to finish the game.”
Bill then tells the story of racing out to the auxiliary box, grabbing Jim Murray, and dragging him to the press box like he was a U.S. President who had just been shot.
Tom has been the baseball poet of Sports Illustrated since 1993, and he’s written too many spectacular stories to count. His Sportsperson of the Year story about the 2004 Boston Red Sox is the baseball anthem of New England. His cover story about playing left field in an intrasquad game for the Toronto Blue Jays is an all-timer. And so on. And so on.
All three of them are Hall of Famers, as far as I’m concerned.
To the awards …