Uncle Milty wrote:

phatj wrote:Who was the oldest player in MLB in 2018? Colon? Looks like he's about toast... if so, I may finally have reached the threshold where I'm older than any MLB player.

Mariano Rivera did that to me when he retired after 2013.

Even though he's 3 years older than I am, I would guess it was Jamie Moyer's retirement that did that to me. Twice! (Unless there was someone else playing in 2012 who was 47 or older.)

Luis Valbuena and former big leaguer Jose Castillo were killed in a car accident tonight in Venezuela

Ace Rothstein wrote:Luis Valbuena and former big leaguer Jose Castillo were killed in a car accident tonight in Venezuela

Car was driven by former phillies farmhand Carlos Rivero.

Sounds like they were killed during a robbery.

Sure were. Scary stuff.

Mike Napoli announced his retirement

So I went to this outdoor mall today that has tons of shops and restaurants, including some American franchises. I was surprised to see a MLB store. Wondering if there might be some weird phillies stuff, I went inside. Almost the entire store was filled with Yankees stuff. Literally every hat in the store was a Yankees hat. There was one diamondbacks jacket and a few Tigers and Red sox things. That's it. 4 teams represented in the entire store and 99+% was Yankees. I tried to ask the clerk why, but my app didn't seem to translate my sentiment well enough for her to get it. I finally just started pointing at everything saying Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, then pointed to the MLB sign and asked Yankees? She shook her head yes, which I'm not sure meant anything other than her acknowledging that everything was yankees.

So this huge advantage the Yankees have that partly comes from their merchandizing is completely manufactured. This is the ex-pat section of Beijing and there are plenty of other fans out there, but this store only offers Yankees stuff. Gee, no wonder their sales dwarf all other teams. I don't know if the store chooses what is sold or if mlb suggests merchandise or what, but they are really missing the boat either way.

But if the Yankees merchandise is the only stuff available, the demand becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Like I said, this is an ex-pat area. Not all the ex-pats here are yankees fans. We have a half dozen baseball fans at my school and none of them are yankees fans. I imagine the chinese know the yankees more than any of the other teams, but if MLB is trying to create a market here, and they are, just showing the people only one team will hurt that effort. If it's the owners of the store choosing everything, they really need to understand that there are fans of many other teams here and they will sell more stuff in the long run by having some variety. ~100 baseball hats and every single one of them was a yankees hat. That's just going to annoy non-yankees fans who like baseball. I doubt I'll go back in that store, except maybe out of morbid curiosity.

Lee Smith and Harold Baines are Hall of Famers

BigEd76 wrote:Lee Smith and Harold Baines are Hall of Famers

They're not, but good for them.

stevelxa476 wrote:

BigEd76 wrote:Lee Smith and Harold Baines are Hall of Famers

They're not, but good for them.

Actually, didn't Smith retire as the all-time saves leader? I always thought he might get in just for that.

Uncle Milty wrote:Baines is difficult to make a case for

I guess it was just getting close to 2900 hits? Everyone with over 2800 is in besides active players, steroid guys and Vizquel

Don't really get how he got in, I guess every shaky guy that gets in ups Rollins' and Utley's odds at least.

Uncle Milty wrote:Baines is difficult to make a case for

One season above 3.0 WAR. One. Makes Edgar Martinez's 9 seasons of 5+ WAR look a lot better.

apparently neither one reached the 75% and were voted in by the vets committee

BigEd76 wrote:Lee Smith and Harold Baines are Hall of Famers

If Baines is in, Fred McGriff will probably get in at some point. So that's cool.

Uncle Milty wrote:Baines is difficult to make a case for

Top five similar batters are Tony Perez, Al Kaline, Dave Parker, Billy Williams and Andre Dawson. Four of those five are in the Hall, and Baines was regarded as a good fielder. Drove in over 1600 runs, more than Mike Schmidt, Willie McCovey, Rogers Hornsby Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle.

OTOH never got more than 6.1% of the regular vote, and we're not talking ages ago. Borderline guy definitely, and another argument to BUILD THAT WALL!

Monkeyboy wrote:But if the Yankees merchandise is the only stuff available, the demand becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Getting a little too close to Milton Friedman in here for my tastes.

Werthless wrote:

Uncle Milty wrote:Baines is difficult to make a case for

One season above 3.0 WAR. One. Makes Edgar Martinez's 9 seasons of 5+ WAR look a lot better.

Edgar is a lock now once he gets to the new era committee or whatever

Wolfgang622 wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:But if the Yankees merchandise is the only stuff available, the demand becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Getting a little too close to Milton Friedman in here for my tastes.

Oh no. Not sure what that means exactly. I just know that people can't show a demand for a product when that product is being withheld from them. Please don't tell me I'm a Reaganite.

I want to hear a Mike Schmidt hot take on Baines getting in.