Tag Archives: Alex Rodriguez

Liar, Liar Liar……What Difference Does it Make?

38. Dog with teethThis blog has been a really fun thing for me.  I enjoy sitting down with a cup of coffee and newspaper at my trusty little PC and jotting down random thoughts, usually of current events, but sometimes just things that inspire me or tick me off.  It’s rather a form of cheap therapy I suppose.  But nevertheless, after a two month hiatus, it’s taken Alex Rodriguez to get me back in the saddle.

thumbnailCAOVWT3WI’ve never been a fan of A-Rod.  Oh, he had the talent for sure and was drop dead gorgeous to boot, but from the beginning he always seemed a little high-hat and impressed with himself, more than the average athlete.   I’ve been following this suspension saga from the beginning and, to tell you the truth, I’ve had it up to here with the onslaught of lying athletes and the boring routine of it all.  First,  the allegations and then the denials and finally the admissions of guilt.  And that’s even before Rodriguez got involved.

More recently and most visible were the Lance Armstrong and Ryan Braun fiasco’s.  I was so convinced that Braun was telling the truth after listening to his beautiful and elegant speech denying all charges of drug usage that I wrote a blog on it, shaming MLB and others who gave him a good thrashing without knowing the truth.  So when Braun came forward with his pathetic apology, admitting his guilt, I figured, that’s it.  No more.  Who can you believe?  I mean, according to some reports, over 85% of professional baseball players in the 1990’s used performance enhancing drugs so, really, what difference does it make?

So now we hear that the Alex Rodriguez fiasco is over and Major League Baseball has suspended him for 162 games (the entire 2014 season).  MLB’s case is that A-Rod used performance enhancing drugs.   He says he’s never tested positive and that it’s all a vendetta against him and that he’ll have his day in court.  And I have no idea if he did or if he didn’t.  To be honest, I’m really just tired of it all.   Not just A-Rod, but all of it.

Just once ~ just one time I wish the little guy* would win.  I wish when the powers-that-be set out to squash some one, to set an example or make a scapegoat of someone, I wish one time they’d be wrong and the squashee would win.

C’mon Alex.  Show ’em what you’ve got, surprise us, take it to the big boys.  Is that too much to ask?  It’s not just about you, you know.  It’s the principle of the thing and God knows this country’s ready for some sort of principle of some thing, of some one, from somewhere.  I’m crossing my fingers and toes you’re telling the truth.  But I’m not putting a lot of faith in it.  I’m not going to jump on a bandwagon and write a blog about your innocence and whine that you’ve been had, even though it would be really great to be able to believe in something DSC00242again.   If you could just say it isn’t so and mean it…..

And so begins my venture back into the blogosphere.

*Little guy is used lightly here ….. just meaning the underdog I guess.

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A-Rod’s lawsuit: dropping bombs, but maybe he has a grander tactical plan

GFBB Comment: Gee whiz ~ so much good info out there this morning. If you get a chance to read this article about Alex Rodriquez’s lawsuit, please do. It will be worth your time. Of particular interest is Calcaterra’s take on the possible reason A-Rod is REALLY filing the lawsuit and it involves the players union and arbitration. The article gives us a link to the actual lawsuit in its entirety and if you download it to your Kindle it will help you kill time as you’re sitting in traffic or waiting at the doctor’s office. Just saying …..

“TOP BASEBALL PLAYERS OF PAST 60 YEARS!” A Mathematical Study.

This is the third year we’ve published this study by Dr. Don Davis.  It’s one of our most popular blogs and we’re happy to be able to share it again with you.  Be sure to link to his website  for additional information, changes and criteria he used in compiling his study.

“2011 Baseball Players Mathematical Study, written by Don Davis, Department of Mathematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA., and printed here with his permission.”

Pos’n First team Second team Third team Fourth team Fifth team
P,1 Roger Clemens, 266.0 Tom Seaver, 181.1 Bob Gibson, 140.4 Juan Marichal, 107.9 Curt Schilling, 85.1
P,2 Randy Johnson, 202.1 Warren Spahn, 167.5 Sandy Koufax, 137.8 Gaylord Perry, 102.8 Phil Niekro, 84.9
P,3 Greg Maddux, 197.5 Bob Feller, 157.6 Robin Roberts, 136.5 Roy Halladay, 102.1 Johan Santana, 84.6
P,4 Pedro Martinez, 187.5 Steve Carlton, 143.5 Jim Palmer, 133.2 Fergie Jenkins, 87.2 Nolan Ryan, 83.7
C Johnny Bench, 111.2 Yogi Berra, 92.9 Gary Carter, 75.6 Mike Piazza, 74.8 Ivan Rodriguez, 71.0 Continue reading

Best Players in Past 58 Years ……. A Mathematical Study!

I came upon an interesting study a few months ago.  It was written by Don Davis, Mathematics Professor at Lehigh University, Bethleham, PA.   There’s a lot of criteria used in determining different aspects of this study, but for the most part the players names are all recognizable and only a few to make the list are surprises.   The following table lists the top five All Star Teams, using 4 pitchers per team.    It also lists the overall rating percentage by player.   Take a look:

Pos’n First team Second team Third team Fourth team Fifth team
P1 Roger Clemens, 266.2 Tom Seaver, 166.9 Bob Gibson, 129.2 Jim Palmer, 106.4 Johan Santana, 85.4
P2 Greg Maddux, 203.9 Warren Spahn, 160.5 Robin Roberts, 128.3 Gaylord Perry, 96.1 Tom Glavine, 84.8
P3 Randy Johnson, 202.4 Bob Feller, 143.7 Sandy Koufax, 126.0 Phil Niekro, 96.1 Curt Schilling, 80.7
P4 Pedro Martinez, 185.7 Steve Carlton, 140.7 Juan Marichal, 109.5 Fergie Jenkins, 91.7 Bob Lemon, 79.9
C Johnny Bench, 115.5 Yogi Berra, 97.2 Mike Piazza, 82.2 Ivan Rodriguez, 77.7 Gary Carter, 75.5
1B Albert Pujols, 145.4 Jeff Bagwell, 103.2 Eddie Murray, 95.2 Willie McCovey, 92.1 Harmon Killebrew, 86.4
2B Joe Morgan, 140.3 Rod Carew, 94.5 Ryne Sandberg, 92.4 Jackie Robinson, 82.4 Roberto Alomar, 81.1
3B Mike Schmidt, 173.2 George Brett, 119.2 Eddie Mathews, 111.7 Wade Boggs, 108.0 Brooks Robinson, 88.4
SS Alex Rodriguez, 145.4 Cal Ripken, 113.6 Robin Yount, 93.0 Ernie Banks, 90.7 Derek Jeter, 81.6
OF1 Barry Bonds, 270.7 Stan Musial, 205.2 Frank Robinson, 145.3 Ken Griffey, 114.2 Tony Gwynn, 100.3
OF2 Willie Mays, 226.8 Mickey Mantle, 198.3 Rickey Henderson, 141.5 Al Kaline, 110.1 Pete Rose, 99.7
OF3 Ted Williams, 213.4 Hank Aaron, 195.6 Carl Yazstremski, 127.5 Reggie Jackson, 108.9 Roberto Clemente, 99.3
DH Frank Thomas, 115.0 Edgar Martinez, 64.4 Paul Molitor, 62.4 David Ortiz, 43.4  

Are you kidding me?  Can you even begin to imagine a game with all of these guys on the same team?  What was particularly interesting to me is  that mathematically Roger Clemens is the highest rated pitcher and Barry Bonds is the highest rated batter.   These  ratings are through the 2009 season,  and personalities and private lives are not taken into account.   This is just  using good old fashioned baseball statistics.  

I found the study intriguing and spent a lot of time viewing the criteria used in coming up with the lists.  Rather than go into all the particulars here, you can view the study yourself @ Lehigh University   http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/baseball.html  

 This information is being used with the permission of Professor Davis.