The Worst Baseball Mascots Ever

Not every baseball mascot is created equal. Some are creepy, odd or some derivation that just doesn’t catch on with the fans. Here are the worst of the worst baseball mascots.

Dandy (New York Yankees)

Dandy is the short-lived mascot the Yankees would prefer you forget. He was introduced in 1979 to compete with the newly popular Philly Phanatic and his mustache was designed to invoke the image of Thurman Munson. But just a few weeks before Dandy was to debut, Yankees outfielder Lou Piniella got in a fight with the San Diego Chicken. And just a few days after Dandy’s first appearance, Munson died tragically and suddenly in a plane crash. Not wanting this mascot to remind fans of their fallen captain, Dandy was confined to the upper deck of Yankee Stadium until his retirement in 1981.

The Gold Sox Sock (Amarillo Gold Sox)

The Gold Sox Sock made its debut this past summer. He was temporarily retired after just one game so his costume could be redesigned. I’m guessing this one looked better on paper.

The Baseball Bug (Cleveland Indians)

The Baseball Bug roamed Municipal Stadium from 1980 to 1981, when he was retired for no real reason beyond being a pretty horrible mascot. Luckily for the Indians, they now have a much better mascot named Slider. Yeah… Slider is better.

The Crazy Crab (San Francisco Giants)

The Crazy Crab was introduced in 1984 and retired at the end of that same season. He was seemingly doomed from the start when Giants’ executives encouraged the fans to abuse the Crab. The fans took this encouragement to heart and pelted him with refuse to the point that the costume had to be reinforced with fiberglass to protect the performer inside.

Henry the Puffy Taco (San Antonio Missions)

Henry is actually not a failed mascot, but he probably should be. Sure, everyone loves tacos, but a taco and its ingredients should never be described as “puffy.”

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Robbie is the author of The Baseblawg and you can follow her on Twitter @clarkbar213.

(GIF) Sparks fly off catchers mask

(Thanks to Gifulmination.com)

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Matt is a recognized sports writer who covers everything from baseball, football and fantasy sports. If you ever need fantasy sports advice, he’s the man to follow on Twitter and Facebook. For every update here at The Dugout Doctors, follow our official Twitter account @DugoutDoctors.

Joe DiMaggio to Appear on U.S. Postal Stamp in 2012

In the summer of 2012, the U.S. Postal Service will begin a stamp series including the likeness of Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio. The stamp also nearly coincides with the 70-year anniversary of his 56-game hitting streak. Three other baseball legends will have their own stamp but those players are yet to be determined. Here’s the full announcement, which can be found here.

The Major League Baseball All-Star stamps will honor four players who were perennial All-Star selections and left an indelible impression on the game. The first of the four players to be revealed is Joe DiMaggio.

The son of an Italian fisherman, Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) led the New York Yankees to ten pennants and nine World Series titles. Admired for his skill and grace as a fielder and base runner, the “Yankee Clipper” is best known for his incredible 56-game hitting streak in 1941. Many consider him the greatest all-around player of his time.

Artist/illustrator Kadir Nelson based his artwork on DiMaggio and the other three players on historic photographs. Art director Phil Jordan designed the stamps.

The Major League Baseball All-Star stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

The remaining three designs will be revealed at a later date.

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Follow Matt on Twitter and Facebook for all his baseball and Fantasy sports updates! For every update here at The Dugout Doctors, follow our official Twitter account @DugoutDoctors.

Cole Hamels Needs to Drop a Deuce (VIDEO)

All right, here’s the first pitch of the game. Got my snacks ready. Got myself a beer. My girlfriend is out with her friends. Am I forgetting something?

Oh, that’s right. Like Cole Hamels, I need to drop a deuce. Be right back!

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Follow Matt on Twitter and Facebook for all his baseball and Fantasy sports updates! For every update here at The Dugout Doctors, follow our official Twitter account @DugoutDoctors.

Phillies Bat Boy Slip’n'Fail!

Next time, be more careful when taking the bat from Shane Victorino.

Click here for a silly Donkey Kong remix of the .GIF!

e-Tip of the Cap (The Fightins)

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Follow Matt on Twitter and Facebook for all his baseball and Fantasy sports updates! For every update here at The Dugout Doctors, follow our official Twitter account @DugoutDoctors.

President Obama Meets With 2010 World Series Champions San Francisco Giants

President Barack Obama welcomed the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants into the White House on July 25. After making the speech (video below), he accepted a few gifts from the team and posed for photos. Willie Mays was also in attendance. Obama singled out two players in his speech: Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson. Obama quipped that he does “Fear the Beard” when referencing Wilson. He had nothing but kind words for the Giants, except that he’d be rooting for the White Sox if the Giants happen to face them in the World Series although he said that was “not a sure thing.”

Follow Matt on Twitter and Facebook for all his baseball and Fantasy sports updates! For every update here at The Dugout Doctors, follow our official Twitter account @DugoutDoctors.

Sabermetrics 101: Using Sabermetrics to Get a Fantasy Baseball Edge

Chris McBrien is a baseball writer for numerous websites and may be found at Dear Mr. Fantasy. He may also be followed on Twitter @cmcbrien.

Most Fantasy Baseball leagues use basic statistical categories. Although league formats may differ (head-to-head, rotisserie, points), the categories remain the same. Most leagues will use the following offensive categories: Runs, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Batting Average and Stolen Bases. For pitchers, the important categories are Wins, Saves, Earned Run Average, Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched and Strikeouts. However, when evaluating players for your team (draft, trades or free agency), it isn’t enough to concentrate on these categories alone.

Bill James and the statistical pioneers at the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR, the acronym from which sabermetrics draws its name) have created a series of empirical methods for player evaluation. Although the aforementioned categories remain in use for standard Fantasy Baseball leagues, by using key sabermetrics, owners can better understand or even predict trends in baseball statistics.

To help demystify some of the key sabermetrics statistics, the following is a run-down for the uninitiated:

Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP)
At its most basic, FIP takes into consideration the factors that a pitcher can control (home runs, hits and walks) and doesn’t consider the factors that a pitcher can’t control (how well his fielders actually field balls in play). It’s basically a version of ERA which considers how well a pitcher actually pitched. One of the nice uses of FIP is when pitchers change teams or see their current teams change defensive players behind them. The FIP stat can help you see how pitchers can be expected to perform independent of their teammates on the field around them. As the Hardball Times says, “”FIP helps you understand how well a pitcher pitched, regardless of how well his fielders fielded.”

Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP)
This is a version of FIP which ‘normalizes’ the home run component of the equation based upon league averages. Since home runs are basically related to fly balls allowed and home park, xFIP can be used to help determine a pitchers future ERA. This is particularly valuable to fantasy owners looking for an edge.

Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP)
Whereas batting average takes into account the percentage of at bats which become hits, BABIP takes this a step further to determine the percentage of balls hit into play which become hits. By removing strikeouts from the equation, BABIP can be a good indicator of how “lucky” either a pitcher or hitter has been, based upon the number of balls the opposing defence was able to handle (or mishandle as the case may be). Since baseball is comprised of a long season where statistics often regress to the mean, BABIP can often be used to predict a player’s future statistics. For a hitter with a BaBIP much higher than the league average, it may indicate a dip in batting average is due. Conversely, a pitcher with a low BABIP rate may be predicted to see an increase in hits allowed in upcoming games.

On-Base Percentage Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS)
One of the most popular sabermetrics statistics in use today as well as one of the simplest, OPS combines two of the best metrics in determining a hitter’s value to his team. On-Base Percentage (OBP) is the ability of a player to get on base and Slugging Percentage (SLG) is the ability of a player to hit for power. As a point of reference, .728 was the average OPS for MLB in 2010. In his essay titled, “The 96 Families of Hitters”, Bill James devised the following categories for OPS.

Great	.9000 and above
Moderate	.8333 to .8999
Above Average	.7667 to .8333
Average	.7000 to .7666
Below Average	.6334 to .6999
Terrible	.5667 to .6333
Atrocious	.5666 and ‘ower

 
For the sake of comparison, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista has a current OPS of 1.147. Chicago White Sox slugger and key offseason acquisition Adam Dunn’s current OPS is .592.

Value Over Replacement Player (VORP)
This statistic measures the total number of runs a player contributes to their team compared with a “replacement level” player at the same position. This can be a good point of reference in determining a player’s value to his team and thus see which players can be expected to get the lion’s share of playing time at a position. For hitters, the ‘counting stats’ of fantasy baseball (Runs, Home Runs, RBI, SB) are directly related to playing time. For pitchers, VORP is determined as a measure of how many runs that pitcher has prevented being scored against his team (in comparison to a replacement level pitcher). In either case, a player’s value to his team is the key measurable involved and can be useful in determining which players are more valuable than others on draft day or at the trade table.

Wins Above Replacement (WAR)
Similar to VORP, WAR takes into account the value a player has to his team. However, instead of using runs as the measureable statistic, WAR takes into account how many WINS a player contributes to his team in comparison to a replacement level player at his position. It can be useful in comparing players WAR metrics in determining how valuable a player is to his team (and thus how likely he is to receive playing time).

Isolated Power (ISO)
A rather simple metric, ISO is calculated by subtracting batting average from slugging average. This statistic represents a measure of a hitter’s raw power, or extra base hits per at bat. As a point of reference, Jose Bautista currently leads LB with a .356 ISO. The light-hitting Juan Pierre has a current ISO of .049.

Whether or not you perceive the alphabet soup of newfangled sabermetrics as being of any value to you in your fantasy baseball analysis, the bottom line is that these statistics certainly can’t hurt your chances. In fact, when it comes to competitive leagues, each and every little bit helps.

A Look at Homegrown Talent at the Trade Deadline

Robbie is the author of The Baseblawg and you can follow her on Twitter @clarkbar213.

The trade deadline is fast approaching and with it comes the annual debate over whether contending teams should trade a handful of top prospects for an established star. Or in other words, should a team mortgage the future in order to buy a championship today? Personally, I tend to be risk averse and side with holding on to the prospects in most cases. But regardless, this debate got me thinking: Just how much do teams rely on their homegrown talent?

Below is a chart of all 30 teams and the number of homegrown players that have played in at least one game this season. For the purposes of this chart my definition of a “homegrown player” is one that was drafted by his ball club or was signed as an amateur free agent and has played only for that major league club and its minor league affiliates. The list does not include players who were signed as free agents after playing professionally in another country.

No. of Homegrown Players	Teams  (division leaders in italics)
7	White Sox
8	A’s
9	Astros, Mariners
10	Diamondbacks
11	Brewers
12	Nationals, Pirates, Rangers
13	Blue Jays, Cubs
14	Indians, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Rays
15	Marlins, Padres, Red Sox, Royals
16	Giants, Yankees
17	Dodgers
18	Braves, Tigers
20	Reds
22	Angels, Cardinals, Twins
24	Rockies

 
In case you’re wondering how the number of homegrown players on a roster translates into winning percentage, here is the answer in graph form.

As you can see, the majority of teams are clustered around the .500 mark with 13-15 homegrown players. Interestingly the White Sox (.490) and the Rockies (.475), who have the lowest and highest number of homegrown players respectively, have nearly identical win percentages.

Take notice of the division leaders. These teams are a bit more spread out with the lowest number of homegrown players being 11 (Brewers) and the highest being 18 (Tigers). The Phillies and Red Sox, who own the best record in their leagues, have 14 and 15 homegrown players respectively, which seems to fit nicely within the league average. What this chart doesn’t show are the Cardinals (22 players) and Pirates (12 players) who are both tied for first place in the NL Central. This wide difference in the number of homegrown players used by these teams demonstrates that the strength or weakness of a team cannot be determined simply by looking at the number of homegrown players on its roster. Instead, it reinforces the importance of roster depth and good scouting whether in the draft, free agency or trades.

For the most part the distribution looks pretty even, right? The NL West has the highest average with 16.4 homegrown players per team, which isn’t too surprising since the Rockies have the highest number of any team with 24. Despite the Angels’ 22 homegrown players, the AL West comes in with the lowest division average, largely because of the low numbers from the A’s (8) and the Mariners (9). The other divisions even out nicely, mostly because outliers like the White Sox (7 players) and Twins (22 players) balance each other out.

Obviously the question of how teams use their homegrown players lends itself to much more statistical analysis, but this surface analysis provides some interesting (and in many cases unexpected) results, particularly the wide differences within divisions, and the low number of homegrown players used by teams like the A’s and Mariners, who you would expect to rely more on the prospects they have developed.

The Best (and Worst) 2011 Throwback Baseball Uniforms

Robbie is the author of The Baseblawg and you can follow her on Twitter @clarkbar213.

The Best!

Braves and Phillies – May 14

In honor of Civil Rights Weekend in Atlanta the teams brought out replicas of the Philadelphia Stars and Atlanta Black Crackers Negro Leagues uniforms.

Cubs and Red Sox – May 21

What’s not to love about these uniforms honoring the 1918 World Series? The Red Sox unis are completely white, except for their namesake red socks, and the Cubs’ logo makes them look more like “the Ubs.”

Padres and Nationals – June 11

The Padres celebrated their 75th anniversary by wearing replica uniforms of the inaugural 1936 Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres. These uniforms are clean, simple, and the striped high socks complete the nostalgic feel. (And the Nats’ old Senator unis aren’t so bad either.)

Tigers and White Sox – July 16

During the 17th Annual Negro Leagues Tribute Game the teams took the field in replicas of uniforms worn by the Detroit Stars and the Chicago American Giants. The white pinstripes set against the navy background on Chicago’s uniforms are especially striking.

The Worst!

Phillies – May 15

The day after donning the great Negro Leagues replicas the Phillies took the field in these gems. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a fan of uniform styles from the 1970’s, but these unis are bad by any standards.

Angels – July 1

From 1961-1965 the Angels hats featured a silver halo on the top. This is a look that should have remained in the past.

Dodgers – Six dates during 2011 season

Ok, maybe it’s not the 1970’s styles that I’m against, because these 1940’s Brooklyn Dodgers uniforms are also pretty rough on the eyes. Dressing grown men head-to-toe in this shade of blue is just too much.

Baseball’s Best (And Worst) Mustaches, Mullets, Beards and Goatees!

From Keith Hernandez’s stache, Rod Beck’s mullet and horseshoe or Rollie Fingers’ handlebar, facial hair and mullets are a part of the baseball lexicon. Enjoy the photo gallery!

Are we egregiously missing someone who should be here? Help us out by leaving a comment and letting us know who needs to be added to the list. There are so many players who fit the bill that we definitely are missing people.

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