Has A-Rod completely returned from the steroid stigma?

I wonder if Alex Rodriguez was watching the Tiger Woods staged reading Friday Morning. It wasn’t too long ago (last year at this time in fact) that A-Rod was the hottest story. He was under the microscope after admitting to taking steroids years ago after signing his mammoth contract from the Texas Rangers. There he was, the best in his sport, endorsement deals and a high profile personal life and he had somehow become a tragic figure.

Oh, what a difference a year makes. This year A-Rod comes into spring training still one of the games best and most dangerous at the dish. Yet this year he brings something else with him: a World Series Ring.

But let’s go back to last year. He had been caught. He had learned from the mistakes of those that faced questions before him. He told the truth. Okay, not really told the truth as there was hole after hole in his story. But he owned up to the root of the story. He had made a mistake and disgraced himself and the game that paid him. He was honest and sincere in his apology. Or at least he made us believe him.

After a lengthy stint on the DL, Rodriguez came back to the Yankees and not only provided them with the protection they needed in their lineup, but he came back with a different attitude. Gone were the scripted answers that made Alex hard to hate but not easy to like. This Alex was different. He wasn’t playing to be wers and the boring clic perfect. He wasn’t playing to appease the media and meet the expectations of his image. He was human now. He was flawed. That was his image.

And it showed for him in the time it mattered most: the postseason. No one had been beat up more than Alex Rodriguez for his shortcomings in the postseason. People forget how Roger Clemens often didn’t show up in big games and would always seem to hide behind a nagging injury. We forget that Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds were nothing more than average when it was crunch time. Still we gave Rodriguez a beating because no player earned the money he did and with that money came expectations. But A-Rod answered the call by giving us one of the most productive post-seasons in recent memory and doing it with the sports most highly scrutinized team. It seemed as if A-Rod was knew he couldn’t come under more fire than he did seven months earlier.

It’s possible, that now, after the scandal has come and gone and his name will be at the center of every Cooperstown argument for years to come, that Alex Rodriguez is poised to be better than he was before? And it’s possible we have something to do with that. We have finally embraced him. We have forgiven him. We are ready to finally enjoy Alex Rodriguez.

It’s the interesting thing about this country and the people it idolizes, we love to watch people fall just to watch them get back up again. We love redemption as much as we love greatness, if not more so. I think it’s because we can see ourselves in them. We can put the money and the fame aside and see what makes us both human.

What does it mean for A-Rod this season? Good things I presume. He’s still young and in great physical condition. His bat speed looked great in the post-season last year where he hit an astonishing .365. He is part of a fierce lineup with Mark Teixeira hitting beside him and Granderson leading off a potent lineup. And we all see what a clear head can do for a player. I’m not sure that A-Rod wins an MVP this year but I’d put him as a favorite.

But more to the point, A-Rod doesn’t seem to care about MVP’s or public adulation. He seems to care about playing baseball and winning games, the mark of a true champion. And A-Rod has the ring to prove it.

@Mikearta

Zach Greinke’s distinction of sharing the record for the fewest number of wins by a Cy Young winning pitcher (16) didn’t last long as the record is now solely in the hands of Tim Lincecum (15).

In fact, it shows how times have changed to consider that the 31 total victories between the two 2009 Cy Young Award winners equals the total number of wins that Denny McLain registered when winning the American League Cy Young Award in 1968.

It used to be that the number one criteria for a starting pitcher being a serious Cy Young Award candidate was how many victories he recorded in a season. Sure, other factors like strikeouts, ERA and winning percentage have always been important, but the top prize for a pitcher usually was reserved for a hurler who either led the league or came close to leading the league in wins.

The voting for the 2009 Cy Young Awards clearly illustrates that is no longer the case.

Though Lincecom finished with one fewer victory than Greinke, he actually finished fourth in the National League in wins while Greinke’s total was good enough to tie for seventh in the AL.

What seems to have made Greinke and Lincecum appealing to voters was their performance in other categories.

Despite playing for the woeful Kansas City Royals, Greinke posted a 2.16 ERA, which is the lowest total in the American League since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 mark in 2000. He also finished second in the league with 242 strikeouts.

While Greinke’s selection was widely expected, Lincecum’s repeat as the National League winner was a slight surprise. Lincecum finished second in the NL with a 2.48 ERA. 2005 Cy Young Winner Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals led the league with a 2.24 ERA and finished with a 17-4 record, compared to the 15-7 mark for Lincecum.

What seems to have given Lincecum an advantage over Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who finished with a 19-8 record and 2.63 ERA was his strikeout total.

Lincecum registered a league best 261 K’s while Wainwright had 212 and Carpenter just 144.

The selection of Greinke and Lincecum as Cy Young winners seems to signal the completion of what has been a gradual reduction over the last decade of the value of victories as a measuring stick of greatness for starting pitchers.

In an era when most starters often pitch only six or seven innings, voters seem to now recognize that the victory total for a starting pitcher is largely out of his hands.

Greinke won 16 games, but very easily could have had many more wins. He allowed four or more earned runs in just five of his 33 starts during the season. He also pitched more than seven innings only 10 times with just three of those starts coming after the first of July.

Lincecum’s results were strikingly similar. He surrendered four or more runs five times in 32 starts and pitched more than seven innings 11 times.

I guess the selection of two pitchers with so few victories could be a one-year aberration, but I seriously doubt that to be the case. I think in the future we will end up with more Cy Young Award winners with 16 or fewer wins than we do with 20 or more victories.

Five lowest combined win totals for Cy Young Winners (since 1967, includes only years when two starting pitchers won the awards):

31 – 2009 – Tim Lincecum (15), Zach Greinke (16)

32 – 1994 – Greg Maddux (16), David Cone (16) * Strike Season

35 – 2006 – Brandon Webb (16), Johan Santana (19)

37 – 1995 – Greg Maddux (19), Randy Johnson (18) * Strike Season

37 – 2000 – Randy Johnson (19), Pedro Martinez (18)

To read more from Dean, go to his sports blog: Sports Then and Now!

**The Quotes as presented are direct from Rollie Fingers courtesy of an interview that he was kind enough to grant me in conjunction with his new book.**

When people approach professional athletes, they are usually looking for a career retrospective or a biography. That is exactly what Yellowstone Ritter had in mind when he contacted Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.

With the idea on the table, Rollie said no. So Yellowstone went back to the drawing board with Rollie, and what they came up with was Rollie’s Follies: A Hall of Fame Revue of Baseball Stories and Stats, Lists, and Lore.

When discussing the book, I was treated to a conversation that covered many facets of Rollie’s Hall of Fame career, and the stories and opinions were as diverse and colorful as the book that he helped author in his name.

After bypassing the notion that talking about himself for 250 or so pages was a good idea, Rollie did start to hash out a plan with Yellowstone, who he credits with doing a lot of the interesting research in the book.

“I don’t want to get into autobiographies, I don’t want to talk about myself.”

Fingers explains, “We started hashing it out, and decided he has done a lot of research on baseball. So why don’t we do a book on basic baseball itself. So we decided that’s what we were going to do.”

“We went through a bunch of statistics and facts and came up with a bunch of things that you might not know about…different crazy stats of things that happen, who are the best hitting pitchers of all time, you don’t know that.”

“People think of the greatest home run hitters of all time and think of Babe Ruth, they don’t think about that Warren Spahn hit more than anybody.”

In 1958, Warren Spahn, in just 108 at bats, hit .333, and also mustered 35 home runs, 189 RBI’s in his career.

The book, as Rollie and I discussed, is really about expanding on what people love so much about baseball.

As Rollie said, “That’s all baseball is, is numbers, it’s run by numbers, averages, percentage and odds. Managers make their decisions based on the numbers.

“If this guy hits the ball 7 out of 10 times to the left side then they’ll play a shift to the left…there is more books on statistics than you can think of and we just brought out some of the ones that we thought were the most interesting.”

To look back at Rollie’s career by the numbers, one American League Cy Young (1981), one American League MVP (1981), 341 Career Saves (10th all-time), 944 career games (17th all-time), 709 career games finished (5th all-time) and 81.1% (the total number of writers hall of fame ballots he was elected on for the Hall).

He appeared on 349 of 430 Hall of Fame ballots, getting him over the 75% required for enshrinement.

We talked a little bit about his place among baseball immortals. I asked Rollie about his engagement two weeks ago to see his peers Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice take their place in Cooperstown.

“I’ve been back every year since 1992 when I went in. I have been there a few times before that, they used to have the Hall of Fame game, and I played once with the A’s and one game with the Padres.

Then I was there in 1964 when I was named the American Legion Baseball Player of the Year, I received my award at Doubleday Field in 1964, that’s the first time I was there.”

When I asked why Rollie returns with such frequency, he answered me as if there was no other option.

“I think it’s important because when I went in there was a lot of guys there.” He said. “They supported my induction into the Hall of Fame and my career. I felt that I should be there for the new guys coming in,” Rollie continued.

He also let me in on a little secret; “it’s nice seeing the guys go through what you have to go through to get in.”

The first trip to Cooperstown is the hardest.

“That weekend is a hectic weekend, getting ready for your speech, taking care of all your family members making sure everything is done right, people wanting you to sign autographs going to the dinners, going to the parties. The easiest time is the following year.”

“The hardest thing in the world to get through is the speech,” said Rollie, and remember this is a guy with 3 World Series rings and 341 career saves.

As for his description of this year’s inductees, “Rickey Henderson was a pain in the butt. You don’t want to walk him; it’s like walking a triple. I had a real slow motion to the plate, so I knew if he got on base within two or three pitches he was going to be standing on third.”

On Jim Rice, “The two scariest things in the world are standing on the mound at Fenway Park looking over your right shoulder and seeing the wall there, and the second scariest is looking in and seeing Jim Rice. Those were the two scariest things about Boston when I played.”

Ironically enough for the nightmare was that the wall was a disputable 310 feet away.

Fenway was not Rollie’s least favorite place to pitch. Counted among his least favorites were the domed stadiums.

“I didn’t like The Astrodome, or any of the Astro-Turf fields. Probably my worst ballpark was The Met in Minnesota, I hated that place, I was so glad when they tore that place down, you have no idea. My first big league start at the Met I threw a five hit shut out, and my lifetime record at The Met is one win and 11 losses.”

Fingers went on to recount a move this his manager used to save him the horrors of The Met on one occasion.

“It was really bad, nothing went right for me at that ball park. Actually Alvin Dark with the Oakland A’s, we had a double-header and he didn’t even want me in uniform, he put me in street clothes in the stands for a double header and this is when I was the closer.

“Crazy stuff would happen there, and I’d always end up having a bad game. So he just decided, what the heck I might as well throw you in the stands so I won’t be tempted to use you.”

Rollie Fingers was part of multiple transactions in his career. He was a free agent, he was traded, and he was even sold once by Charlie Finley to the Boston Red Sox.

As it turns out, Joe Rudi and Rollie, after being sold to the Red Sox for a million dollars apiece, were promptly returned after the commissioner’s office ruled that the transaction would not stand.

Luckily for Rudi and Fingers, the Red Sox were the visiting club and they simply packed their bags and walked through the bowels of the Oakland County Coliseum to set up shop in the visitor’s clubhouse.

After three days, Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball’s fifth commissioner, told Charlie Finley he couldn’t do that, although Rollie does believe “if Joe or I had gotten into that game, there wouldn’t have been anything they could have done. I warmed up but never got in the game.”

Rollie then signed with the Padres, where he spent four seasons before he was shipped to St. Louis in the off-season, where he ironically once again spent three days, matching his stay with the Red Sox. The Cardinals then moved him out to play with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Speaking of the team that would be Harvey’s Wallbanger’s, “Paul Molitor was about a three or four year man up, Robin Yount was a six or seven year guy…I was happy to be going to Milwaukee, I was just happy to be wearing the same uniform as those guys.

“The line up we had there was unbelievable: Ted Simmons, Molitor, Yount, Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Gorman Thomas, I mean I wouldn’t want to face that line up, I was just happy to have a Milwaukee uniform on that year.”

Rollie and I had a little fun as I mentioned former Major Leaguer and Fingers’ teammate, 1982 Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich.

Following Pete’s playing career, he’s probably best known as “The Biggest Indian Killer of them All” Clu Heywood according to Harry Doyle (played by longtime Brewers announcer and Major League Catcher Bob Uecker).

So I asked Rollie, “Who would play Rollie Fingers?”

“Oh golly, I have no idea who would play Rollie Fingers, you’d have to be able to grow a handle bar mustache, who that person would be I have no idea, or whether in the future they’d put me in a movie.”

But a guy that looks like me and can grow a handle bar mustache is the way they’d have to go I guess, like the movie 61, they cast those two guys who looked pretty much like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris…I don’t think about that stuff.”

You hear the words dynasty thrown around; when you won the first World Series in Oakland did you know you had something special?

Rollie is much like the other major leaguers I’ve talked to, when they talk about things they are incredibly focused in the moment and recall it as such.

“At the time you don’t. After we won the first year it was the first time we’d ever won and sure you want to win two and we knew we had a pretty good team. We played together, we all played together in the minors because it was before free agency and we basically had the same line up for eight years at the time we played in Oakland.

“Winning three in a row, it was great; you don’t think about how great it was then, you know I’d like to have kept winning. That’s what it’s all about, we had a chance in ’75 but we got beat in the playoffs by the Red Sox, I think if we’d have had Catfish Hunter that year, that was the year we lost Catfish Hunter…we had a chance to be a dynasty there if Charlie Finley kept us together.

“He wasn’t about to do that, he didn’t want to pay the salaries, so when Free Agency hit, he lost all of us, he could’ve kept that team together if he’d have just paid us.”

I asked him specifically about the fans in his career, and the fans in Milwaukee, “Milwaukee is a great baseball town…they’ll open their arms up to you.”

“I enjoyed playing there, I enjoyed the fans, I did a lot of charity when they had stuff going on at the ballpark it was fun…I had a lot of fun because I was getting guys out and we were doing good.”

We talked a lot about Rollie’s contemporaries so I decided to ask, if there was anyone now that he enjoys watching pitch.

I asked is there anyone that if you know that they are pitching you’ll throw the game on?

“There’s a few players, I don’t mind watching a good pitched ball game, Randy Johnson, Halladay in Toronto, that’s the way I was when Greg Maddux was pitching, I would sit and watch him, because he knew what he was doing. He wasn’t over powering; he moved the ball around, hit spots. That’s pitching.

“I don’t watch ball games on TV anymore cause I hate to see a pitcher go zero balls and two strikes and lay one right down the middle and the guy hits it out of the ballpark.

“What’s he thinking about? That’s not pitching to me; that is throwing. I get too upset watching those types of games, so I don’t watch them anymore.”

He continued, “I don’t go to games anymore, but if I know a certain guy is pitching, Beckett with Boston, I’ll watch him pitch, or Santana, he’s got a pretty good idea.”

I asked what the best innovation or change in the game has been since Rollie left the game, and all he came up with was, “guys are making money,” he laughed.

As far as detriments to the game, he listed harder balls, harder bats, smaller ballparks, home runs are up, umpires have taken away the inside part of the plate from pitchers and the way pitching staffs are used.

Rollie clearly pitched in a different era, but he makes a lot of interesting and valid points about pitchers use and their health in recent years.

Most major league teams carry 13 pitchers on their 25-man roster, when Rollie pitched, “you’d break training camp with 8 or sometimes 9 pitchers.”

Because of that we talked strategy and how the game has changed, he talked about the difference in the way that bullpens are handled across major league baseball.

“Guys in the bullpen should go longer distances instead of being a one-inning pitcher.”

I asked him if it is frustrating to watch a guy get pulled after one inning or in sometimes one batter.

Rollie definitely had some strong opinions in this area, “The biggest problem I have with the way bullpens are run is a set up guy will come in, in the eighth inning and strike out the side in a 4 to 1 ball game and then he is taken out and the closer will come in to finish the game.

“Why don’t you let the guy that just struck out the side go back out and start the ninth inning? You still have your $10 million dollar man in the bullpen to get out of jams. Give that guy an opportunity to get a save. He did his job in the eighth and give your closer a day off.

“If he struck out the side he probably has his good stuff that day…I see ball games that are 2-1 ball games and I look at the box score and there was 12 pitchers used.”

He continued, “I needed a lot of work to stay sharp, I don’t think I could’ve done what they are doing today.”

Name

Avg. Inn/Year

Career High Innings

Season Plus 100 Inn

Mariano Rivera

80

107

1

Trevor Hoffman

72

90

0

Rollie Fingers

118

148

11

We talked about another of Rollie’s peers in Nolan Ryan. We didn’t talk about Ryan’s Hall of Fame credentials, but the success that he had thus far in rejuvenating the Texas Rangers pitching staff this year.

I asked Rollie if that was the way to go, if we’d see starters going deeper into games and potentially less pitching injuries?

“I pitched for the Oakland A’s for 8 years, we’d complete 45 or 50 ball games a year with Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Kenny Holtzman. In the 8 years I was there I don’t remember any of these guys being on the disabled list. 8 years in a row, I never remember them going on a 2 week DL or 1 month DL.”

“They were out there doing their 40 starts a year; they pitched 275 to 300 innings each year, Catfish Hunter would complete 20 ball games himself, and you just don’t see that anymore.”

“Why these guys are getting hurt, I don’t know, I think if they got stronger and pitched more they would have less injuries.”

“I was down in Texas talking to Nolan and he said yeah that’s what we want to do, we want to see if we can get our starting pitchers into the seventh and eighth inning and if they are still going good, get a complete game. I don’t see any problem with that at all, I think you’re going to get fewer injuries.”

In 1975 Catfish Hunter had 30 complete games in his 39 starts!

One of the more intriguing points he made was about pitch counts. Rollie’s thoughts on pitch counts really showed the difference between baseball now and 25-30 years ago.

He began when I asked him about tie games where people are taken out.

“Even if it’s a tie, let them throw their 130 and 140 pitches. They are strong enough and capable of doing it, but you have to get used to it. These guys go out now, five innings that’s a quality start, and 100 pitches.”

“I’d like to know who the animal was that came up with this 100-pitch rule. I guarantee you he wasn’t a pitcher, I’m sure he was a doctor that doesn’t know anything about pitching. That’s my guess, because 100 pitches is nothing.”

To put it in perspective in a conversation Rollie had with fellow Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax he asked, “What’s the most pitches you’ve ever thrown in a game?” Sandy’s response was 230.

We talked about a game that pitted Juan Marichal vs. Warren Spahn, the Hall of Famers combined to each go 16 innings and throw over 200 pitches a piece.

We talked about 1976 Hall of Fame inductee Robin Roberts who completed 28 straight games, a feat that would be unthinkable with today’s managers.

“If you have good mechanics and you are strong and you know what you’re doing out there you can do it. Manager’s won’t let starting pitchers do that because they are afraid someone is going to get hurt, they’re going to have to answer the questions. They are going to get second-guessed.”

“You have a lot of money sitting there and you don’t want it on the DL, but the thing is more starting pitchers are going on the DL than are not.”

We talked about Halladay’s last start before the trade deadline; Doc had a stat line of 1 earned run, 9 innings and got a no decision after 115 pitches.

“He’s old school, pitchers go out there thinking they’ve got to just go 5 or 6, he’s thinking about going 9. He’s thinking 9 more than any pitcher in baseball today. He’s big enough and strong enough he could go 140 pitches.”

“If Nolan Ryan had been on a 100 pitch count he’d have never got a decision, he threw that many by the fifth inning. You could watch Nolan throw 170 pitches, strike out 14, and walk 10 in a complete game.”

“But he was strong and could do it. Tom Seaver was another guy, he’d throw a lot of pitches, but he was strong and had great mechanics.”

Rollie is a wealth of pitching knowledge about the history of the game and Rollie’s Follies: A Hall of Fame Revue of Baseball Stories and Stats, Lists and Lore expands on that.

The book covers everything from the best hitting pitcher, to the Milwaukee Sausage Races and it’s on field list of imitators, to Hall of Fame and not so Hall of Fame profiles and the Kenny Lofton curse (you’ll have to read that one yourself).

In Rollie’s Follies, Fingers and Ritter managed to put together a baseball book that I am not sure it starts or ends more debates but it allows fans of America’s past time to do what they love best.

Wow, their friends with the most obscure, interesting and odd facts and stories about the grand old game.

Rollies Follies is co-authoured by Rollie Fingers and Yellowstone Ritter, it is published by Clerisy Press, available at www.clerisypress.com

David is a fellow Bleacher Creature, you can find his work there by following this link. He has also written for RBI Magazine and a few other places as well.

If you think that youth baseball today has gotten too competitive and structured with All Star Leagues and travel teams, allow me to bring you back to a simpler time. Have any of you ever played just for the fun of the game in a non-league setting? Do you remember playing pick-up games with less than two full teams and having to create new rules to compensate or having to play in either a sandlot or a plain field? If you have, you probably also relate to the storyline illustrated throughout this book.

A Glove of Their Own is a story of friends getting together on a regular basis to play for the love of the game. It’s a story of playing with what you have readily available even if it means sharing gloves, if you had a glove at all, and being thankful just for that! It’s also a reminder of what baseball is all about: teamwork, fair play and the thrill of the game.

Find out the sweet reward the kids in this story receive for keeping the heart of the game alive by purchasing this instant classic! This large hardcover childrens book is beautifully illustrated and authored by three ladies from the North Jersey Shore. It was written in a poetic rhyme that works in both engaging the reader while not compromising the story.

All proceeds, depending on where you buy it, benefit such charities as Pitch In for Baseball, Good Sports and sponsored by former MLB players Sean Casey, Craig Biggio, Dick Drago, Jack Perconte and others.

Your charity can join these by contacting Coach Bob Salomon and agreeing to Pay It Forward for this great cause. I have!

Here’s a list of some stories and articles that may interest you about this great book:

A Glove of Their Own to Warm IOC Committee’s Hearts?

You Tube Video


On Jimmy Scotts High & Tight



Children’s book hits home run with baseball greats



Book Em: Baseball Books for the Young and Old at Heart

My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!

I am also affiliated with a great cause, a children’s book with a great message called, “A Glove of Their Own”. Everyone who purchases a copy of this great book using the promotional code PIF 129, a $3.00 donation will be made when purchased through the Franklin Mason Press website for Pitch In For Baseball at checkout. You can purchase a copy by following the link at their website http://www.agloveoftheirown.com

Warning: most of this ballot is going to surprise you. How do I know, because it surprised me! You see, I didn’t just use my eyes or even the traditional method/statistics to make up this ballot.

I used 11 statistical categories including defensive metrics & added some objective weight to some of them (multiplied them by either 10, 100 or 1000) in order to make them more relevant and useful. For example, I multiplied Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and Range Factor per Game (RF/G) by 10; Walk to Strikeout Ratio (BB/K) by 100; and Batting Average (AVE), On Base Percentage (OBP) and Fielding Percentage (FP) by 1000. Add to these were the counting stats such as Runs (R), Homeruns (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB) and Runs Created (RC) based upon weighted On Base Average (wOBA) or simply wRC as found on Fangraphs.com.

So as you can see, I didn’t exactly set this up to provide a traditional selection of players and in fact, some of these guys wouldn’t even have made my top 15!

10 ) Franklin Gutierrez CF Seattle Mariners…1 point

What gets Gutierrez on this list is his ungodly UZR of 28.5 which was almost 10 points higher than the next rated player. In fact, I read somewhere that his power numbers were even down this year!

9 ) Kevin Youkilis 1B/3B Boston Red Sox…2 points

Forget about the fact that he played significant time at both first and third base (78 and 63), but he also played two games in LF, too. But none of this factored into this listing! The stats that got him onto this list were his RF/G of 7.9, his FP of .998, OBP of .413 and his runs scored of 99 and 94 RBI on 27 HR and 111.7 runs created.

8 ) Chone Figgins 3B Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim…3 points

A UZR of 14.5, .395 OBP with 42 SB and 114 runs scored with 105.1 runs created contributed to Chone’s listing here. I would not have added Figgins even to my top 20.

7 ) Carl Crawford LF Tampa Bay Rays…4 points

60 SB with 96 runs scored 101.6 runs created combined with a .988 FP and a UZR of 17.1 are what got Crawford here.

6 ) Evan Longoria 3B Tampa Bay Rays…5 points

Tampa Bay scored the most players on this list with Evan “The Beast” Longoria stuck here in the middle. In only his second season he has impressive numbers starting off with the second highest UZR with 18.9, 108.7 runs created with 100 runs scored, 33 HR and 113 RBIs.

5 ) Derek Jeter SS New York Yankees…6 points

With a FP of .986, runs created of 122.4 (for third on this list of the top 10) with 107 runs scored to go with a .406 OBP and 30 SB lead the Yankees captain onto this list.

4 ) Miguel Cabrera 1B Detroit Tigers…7 points

Believe it or not, Cabrera’s defense has a significant part to play in his being 4th on this list with a .995 FP and an 8.6 RF/G. Then add to that his 96 runs scored, 123.5 runs created, an AVE of .324, OBP of .396 to go along with 34 HR and 103 RBI.

3 ) Dustin Pedroia 2B Boston Red Sox…8 points

Here’s another player who I wouldn’t have even thought about for this list with his diminished numbers compared to last year and I’m a big Pedroia fan! But his numbers tell a different story with a UZR of 10.2 and a FP of .991 to go along with his runs created of 103.9 to go with his actual runs scored of 115. Add to that a great BB/K ratio of 1.64 (tops on this list and second in the Majors to only Pujols’ 1.80), .371 OBP and 20 SB do make quite a statement overall.

2 ) Ben Zobrist 2B/RF Tampa Bay Rays…9 points

Probably the most surprising name on an MVP listing is Zobrist, but this is not the only list I’m seen him towards the top of recently. His versatility should also be considered, but doesn’t factor in here as he can also play other positions than these two. His UZR is 15.6, a FP of .989 to go along with his career year offensively with 111.1 runs created, 27 HR, 91 RBI and runs scored with a .405 OBP.

1 ) Joe Mauer C/DH Minnesota Twins…14 points

Talk about increased power numbers, Mauer hit a career high 28 HRs! His previos high was 13 back in 2006. As a reminder, the catcher’s position doesn’t get a UZR score so he was at a disadvantage over the other position players on this list and I did not remember to factor that in with a league average! His other numbers are as follows…6.9 RF/G, .996 FP with offensive numbers such as 127.5 runs created, 94 runs scored, 96 RBI and his incredible .365 AVE .444 OBP and 1.21 BB/K ratio (second best on this list). Editor’s note: I stand corrected, as I now see Mauer as the best all around catcher in the game today! I have done my research since an earlier post on The Dugout Doctors. He was my choice no matter how I did this, but I am glad that this analysis proved that idea.

Honorable Mentions in order of appearance…

In my opinion, both of these players would have made my ballot if I had not gone to this much detail or even included defensive statistics. Both had over 30 HR and 100 RBI, a AVE of over .290 and OBP over .355 to go along with runs created over 100, FP over .990 and RF/G over 8.

Mark Teixeira 1B New York Yankees

Kendry Morales 1B Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!

When my contact at Akadema asked me if I would do another review if sent another glove I jumped at the chance! This time I asked for a first baseman’s glove as I have always been fascinated with them for reasons unknown to even myself. Maybe it’s because when I was growing up, my dad played the position in those, his last days playing softball. I really wanted to see what innovations they had created for a first baseman’s glove.

Although they told me that the glove they were sending me wasn’t one of their gloves with a new patent to it like the Funnel, but it was a part of their ProSoft Series.

Here’s what their website says about the ProSoft Series:

Born to meet the desire of players looking for the distinct advantage of a game-ready glove, ProSoft Seriesis their newest innovation. Light and playable right out of the workshop, the Silver Soft Series was constructed to give a player the unparalleled fit and feel right off the bat.

After receiving it I have to admit that it does need to be broken in, but not much. Its innovative softness lends it to be broken in a lot more quickly than the Funnel I had previously received.

My favorite part of owning this glove is that is is the MOST comfortable glove to wear that I have ever had in the 30 years since I started playing baseball. It feels more like an Isotoner Glove. You know the ones that were promoted on TV back in the day by former Dolphins QB Dan Marino?!

I have owned a first baseman’s glove in the past & this one by Akadema (the AJJ 254 which is 12.5″) is far superior to my last one. From the feel of my hand in the glove all the way to the design and padding which is necessary for a glove that needs to endure the second most use on a baseball diamond (first being a catcher’s mitt).

Bottom line: if you are looking to a great glove for the First Baseman in your life, I’d put my money down on one of these:

My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!

Your two Box Busters hosts are Brian Fleischer, Sr. Market Analyst and Chris Olds, Editor. If you’re into collecting baseball cards, you might want to check this out.

This episode is on the newly released (just this week on 10/19) 2009 Topps Triple Threads Baseball Cards.

My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!

On this Patriotic Day, 9-11 of 2009, announce that I am thrilled to endorse Akadema® Professional: A leading baseball and softball equipment based out of Hawthorne, NJ! They make the gloves that players such as the Phillies CF Shane Victorino, the Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez, and Team USA Softball P Monica Abbott (just to name a few). They even are endorsed by a few Hall of Famers in C Gary Carter, P Bob Feller and LF/1B Carl Yastrzemski.

I write to you today with a belated announcement:  Akadema® unveiled a new line of gloves back in April called The Patriot Series and here is a description of the series right from their press release.

The Patriot Series, which will be hand-made in the United States by American craftsmen. While an increasing number of companies are manufacturing product outside the United States, Akadema is committed to bringing business back to America, and providing high quality U.S. made products.

The seven-glove Patriot Series caters to eight out of the nine positions on the field and is hand-made with black precision-kip leather mended with gray lacing for eye-catching aesthetics and true ‘Made In the USA’ appeal.  Each glove also features the Akadema logo patch customized in red, white and blue along with an official “Made In USA” patch to truly authenticate the American craftsmanship.

“It is only fitting that players of America’s pastime can enjoy a high quality product made right here in the U.S.,” said Lawrence Gilligan, Akadema President.  “We take great deal of pride in the quality and craftsmanship that goes into every Patriot Series product.”

The new Akadema line will be handmade in the Company’s Hawthorne-NJ headquarters. Suggested retail price for Patriot Series gloves is $249.99.

I personally use an Akadema® glove, an 11.5″ Funnel Series infielder’s glove (as I wrote last week), so I a can personally speak about the quality of the gloves that Akadema® produces. So if you are thinking about purchasing a serious new glove and you want it to be “Made in America”, please consider buying one of the gloves in the Patriot Series.* Please check out their website, www.akademapro.com to see these and  the other gloves they make that the pros use.

*As of the time of this writing, Baseball Reflections.com does not earn a commission for the sale of any Akadema® gloves, bats, etc. We are fans of the product and wish to promote domestic spending on products made in the US, especially in this difficult economy.

There are a few scents that I know of that really wake me up. One is the smell of freshly cut grass (especially that of Fenway Park as smelled from behind the Green Monster), freshly cut wood, the smell of a new leather baseball glove and a certain perfume that my wife wears which I won’t list here.

Well, I’ve only been to Fenway twice this year, I haven’t cut any fresh wood lately and I said I wasn’t about to talk about my wife’s choice of perfume, but I was given a brand new baseball glove recently. It came from the nice people at Akadema Professional to use and review here at Baseball Reflections. I was short an infielders glove as mine was lost last summer so the timing was perfect. So was the fit of the glove. At just around the same height as Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia (2007 Rookie of the Year and 2008 AL MVP), I have small hands and this glove fit me perfectly!

Here are the technical specs for the glove: AFL 11: 11.5″ pattern, two-tone, I-web, dual-hinge with inverted thumb and pinky finger design, open back, medium pocket.

In layman’s terms, what that means is that I am the proud owner of an Akadema Funnel AFL 11 which measures 11.5″ from the bottom of the palm to the tips of the fingers. It is an infielders glove (2B/3B/SS) with a medium pocket so that you can get to throwing the ball quickly and not fumble with trying to get the ball out. Two-tone just comments on the color (see the picture), open back and the I-web is the style of the pocket webbing. The dual-hinge with inverted thumb and pinky finger design refers to the patent pending FleXion slit (in the thumb and pinky) that allows the glove to remain in a unique V-shape that keeps it open in its natural state. This allows the infielder to always be at the ready to field a hot shot as the glove does most of the work of opening up to receive the ball due to this design.

To elaborate more on the FleXion patent, it is good to know that a lot of infielders have gotten into the habit of bending back their gloves in this fashion. They see it as gaining an advantage in fielding a sharply hit ball because it cuts down on the effort of opening up the glove, hence allowing them the crucial extra seconds to make the play. It is said to “allow the fielder the maximum fielding surface available for that hard ground ball up the middle or that two hopper in the hole”.

The only negative thing I can say about this glove is that it’s a little tougher to break in due to the thumb and pinky inserts, but the end result of that innovation is sure to make up for it. Due to that fact, I highly recommend purchasing their Mitt Masher and Glove Conditioner to assist you in the breaking in process. Consider it a new glove starter’s kit!

As a reminder, this is a professional-quality glove.

Players who use Akadema gloves are the Phillies CF Shane Victorino, the Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez (who has his own model on their site) and they are endorsed by Hall of Famers pitcher Bob Feller, catcher Gary Carter and LF/1B Carl Yastrzemski. Akadema, Inc. is now based out of Hawthorne, NJ.

Please see the previous article on their Patriot Series Gloves which are made in the USA!