First a personal note. I resigned from Ubihere[1] last fall and cast about for something to do. When offered a position at the Supreme Court of Ohio (where I had previously worked for over 20 years), I jumped. I hope to resume regularly publishing blog posts now that uncertainty is behind me and I am happily ensconced.
1. The college football season is over, and Clemson is a worthy champion.[2] I confess that I did not see a single play of the championship game. Without a rooting interest, I just couldn’t force myself to watch. I couldn’t root for Alabama because I generally dislike dynasties, unless they are my favorite team. I couldn’t root for Clemson because coach Dabo Swinney thinks the players, whose skill and effort enable him to earn millions of dollars a year, are too entitled.[3]
2. It is nice to see a national consensus building toward having eight teams in the college football playoff. The Power Five conferences should choose their representative any way they see fit – championship game, highest ranked team, most expensive or obnoxious coach, fastest wide receiver. Who cares – each of these conferences should have a team in the playoff. Then there should be three at large teams chosen by the existing selection committee, which would also seed the teams.
That would be simple and would avoid the travesty of having the worst of the Power Five conferences essentially having two teams in this year’s playoff, while the second best conference was outside looking in for the second year in a row.[4] Notre Dame, although its 12-0 record was deserving, is essentially an ACC team.[5] They should have played Clemson in the ACC championship game, not in the national semifinal. And the Big Ten should have a team in the playoff, even if there were legitimate reasons not to select Ohio State the last two years, most notably two blowout losses to mediocre teams.
3. I care less and less about the baseball Hall of Fame each year because of the sanctimony and hypocrisy associated with determining which players get enshrined. This year, the Baseball Writers Association of America rose above the fray and elected four terrific players. Mike Mussina, Edgar Martinez, Roy Halladay, and Mariano Rivera are all eminently qualified and will raise the overall standards of the Hall.
Martinez was a great hitter but has been excoriated as primarily a designated hitter, like that is some kind of crime. He played 592 games in the field, comprising 4829 innings of defensive work, or roughly 3.5 times as many innings as Mariano Rivera pitched. Rivera went to the plate only seven times in his career, but nobody has ever accused him, as they have accused Martinez, of being a one-way player.
Mussina was criticized for being merely good, not great. Sure, I guess, it depends on what your standard is. He won 270 games,[6] only 32 guys have won more, and only 13 of them threw a pitch after 1970. Being one of the 14 best starting pitchers of the last 45 years is more than enough to warrant being in the Hall of Fame. Along the way, he pitched roughly 2300 more innings than Mariano Rivera (the equivalent of ten years at 230 inning a year) with an excellent ERA, 23% better than league average. (Recent inductee Tom Glavine was elected on the first ballot even though his ERA was 18% better than league average. He won 305 games but with a lower winning percentage than Mussina.)
Roy (Doc) Halladay was criticized because he won only 203 games. Quantity should matter, but quality is more important when considering whether a player is a Hall of Famer. Doc’s ERA was 31% better than league average and his winning percentage was a stellar .659, the 20th best of all time.
Rivera was an outstanding relief pitcher, in my opinion the best relief pitcher of all time. Still — throughout baseball history, relief pitchers became relief pitchers after establishing that they weren’t good enough to be starting pitchers.[7] In Rivera’s only year as a starter, his ERA was 5.51, 84% as good as league average, and he had a WHIP of 1.5.[8] Well over 1000 pitchers have had a career WHIP better than 1.5. As a relief pitcher, Rivera’s WHIP was under 1.0, the third best rate of all time. It is easier to be great when you pitch one inning at a time.
Rivera belongs in the Hall of Fame, but given the insults
hurled at the other electees,[9]
it is frustrating that Rivera receives nothing but encomia. He was great, he was not perfect, as the few
extant Diamondbacks fans will happily attest.
I’m back, baseball is almost back, and the
writers elected an all-star Hall of Fame class.[10] Life is good.
[1] You can see what the company does and a picture of me at https://ubihere.com/.
[2] Shout out to THawk, the only Clemson grad I know.
[3] He didn’t say exactly that, but it is what he meant. Here is the quote: “As far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me. I’ll go do something else, because there’s enough entitlement in this world as it is.” https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/4/13/11420408/dabo-swinney-clemson-salary-raise-players
[4] According to Jeff Sagarin’s College Football rankings, conference strength based on the 2018 season:
SEC 81.57, Big Ten 77.39, Big 12 77.35, PAC 12 75.43, ACC 75.19
[5] Because it is contractually required to play five games a year against ACC teams.
[6] A flawed team-dependent stat that is nevertheless a useful proxy over the course of a career.
[7] Today many relief pitchers, especially closers, are not failed starters.
[8] WHIP = walks plus hits per inning pitched
[9] Microsoft Word tells me that “electees” is not a word, but my on-line dictionary considers it an acceptable British usage. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/electee
[10] I’m less thrilled with the selections of the Today’s Game Era Committee. Harold Baines and Lee Smith were very good, not great.