The Outsiders - Shortstop
Shortstop is one of the positions which has the largest representation in the Hall of Fame. As a result my ranking of the Top 10 Shortstops Not In The Hall is filled with guys that had exceptional careers but there are no real egregious omissions. My list starts with a player who through no fault of his own wound up on the wrong side of history.
Jim Fregosi (113 OPS+, 48.7 bWAR)
Bert Campaneris (89, 53.0)
Dave Concepcion (88, 40.1)
Alvin Dark (98, 43.9)
Maury Wills (88, 39.6)
Nomar Garciaparra (124, 44.3)
Tony Fernandez (101, 45.3)
Jose Reyes (103, 37.4)
Jay Bell (101, 37.1)
Miguel Tejada (108, 47.1)
It’s easy to forget how good of a player Jim Fregosi was. He was a 6-time All-Star, and those were legitimate selections, not simple fulfillment of the requirement that each team needs to have a player at the game. As proof he received MVP votes in 8 consecutive seasons. Nowadays he’s most remembered for the fact that the Mets traded Nolan Ryan in exchange for Fregosi. Ouch. Bert Campaneris was the leadoff man and catalyst for the great 1970’s Oakland dynasty. He led the AL in steals 6 times and played into his early forties.
Dave Concepcion was a key component of a 1970’s dynasty himself; The Big Red Machine. His innovation was that he was one of the first players to realize that when making a throw from deep in the hole while playing on artificial turf, the ball reaches the first baseman faster if the shortstop bounces the throw. Alvin Dark was the Rookie of the Year in 1948 and remained one of the top shortstops in the National League for nearly a decade.
Maury Wills was not the first player to reintroduce speed as a weapon - the Luis Aparicio era Go Go Sox won the AL pennant in Wills’ rookie year - but Wills became the first man to steal more than 100 bases in a single season since Ty Cobb more than 50 years earlier. Nomar Garciaparra was on an obvious HOF track before injuries took their toll; he was in serious decline by the time he turned 30 but before the fall he finished in the top 10 of the MVP vote 5 separate times.
Tony Fernandez was the very definition of smooth; he had a perfect swing and knew how to play those alleys in Toronto, racking up doubles galore. In an odd quirk, he had a strange inability to play in New York. He played for both the Mets & Yankees and had awful seasons at each stop. Jose Reyes was a one-and-done on last year’s ballot, making him eligible for this list. There was a time when the single most exciting play in the game was a Reyes line drive that would split the outfielders, as they desperately tried to cut off the ball while Reyes stretched it out to a triple. He led the league in triple 4 times and steals thrice.
Jay Bell was exactly the type of glue player that every winning team needs to have. He was nowhere close to the most important reason why Pittsburgh & Arizona both became winning teams soon after he joined them, but he always seemed to be in the middle of the action. Miguel Tejada won an MVP award, but I always felt he was just a slight level below the Big 3 AL shortstops who were his contemporaries. He was a productive hitter, but his defense was lacking.
That leaves the outfield. Next time I’ll look at the top 10 left fielders. Needless to say, the obvious #1 choice comes with his share of controversy.
Classic SNL Recap - Season 11 Finale
The best thing I can say about the closing episode of season 11 is that it was a little better than the other two that I sampled, but that’s an awfully low bar to set. There were 2 separate hosts this week - Anjelica Huston & Billy Martin. It’s not unheard of for two people to share hosting duties, but this is a very random coupling. I would hope it was addressed in the monologue, but that portion of the show is one of the segments that was cut out of the Peacock stream.
Also cut was the week’s appearance of Father Guido Sarducci. He wasn’t the only returning champ of the week, however. Making a triumphant revisit to Weekend Update this week was Al Franken, stopping by to provide an update on what he had branded 6 years earlier as The Al Franken Decade.
The highlight of the week was a promo for an awards show entitled The People’s Second Choice Awards. It promised appearances from many famous second bananas - Phillip Michael Thomas, Joyce DeWitt, a tribute to Bud Abbott, etc. The show was hosted by Ed McMahon, and we got to briefly see Randy Quaid’s McMahon impersonation. It was passable, but no need to worry. Phil Hartman’s debut, which would eventually come with his own pitch perfect McMahon, was imminent.
Most of the cast was let go after this episode, one of whom was Robert Downey Jr. He didn’t make much of an impression in the episodes I watched. This week he appeared in a sketch with Nora Dunn titled Actors On Film, which consisted of the two bitchily commenting on current movies. He bombed on SNL, but things turned out alright for Downey. Same deal with Joan Cusack. In contrast to Downey, her talent was starting to show itself. Had she stuck around she could have had a Vanessa Bayer type run on SNL.
As for the hosts, there was little for them to do, but Huston made the most of what she was given. She portrayed her Prizzi’s Honor character in a commercial for a line of greeting cards targeted for the mafia. The closest thing Martin had to a spotlight came in the final sketch. Cusack portrayed a woman talking to her friend Danitra Vance about a special someone who has improved her life. The speech made it sound like she was talking about Jesus, but it was soon revealed that it was Colonel Sanders, portrayed by Martin. He blew his lines, but that was part of the premise. When Cusack called him out on that, he apologized and said that he had been drinking. Lorne Michaels then came on stage to fire him.
So that’s it for season 11, one that is best forgotten. The future of the show was very much in doubt. In the end, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, and Dennis Miller were the only 3 to return for season 12. When assembling the new cast, Lorne chose wisely. The show came back spectacularly, with some of the most beloved names in show history joining the team. Next time I’ll take a look at the season premiere, hosted by Sigourney Weaver.
4 New Plaques Up On The Wall
The Hall Of Fame induction took place on Sunday, and Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, Jim Leyland, and Joe Mauer all finally got to celebrate their special day. 48 returning HOF members sat behind them on the podium, and it was great to see them all. There were 2 highlights of the ceremony for me. As Beltre was preparing to make his speech, David Ortiz quietly lurked behind. He then snuck up & touched Beltre’s head, much to his chagrin. That was an inevitable prank, but his reaction was priceless. At this point it’s reasonable to ask if head touching still makes Beltre that angry, or if he plays up that slow burn for effect. Leyland told a classic dad joke. He said that he asked his wife if she could have imagined this day in her wildest dreams. “Honey, you don’t appear in my wildest dreams.” Rim shot. It’s an old joke, but Leyland is 79. I’ll allow.
It’s never too early to look ahead to next year. Ichiro Suzuki is the most obvious choice; if he’s not elected unanimously, it will be very close. After him, who else? Will Billy Wagner gain the few votes he needs in his final year on the ballot? Will CC Sabathia join Ichiro as a first year inductee? Will Andruw Jones and/or Carlos Beltran continue to gain support and remain on track to eventually make it in?
Another Break
There’s an unexpected sport that is also briefly shutting down during the Olympics. NASCAR is going dark for the next two weeks; obviously not because motorsports are part of the Olympic program but because the Games are filling up every programming slot across the entire NBC family of networks. There is no outlet to air the races, so everyone is taking a short hiatus. (IndyCar is also on break; but in a normal season it’s not unusual for there to be a few random off weeks in the schedule.)
Once everyone catches their breath, it will be a mad scramble towards the playoffs. There are 4 races to go and 12 of the 16 playoff berths have been claimed. In addition, unless something extraordinary happens Martin Truex Jr. is in solid position to claim the 13th slot. As of 2 weeks ago, it appeared that the point difference between 16th & 17th place was so large that it was all but impossible to make up. That’s quickly changed; Ross Chastain has had 2 consecutive poor results and Bubba Wallace has had 2 strong ones, so Chastain’s lead has been cut to a mere 7 points. Plus, if a driver currently outside the top 16 wins one of those final four races he will steal a spot and scramble things even further. It should make for an extremely tense four weeks for those currently on the bubble or on the outside looking in.
Some Notable Passings
Duke Fakir passed away earlier this week at the age of 88. As the tenor voice in the quartet, he was the last surviving member of The Four Tops. The Tops were formed in 1953, and until Lawrence Payton’s death in 1997 the original lineup remained together all those years, which is a remarkable testament to how well-oiled that machine was. Fakir’s death serves as a stark reminder that very few of the first generation Motown legends are still with us.
We also lost veteran actor James B. Sikking last week. If you recognize the name the role that you identify him with depends on how old you are. Some remember him as Doogie Howser’s father. I think of him as Lt. Howard Hunter on Hill Street Blues. The gung-ho commander of the precinct’s SWAT team, he could have easily been a caricature with his signature pipe and ever present rifle. He skillfully found the dimensions within the character without automatically defaulting to the comic relief with which he was intended to provide. Sikking had mentioned that he based a lot of Hunter’s affectations from an officer he served under when he was in the military. Fair enough, but to me he always seemed like a Bizarro World version of Hunter S. Thompson. Sikking was 90.
Yesterday we also learned that John Mayall has died at the age of 90. A legendary figure in the British blues scene, his bands almost served as a finishing school for many of the major 1960’s rockers from the UK. It was his work with Mayall that inspired the famous “Clapton is God” graffiti that appeared in London. John Mayall was recently voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Influence category. His induction later this year will now be a posthumous one.
Homicide: Life On The Internet
In what was surely the biggest & most significant news item of the past week, we finally learned when & where Homicide: Life On the Street will make its long-awaited streaming debut. Being that it originally aired on NBC it’s no surprise that Peacock will be its streaming home. The 7 seasons, plus the reunion movie that wrapped up the series, begin streaming on August 19. I cannot stress enough how great this show was, and how spectacular every single actor was in their roles. Bravo to all who made this happen.
50 Years Ago - Diamond Dogs
As a kid when I saw print ads that showed the cover art for Diamond Dogs It. Freaked. Me. Out. David Bowie was depicted as some sort of half man half dog hybrid which looked even more nightmarish than something that Dr. Moreau could have created. That image was fitting, as the album painted a portrait of a frightening dystopia. It was somewhat of an inconsistent album, but it also contain some of the biggest bangers in the Bowie catalog.
The album was originally conceived as a concept album based on 1984, but George Orwell’s widow refused to grant permission. As a result the song 1984 only vaguely refers to the themes of the novel. There are no explicit references, but the thought of an undefined “they” splitting your little cranium and filling it full of air sounds like a scenario that one can find themselves in whilst being interrogated by the Ministry Of Truth. In addition, being free from the constraints of the Orwell novel allowed Bowie to crank up the apocalyptic vibe even further, or as stated in the opening track, “this ain’t rock & roll, this is genocide!”
The album also served as a transition for Bowie, as he was no longer working with the Spiders From Mars as his backing band. Bowie himself provided some impressive guitar work, closely approximating the classic Mick Ronson sound. The riff in the title track absolutely rocks, and the riff in Rebel Rebel is arguably his most recognizable one.
As a concept album, I’m not sure if the story fully holds together, and it is also at times too intentionally abrasive. That reference to genocide in the opening track feels a bit too edgy for edginess’s sake, and the repetitive chanting in the closing song makes one want to quickly reach for the skip button. Regardless, prime David Bowie is still great David Bowie, and any album which contains Sweet Thing, Rebel Rebel, and 1984 is alright. There were few if any musicians in rock history more inherently exciting than David Bowie. You never knew in which direction he would turn from album to album. He might have been pessimistic about mankind’s future, but there was certainly a lot of great music to come in his own future.
Closing Laughs
Shoutout to soon to be former Senator Bob Menendez. The guy is so comically corrupt that it’s almost entertaining. Gold bars? He might as well carry around one of those cartoony money-filled bags that have dollar signs on them. Thanks as always to all for reading; see you again on Friday.
