It was epic.

Among the players were myself, Kyle Eliason, Kerry Smith, Aaron Gleeman, Ben Jacobs, some Minnesotans whose names I’ve forgotten (sorry), and a few other SABR members.

After about five minutes, some local kids joined us, and we had a great time playing with them.

I managed to go 2-for-3 with a homer and a single, but my inning on the “mound” was less than stellar.

It was one of the most fun things I’ve done in a long time. I think it reminded us of the fun that’s at the center of the game we all love. It’s what baseball is really about.

We had a small crowd of perhaps a dozen or two people gather, who really seemed to enjoy us running around and hollering at each other.

At one point, a 20-something girl ran up to me, and asked what we were doing. After I told her we were playing wiffle ball, she broke out in a big grin and exclaimed, “That’s awesome! I wish I could play!” Apparently she had a bus to catch, though, as she took off after a few more moments.

When we returned inside, some of the other SABR folks gathered in the lobby were really amused that we’d just played wiffle ball in the courtyard. Rob Neyer sounded like he wished he could have played in the game, too.

I hope it’s the start of a great tradition at SABR.

As it turns out, it’s really bad to start a count 0-1 if you’re a hitter. Duh, right?

Well, it’s worse to start an at-bat with a swinging strike than a called strike, which is in turn worse than fouling a ball off. The very worst situation is if you’re a lefty, facing a lefty, and miss on your first swing, you’re in trouble. Statistically, you’re likely to end the at bat with a hit only 18.6% of the time — a .186 batting average.

It’s all a little dense and numbers heavy, but when you get down to the essence of the thing — that strike one is not only very important, but it’s telling just how it happens — it’s an interesting study.

It’s similar to Sal Baxamusa’s article on the “memory” of a count, published in December of 2006 by The Hardball Times, but much more in depth.

— — —

The esteemed Pete Palmer and Dick Cramer set out to investigate that great ephemeral statistic: clutch hitting. It’s been almost impossible to nail down, but their new study comes closest.

So, what conclusions did they reach? Here is their summary, in their words:

Game situation has nothing to do with average batting performance.

The variation in in career “clutchiness” among the 897 players with >3000 BFP’s between 1957 and 2007 seems random.

David Ortiz and Mark Grace are tied for roughly 80th and 100th among the 897 players, despite their renown as clutch hitters.

Interesting stuff, although the myth of “clutchiness” isn’t dead yet.

— — —

The next presentation is from Seattle Times columnist Jeff Angus. He set out to take a look at how Bill James’s Game Score has aged over the past 20 years.

It turns out that Game Scores have changed very little over that time, and are an excellent indicator of a starter’s quality — on the surface.

His conclusion that you can use Game Score to analyze pitchers may be a bit too much, but he’s effectively shown that Game Score is a useful, telling tool for the average fan to make a determination as to the quality of a pitcher or a start.

I’m concerned that he’s taking an average of an average, and then running it through a simplifying formula that reduces it to an integer, therefore creating a stat that’s just too basic, and not very telling. Still, there seems to be some grain of truth buried in Game Score, and there’s definitely more to be looked into on the subject.

I’d like to see tons more data fed into his model, on a start by start basis for every starter and every season, and see how Game Score fares across time.

Interesting stuff, though.

— — —

The last presentation of the convention is by Matt Souders. He’s trying to analyze the circumstances surround run scoring. He’s assembled a matrix that takes into account multiple factors from park factor to defense to pitching to team offense. It’s all very thorough.

The problem I see is that by feeding so much data into it, he’s going to make accurate predictions of runs scored — but is it a prediction, or just a return of the run scoring data he plugged into it in the first place?

This brings up a problem I’ve been seeing with some statistical analysis in baseball. Since there’s no true way to independently test these variables outside of the game (i.e., measuring batting average in a lab, defining defensive range on a practice facility), you might just be running in circles.

If you’re using one factor to measure another, there’s no ground level or absolute measure. It’s all relative to itself, and any variance isn’t really significant. You’ll predict exactly what you put in.

It’s like using an unmarked stick to measure the width of a stream. The stream may be exactly three sticks wide — or the stick is one-third of a stream long. There’s no absolute baseline to compare anything to.

My concern is that by taking into account virtually every factor in the game, you’re just measuring it against itself — and you’ll get ridiculously high correlation numbers like the .9994 that’s cited in this presentation.

Then again, I don’t have a degree in statistics, so I could be wrong. I’m just using common sense here. If you’re a stats professor, please let me know if I’m off-base on this.

— — —

Except for the upcoming trivia contest — in which I’m sure I have no chance of advancing beyond the preliminaries — the convention is fairly well wrapped up for this year. I’ll be back later with a complete wrap.

That’s one of the best things about this convention. You’re certain to run into interesting people at every turn.

On to the panel discussion and Q&A with Shapiro and Veeck…

— — —

Mark Shapiro and Bill Veeck were even better than I expected. They were deeply insightful, really funny, very interesting, and well-spoken. It was easily one of the best speaking engagements I’ve even been lucky enough to hear. The 90 minutes flew by, and it was over well before I wished. If you have a chance to hear either of them speak, I’d recommend making the trip.

While I recorded the whole thing on my voice recorded (which I hope to share with you all sometime soon), here are some of the best quotes:

Mike Veeck, on his father’s influence and their relationship: “My father loved baseball so much he had nine kids. When the DH was introduced, my mom left town.”

Veeck, also on his father, Bill: “He was only scared of two things with that wooden leg: fire and termites.”

On the minor leagues and their role in baseball, Mark Shapiro said,  “There’s a duality to it. There’s a purity to it, those guys are playing for the dream. A lot of things can filter into it and make it more complex, but at the minor league level there’s a greater level of purity. That passion for the game is so prevalent in the minor league ballparks. From a business standpoint, those teams are essential, and they play a major role in how we develop and run our franchise.”

Mike Veeck, on the minors: “I’ve never seen a time when so many minor league operators, who have devoted their lives to the minors, have moved into major league front offices. We’re developing new fans, too. As prices get higher, the minors become a place that a mother and father can take their kids.”

Veeck, on independent baseball: “When we started in 1993, and reintroduced the idea of independent baseball, I went to my friends in minors league baseball, said well call me when you go out of business. More baseball is good for everyone.”

Veeck again, on promotions: “The vasectomy giveaway on father’s day probably wasn’t very smart…”

Shapiro, on reorganization of the minors: “I think you’d find a lot of support among GMs if you reorganized AAA into a sort of place for four-A players and roster fill.”

Shapiro believes that a salary cap won’t come to pass, but as more and more content is delivered via the internet, as opposed to traditional methods like television. TV revenue is distributed unequally, while internet revenue is split up between all 30 clubs evenly.

“After you get beyond seven or eight picks in the draft, the value drops significantly.” Shapiro said of the draft.

Shapiro believes that maple bats are an issue: “I think there’s a definite problem there with maple bats. We can’t just get rid of them, it’s a union issue. It’s pretty obvious that there are people in danger. The players say, ‘We don’t care,’, but there are more people in danger than just the players. Umpires, fans, coaches.”

Shaprio, on signing young players to extensions: “When you approach long-term deal with young players, there’s a shared risk. For the players, it’s about possibly leaving money on the table, and for the team, it’s about injury risk. We talk openly about that shared risk with the player.”

Veeck, on what Bill almost chose as his name: “My father wanted to name me McGillicuddy, because his hero — other than his father — was Cornelius McGillicuddy, Connie Mack. My mother though Michael would play better in the schoolyard.”

Shapiro and Veeck agree that it’s very important to get kids, women and minorities interested in the game. “The future of out game isn’t just engaging white 50-70 year old men.” says Shapiro.

Veeck says that he thinks, “you’ll see more and more cooperation between pro clubs and collegiate programs in the future.” Veeck has a partnership with a junior college in Normal, Illinois, where he helped them build a $10 million stadium at only a $3 million cost. I’d like to see pro teams fund the use of wood bats in college. It would be mutually beneficial, as it would reduce costs to colleges for bats, and it would allow pro teams to better evaluate hitters and pitchers, as there would be one less variable between pro and college baseball.

Shapiro believes that the medical side of the game is open to a competitive edge. That is, if you can keep the players you want on the field, you know your team much better, and can assemble the team you believe can win.

“I think any general manager has a list of 100 good no-signs.”, said Shapiro, when asked about transactions he’s glad didn’t go through or come to pass.

Veeck emphasized that when it all comes down to it, baseball is fun. It’s a game, and it should be treated with great dignity, but it’s important to remember that the reason we all came together in the first place is that we love this game, and that there’s something inherently fun in baseball.

Shapiro, on the “Old school vs.new school battle: “I’ve never understood it. Get all the schools. Bring together the subjective and the objective. It’s all about getting the best tools, and building the best framework to make decisions. Bring it all together.”

The documentary was extremely well done, and fascinating — even touching. The early cultural connections between Great Britain and the United States are laid bare, and it’s easy to see how much in common we have to this day, even though our respective sports, cricket and baseball, diverged long ago.

While it’s long been considered a myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839, the producers acknowledge that while believing that Doubleday is the father of the game is akin to a belief in Santa Claus — untrue, certainly, but an important cultural myth nonetheless.

The best aspect of the movie, beyond it’s wonderfully informative nature, is its accessibility. While a lot of the early history of the game can often be dry and somewhat “arcane,” as one SABR member noted, this is a very engaging, entertaining documentary.

As the credits rolled, the audience applauded loudly for three or four minutes. SABR is a pretty picky crowd, and can be notoriously traditionalist in their views, but the crowd loved this film.

I won’t spoil the conclusions and details of the documentary by giving away too much, but I can highly recommend viewing it. It’s apparently going to be available on MLB.com and iTunes.

After the screening, the producers and SABR contributors to the film sat down for a panel discussion on the origins of the game. It’s also going to be available on MLB.com, as it was taped.

Interestingly, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bill Bray was in attendance at the screening. Why? He’s a descendant of William Bray, the man whose 1755 diary plays a central role in the documentary.

— — —

I just ran into prolific baseball author Norman Macht in the lobby, and he jokingly asked why I was using a laptop instead of a typewriter. Little did he know, I do in fact own a typewriter and use it often. I told him that I bought an old Remington Quiet Riter a few years ago, and regularly use it to correspond with friends.

While the instantaneous nature of email communication is a wonderful tool, I still like the care it takes to sit down and type out a letter. I think it means a lot more to get a letter in the mail than an email. We had a nice little discussion about old typewriters, and I told him I buy my ribbons from Ribbons Unlimited. Maybe I can get a free ribbon for that plug…

— — —

Speaking of running into authors, it’s hard to avoid doing that here at the SABR convention. Not that you’d want to try avoiding them, anyway. They’re some of the most interesting people here.

I had dinner last night with University of Nebraska Press published authors Dan Levitt — the author of Paths to Glory and Ed Barrow — and Mark Armour, who is writing an upcoming biography of Joe Cronin.

I spoke with Armour at last year’s convention in St. Louis, when I mentioned to the Corvallis, Ore. based author that I enjoyed the Oregon State fans at the previous two College World Series in Omaha.

— — —

Last night marked just the seventh different MLB park I’ve been to — a number I’m working on increasing — when I attended the Reds vs. Indians matchup at Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field).

Rain delayed the beginning of the game by an hour, and would prove to influence the rest of my evening.

Just before the national anthem started playing, I got a phone call. Back home in Nebraska, an apparent tornado had hit my dad’s farm — the place I grew up — and had wreaked destruction. There was a tree through the roof, windows were shattered, the grain bins were flattened, the hay shed was destroyed, barns were missing roofs, every tree on the place was down, and there was a total loss of the corn and soybeans. Even the grass in the back pasture was uprooted, according to my brother.

It’s hard to get a phone call like that when you’re a thousand miles from home, and can’t rush back to help.

I’ll be home late Monday night, and won’t be able to get out there until Tuesday. I’m still trying to find out just where we stand, and what I can do to help. My remaining time in Cleveland is going to feel like a year, and not because of any supposed shortcomings of the city, the usual reason people claim to dislike Cleveland. In fact, I like the town, other than the difficulty I had in finding an open place to get a beer the other night.

— — —

Coming up this afternoon are some very interesting presentations:

• “How Valuable is Strike One?” by David W. Smith
• “Measuring the Effect of ‘Fog’ on Clutch Hitting” by Dick Cramer and Pete Palmer
• “Does ‘Game Score’ Still Work in Today’s High-Offense Game?” by Jeff Angus
• “Run Production in a Game-by-Game Context” by Matt Souders

First, though, there’s going to be what looks like a very interesting panel discussion with Cleveland Indians’ GM Mark Shapiro, and the one and only Mike Veeck, owner of the St. Paul Saints and a member of the most influential ownership family in baseball history.

Of interest to me is that they apparently went through Nebraska. According to presenter Yoichi Nagata’s map, they played in possibly Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha.

As you could probably guess, the Japanese team played the game in a slightly different fashion than their American counterparts. They would huddle up before the game, and occasionally during it if there was a tough situation on the field. It was customary for them to bow to the spectators as a group, and for each player to bow to the umpire before and after his at-bat.

While Nagata’s presentation was a little difficult at times to understand due to his heavy accent, it was excellent. His research was amazing, considering he had to go through over 100 local American newspapers to track down game results and pictures. He ended up unearthing over 80 complete box scores, a truly impressive feat.

— — —

I spoke with Nagata afterward, and found out just where and when the Giants played in Nebraska during that tour. I combined that with some of my own Nebraska baseball knowledge and research.

On June 3rd, the Giants played the Lincoln Links at Sherman Field in the Capitol City. The Links prevailed 3-1, although they finished the regular season in the Nebraska State League well under .500, at 50-64.

The next day, the Giants traveled to Omaha to take on the Omaha Packers, the Cardinals’ class A squad. The Western League team defeated them 6-4 at the 20th & Vinton ball park. Two weeks later, on June 25th, the Omaha team moved across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and became the Rails. They finished the season at 55-46, but the team folded on August 27th after going 33-31 in Iowa.

Emory’s biostatistics department put together a dense, thorough study of the collective effect of steroid abuse on performance in the “steroid era.”

It’s a very complete study, and seems to account for all factors involved.

The conclusions reached by Switchenko and the Emory team is that the average Runs Created per 27 outs for a player implicated in using steroids is about 10% above the average non-steroid using player.

Impressive study, and fascinating results. I’d love to see more data fed into their study, should it become available.

The audience questions were very thought-provoking, and Switchenko’s answers were throrough and authoritative.

All told, it was an excellent presentation, and the highest-scoring one I’ve yet judged.

— — —

Last night, some of my new friends and I set out to find a bar to grab a beer. After finding the first few closed — in the downtown entertainment district, no less — we walked into a place called the “Hairy Buffalo,” just a block from the ballpark.

After having one beer, and being forced to leave due to an early closing time, we walked down to the 4th Street area, which is supposedly the heart of the downtown scene in Cleveland.

We found everything to be closed. No one was around. There wasn’t even a hot dog vendor on a street corner.

Cleveland is the butt of a lot of jokes, and obviously there’s some seed of truth to the jokes. I was very surprised to see that there’s essentially nothing going on around Public Square in downtown Cleveland just after midnight on a Thursday summer night.

I’ve never been to a large city that was deader than Cleveland at night. Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, San Francisco, Omaha, Denver, Phoenix, Orlando, Albuquerque… all cities I’ve been to that are much more lively than Cleveland.

It’s only a couple nights, of course, but so far Cleveland isn’t impressing me much. Nice people, but the city is kind of… underwhelming.

Now I know what this cartoon is getting at…

The former Indians players that did make it were Joe Charboneau, Dave Burba, Kevin Rhomberg and Vern Fuller.

As is so often true, the first few questions asked were awkward and embarrassing. The first question dealt with Charboneau being attacked in Mexico City by a mental patient. The second was also for Charboneau, when someone asked him, in a very circuitous manner, if he could only open beer bottles with his eye socket, or if he could open a “bottle that had been stopped up with a cork, as opposed to a crown.”

I love these SABR guys, but sometimes I think that a lot of them should get out a little more.

— — —

The next question asked them what kind of manager they preferred, and used the example of Dusty Baker being a player’s manager, but not teaching good fundamentals. Their responses were far from insightful. Basically, the manager that writes your name in the lineup is your favorite one, and as long as he treats everyone on the roster equally, he’s good.

— — —

When Dave Burba was asked what life was like after baseball, he responded, simply, “Is anyone hiring?” Best comment yet.

Burba has been the best quote so far. About his trade to Cleveland: “I joined the team in Seattle, walked into the clubhouse, and thought, ‘Where am I going to fit in? They’ve got an All-Star at every position, and then there’s Dave Burba.’”

— — —

Vern Fuller, now the manager of the Radisson in downtown Cleveland, on preparing his hotel for players that stay there: “We’ve got a damage deposit, and make sure we have lots of beer on hand.” Plenty of laughter ensued.

— — —

Dave Burba, on the hardest worker he’s played with: “Alex Rodriguez. Great talent, but spent plenty of time studying the game. Took batting practice daily, had guys throwing him groundballs all the time, working on his game. It was refreshing to see a guy making that much money working so hard to earn it.”

— — —

As you might guess, there’s a lot of gushing to the local audience about how all the players loved playing here in Cleveland, even though the team was pretty poor for the better part of the last half-century. Dave Burba, who was a part of the Indians’ best teams in the mid-to-late 90s, is the only one who could enjoy his time on the field as well. Everyone agrees that for the most part, the Indians were just in a very tough division, and tried to be competitive.

— — —

Now the subject turns to the best and worst pitchers they faced. Charboneau doesn’t want to throw anyone under the bus. Burba starts talking about how he tried to be a better pitcher, and when he was in San Francisco, he tried to learn a changeup to improve himself. He went to the pitching coach, who basically told him to forget about it, and just throw fastballs.

Burba maintains that most of his problems were mental, and that he felt like he couldn’t get any help from his coaches. He felt like he was letting his teammates down, and was very frustrated.

— — —

Vern Fuller, on the best player he played with: “I’ll be honest with you. I played 40-something years ago, and I don’t remember a lot…”

— — —

Dave Burba, on his worst game: “It was 1993, and we needed to sweep the Dodgers to force a playoff with the Braves. A rookie started the game, didn’t last long, and I came in. I just threw more fuel on the fire, and I felt awful because I knew we weren’t going to win because of that.”
Kevin Rhomberg, on his best game: “I hit the ball, and I was thinking three the whole way. I was running to first, rounded second, and headed for third. The umpire tells me ‘Slow down, slow down, it’s a home run’ and I sprinted home and all 18 fans in the stadium gave me a standing ovation.” It was his only MLB home run, he says.

— — —

Kevin Rhomberg, on the most difficult pitcher he faced: “Mike Boddicker. That guy would throw you a 3-2 curveball, even to a punch-and-judy hitter like me. You just wouldn’t be expecting that.”

— — —

Joe Charboneau says that competing with Cito Gaston in spring training in 1980 was one of the better learning experiences he’s had. He says Gaston taught him a ton about playing the outfield, and was one of those veteran guys you love having around. Gaston, of course, went on to manage the Blue Jays to two World Series titles, and just regained his post as Toronto’s manager last week after John Gibbons was fired.

— — —

Everyone on the panel agrees with the opinion proposed by a SABR member — Bert Blyleven deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Kevin Rhomberg said that, “What does he have, 287 wins? What’s the ‘magic number,’, 300? C’mon, he deserves to be there. No question.”

There’s a lot of love for Jim Kaat, too. Everyone thinks he’s a Hall of Famer, and I agree. 283 career wins, and a ton of Gold Gloves gets you there, in my opinion.

— — —

All in all, it was a nice panel. Not terribly insightful or profound, but for a bunch of ex-ballplayers, it was a pretty interesting discussion. Not quite as good as last year’s St. Louis panel, but still good.

There were eight others there, from locations as diverse as Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois and New Jersey. Ok, well, those are all east of the Mississippi, but you get what I mean.

We talked about our backgrounds, our interest in the game, and what we’d like to do to be more a part of SABR. One of the issues we talked about was that the difficulty of joining conversations at the convention is compounded by our age. While we certainly don’t know as much as some of the more experienced members, we’re not ignorant by any means, yet it can be hard to overcome the percieved age/knowledge barrier.

Personally, I don’t have a terribly difficult time talking with the more traditional SABR members (read: retired 65-year-old white men), but I can certainly understand where the other guys are coming from. And don’t take my use of “guys” too literally, since one of our group was a young woman from New York — who has the privilege of working for MLB, in fact.

The most important thing about our gathering, though, was that we’re making a push to be more involved with SABR. We are, after all, quite literally the future of the organization.

We resolved to meet up again this weekend, and to keep in contact in the future so that we can help move SABR ahead with our own generation.

While the majority of the organization still relies on research tools like microfiche and hardbound statistical volumes, we’re the generation that uses computerized analysis and vast, instantaneous databases like Baseball-Reference’s Play Index — based on the wonderful, irreplaceable, best-thing-since-sliced-bread Retrosheet.

The quick, electronic sharing of data is the way of the world, and while that might sound obvious, it can be hard to move an organization like SABR into that era. While there are many people in power that are striving to not only reach that status, but to expand upon it, there is still much to be done.
If we can help bring SABR’s enormous wealth of information, experience and data into the modern era, and share this resource with other baseball enthusiasts in our generation, we’ll all benefit.

And you know what? I think we can do it.

— — —

On a related note, I just heard a couple of interesting items discussed in the business meeting. It seems that SABR might have a partnership with Baseball-Reference in the works. To bring together the fantastic power of BBRef and the trove of information SABR stores would be a huge stride in the right direction.

When BBRef brought the wonderful Retrosheet database together with their easy-to-use format to create the Play Index, it was arguably the greatest stride forward in bringing stats to the fans since box scores began being published in newspapers. If BBRef can take SABR’s massive, largely difficult-to-access data and make it as easy to sift through as that, we could see another huge improvement in the quality and accessibility of all things baseball.

SABR has photos and biographies of nearly every player to ever take part in a major-league game, historical stats for the majors and minors, home run data, and an endless line of other valuable research that just isn’t easy to get to for most. Bringing that information to the public would be pretty damn cool.

— — —

One more note: it was just announced that the 2010 SABR convention will be in Atlanta. Next year’s event is in Washington. I’m still hoping for one close to home, like Kansas City.

Until all the college baseball fans in Omaha start to join SABR, I don’t think it will ever get closer to Nebraska. A SABR convention in town at the same time as the College World Series — even though hotel rooms would be at a premium — would be pretty cool.

However, since the nearest SABR chapter is in KC — meaning I’ve never been to a chapter meeting, sadly — it’s probably not going to happen. I don’t know why there are virtually no SABR members in my home state. I’m one of only two Nebraskans at the convention… out of over 600. The other Nebraskan, I believe, is with the University of Nebraska Press. Considering the aforementioned lack of SABR support in the Cornhusker State, it’s oddly enough the official press of SABR.

I just got back from the Wade Park Oval here in Cleveland, where I had a chance to play in the vintage 1860 rules Base Ball game. I’ve got to say, it was a blast. A big thanks goes out to Ed Shuman, of the Canal Fulton Mules, for getting me into the lineup for the game.

And about that game?

First, it’s a pretty different game. The pitcher (or “hurler”) throws underhand to the batter, who stands on a line at home. None of the fielders have gloves, and a batted ball can be caught for an out on one bounce. I played two innings at third, and it’s difficult. You have to remain close to the bag — by rule — and it’s hard to knock down sharp grounders with no glove, especialy when the grass is a bit wet and the ball is slick.

At the plate, you’d think it’s easy to knock a ball a long way when it’s coming in slow and underhand, but the ball is soft and the fielders can catch it on the bounce. My first time up, I slammed a ball out to centerfield, but hit it a little high, and the fielder just snagged it on the bounce.

The second time I came to the plate, I didn’t make that mistake again. I turned on a chest-high offering and crushed it on a line to left-center. I was pretty proud of myself, as I stood on second with an RBI double. Apparently it was a pretty solid knock, because a couple of the guys who play vintage ball in a league told me so — and asked if I wanted to move to Ohio.

I wish there was a vintage team that played in my home state of Nebraska, because I could play this every day of the year. And twice on Sundays.

Wait a minute… after a quick Googling, I’ve discovered that there is, indeed, a vintage Base Ball team that plays reasonably near me, at the Stuhr Museum. I’m going to have to get in contact with the folks that run the team, and find out if they’re looking for an extra player.

First off, that’s ridiculous.

Secondly, I’ll show you why.

Here’s what we know. Barry Bonds cannot play the outfield, but can probably still hit fairly well. That eliminates the 16 National League teams from his potential suitors.

So, what American League teams could use a DH? Very few. Established hitters such as Travis Hafner, Gary Sheffield, David Ortiz, Jim Thome and Jason Giambi are unlikely to be unseated by Bonds. Struggling teams like Kansas City and Seattle are unlikely to add salary. Only an AL team, in contention, without a good DH, would consider adding Bonds.

So we’re looking at perhaps Minnesota as the only team without a DH already producing, and still in reasonable contention. Would the Twins add a player who is known as a bad clubhouse guy? Would Bonds even entertain signing with them for the league minimum? Unlikely.

The whole idea that Bonds is being “blacklisted” is pretty weak. Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa couldn’t get jobs as DHs, and they are both lesser injury risks and have worked as a DH in the recent past. Plus, they aren’t clubhouse trouble, as Bonds is. Yet, I don’t hear their names bandied about as being black-balled…

So I say this: Let it go. Stop defending Bonds. There’s no conspiracy against him, and he’s not worth the effort.