Goalie Masks.... Past and Present

The 5 All-Time Greats

It is the opinion of this publication, and hundreds of other journalists out there, that these 5 players are the greatest of all time.

In no particular order,

Lou Gehrig

Seasons 17
Games 2164

AB 8001

Runs 1888

Hits 2721

HR 493

RBI 1995

BB 1508

SO 790

BA .340

OBP .447

SLG .632

Key Stat: 8001 At bats, only 790 Strikeouts, and 1508 walks. 9.8% of the time he struck out. Compared to Barry Bonds who strikes out 15% of the time, Reggie Jackson 26%, Ken Griffey Jr 18%.

Babe Ruth

Seasons 22

Games 2503

AB 8398

Runs 2174

Hits 2873

HR 714

RBI 2217

BB 2062

SO 1330

BA .342

OBP .474

SLG .690

Key Stat: Obviously Home Runs. Awe at the amount of walks, a .342 BA as a power hitter, and .474 OBP. Remember, these are CAREER stats. But get this, The Sultan of Swat averaged a home run every 8.5 at bats.

Mickey Mantle

Seasons 18

Games 2401

At Bats 8102

Runs 1677

Hits 2415

HR 536

RBI 1509

BB 1733

SO 1710

BA .298

OBP .421

SLG .557

Key Stat: For every 6.5 at bats, the Mick hit a home run. It is the belief of this publication that Mickey is the greatest of all time. Which is where this argument usually begins. A below .300 avg in the hall. If Mickey wasn't drunk 90% of the time, and was healthy, we believe it would be his records being broken, not the Babes.

Willie Mays

Seasons 22

Games 2992

At Bats 10881

Runs 2062

Hits 3283

HR 660

RBI 1903

SB 338

BB 1464
SO 1526

BA .302

OBP .384

SLG .557

Key Stat: Not listed. The 'Say Hey' Kid had an incredible fielding percentage of .981. Compare it to these three men known for their defense; The Wizard, Ozzie Smith .978, Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr. .977 and 12 time gold glover Roberto Clemente with .972. Players that played with Willie said you'd never see him dive for a ball, cause he'd already be under it.

Ty Cobb

Seasons 24

Games 3035

At Bats 11434

Runs 2246

Hits 4189

Doubles 724

Triples 295

HR 117

RBI 1937

SB 892

BB 1249

SO 357

BA .366

OBP .433

SLG .512

Key Stat: All of them. I added a few stats to Cobb's list because he was good at everything. A few things I will point out though. Cobb's numbers, as I have said before, set the standard for the hall. Both him and Ruth were in the first class inducted into the hall. Also, Cobb only has 117 HR in his career. Rumour has it, the press told him he couldn't hit home runs. That day he went out and hit three, just to show he could, but Cobb repeatedly said that he hit for average. One more thing, 357 strikeouts in 24 seasons. Lets put that into perspective. The most strikeouts in one season by a hitter is Adam Dunn with 195, and Bonds sits at 3rd on the list with 189. Go back... 357 over 24 seasons, Barry Bonds, 189 in ONE.

These players are listed in no particular order, but it is to the belief of this publication that if Mickey Mantle played a full and healthy career, he would be the greatest of all time. Furthermore, this board believes, healthy or not, there has never been a greater player than Mr. Ty Cobb.

Please feel free to make an argument for a player you believe should be on this list, or someone that should not be listed here.

2007 All-Star Game

The 2007 All-Star game, as opposed to the last few years, was both dramatic and exciting. An emotional crowd to honour one of the all-time greats - Willie Mays. A well deserved honour, for he, in my opinion is one of the 5 greatest. Which has always been a debate. And I will debate those 5 on a future post. For today I dedicate the post to this years All-Star game. The American League, using it's power, and relying on the home run to win this years mid-summer classic. There was also a bit of history that was made. Ichiro Suzuki hit the first ever All-Star, inside-the-park Home Run. Here's a good trivia question for the future, who did Ichiro hit it off of?

All in all, it was a surprisingly exciting game to watch. Now only if the Bluejays could win some games and maybe we'll be able to take advantage of home field advantage.

Looks can be deceiving...

Straight as an arrow, and this is what she does now? No, I've never done anything of the sort. What does she appear to be holding?

Not TOO far off....

My predicition for Prince was way off... but my hometown hero did great. Props to Alex for getting probably a little more recognition then he thought he was gonna get. All the way till the final round no one picked Rios. Shame on you ESPN.

Congrats goes to Vladdy for putting on a show. 503 feet - WoW

HR's, MVP's and more HR's

Too hard... not to talk about baseball, especially at this time of year.

Three Topics: Career HR's, Homerun Derby, Early MVP predictions.

Career HR's

As of late, when you watch the baseball highlights your hearing how many career homeruns a guy has hit, everytime he jacks one. Especially when A-rod, Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. hit one.

It's pretty cool to see someone reach 500, and 600 homeruns, but when they are 20 away from 600, who cares? This whole Barry Bonds HR chase has gotten out of control. Yes I think A-Rod will most likely break the record that Bonds set, but not soon.... Are we gonna hear how many homeruns A-rod has in his career everytime he jacks one? I don't care. You can tell me that it's his 30th this season. That's fine. But for his career? Too far. When they reach a milestone like 600 or 500, thats fine, but until they get close - shhhhhh. The only chase thats worth the hype is the Bonds chase. And it's too bad that Griffey didn't have a healthy career, cause out of all the big power hitters that have a chance at Aaron's/Bonds soon to be record, it's Griffey Jr. that I wish could hold the record. He's got a sweeter swing, a competitve attitude, and seems like a good guy.

Homerun Derby

Although I will be cheering for my hometown favourite:

I think Cecil's son is going to win it.

Early Favourites for MVP:

AL: Justin Morneau

Yes, a repeat. I'm not picking him cause he's Canadian, but no one has been more valuable to their team than Morneau. The only exception may be Guerrero on the Angels. Morneau, at the end of the first half is 3rd in RBI's and 2nd in Home Runs, with a modest .295 BA - which is sure to rise in the 2nd half. And you can't say A-rod here, cause what has done for the Yankee's? He may have won a few games for them with timely hitting, but is he THAT valuable to them? If he was, and all the other stars on that team are, why are they where they are in the standings? Hence my pick for back-to-back MVP's - Mr. Justin Morneau

NL: Matt Holliday

Got to be Matt Holliday. Just look at his stats, and thats enough said. And don't give me that Coors Field bullshit - he's got good numbers period.

BA .341 (good for 2nd - 1pt behind 1st place)

RBI 69 (good for 3rd)

Hits 122 (1st)

Doubles 30 (3rd)

HR's 15 (tied for 8th)

numbers... nuff said.

Russell Peters, All Roads lead to Brampton

http://

God bless you Russell Peters. 15,000 people, two nights in a row, ACC Toronto. F'n hilarious. All new material too! With of course, the classic... 'somebody gonna get a hurt real bad'. If you haven't heard him yet, check out this clip - it's probably one of his best bits. A comedian not as harsh or political as the racy Chris Rock, but pokes fun at all the racial stereotypes. To quote the Toronto Star, 'it was as though the audience was just waiting for him to make fun of their ethnic group next.'

Almost two hours of laughter. Welcome Home Russ. "All roads lead to Brampton"

Toronto Transportation System

Driving in this morning (June 12, 2007), there was a huge fire at a recycling plant alongside the 407 toll highway in Brampton. From the west-end of the GTA, thousands of commuter's got back-logged on the alternate route of the 401. Well, today at least, the 401 was playing as the alternate. This post comes in light of our transportation system here in Southern Ontario, and surrounding the GTA. As a West-end resident, my daily commute to Mississauga (just west of Toronto), has increasingly got worse. What normally would be a 15 minute drive on a Sunday, turns out to be 45 minutes to an hour - at best - during the week. With the growing traffic, the growing suburbs and the growing number of cars, why is the government not making it more accessible for commuters? I would take the GO train in, but there isn't a stop even close to where I work. Even with a bus transfer, I am looking at about the same amount of time for my commute. So why would I start using the GO train? I'm sure the majority of workers in the GTA travel right into downtown, but there is a large core of people that work in industrial areas of Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville (yes Oakville), Markham, Pickering, Oshawa and Newmarket. Where is the transit for these people? Also, a lot of these jobs have higher turnover rates - especially in manufacturing - and many workers are being forced to move closer to their jobs just so they can keep them - rather than make a two hour commute from west-end to east-end or vice-versa.

I was talking to a few people about this, and they said there are lots of places in North America with this problem, just look at LA. Thing is, LA could do a lot better with ground rail, but that's about it, they can't build a subway system because the lay of their land with all the faults that lay beneath them. But whats with Toronto? We have a subway system, but who does that serve? Unless you live right on the line, or relatively close, your fucked. 3 stinky buses, and two transfers later, you finally made it to the subway line. Then probably more transfers once you get to your subway stop.

Now I've been to London, England in the last few years, and their subway and train system is disgusting (as in good). You can get to virtually any point in the city via subway or rail connection (including the manufacturing belts). Granted the cars are packed, but isn't that what you want? More affordable, faster and cleaner for the people of your city. Yes, London is a lot older than Toronto, larger, and has had that much more time to build their subway system, but why can't Toronto start to at least plan this sort of infrastructure?

The money? How much taxes do we pay a year? How many more people are moving out of the city into new homes being built in new and growing suburbs like Milton and Whitby. New houses = more money via taxes.

In light of the horrible fire that happened this morning, and the traffic that it created, the city and the province has to take a good hard look at our transportation system. Expand the subway lines, make more of them, and when you start getting out to the suburbs, add some more connecting rail lines. It should be possible for people in the Kitchener/Waterloo area and Oshawa/Whitby area to easily, and quickly commute to either end of the city.

Recycling Plant Fire = Commuter Nightmare

London Tube Map

The Intricate Toronto Subway System

f o c h e s p o r t s: What Does Barry Bonds Breaking Hank Aaron's Record Mean to You - Austin LaRoche's Response

f o c h e s p o r t s: What Does Barry Bonds Breaking Hank Aaron's Record Mean to You - Austin LaRoche's Response

It's a numbers game

So the controversey continues....

Should Barry Bonds be elected into the Hall of Fame?

I'm not going to argue that he's a cheater. I'm not going to argue that he shouldn't be inducted because of steroids. And I am not going to argue he shouldn't be inducted because he's a bit of an asshole.... ok ok... he's severely mis-understood.

My arguement here is going to be by comparison, and one very good question.

If Ty Cobb finished his career this year, would he be inducted into the Hall of Fame? OF COURSE he would right? His numbers are disgusting. In fact, he's one of the originals, one of the reasons the Hall of Fame was built. He was, as they say, a trend setter. He was one of those players that set the standard of who should be considered Hall of Fame worthy.

Has anyone seen the movie Cobb? Or read his autobiography? He was a prick. And everyone knew he was a prick. But could he ever play baseball.

Hence, lies my arguement. I do not think that Ty Cobb would be inducted into the Hall of Fame if he was to retire this year with the same numbers he retired with years ago. Why? Cause he was a jerk. It would be seen as un-ethical. That he achieved those numbers by cheating - not by taking steroids, but abusing the beautiful game of baseball. Starting fights, jamming his spikes into second baseman, etc etc. Look at Pete Rose. I've been to the Hall of Fame, and the only place that Mr. Rose exists in there, is under the Career Hits list.... at number one..... 4256. Exactly 1277 hits more then the closest active player - Craig Biggio. He's not in the hall because of gambling. If he played in Ty Cobb's time, guess who else would be in the Hall of Fame. Guess who else would be in the hall if they were players at Cobb's time?

The Numbers don't lie - if they are jerk's, liars, cheaters or not.

Career Numbers

Games Hits HR RBI AVG SLG OBP

Ty Cobb 3035 4189 117 1937 .366 .512 .433
Pete Rose 3562 4256 160 1314 .303 .409 .375
Babe Ruth 2503 2873 714 2217 .342 .690 .474
Barry Bonds 2913 2880 746 1957 .298 .608 .444

The numbers don't lie. Bonds has played fewer games than Cobb and Rose, and is only a few points below Rose (the Career Hits Leader) in batting Average.

I think, regardless of who they are, what they've done, and if they've cheated or not, if you've produced, and they let you continue to play ball, then you belong in the Hall. If Ruth played today, he might even be questioned. All the times he's probably been caught drunk driving? He'd be in Jail. When he played, the police would bring him home!

All I'm trying to say is, all of these players broke the rules. If Cobb and Ruth are there, then Bonds and Rose belong as well.

Like I said, the numbers don't lie.

If your name was in the dictionary, what would it mean?

Ryan : A person with a sixth sense for detecting the presence of goblins

Damn straight, I've never had a problem with goblins yet.

http://www.quizgalaxy.com/quiz_83.html

Roger Clemens a yankee....

Who does this guy think he is? Joe DiMaggio?
Sheesh... how lame is this video? I want to throw up.