Today, December 10th is BBA Day. Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day.I have been a proud member since March 2010, so this is my first BBA Day as a member. Actually I think it the first BBA Day period.
So what does BBA Day mean? Well, it is a day to advertise our network, reflect on why we are members and encourage more to join the Alliance.
My first introduction to the BBA came from C70 at the Bat, a Cardinals blog. I was trying to get a take on how Jaime Garcia was going to factor into the Red Birds plans for 2010 and found that website after a bit of googling. While reading the blog I noticed that C70 was a member of the BBA. Actually it turns out he is the founder.
I sent him an email asking how I could join. I thought there would be a long approval process and some form of an interview, but there wasn’t. I was approved automatically and could remain a member as long as I participated in the BBA Awards voting. Turns out that is the best part.
How often have you complained about how the BBWA voted for MVP or Cy Young or for the Hall of Fame? For me it’s pretty constant. Well, with the BBA WE GET TO VOTE!!! We aren’t actually placing players in Cooperstown, but it’s a real voting process with votes coming from people who cover the game they love and are generally doing it for free.
Every year I make my picks for the All Star Game and put a lot of time into my selections. This year I was able to vote as part of a group to choose the starting line-up. Ditto that with postseason awards. I voted with the group for the Walter Johnson Award for top pitcher, the Goose Gossage Award for top reliever and the Stan Musial Award for best overall player.
Presently we are voting for Hall of Fame suggestions. I just voted and as soon as the ballot came up on my screen I was hit by a rush, some goose bumps, some anxiety and a generally crazy awesome feeling.
As a baseball fan, a sentimentalist and a writer, so many times I have written about so and so belongs in the Hall of Fame.
When I clicked on the ballot I was greeted by many of these names and instantly got a taste of the pressure that the Baseball Writers must feel when they get their ballot.I pasted all of the names from the ballot below; it is quite a list…
Alomar, Roberto, Baerga, Carlos, Bagwell, Jeff, Baines, Harold, Boone, Bret, Brown, Kevin, Blyleven, Bert, Franco, John, Gonzalez, Juan, Grissom, Marquis, Higginson,Bobby, Johnson, Charles, Larkin, Barry, Leiter, Al, Martinez, Edgar, Martinez, Tino, Mattingly, Don, McGriff, Fred, McGwire, Mark, Mondesi, Raul,Morris, Jack, Murphy, Dale, Olerud, John,Palmerio, Rafael, Parker, Dave, Raines, Tim, Rueter, Kirk, Santiago, Benito, Smith, Lee, Surhoff, B.J., Trammell, Alan and Larry Walker.
Wow. That is a long list of names, some pretty big names, and some pretty HUGE numbers. The rules for BBA Hall of Fame Suggestion Voting state that you can vote for up to, but no more than 10 players. I could have picked 10 names but I didn’t. Take away Kirk Rueter, Bobby Higginson and Kevin Brown and you could make a case for nearly every one of these guys. I voted for 5. Bert Blyleven was a no-brainer and that was the first name I checked. I scanned through the list and on the next time through I selected Barry Larkin and Jeff Bagwell.
Those 2 aren’t really no-brainers, but I think they are legit Hall of Famers. Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro and Larry Walker have Bagwell-like numbers, and I came close to checking Larry Walker, but I couldn’t this time. My third time through the list I came close to voting for Harold Baines, Dave Parker, Jack Morris and Lee Smith, but resisted for some reason. The last 2 I voted for were Tim Raines and Fred McGriff. I couldn’t think of a reason not to vote for those 5, the other players, well, I just couldn’t come up with enough reasons TO vote for them. Regardless of whether a player used steroids or not, the stats produced by steroid era players have to be taken with a grain of salt and it isn’t easy picking and choosing the best of the best from that time. 
It also makes the numbers put up by Dave Parker, Dale Murphy and Harold Baines that much more impressive… For my vote Bags and Larkin got extra credit for team loyalty. I thought long and hard about Allen Trammell for that same reason.BBA Hall of Fame voting stays open till December 28th. I believe if you join now you could still vote for the HOF Suggestion.
I hope that everyone has a Happy BBA Day!!! I am VERY happy that I joined before last season. I was quiet with my baseball writing, but that is because I didn’t have much to complain about – my team had a GREAT regular season. This year I already have lots to gripe about, so you can look forward to hearing my voice much more this year.
I hope that some of you writers out there consider joining the BBA today and for the upcoming baseball season. It is a GREAT network of baseball bloggers. I have made friends and contacts that I value and it provides great exposure for your blog.Thanks for reading! Oh, feel free to agree or disagree with my picks for the Hall. I am ready! Oh, speaking of ready… What are you waiting for? Go check out the BBA website and see if its something you would like to be a part of… Oh, as evidenced by my choice of images - the BBA WELCOMES baseball writers who blog about baseball cards... Go Rays! Troll out.
This summer one of my life goals came true and it actually relates to my garage. I got a pool table. We had one in the basement of my childhood home. As an “adult” I had always dreamed of having one. I am not a “pool shark” or anything. Actually I am pretty horrible at the game, but I enjoy playing it. As I have gotten older I have been less interested in spending time in bars, but I still like to shoot pool. Anyway, this summer I found one cheap. Life goal achieved! I think I have used once since I got it, but I still love it. Anyway, when I got it I had a 3-car-garage worth of junk in my garage. I was already using one bay for the studio slash practice space, but when the pool table moved in everything was crammed into the door less area. I probably should have gone through it and got rid of most of it, but a pool table was on its way and I didn’t have time to be sensible. Anyway, while I was searching for tools and car fixing stuff today I had to dig and dig through and under various boxes of crap. There were mountains of old magazines and newspapers that I am sure I will read SOMEDAY. I knocked over one of those mountains and some cards spilled out of an old Sports Illustrated magazine. 
They were Drake’s box panel cards, two of them, from 1986. Where there is smoke there is fire and where there are two Drake’s panels, there are probably more, but time wasn’t on my side today. I grabbed these two with me before heading to work. Back in 1986 I was a full-fledged baseball card addict. Back then your main options for getting your fix were Topps, Donruss and Fleer. That was it. There weren’t any short prints either so it was actually possible to finish a set and in 1986 I finished all 3 of them pretty quickly and I needed a fix. I wasn’t a junk food kid and I didn’t live in a junk food house. Coffee cakes occasionally found their way to my house on a special occasion, but Ring Dings and Yodels were never in my house. Ever. I was against all odds, but I really wanted the cards that lived on these boxes of snack cakes. I devised a plan. I scrounged up about 10 bucks to the store and came away with 4 boxes of assorted snake cakes. I brought said snack cakes home and carefully freed them from their boxes and put them into a Tupperware container. 
I gave the empty boxes to my Mom to take with her to work where they had a really sharp paper cutter. The Tupperware containing the snacks went to school with me. I sold them for 50 cents a pop and sold out by lunch time and ended up with a pretty decent profit. The profits were reinvested into more boxes. This went on until I finished the 37 card set. Actually it went on until the store stopped selling boxes with cards on them, but I did manage to finish the set and still came away with some extra money, too. I think I ended up eating a Yodel at some point, but I wasn’t too impressed. That story might not have been from 1986, actually it was probably 1983 or ’84, but the cards I found today were from 1986. There are two panels here for you viewing pleasure. A two-card panel showing hitters Tim Raines and George Brett-who were both coming off of spectacular years in 1985 and the other was a 3-card-panel showing off Doc Gooden ( 24-4 1.53), Tom Browning (20-9) and Fernando Valenzuela (17-10). Seeing these really brought me back and I just had to share. I can’t believe these survived this long and I wonder how many more panels I might have. 
My 37-card set was trimmed down to individual cards and put in a binder, but I left my dupes in panels for more trading opportunities. Speaking of which, these are out there for the first person to claim them. Oh and the hitters card isn’t actually as off-center as the scanner indicates. I haven't seen 
