Blog Archives

Mets All-Time Top 10 by WAR

AP

AP

This week’s list is all about WAR or Wins Above Replacement. This is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic.

There are a bunch of baseball fans who hate sabermetrics, but I really dig WAR and it lends itself to great conversations.

The Miracle Mets of 69, the World Series team of 1986, the 2000 Mets and the 2015 club that lost World Series, who on this list makes that?

For a franchise that has been around for 53 years going 54, they have placed just 2 members into the Baseball Hall Of Fame with Gary Carter being inducted as an Expos player – only  Tom Seaver and now Mike Piazza have been enshrined in Cooperstown.

 

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Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 25, 2014

Topps

Topps

It is December 25th. HAPPY RICKEY HENDERSON’S BIRTHDAY!

The second best leadoff hitter of his time, Tim Raines, deserves to join Rickey in the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Did collusion help keep him out so far?

Tidings of comfort and joy in this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.

 

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The Best Teams In The MLB From 1980 – Now: SF Cements Their Place From 2010 – 2014 With WS Birth

The Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012, if they make a World Series Appearance in 2013, they could break up the best teams for the years to include the Red Sox from 2004 - 2007, the Phillies from 2008 - 2009, and then you would have to place the Giants as the best overall team from 2010 - 2014.  Can they keep up the format of winning a World Series every 2 years again next campaign?

The Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012, and now are in the 2014 World Series – with a great chance to win 3 titles in 5 years against Kansas City.   The best teams for the last several years include the Red Sox from 2004 – 2007, the Phillies from 2008 – 2009, and then you would have to place the Giants as the best overall team from 2010 – 2014. Can they keep up the format of winning a World Series every 2 years again this year? The Red Sox (3 Titles), plus the Giants and Cards each having 2 Fall Classics, are the only 3 teams to have multiple World Series Trophies since the 2004 year.

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner):

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There is only so much one can read in an article, otherwise I would make these lists up from the turn of the 20th century. 

If you gave me enough time as a reader, I promise to backdate this topic with another article featuring the best teams dating back further in years. 

Eventually, all of the years may be dissected and we can have a healthy debate on some of my selections.  I really started watching baseball in the early 1980’s. 

As I became older and discovered ways to research the history of the game, my knowledge and curious mind grew for more information. 

I have studied and read baseball stat books and breezed through the odd Bill James novel. 

If I ever take a break from writing or baseball park chasing, I may find some time down the road to watch the 9 part PBS documentary that Ken Burns did on baseball’s history.

Read the rest of this entry

Triple Play Podcast Episode 2 Of 2014: Empire State Of Mind: NYM + NYY + TOR Chat

 

The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month.  Each show will be about 1 hour

The Triple Play Show will have 2 shows per month. Each show will be about 1 hour. Chuck Booth will guest once a month for MLB  Reports Power Rankings,

By The Big Ticket Show ( AKA Triple Play Podcast on http://www.mlbreports.com)

Mike Silva (Radio Host 1240 AM WGBB, Long Island New York – 19 Minute Mark and a 31 Min segment) )

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New York, New York big city of dreams where not everything is as it seems, so we had Mike Silva (http://www.mikesilvamedia.com)of WGBB1240 AM break down the Mets and a bit of the Yankees + our new Mt .Flushmore segment. Read the rest of this entry

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – February 14, 2014

Kellogg's

Kellogg’s

It is Valentine’s Day and what better way to spend the day than with former Montreal Expos star Ellis Valentine?

He joins The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast to talk about his days with Montreal, his rivalry with Gary Carter and baseball returning to Olympic Stadium this spring for an exhibition game.

And I got to tell him that I voted for him in the All Star Game and his 3D card was a staple in my cereal box!

Go to Ellis Valentine’s Past Pro’s Site and support The Tiny Tim Fund by clicking HERE.

Follow Ellis Valentine on Twitter HERE.

To subscribe to The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast on iTunes, click HERE.

To subscribe on SoundCloud, click HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – February 14, 2014

 

 

Kellogg's

Kellogg’s

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – February 5, 2014

Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos

Today on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast, I am joined by former big league pitcher Rudy May.

Rudy pitched for 16 seasons in the big leagues along side many future Hall of Famers and for some of the best managers in baseball history.

In part one of our conversation, we discuss his days with the Montreal Expos and the Baltimore Orioles. He relays stories about pitching for the great Earl Weaver and knocking down Lou Brock on “Lou Brock Day” in St. Louis.

Rudy’s official website is found HERE.

Follow Rudy on Twitter by clicking HERE.

To subscribe to The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast on iTunes, click HERE.

To subscribe on SoundCloud, click HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – February 5, 2014

The Best Teams In The MLB From 1980 – 2017: The Biggest Question Is, Who Owns 2015 – 2017 Mark? Early Favorite Lends 2 Cubs With 3 Straight LCS Appearances, 1 World Series

 

With 3 straight LCS appearances and 1 World Series – the Cubs can lay claim to the best team from 2015 – 2017. If Houston were to win the 2018 World Series, they could be turned back to the 2015 – 2016 stretch, however Chicago can advance the years if they are able to go farther than the Stros this campaign

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner):

Follow MLB Reports On Twitter

There is only so much one can read in an article, otherwise I would make these lists up from the turn of the 20th century. 

As I became older and discovered ways to research the history of the game, my knowledge and curious mind grew for more information. 

I have studied and read baseball stat books and breezed through the odd Bill James novel.

If I ever take a break from writing or baseball park chasing, I may find some time down the road to watch the 9 part PBS documentary that Ken Burns did on baseball’s history.

Read the rest of this entry

Triple Play Podcast Episode #14: Empire State Of Mind: NYY + NYM Chat

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Sunday, June.23, 2013

The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month.  Each show will be about 1 hour

The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month. Each show will be about 1 hour. Chuck Booth will guest once a month for MLB Power Rankings,

By The Big Ticket Show ( AKA Triple Play Podcast on http://www.mlbreports.com)

Guests in this Podcast – James Acevedo (MLB Reports 2 And A Hook Podcast Host – 42 Minute Mark and a 15 Minute Segment) 

Mike Silva (Radio Host 1240 AM WGBB, Long Island New York – 14 Minute Mark and a 27 Min segment)

New York, New York big city of dreams where not everything is as it seems, so we had Mike Silva of WGBB1240 AM and James Acevedo of the Bench Warmers and 2 and a Hook podcasts come on and break down the Mets and Yankees.Mt Rushmore, BetHubb.com best bets and Blue Jays talk too. Another Home Run show! Read the rest of this entry

Triple Play Podcast Ep #9: Jays Misery, The Expos Franchise Mt. Rushmore + An Interview With Michael McKnight

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Monday, May  20th, 2013

The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month.  Each show will be about 1 hour

The Triple Play Show will have 5 shows per month. Each show will be about 1 hour.

By The Big Ticket Show ( AKA Triple Play Podcast on http://www.mlbreports.com)

Guests in this Podcast – Ian Hunter of bluejayhunter.com  ( and Michael McKnight [twitter-follow screen_name=’mcknight_mike_’ show_screen_name=’yes’

On this week’s show we once again find ourselves lamented the Blue Jays futility but this time Ian Hunter of bluejayhunter.com joins in the misery. Chris’ Expos jerseys inspires a trip down memory lane to pick our Expos Mt Rushmore. Finally Michael Mcknight of Sports Illustrated drops in to recount the tale of Brian Cole.  Its a must listen. Read the rest of this entry

A Night With Mookie Wilson Part 2: The Interview

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Thursday, May 9th, 2013

By Jordan Hennessey (Blue Jays Correspondent) 

One night with Mookie Wilson Part 2: The Interview

“Personality outweighed talent, you are most successful on the field when you have a group of men who are willing to make sacrifices for the betterment of the team. He thought the 1988 team might have been better, but the 1986 team “got the most out of each other” – Mookie Wilson.

To Read About A Night with Mookie Wilson Part 1 – click here

Click past the READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY ICON TO KEEP READING + Listen to the Audio Interview:

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Forever A Met: David Wright And The Quest For Franchise King Status

Monday, December.10, 2012

David Wright

Stephon Johnson (Guest Baseball Writer and Mets Correspondent):

Met fans have gotten used to having their greatest players come either from other franchises or move on to other franchises. When combing through the 50-year history of the Mets, you realize that every great player this franchise has had didn’t spend their entire career in Flushing. Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Cleon Jones, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, David Cone, Mike Piazza, Al Leiter and Jose Reyes were all either products of other franchises or homegrown talent that was eventually let go.

Met fans can now say that they have a player who’ll more than likely remain with the franchise for his entire career. Read the rest of this entry

Part 1 of a Series: All-Time All-Star Teams By Regionality

 

Friday November 23th, 2012

Note from Alex Mednick:  I am going to be putting together a small project that accumulates all the best players of all time, and puts them together on teams according to their birthplace.  For example, in this first edition I will be breaking down players from the United States of America into teams from the 1) Northeast, 2) Southeast, 3) Midwest, and 4) Southwest…(sorry, there really is not enough quality coming out of the northwest to compete with these teams…maybe I will put a Northwestern United States team in a later edition with less competitive teams).  Later on I will bring you teams assembled from the all-time greats out Central and South American (Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Panama Canal Zone, etc.) and the All-Caribbean Team (Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Curacao, etc).  Also look forward to teams from Japan, Canada and the EU.  Should be fun to sort of assemble an “Olympics” of Baseball.  I love watching the World Baseball Classic and seeing players fight for their nations pride…but by grouping the teams by region, it might make the teams more competitive.  Of course, this is all for the sake of speculation; Babe Ruth was a great player, but I don’t think he will be taking any at-bat’s soon. (Also, please note that I do not lend consideration to relief pitchers in this analysis). Read the rest of this entry

The Best Teams from 1980-2012: Will Texas claim the title this year from 2010-2012?

Wednesday July.11, 2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)-  There is only so much one can read in an article, otherwise I would make these lists up from the turn of the 20th century.  If you gave me enough time as a reader, I promise to backdate this topic with another article featuring the best teams dating back further in years.  Eventually, all of the years may be dissected and we can have a healthy debate on some of my selections.  I really started watching baseball in the early 1980’s.  As I became older and discovered ways to research the history of the game, my knowledge and curious mind grew for more information.  I have studied and read baseball stat books and breezed through the odd Bill James novel.  If I ever take a break from writing or baseball park chasing, I may find some time down the road to watch the 9 part PBS documentary that Ken Burns did on baseball’s history.

Baseball lends itself more to the history than any other sport because of how it has been chronicled throughout their past.  Writers, announcers, former players, parents etc.. have always carried on with the stories of America’s favorite pastime.  I will never be sold that NFL is the greatest pastime in sports right now.  NFL is the greatest gambling sport presently.  It is my firm belief that the only reason why the NFL draws in more cash from its sport is because of the gambling factor.  If you took that aspect out of it, I believe baseball is the #1 sport.  Can you imagine how much attention we would pay to baseball if there were only a 16 game schedule?  Enough with that rant, let’s get down to the list.  Who were the best teams at any specific time period for the last 32 years?  We will start with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1980-1983. Read the rest of this entry

The Demise of the Montreal Expos Franchise: Part 3 of the Expos Article Series

Friday June.29/2012

Note from Chuck Booth:  I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4.  The Team’s Payroll going into in 2013 and 5. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.)  To follow all of the updates, be sure to check my author page with a list of all archived articles here.

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on Twitter)-  The Montreal Expos were a model franchise from 1979-1994.  They only finished under .500 in 3 seasons out of 15 in this stretch of time.  The club simply drafted better than any other Major League team.  Long before the Oakland Athletics and Billy Beane came up with MoneyBall, or the Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays showed us that you can have good runs with your baseball teams on a shoe string budget, the Expos wrote the book on it.  The Expos were forced to trade away their best talent when they came up for free agency or lose them  outright.  There was no way the team could ever re-sign the players.  It wasn’t even in question.  The province of Quebec said good-bye to Hall of Famers:  Pedro Martinez, Vlad Guerrero, Tim Raines and Andre Dawson in the prime of their careers with nothing back in return as Free Agents.

Gary Carter was the 1st great player to be traded by the club after the 1984 season.  Other great players like Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou and John Wetteland were jettisoned out the door as part of a 1995 Firesale after the strike/lockout because the team could not pay them after a massive loss in revenue at the end of the 1994 season. With the clock ticking on the Expos brass (financially as soon as the lockout was lifted) the ownership could not pay the bills!  It is a sad commentary on this franchise that the two big work stoppages in 1981 and 1994 stifled this franchise-perhaps the most out of any team in the MLB.  It all ended up costing the Expos the team and/or a chance to build a brand new ballpark in the downtown core to ever revitalize the interest of the avid baseball enthusiasts in Montreal.  This fan base had suffered enough and they made the baseball club pay for it at the turnstiles.  They had suffered 7 losing seasons at Jarry Park, a 2 billion dollar scam gone wrong in what was Olympic Stadium, a park that was supposed to be a modern-aged retractable roof that never materialized at all and Quebec was left with the bill.  I don’t blame the fans for walking away from the game after the 1994 strike.  They had supported the team through many of trials an tribulations-only to be disappointed time and time again by the economics of baseball.

There is a lot more of this article past the video clip, just click on: READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY

For Part 1 of the Article Series, The Expos Hitters: click here

For Part 2 of the Article Series, The Expos Pitchers: click here

For Part 4 of the Article Series, The Washington Nationals Franchise 2005-2012: click here

For Part 5 of the Article Series, The Nats Best 25 Man Roster 2005-2012 click here

A nice tribute video to the club!

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The Montreal Expos Draft And Signing Record Was Outstanding: Part 1-Hitters

Friday June.22/2012

Note from Chuck Booth:  I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4.  The Team’s Payroll going into in 2013 and 5. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.)  To follow all of the updates, be sure to check my author page with a list of all archived articles here.

Andre Dawson and Tim Raines were perennial ALL-Stars and always had the Montreal Expos in contention every year they played for the Canadian Club.

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)-I recently saw a bunch of old Montreal Expos had a celebration dinner to honor the late Gary Carter at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.  This brought me back to when I was a little kid watching the Expos on the French Channel in Canada.  I followed this team before any other in MLB.  I was a catcher in little league because of Gary Carter.  My friends and I all would ask for Montreal Expos hats and jerseys for Christmas.  I would later move on to like the Yankees when Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson joined the club, but I always liked the Expos in the National League as my team.  They were a consistent club from 1979-1995.  They drafted extremely well and were above .500 for pretty much the entire time.  At the end of this article today be sure to watch the documentary from youtube on the Expos Franchise that the Reports has linked for you.

It was unfortunate they had the 2 billion dollar monstrosity of what was Olympic Stadium as their home venue.  It was a mistake from the beginning  to build a baseball park so far away from the downtown core.  The 1994 strike killed the franchises hopes to make their 1st World Series appearance.  The team was leading the NL East with a 74-40 record and featured the outfield of Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom and Moises Alou.  They had traded away their ALL-Star second basemen Delino DeShields prior to that year for some pitcher named Pedro Martinez.  The economics of baseball were starting to catch up on the baseball club.  When the lockout was lifted in 1995, gone were Walker, Grissom and great pitchers Ken Hill and John Wetteland.  It began a constant cycle of Montreal grooming awesome talent, only to trade the players away before they had to pay them big money.  The one constant of the team was an incredible draft record from 1985-2004.  Today is part 1 of a 3 part article series in which we will look at the history of the Montreal Expos.  I have listed 30 hitters drafted by the Expos Scouting Staff that went onto nice baseball careers.  Next week I will look at the pitchers and the third week I will cover the dissection of the proud franchise before the move to Washington. Read the rest of this entry

He was Known As “The Kid”: A Tribute to the Life and Career of Gary Carter

Monday, February 27, 2012

Douglas ‘Chuck’ Booth (Baseball Writer)- I was born in 1976.  I have two older brothers that were born in 1975 and 1974.  Another brother was born in 1978.  My dad had all of us at the baseball park to watch his men’s league windmill team play baseball for every weekend of the summer.  By the time I was 4, I also tagged along to my brother’s T-Ball baseball practices.  My dad would let me play with the older kids because he knew I loved the game enough to become good at it.  While my other brothers liked baseball, I loved it.  So as they played cars and watched cartoons, I was happy to be watching baseball with my dad on our old 12’ black and white television screen that you had to pound on with a clenched fist once a day in order for it to focus right.  My dad and I would watch the Montreal Expos on the French Channel in Canada.  We always muted the sound, opting for a Bob Seger Record instead, but we would watch the game with laser focus.  My dad had been a huge Thurman Munson and Yankees fan, so when Munson died in a plane crash, it hurt him a great deal .  My dad’s love waned from the Yankees for a bit after.  He started to like baseball on TV when I began asking to watch it.  He and I sat on the couch and watched Gary Carter play.  The Expos were an exciting team at the turn of the 80’s decade with the likes of Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.  I can remember seeing how involved Carter was in orchestrating the leadership of his team.  Read the rest of this entry

Who is Eddie Mata? Inside the Mind and Baseball Soul of the 2012 MLB Fan Cave Finalist

Monday February 27, 2012

Jonathan Hacohen (MLB reports):  In life, we experience certain moments- certain events, which stay with us. Which stick it in our minds for many years after they occur. I experienced that this evening, when I finally got to place a call to Eddie Mata. After weeks of e-mails and twitter exchanges, I got to speak to Eddie in real-time. Eddie Mata. On the phone with MLB reports. A night that I will remember for years to come.

I know what your next question may be.  Who the heck is Eddie Mata? Well, if you have been living in a cave this winter, let me fill you in on my latest interview. Actor Michael Rapaport knows who he is.  So does screenwriter Dana Stevens, actors Jon Lovitz and Peter Dante, Miko Brando and a host of others. All of these famous international stars know the name Eddie Mata. Now it’s time that you get to know Eddie Mata as well. To know Eddie is to love him.  Read the rest of this entry

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