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Ranking the Top 10 Hitters In The MLB Right Now: Part 1 (1-5)

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Tuesday February 19th, 2013

Miguel Cabrera: Cooperstown Bound.  Undoubtedly, "Miggy" is one of the great players of this generation.  Watching him play the game every day is a gift to baseball lovers.

Miguel Cabrera: Cooperstown Bound. Undoubtedly, “Miggy” is one of the great players of this generation. Watching him play the game every day is a gift to baseball lovers.

By Jake Dal Porto (Baseball Writer)

The best hitters in baseball aren’t hard to identifying, but arranging them is the tough part.

The “new” era of hitters have arrived on the scene. This doesn’t necessarily imply that some of the older hitters might as well call it quits, rather, it means that they have taken the backseat.

So, here we go: Baseball’s Top 5 hitters.  This is part 1 of a 2 part series.  Next week, we go through the 6-10 best hitters.

1. Miguel Cabrera

Mike Trout is baseball’s consensus best overall player, factoring in defense and speed, but Miguel Cabrera gets the nod as baseball’s best hitter.

Cabrera won the Triple Crown award in 2012, and in turn, beat out Trout for MVP honors.

As for the stats, well, they’re also impressive. He was second in the American League in oWAR (offensive WAR), third in ISO (Isolated Power), led the MLB in OPS, slugging percentage, total bases and extra base hits.

Cabrera’s compact swing enables him to do damage on most pitches. In 2012, he hit .344 on hits to left field, .412 on hits to center field and .424 on hits to right field. These three figures simply imply that Cabrera hits the ball where it’s pitched. Yes, it’s a simple approach, but it’s proven to be the most effective approach in baseball. The stats speak for themselves.

For Part 2 of the Top 10 Hitters Series (6-10) click here

Miguel Cabrera 2012 Highlights – Mature Lyrics so Parental Guidance is advised:

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Master Schedule For All 30 MLB Parks In Double Header Opportunities In 2013

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Updated Last on March.25/2013

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

Over the course of 4 years of massive baseball travel, I have attempted 28 MLB Doubleheaders – and completed 22 of them.  I Every year I take a look at the new MLB schedule and the 183 days worth of games.  In the list (after the youtube clip I post), will feature every doable double-header scenario for a fan to view baseball games.  Keep in mind that if you have never seen a MLB Park before – that rushing a day is not advised at all in these journeys. 

The most common doubleheader is Wrigley Field or US Cellular Field – to be combined with Miller Park as part of a day-night doubleheader.  The Yankees and Mets do play a few games on the same day together and are listed.  The o.Co Coliseum in Oakland and AT & T Park also have a few doubleheader chances this season.

Other great doubleheader partners include both Dodger and Angel Stadium – combined with Petco Park if there is a matinée contest involved.  Progressive Field and PNC Park also lends itself to easily connected doubleheaders if one has a day contest.  Also watch out for Sunday Night ESPN games as part of programming as Eastern teams feature that 8:05 PM EST start time – which will lend it available to double up with a day matinée.  The Phillies are compatible with both New York teams Via Amtrak Train option – and also with the Baltimore Orioles. 

These doubleheaders mostly are located in different cities and some might even include a doable flight in the middle.

https://mlbreports.com/2012/03/02/field-of-dreams-site/

Field of Dreams Has To Be Part Of Your Trip Link Up Top and Video Down Below:

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The Chicago Cubs Schedule In 2013: (The Wrigley Field Ticket Is Still The Best Pure Baseball Experience)

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Saturday, January.26, 2013

Wrigley Field might just be the best place just to watch a baseball game (Fenway Park rivals it for entire ballpark experience).  AT &T Park and PNC Psrk usually round out the top 4 Parks

Wrigley Field might just be the best place just to watch a baseball game (Fenway Park rivals it for entire ballpark experience). AT &T Park and PNC Park usually round out the top 4 Parks

By Richie Devotie (MLB Schedule Correspondent): and Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner) 

I love Wrigley Field more than any other park just to watch a game. 

Having been to all of the MLB Parks a minimum of 3 times (and most closer to 5 and above) – there is something so unique about this baseball cathedral that makes me think it is the 1920s still.

We have another video presentation from our Baseball Schedule Correspondent’ Richie Devotie down below that has all of the Cubs opponents in the upcoming season in 2013 – plus a recap of how the team fared in 2012. 

After viewing it – plus read about one of the craziest, yet rewarding days of my ballpark chaser streaks. 

The setup to this was that I was 13 days into my 1st World Record Attempt – at breaking the category of “The Fastest Person to view a full game at all 30 MLB Parks”. 

I had already had to restart my streak attempt after some chaos that happened just a few days prior.  This day in Chicago would be my 3rd straight day of trying to fit 2 games in on one day. 

On the 1st day of the new streak, I nailed a doubleheader between Petco Park (day game) and Dodger Stadium (night game). 

I then boarded an overnight flight to Detroit (at 1 AM- Arrival in Motown at 10:30 AM.  I was poised to watch a day game at Comerica Park (1:05 PM) – before jettisoning 168 Miles to Cleveland right after for a 7:05 PM start at Progressive. 

The Tigers looked to nail down a victory until Todd “the Hammer” Jones blew the save by letting the Twins tie it up in the ninth – to prolong the game into extra innings. 

An hour later and the game finally ended but I couldn’t even try to head to Cleveland.  So I made my way to Chicago/Milwaukee.  I had a Wrigley Field/Miller Park doubleheader. 

The next day after – I was to fly to Toronto to see the Yankees play.  2 days after that, I would see if I could hit on a Nationals Park/Shea Stadium Sunday day/night double-header.

It would be 4 doubleheader attempts in 5 days.  I was only 1 for 2 so far.

Richie Devotie Presents His Power Point Cubs 2013 Schedule Breakdown

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Ryan Braun: Setting His Sights As An ALL-Time Brewers Great

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Thursday January 3rd, 2013

Ryan Braun's 162 Game Average is scary for Pitches.  .37 HRs, 118 RBI, 113 Runs Scored, 41-2B, 23 SB, 200 Hits and a .313/.374/.943 Slash Line

Ryan Braun’s 162 Game Average is scary for Pitches. .37 HRs, 118 RBI, 113 Runs Scored, 41-2B, 23 SB, 200 Hits and a .313/.374/.943 Slash Line.

Ben Dobson ( Baseball Writer and Brewers Correspondent):

1982….Mention this date to any Brewers fan and immediately you will witness a smile and a nod of the head. Very little has to be said that isn’t communicated with that simple smile and subtle shake of the head. Harvey’s Wallbangers; Cecil Cooper, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas and Ben Oglivie to name a few. Coming off a (3-2) AL Division Series loss to the Yankees in 81′ the Brewers stormed in to 82′ ready to make amends. The Brewers began 82′ slowly going (23-24), thus Harvey Kuenn replaced Buck Rodgers. The Brewers made history going forward posting a (72-43) record leading the league in runs and HRs. This team poured it all out on the field before losing in Game 7 of the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Yount, Molitor and Cooper will forever be household names associated with the epic ’82 team.

Fast-Forward 26 years….2008 & 2011….The Brewers finally made it back to the postseason. This time the club was led by Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks. These were both magical years but neither year ended in a World Series appearance. The constant and consistent cog of these two playoff teams was Ryan Braun. The “Hebrew Hammer” lead the team in batting both playoff years and put up power numbers as well as speed numbers. This perennial All-Star continues to perform as one of the best in the game, but how does Ryan Braun compare to the 82′ heroes of Yount, Molitor and Cooper. The following statistics were taken during 6 consecutive seasons for each player (only exception is the 84′ season for Molitor who was limited to 13 games, 85′ season was substituted).

Ryan Braun Highlights in 2012:  Suggestive Mature Lyrics-Parental Guidance Advised:

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Chuck Booth’s 30 MLB Park Quest: (Games 16-21)

The Streak stands at 23 MLB Parks in 18 calendar days!!

Chuck Booth:  I am the World Record Holder for-Fastest to see all 30 MLB parks in 24 days (2009)!

In 2012, I am going for 30 MLB Parks in 23 days from: April 6th to 28th.

Follow me-@chuckbooth3024 on twitter

Follow my streak all the through to the bitter end.  Schedule is this link:

https://mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker/ or at my official website for all updates!

fastestthirtyballgames3021.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/30in20/

Tuesday April.24/2012

Ken Lee, Chuck Booth and Doug Miller all at Safeco Field for the game #18 in 14 days on April.19/2012. (They would later be featured on TV several times above the King’s Court Seats. ) Chuck also had a special welcome wave from the TV Jumbo Tron and was given a free gift bag from the Seattle front office.

MLB Park # 16 Day # 12

CHC 2 @ MIA 3

April.17/2012

New Marlins Ball Park

‘Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twiter)- It was a great day for a new baseball park.  During this trip, anytime that I have had a single game only for a day, I have felt a little bit more relaxed while watching the action.  I flew into FLL (Fort Lauderdale Airport) really early and caught up on some writing.  I was fully rewarded with my National Car Rental to the tune of a Chrysler 200 that was black in color.  I made my way to my Best Western Hotel near the airport.  Check in time was not till 3 PM, but I was able to coerce the staff to let me take a room early.  I really appreciate the professional way the Best Western staff always helps me in the travels. Read the rest of this entry

A Review of the New Marlins Ball Park By Lori Martini

Wednesday, April.04/2012,

Lori Martini (Guest Baseball Writer- and @lorimartini on twitter)- I touched down in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Not only was it a little cheaper and more cost-effective to simply rent a car, but I did have a place to stay with friends which always makes a trip more enjoyable.  Hotels in Miami are outrageous and I couldn’t find a reasonably priced hotel that didn’t give me anxiety of potentially having bed bugs, my biggest nightmare (at least in hotels).  Driving is most certainly interesting here.  I’m from NYC and I can drive anywhere, but these people are ridiculous.  They either drive way too slow or excessively fast and erratic.  The highways are 4 to 5 lanes of traffic and your exits sneak up on you.  People don’t signal and cut across several lanes of traffic without looking, which somewhat reminds me of driving in LA.  Miami during rush hour is highly congested and you can’t park anywhere.  Everything is a parking garage.  It’s cluttered and populated like NYC, yet spread out like LA to get anywhere. Read the rest of this entry

MLB Ball Park Staff Can Make a World of Difference

Monday March 19, 2012

‘Douglas Chuck Booth’ (Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- In 2007, MLB Opening Week experienced massive snowstorms along the Eastern Seaboard.  Several teams had to cancel games and reschedule them for later in the year.  I happened to have a bought a car near London, Ontario that I was driving all the way across America to return to Vancouver B.C Canada that week.  As I was visiting baseball parks, they were being snowed out.  I tried for the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati only for it to have been snowed out.  I extended my trip by a day to make up the game in Cincy.  I watched the game in a snow storm.  I then went to Cleveland to try my luck at Progressive Field.  By the time I made it to the park, it was under a foot of snow.  I had been hoping to see a doubleheader with the Seattle Mariners being the away team.  Not the case, at least I parked at the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame and had something to do in Cleveland instead of watching baseball. Read the rest of this entry

MLB Ballpark Traditions: National League

Sunday December 25, 2011



Doug Booth-  Guest Baseball Writer:  The entire baseball community is looking forward to the ‘New Marlins Ballpark’ in 2012.  This new opening will give some of extreme ballpark chasers a chance to tack another ballpark to their viewing history.  I will be attending the opening of this Ballpark in April and that will make it 35 Major League Stadiums for me, 5 that are defunct and this park in Miami will help me re-establish the 30 current MLB Parks.  We all assume that Oakland will have a new baseball park eventually so I will have a few years before attending a new baseball park again.  These traditions only help the folklore of baseball.  I believe it helps distinguish the sport from the other major sports leagues.  

Here are the National League Parks Traditions:

Wrigley Field

1.  7TH inning stretch-made famous by Harry Caray and kept up by guests now.

2.  They started throwing the ‘opposition’s’ home runs back onto the field and have not stopped even though it is illegal to throw the baseballs back on the field.

3.  They have their own song “go Cubs go” which they play after every win.

4.  Of course they have the curse of the ‘BILLY GOAT’ and also have not won a World Series in 103 years.

Minute Maid Park

 1. They have a train that goes from side to side whenever they hit a homer.

 2. They play the song “Stars at Night” right after 7th inning stretch

 3. They play all their games indoors and only open up the roof when the park is cleared.

Miller Park

1. They do 2 really cool waves. One is a reverse wave where the goes clockwise all around the ballpark and then change direction. The other one they do is a slow motion wave which is hilarious.

2. They have the sausage race!!!

3. The sing the song “Over The Barrell” after “Take me out to the ballgame”.

4. ‘Bernie Brewer, (Brewers mascot) goes down the slide in upper left field bleachers-and has recently started throwing t-shirts from there.

5. They give out fridges for who has the best-“Tailgate Party”.

Busch Stadium

1.  Easily the most respectful fans in baseball.

2.  They cheered the 2004 Boston Red Sox even when they lost the World Series, so they are classy.

PNC Park

1.  They have the pierogi races.

2. Between every inning they have text messages posted on-screen from people.

3. They have one of the coolest beginnings where they have a pirate ship full of pirates and they take over the opposing team’s ship on the scoreboard.

Great American Ball Park

1. They have fireworks that explode from the ship in center-field when there is a home run.

2. The Reds Museum is the best “Hall Of Fame” out of all the teams.

Dodger Stadium

1. The beach balls are still being thrown around.

2.  It is routine to show up 4 innings into the game and leave at the 8th inning-Last year I watched a game that lasted only 2 hours and the parking lot was jammed because people had arrived late and did not leave early because the game was so quick. I still love the replay of the ‘KIRK GIBSON’ homer because of all the tail lights in the parking lot that were leaving.

AT&T Park

1. The Kayaker’s in McCovey Cove are fun to watch.

2. The hecklers in center-field always are after the opposing outfielders with this chant’ “What is the matter with (insert player here)? The answer is: “He’s a bum!” They do this all game.

3. They have a Panda Bear now because of Pablo Sandoval-(Kung-Fu Panda.)

4. They chart the splash hits that go into the cove.

Coors Field

1. They sell food and beverages outside the ballpark with their own vendors for a good price.

2. They use the ‘humidor’ to reduce the flight of the baseballs by 8-10%.

Chase Field

1. They sing “Sweet Caroline” like the Boston fans do.

2. They are the only park that plays a second verse of “Take me out to the Ballgame”.

3. They are very fanatical at security about you operating camera/videos so watch out.

Petco Park

1. There is a picnic area where you can watch the game for 5 dollars.

2. They are the most pet-friendly stadium as pets are allowed into the game a lot.

Turner Field

1. ‘The tomahawk chop’ is the worst tradition in baseball, but it is here to stay-routinely sections of people will get up and stand while doing the chop.

2.  Skip Caray and Mark Lemke do the pregame show from the media gondola in center-field every home game.

3. They routinely have ‘concerts’ on weekend night games free of charge and are decent groups. I saw Arrested Development there last year.

Citi Field

1. The ‘BIG APPLE’ still comes out after every homer is hit (unless it is stuck which has happened at Citi Field).

2. There are planes that come over every five minutes–I find this very disrupting to the game and that is why I have the park ranked 11th overall.

Sun Life Stadium coming soon/New Marlins Ballpark in 2012!!

1.  You can buy a parking pass that will work for any home date online-which is convenient.

2. The mascot is always featured on the big screen throwing fake pies at people in the stands who have on opposing gear.

Nationals Park

1. The president’s race is a definite highlight of every game-and one of them always falls flat on their face–usually it is Teddy Roosevelt.

2. They shoot t-shirts into the crowd-that have chili-dogs wrapped up in them–just ask the 20 people or so that were pelted with the contents when they failed to wrap the t-shirts tight enough with the food.

Citzens Bank Ballpark

1. The Phillie Phanatac is always in trouble with the ‘grounds crew’ because he whips around in the ATV.

2. There is about 4,000 S.R.O’S for every game and most hang out in ‘Ashburn’s Alley’.

3. They boo the home players more than any other team including Boston and both NY clubs. That is understandable considering they booed Santa Claus–and cheered when Michael Irvin was knocked unconscious at the old ‘VET’.

4. They have the biggest fine in the league for jumping on the field.

 

 Click here to view  Part 1 of Doug Booth’s Ballpark Traditions feature on MLB reports, with a look at the American League Traditions. 

*** Thank you to our Guest Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for joining us today on MLB reports.  To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com*** 


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