The Chris Moeller Archives

Hall doors crack open again

The 2009 ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame was released Monday, and only first-time candidate Rickey Henderson, the major's all-time leader in runs scored and stolen bases, is a lock to be inducted. The implication that Henderson has retired as a player may come as a surprise to Rickey himself.

The ballot has never had fewer names-- 23. The top returning vote-getters from last year's ballot are former outfielders Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, and of course, the best candidate on the ballot, Mark McGwire, who swatted 583 home runs during his career and posted a .394 on-base percentage (comparable to Henderson's lofty .401.)

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There have been jokes in this space and others about sports stadiums that should be re-dubbed "Taxpayer Field" or "Taxpayer Park" in honor of the people who foot the bill to construct the venues. In New York City, there's a new depth in inappropriate naming rights. The Mets' new Citi Field will still carry the name of the one-time financial giant that's now been the recipient of more than $45 billion in government bailouts.

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Eight big-leaguers clubbed at least 37 home runs this year, and Albert Pujols was one of them. The National League MVP struck out only 54 times during the season, at least 70 fewer than any of the other seven sluggers.

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Des Moines nightclub "Billy Joe's Pitcher Show" has announced it will be closing its doors this winter, with the owner citing a minimum wage increase, rising food prices, and the state smoking ban as reasons for a loss in profits. Minimum wage increases are familiar boogeymen, as if this particular proprietor can't pony up $7.25 an hour for his employees, but the state smoking ban is even more curious as a culprit. Billy Joe's voluntarily banned smoking in its movie theater a year before the state ban was imposed upon the bar area this spring. A more likely reason for the bar's closing is the mutilated version of "Luck Be a Lady" in their karaoke machine.

posted by CM @ 8:59 PM