It’s true, dodger dogs are the greatest, but still
What could possibly be more American than baseball?
The list of candidates is short indeed, but one of the leading contenders would have to be the all-you-can-eat buffet.
Next spring, these two Titans of Americana will come together in joyous union at Dodger Stadium, where the entire right field pavilion will be turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
There are limitations though. The food booths will open 90 minutes before the game and close 2 hours after it begins, and in order to “promote health,” fattening foods such as beer and ice cream will not be included in the buffet. Meanwhile, the ticket price will be $35 instead of the $10 it costs to sit in the identical left field pavilion.
Sounds like a bad deal to me. If beer and sweets are not included, you are pretty much just left with hot dogs, and at last year’s price of $4 per dog, you’d have to eat 6 1/4 hot dogs just to earn your money back.
In other, terrible news, the top deck seats at Dodger Stadium, have almost doubled in price to $10. Sure, last years price of $6 was just about the cheapest in the entire major leagues, but deservedly so, as those seats are some of the farthest away from the field of any I have ever seen. When you are up there the players look like busted pixels and you live in constant fear of being run over by the Goodyear blimp.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Hey I can’t complain about Albert, he had two fine years with the ChiSox when the team was an embarrasment of underachieving players and managers (excpet, of course, for Big Frank [/sarcasm]). I mean, they gave Belle his outlandish contract and then waved the white flag. Go figure.
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January 11th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
It’s Hall of FAME, not Hall of Stats or Hall of Physical Ability. The general dislike for Belle is reason enough to keep him out (and hopefully Barry bonds when that time comes). We can’t keep jerks out of the record books, but let’s leave the Hall for people who aren’t total jerks.
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January 12th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Nick, what could be more un-American than mathematically calculating the economic tipping point of the all-you-can-eat buffet? The point is not to save money (another un-American activity for which I will have to report you) but to eat ALL YOU CAN EEEEAAAAAT! COOOOK-IEEEE! Me want cookie!
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January 12th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Longevity is very important to the HOF voters, Coley. A lack of it is what has kept Jim Rice out all these years.
Also, character counts. It’s in the official rubric the balloters use to make their selections, so you’ll have to take that up with MLB.
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January 13th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I should confess I’m not an expert on Jim Rice. But it seems to me that Rice played 15 years, which is a pretty long career. The problem with his candidacy is that he just kinda fell off the map the last few years, no because of injury, but just…I don’t know why. Do you?
Belle was extremely durable during his short ten year career. In fact, when Cal Ripken finally missed a start, Belle became the guy with the longest active games played streak.
Belle’s career was cut short by an arthritic hip. But even in his last season, when he was hobbling around the bases, he hit .281 with 23 HRs and 103 RBI. That’s not too shabby. Rice, on the other hand, limped into retirement, hitting 13,15, and 3 HRs in his final three seasons.
There is plenty of precedent for voting in jerks (Ty Cobb, Kirby Puckett, and eventually Randy Johnson). There is also precedent for voting in guys with injury shortened careers. Sandy Koufax only pitched 11 seasons and a couple of them were throw away years. He retired early due to arthritis, just like Albert.
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January 14th, 2007 at 9:15 am
15 years is a pretty long career, but apparently not HOF long. Jim Rice was so dominant during his peak years that some people (mostly living in the 617 area code) feel he should be voted in anyway.
Here’s some stats on Jim to compare with Belle (which I cribbed from the Boston Globe):
Rice was voted AL MVP in 1978, and was an All-Star 8 times. During the 1978 season, he became the first hitter since DiMaggio to accrue 400 bases (and it’s only happened once since). He had 100 or more RBI in 8 seasons, and hit over .300 for 7 seasons. He had four 200-hit seasons and led the AL in HRs three times. For what it’s worth, he finished in the top 5 of MVP voting six times. Those who remember watching Rice play can recall times when he was intentionally walked even with the bases loaded. And, as I mentioned, he twice managed to break his bat on just a checked swing. And that was in the days when they were still using ash, instead of these flimsy maple bats. And keep in mind that there has never even been a whiff of steroid use around Jim Ed. And, if character counts, then we have to at least acknowledge the fact that Rice was the only black player on the Red Sox for much of his career. It was a racist organization in a pretty racially insensitive city (the last MLB team to become integrated), and for a long time the Yawkey ownership would only hire one African American player at a time. So Rice had a hard row to hoe here in Boston, in over 2,000 games with the Red Sox. Yet with determination and professionalism he was able to put all of that aside and do his job, and do it extremely well: a lifetime average of .298 and 1,451 career RBIs.
In fact (and I admit, this is from Wikipedia) there are only 9 other retired players ahead of him in career average and homers: Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams.
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January 14th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I think Rice has a reasonable chance to get in. He has two more years left, and the incoming classes of eligible players are dismal.
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