Pirates trade McCutchen to Giants | theScore.com

As called....
https://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2018/01/giants-seek-andrew-mccutchen-outfield.html

from thescore.com
Pirates trade McCutchen to Giants | theScore.com:

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I know that many will say the 'Cutch to move to a corner OF spot, but he deserves the right to remind SF of the GOAT, Willie Mays in CF.

Crick is a great turnaround project for Ray Searage. Reynolds is a couple of years away and behind Duggar for future CF. I cannot believe that they could have also had Jay Bruce for 3 yrs. / $39M and low-balled him at a reported $29M for same three years. If they feel they have enough bats now, they go for a low-priced CF like Dyson, or Billy Hamilton, whose price just went down. Carlos Gonzalez could still be in the picture if you're sure about 'Cutch in CF for a full season.

I like  the lineup as is and I think Shaw could be the OF bat as soon as 2018.

So far, Arroyo, Reynolds and Crick leveraged into Longoria and McCutchen. Two faces of the franchise, great leadership kind of guys. I like the composition of the team now and for the immediate future. The lineup tilts a bit heavy to the 30+ crowd, but for now, I'm OK with it.

The Giants trip to the White House (again!!)

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/8879100/v144912683

pictures from mcccoveychronicles.com

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2015/6/4/8731805/sf-giants-white-house-obama/in/8494170

"All right fellas, who's the A-hole who signed it, 'Don't blame me, I voted for Ron Paul'? Posey? Hudson? Crawford?" 

Surprise, surprise!! Obama #44 (again!!) You could have washed it first fellas.
That's sweet. A signed baseball. I'm the leader of the free world and they bring me a ball and a used base. These Giants, gotta love 'em.

Here is that awkward moment where MadBum fears reprisal upon noticing that the President of the United States has "Sissy Hands" 

The thought just marinating in his brain - "If he can be President, some day, I too can be President. HAHAHAHAHA. Then I kill you with drone for saying I eat pizza with fork."

P.S. - Loose bunch these Giants. You're at the White House, Secret Service, cameras all over the joint and they try and pull off a caper like this. This is what ball players do. 

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2015/6/5/8736639/brandon-crawford-matt-duffy-beans-boink-snausage-slap-turkey-tap-white-house-thanks-obama

There is a clip on the McC site and it appears that Crawford may be the perpetrator, but my money is on Cain, with Crawford being the patsy. Duffy tweeted after the game that it was Cain, but this seems to be some sort of twisted, Giants celebration ritual. Odd ones, this group. 

P.S. - P.S. -  Seriously though, any day that Willie Mays is honored nationally is a great day for baseball and I did like the line noted below from the President about the budding legend that is Madison Bumgarner.  It seems like a good time was had by all.

http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/giants-white-house-visit-more-special-last?guid=UUGP5q6H7Hy3XMEG5aImubB0XAPkhdSn

“

Last October, Madison put together a string of performances that I think is hard to believe. And I’m not talking about his locker room celebrations.

”

— President Obama

Willie Mays Was Way Better Than Alex Rodriguez

Not sure that Mays needed confirmation from the pocket-protector crowd but OK, the results of the pick-a-metric comparison confirm what my old-fashioned eyeball test tells me, it's Mays in a landslide.

from fivethirtyeight.com
Willie Mays Was Way Better Than Alex Rodriguez:

Certainly, we’ve reflected positively upon Rodriguez’s immense talent — steroids notwithstanding — in the past. But we also thought it would be a useful public service to once again point out that passing a legend on a prestigious statistical list doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the better player. In the case of the Say Hey Kid versus A-Rod, it’s Mays in a landslide.

An easy way to measure Mays’ dominance over A-Rod is to look at the all-time wins above replacement (WAR) leaderboard¹. By total WAR, Mays ranks as the fifth most-productive player in major-league history, trailing only Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds and pitchers Cy Young and Walter Johnson. Mays also ranks as the third-best non-pitcher ever, according to JAWS, which attempts to balance a player’s aggregate WAR compilation against the brilliance of his peak. Among position players in the history of baseball, only Ruth had a better prime — as measured by WAR in a player’s best seven seasons — than Mays did when he was at the top of his game.

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Barry Bonds Set for Hall of Fame Induction -- Just Not That One

Krukow adds that Bonds should go into every HOF that exists and of course I agree. For the reasons stated below and then some. Bonds advantages came first and foremost from his Dad who gifted him with off the charts athletic ability and his close proximity to the wisdom of the greatest all-around baseball player who ever played the game in Willie Mays. Unless he was the deaf, dumb and blind kid he couldn't do anything but succeed in the game of baseball.

The media still has too much on their plate trying to clean up the mess left by their chosen "good guys" who cheated and were given the "nice-guy pass" like Tom "Perfect Balls" Brady and Alex Rodriguez ( and before that Andy Pettitte vis-a-vis Roger Clemens ).

Hmmmm......makes you wonder about the medias ability to pick "nice guys" or judge a person's character in the first place.  Hmmmm............

from mercurynews.com
Barry Bonds Set for Hall of Fame Induction -- Just Not That One:

Kuiper, too, would prefer that the discussion Monday center on Bonds' remarkable talents. Asked for his favorite memory of the slugger, Kuiper pointed not to the diamond but to a plane ride.

They were on the team flight headed for Atlanta, where Greg Maddux was scheduled to start for the Braves. Krukow and Kuiper were talking about Maddux when the hitter said, "You want to know something? I'll tell you the first seven pitches he's going to throw me."

Bonds was so sure of the sequence that he insisted that the broadcasters write it down.

"It never got to seven, because he hit the sixth pitch," Kuiper recalled. "But the first five were right. He knew exactly what Maddux was going to do to him.

"So if he knew what Maddux was going to do him, then he knew what most guys were going to do to him. You don't think that's an advantage?"

 Krukow said: "Bonds is the best player I ever saw that I was old enough to appreciate. I saw Willie Mays when I was a kid, so I couldn't really appreciate how great he was -- I mean, I knew he was fabulous.

"But you can actually see Bonds' genius at the plate. If you break down the mechanics of his swing, they were perfect to hit for average. They were perfect to hit for power. And he had one of the most brilliant minds ever to step into a batter's box."

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Willie Mays Not Bothered by A-Rod's Pursuit | SFGate

Photo: Chris O'Meara, Associated Press

Sentences don't get easier to write than "Alex Rodriguez is no Willie Mays" and concepts don't get easier to understand than the following:

Nothing Alex Rodriguez does on the field from a statistical standpoint diminishes the player Willie Mays was in any way, shape or form. Period. 

Those fans and sports-writers who have gotten their panties in a  twist consistently over their lack of understanding of this concept just need to take a Mydol and calm down. Records are made to be broken. Always have been, always will be.

Maybe they are finally beginning to "get it". Now that was a hard sentence to write.

from SFGate.com:
Shea: Mays Not Bothered by A-Rod's Pursuit:

Alex Rodriguez is no Willie Mays.

Sentences don’t get easier to write than that one.

That Rodriguez will wind up with more home runs than Mays changes nothing. Mays was superior on every front: hitting, fielding, running, leading, inspiring.

When A-Rod hits two more homers for his 660th, matching Mays, it won’t go over well in these parts — even in parts of New York, where old-timers remember what the Say Hey Kid did the first six seasons of his career, before the Giants moved to San Francisco.

One man isn’t bothered by A-Rod’s pursuit, and that’s the man being pursued. Mays is OK with Rodriguez matching or surpassing him.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” he said.

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2015 Franchise Four - The Other Ballots

from mlb.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/franchise_four.jsp?c_id=greatest_players

This is not fair to Giants fans to vote for the Greatest Living Player because by limiting us to four players we cannot fill out a proper ballot which would include:

• Willie Mays
• Barry Bonds
• Buster Posey
• Will Clark
• Willie McCovey 

I had to write in Buster Posey, thereby leaving off Will Clark and Willie McCovey. 

A real travesty. 

Tom Seaver gets a vote he was not entitled to, so if he wins, you know why. 

There is also a ballot for Baseball Pioneers:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/franchise_four.jsp?c_id=pio

It's not what you think. I'm thinking Jackie Robinson, Minnie Minoso and then some others of merit. But NO!!!. Cap Anson, a widely acknowledged racist. Buck Ewing? instead of Buck O'Neill? 

I wrote in Jackie Robinson and left the rest of the ballot blank. I don't even know what the other folks pioneered and I consider myself a reasonable student of baseball history. Perhaps I'm missing something here. 

At least I found Buck O'Neil here, 

Top Players in Negro League History:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/franchise_four.jsp?c_id=nl

Here, I voted for 

• Josh Gibson
• Cool Papa Bell
• Satchel Paige
• Buck O'Neill 

MLB deserves whatever adverse attention and publicity they may receive for folks having to write Jackie Robinson in on a ballot, like he was some sort of after-thought in baseball history. Are you serious?!?!  This is MAJOR LEAGUE DUMB!!!

Brian McCann should have planted Carlos Gomez when he had the chance....

Benches clear after Gomez's solo home run
9/25/13: Carlos Gomez hits a homer off Paul Maholm and benches clear after Gomez exchanges words with Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann and several Braves players.

McCann should have planted Gomez last year. Then maybe today's display by the jackass that is Carlos Gomez would not have happened. I doubt it, but maybe. Maybe a Gerrit Cole fastball in the ribs is the behavior modification Mr. Gomez is looking for. Might up his baseball IQ by a few points, He has a long way to go.

Pimp your HR, wear a FB. That seems fair enough.

I'll side with McCann and Cole over Gomez all day, every day.
And Carlos Beltran over Yasiel Puig before...
And Carlton Fisk over Deion Sanders before that.

The jackass didn't even hit the ball over the fence. I can't wait to hear his teammates or their weak manager defend the Gomez Cadillac trotting of a ball that remained in the ball park - the Brewers commentators already did. You don't Cadillac trot balls that don't even leave the yard, that's just plain moronic and embarrassing to yourself and your family.  

MLB Video of today's Gomez antics are embedded in the story from Yahoo Sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/carlos-gomez-ignites-benches-clearing-brawl-with-pirates-after-showboating-on-triple-191523558.html

Could cost your team a valuable run there, Chief. Turning a possible In The Park Home Run into a triple.

Way to go, Champ. But you looked so fly doing it. Kinda like showboating a missed dunk? Or spiking the ball after you've fumbled it away?  I guess I don't understand this showmanship shit.

Carlton Fisk Deion Sanders confrontation

Fisk appeared on The Joe Morgan Show to discuss a number of topics, including Sanders, who was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The former Red Sox and White Sox catcher said that Sanders used to saunter up to the plate like he owned the stadium and would draw a dollar sign in the dirt at home plate. "So he comes up again and draws a dollar sign in the dirt," Fisk said. "And you know what [Sanders] says? He says, 'Hey, man, the days of slavery are over.' I stood up and walked up to him face to face and I said, 'I don't care whether you are black or blue or pink or red. If you don't start playing this game right, I'm going to kick your butt right here.'" Fisk and Sanders, of course, had a verbal alteraction back in 1990 that resulted in a bench-clearing brawl between the White Sox and Yankees (whom Sanders was playing for at the time). Fisk said he could no longer take Sanders' style and showboating.

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2011/08/carlton-fisk-still-irked-by-deion-sanders-showboating-tendencies-questions-how-much-respect-he-had-f/

I doubt Brewers manager Roenicke or all the bed-wetting commentators who think a Ca.rlos Gomez should just be allowed to to continue to be a Carlos Gomez (which if to say a total jackass) will ever understand the culture of the game.

It's not the NBA and it's not the NFL. Thank God for that. Disrespecting your opponent is all the rage in those two leagues. Because there are no effective means of retribution.

Try the same thing in MLB or the NHL and your health is immediately placed at risk. If you know what I mean.

#1. Respect your opponent at all times.
#2. Respect the game at all times.
#3. Never forget rules #1 and #2. NEVER!!

It was worse back in the day. Ask former Giant Jim Ray Hart.

http://fingerfood.typepad.com/finger-food/bob-gibson/

Now what’s the first thing a person thinks about when Bob Gibson’s name is mentioned? If it isn’t intimidation, brush back pitches, a nasty fastball and intensity. His teammates were afraid to talk to him and opponents were just afraid of him. Jim Ray Hart, a slugging third baseman for the Giants in the 1960s and early ‘70s, tells the classic Bob Gibson story:

“Between games, Mays came over to me and said, ‘Now, in the second game, you’re going up against Bob Gibson.’ I only half-listened to what he was saying, figuring it didn't make much difference. So I walked up to the plate the first time and started digging a little hole with my back foot... No sooner did I start digging that hole than I hear Willie screaming from the dugout: ‘Noooooo!’ Well, the first pitch came inside. No harm done, though. So I dug in again. The next thing I knew, there was a loud crack and my left shoulder was broken. I should have listened to Willie.”

Hart should have called time out and filled up the hole the way it was.

The manager from the team that the guy in this classic Deadspin post played for certainly understood the Culture of the Game.

"I didn't like what Richie did. It was a thing done by a young player," Edwards said. "Basketball is in-your-face, but not baseball."

from Deadspin.com:
http://deadspin.com/nobody-has-ever-pimped-a-home-run-as-hard-as-this-guy-d-1564712442?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Update: We now have all the details about this game, thanks to Mike Harrington of theBuffalo News, who wrote a story about this game back in 1994. Some highlights:

"I had to cherish it. I took just a few steps and I probably shouldn't have, but I was milking it a little," said Aude, 22. "Nothing would have happened if he (Wishnevski) hadn't said anything to me."

"He should round the bases, step on home plate, go in the clubhouse and then celebrate," Pettini said. "Somebody should tell him that's not how a professional acts."

Bisons manager Doc Edwards said he intends to do just that.

"I didn't like what Richie did. It was a thing done by a young player," Edwards said. "Basketball is in-your-face, but not baseball."

Wonderful.

Happy 82nd birthday, Willie Mays - McCovey Chronicles

Still the greatest baseball player who ever lived. This from Leo Durocher pretty much describes the reason why. Happy-B-Day, Willie Mays.

from the McCovey Chronicles:
Happy 82nd birthday, Willie Mays - McCovey Chronicles:

Here's Leo Durocher on Mays:

If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day, I'd still look you right in the eye and tell you that Willie was better. He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw and field. And he had the other magic ingredient that turns a superstar into a super Superstar. Charisma. He lit up a room when he came in. He was a joy to be around.

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NL MVP Buster Posey: Willie Mays 2.0 | Big League Stew - Yahoo! Sports

Anytime you can draw comparisons to Willie Mays is a good day. Maybe a better day than the day you won your first MVP award.

Anytime you can draw said comparison without people react with laughter, shock or disdain, especially from Mays fans is a good day.

Now, Mays is still the best all-around baseball player of all-time, but Posey is pretty special as well.

Comparisons to Johnny Bench as a catcher are not bad to hear either.

from Yahoo Sports:
NL MVP Buster Posey: Willie Mays 2.0 | Big League Stew - Yahoo! Sports:

Comparisons to Johnny Bench, another catcher, are one thing. But did you realize that Buster Posey has actually been Willie Mays all over again?

Yes, that Willie Mays.

 In case you missed her post on ESPN's Sweetspot in late October, Anna McDonald noted the eerie parallels between the first few seasons of Mays' and Posey's careers. The BBWAA awarded Posey the NL MVP award on Thursday, keeping him on a pace that's — well — kind of A-Mays-ing.

Here's what McDonald wrote just before the World Series:

Willie Mays came to the majors on May 25, 1951. He would win the Rookie of the Year Award and help lead the Giants to the National League pennant. He batted .274 with 59 runs, 20 home runs and 68 RBIs.

Buster Posey came up to the majors (after a few plate appearances in 2009) on May 29, 2010. He won the Rookie of the Year Award, led the Giants to the National League pennant and then to a World Series championship. He batted .305, scored 58 runs, and hit 18 home runs with 67 RBIs.

Then in 1952 and 1953 Mays played in only 34 games because of military service. In 2011 Posey played in only 45 games because of a broken leg from a horrible injury at home plate which would sideline him for the year.

The next year for Mays was 1954. He batted .345 with 119 runs, 195 hits, 66 walks and 110 RBIs. Mays went to the All-Star Game and won the MVP. Posey, this year, batted .336 with 78 runs, 178 hits, 69 walks and had 103 RBIs.

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Giants sweep Rox...Happy 80th to the Say Hey Kid

Still the best all-around player to EVER lace up a pair of cleats!!!

The best thing about being a Giants fan, even better than winning the World Series last year, is we have Willie Mays. Much love, and many more.

We played stickball in the streets the same as Willie and the city kids. Can you imagine kids being asked to play baseball today with a broomstick and a Spaldeen?

What's a Spaldeen you ask? You probably see them in a clearance bin at Wal-Mart. The best tool for teaching kids "soft-hands" skills needed to field the ball, whether it be grounders or fly-balls. Nowadays, you pay $50 or more for some modern gadget marketed to "teach" kids how to field. Spaldeens are probably less than a dollar each. Do the math.

And here's stickball, back in the day. The more things change...indeed. I'm not sure youth sports are significantly better than the days that my brothers and I used to gather our neighborhood friends together, go out to a field by ourselves and play ball for hours on end.

We learned more about the game and ourselves than we did playing organized ball, IMO.

Seems like days like this our gone, a relic of a by-gone era. Sad really. I must be getting old.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/spaldeen/

Stickball on the streets of Brooklyn
June 29, 2009
Like egg creams and nickel subway rides, stickball is one of those long-gone cultural touchstones that New York City old-timers often wax nostalgic about. But you know, the game sure looks like a lot of fun.

No coaches. No expensive gear. No adults. All you needed was a car-free side street (not hard to find before the 1950s, when few city residents had cars), a broom handle, and a “spaldeen”—a small pink rubber ball made by the Spalding sporting goods company—and you were good to go. Chalk to outline bases or the strike zone was optional.

Simply known as "The Catch" - 1954 World Series



Say Hey! Willie Mays

Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke)

Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke)

Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke) @ Yahoo! Video

Duke Snider, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle walk in from center field during an Old Timer's Day celebration on July 16, 1977.

Who owned during the late 1950's? The Yankees did in hindsight, but the most intense debates of the era centered around New York’s three All-Star and future Hall of Fame center fielders:

Willie Mays of the Giants,
Mickey Mantle of the Yankees
and Duke Snider of the Dodgers.

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.

With the passing of Duke Snider (RIP) this week, we had a chance to reflect on the Duke's career specifically and the era in general and the question arose - Can you imagine if Mays, Mantle and Snider were able to arrange a LeBron-esque "Dream Team" which would have allowed all three to patrol a single outfield? That pesky issue of the Reserve Clause, of course, stood in the way. (thank you Curt Flood and Andy Messersmith).

The closest we came to this was when Terry Cashman and company airbrushed DiMaggio out of the picture for the song, Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke), leaving our "Dream Outfield" intact.

This is such a great song, I can forgive the sacrilege.

Clearly, the Yankees would have been the team to pull this off. It may have even accelerated the Giants and Dodgers eventual move to the West Coast. Heck, the Giants and Dodgers fans may have pitched in to pack their bags.

Imagine this outfield.

LF Duke Snider
CF Willie Mays
RF Mickey Mantle

Not too shabby. The Yankees would have had to have moved Gene Woodling and Hank Bauer, but my guess is they might have been willing to make the effort.

The Dream Outfield smashed all kinds of records during four seasons — 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957:

During those three seasons, The Big Three combined for:
- Three MVPs,
- multiple HR, RBI and batting championships
- One Triple Crown
- League leadership in over 30 major statistical categories
- Six pennants
- Three World Championships.

That was performing on the separate teams. Imagine them combining their talents with the Yankees. They would have owned NY. Oh yeah, they already did. DAMN YANKEES!!
---

"We never had no rivalry between us. The three of us would talk among ourselves when we would all go to the All-Star Game. We used to kid each other. I would call up Mick (Mickey Mantle) and say, 'We got that little guy from Brooklyn coming over.' Mick says, 'You go up to him and find out what he's hitting, and when he tells you, I'll say, 'I don't think so, Willie.' We'd laugh. The Duke was a really nice man," -— Willie Mays on the late Duke Snider, in an interview with the Oakland Tribune.

HOME RUN DERBY & ALL-STAR GAME

"The All-Star Game was invented for Willie Mays" - Ted Williams

Anytime you get to see Willie Mays on a baseball field it's going to be a great baseball game, one to be remembered. It seems like they tried to recreate the Ted Williams event in Boston, but to honor Willie like that was a great thing for baseball to do.

The game itself almost, almost becomes anticlimactic after that, but hey, this time it counts, right? I'm not so up in arms about having the All-Star game winner determine the World Series home-field advantage. Any system you use will have its flaws. The alternating years system wasn't doing much for anyone. I've heard using the winner of inter-league play, but that system would not be perfect either.

If this gets a little more interest and intensity in the game, that's fine. It's still the best all-star game of all the major sports.

Regarding the Home Run Derby:

It just goes to show how good Bonds has been the last few years, when the best home run hitters couldn't conquer Pac Bell Park. Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder with no splash shots and very few homers, IN A GLORIFIED BATTING PRACTICE!!! INCREDIBLE.

If I had known Matt Holliday was that good though, I might have voted for him as well. He's going to be something and if they can somehow shut down the humidors for a year or so, he might hit 60+ dingers.

from ESPN.com

NL Starting Lineups Salary $52,015,260 total, $5,779,473.33 average
AL Starting Lineups Salary 120,207,164 total, $13,356,351.55 average

It's not quite the Yankess vs. the Devil Rays, but this may help explain why the NL hasn't won much of anything in a decade or so.



It's a good time to look at my pre-season predictions and where they stand at the break:

My pre-season Divison winner predictions:
NL East: Mets 48-39 record 1st place 59.9% chance to make playoffs
NL Central: Cardinals 40-45 record 3rd place 1.2% chance to make playoffs
NL West: Dodgers 49-40 record 2nd place 57.7% chance to make playoffs
Wild Card: Giants 38-48 record last place 1.7% chance to make playoffs

Al East: Yankees 42-43 record 3rd place 14.5% chance to make playoffs
AL Central: Tigers 52-34 record 2nd place 92.2% chance to make playoffs
AL West: Angels 53-35 record 1st place 79.3% chance to make playoffs
Wild Card: Indians 52-36 record 1st place 63.2% chance to make playoffs

World Series: Giants vs. Yankees
World Series Winner: Giants

Over/Under on Bonds breaking Aaron's record: September 3rd.

The precentage chance to make playoffs figures are from the aptly named, Coolstandings.com:
http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1

Giants and Cardinals are obviously kiling me so far. I must have really been drinking the orange and black Kool-Aid in the pre-season. Giants have been terrible, when Bonds looks like the most vibrant player on the field most days, your team is getting old. The offense is anemic and the bullpen horrible.

Missed on the RedSox in the AL so far, Yankees are given a better chance to make the playoff then the second place BlueJays, probably justified. They can't be as bad as they looked in the first half. But just like Bonds with the Giants, the Yankees fortunes ride on one man, Mariano Rivera. If he goes down, or continues to look frayed around the edges,as he did in the first half. The Yankees are the most expensive .500 team in history.

If baseball truly wants a level playing field, players and owners need to get together and work on some form of "payroll parity". I know money doesn't guarantee success, but clearly the lack of it guarantees failure. Or at least the feeling that your team should be named the Washington Generals. Ask the Devil Rays, Royals, Pirates, etc. And some of the other teams are just cosmetically competetive.

The playoffs are becoming a party where realistically only about 1/3 of the teams have a realistic chance of making the playoffs annually, 1/3 need so many thing to go right each year that realistically it's not possible and 1/3 have no chance after April or May at the latest.

JUST PLAY: STICKBALL

Stickball, still the consummate city game, shown here being played in Harlem. Note the fancy scoreboard. And the materials are simply the end of a broomstick, minus the bristles and a "spal-deen", a pink ball about the size of a hand-ball made by Spaulding. They cost about $1 apiece, if that. No fancy gloves required and you really learn to field a pop-up or grounder with these babies.

So for less than $5 dollars, kids can have enough equipment and materials to play baseball on a daily basis. You can draw a strike-zone on the wall of almost any building that can be used as a backstop. That's' your catcher and umpire. Further disputes are settled by odds-evens shoot or force of personality, as most disputes are settled by kids on the playground.



A great picture of the greatest stickballer of all-time, Willie Mays.

Here's a web site with some history and rules of the game.
http://www.streetplay.com/stickball/

So for the life of me, I can't understand when I hear people say that economics is a barrier to entry for kids to play baseball. IT'S NOT. You needs a few friends, a broomstick and five dollars. Even for most kids today, the five dollars can't possibly be the hard part. Plus they can play this game for hours at a time without any parental supervision or interference. That would seem to remove some of what's wrong with youth sports today.

Kids were playing this game on NY city streets back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They can certainly play it today. Step away from the X-Box once in a while.




In doing the research for this blog post, I came across this site that documents the sports programs of prominence in Harlem, NY. Note the photo of what appears to be a successful (winning) Little League program. Further below I added details about the legendary Rucker Park. The premier summer basketball league in the country.

http://web.honorscollege.cuny.edu/student-projects/neighborhoods/harlem/sports/sports.htm

A neighborhood is defined by the ways it comes together, and a common manner of achieving this has been through athletics. Few activities bring together such masses of people from diverse outlooks and unite them under a common banner, and in Harlem it has not been different. Since the formation of Harlem as a black community, the teams of the neighborhood have carried this identity with pride and proved it in sports contests. Not only have sports reflected the area’s makeup and pride, they have also ensured its continuing strength and resilience as a place of opportunity. Today many Harlem sports organizations have gained national fame and because of its unique history the neighborhood is a focal point of black pride for sport enthusiasts everywhere. The sports we chose to focus on here – baseball, basketball, and boxing – are the most historically important in knitting together Harlem’s diverse inhabitants and are also continuing to thrive in the area.

Baseball
by Ray Pettit

Location: Marcus Garvey Park (labeled as Mt. Morris Square on map)

Baseball seems like a mismatch with Harlem, as a slow game in the bustling center of change that Harlem stands for. Still, baseball has found room to survive and thrive within the neighborhood, as seen in the recent accomplishments of the Harlem Little League team. In 2002, this unheralded team reached the Little League World Series Semi-Finals, enough to not only “capture the attention and love of Harlem,” as Howie Evans said in the local Amsterdam News, but garnering national attention as well. Harlem is also home to the East Harlem Stickball League, which plays authentic stickball every summer in varying locations throughout the neighborhood. These young ballplayers and older stickballers are not the first players to be based in Harlem; the sport has an extensive history in Harlem. Two Major League Baseball teams, the Yankees and the Giants, played on the Polo Grounds along the Harlem River. The stadium has been torn down and replaced with housing, along Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 155th St. However, a plaque still exists on the exact spot that Willie Mays, a resident of Harlem, made “The Catch.” Harlem Baseball fans were not limited to these two teams though, for many Negro League teams, such as the Cuban Stars, the Black Yankees, and the Brooklyn Royal Giants (who were based in the now absent Harlem Oval on 125th St.) played in the area. From the highs of Babe Ruth on through Willie Mays and the Little League World Series team, Harlem has seen its fair share of baseball excitement, and it continues thrive.

Basketball
by Andy Lawler

Location: Rucker Park

Today when people think of basketball and Harlem, their thoughts turn to one team, namely the Harlem Globetrotters. However, the Globetrotters were actually founded in Chicago. The owner correctly assumed the name Harlem would be effective in drawing the target crowds for an all black basketball team, and his lie reveals the power Harlem had as a black sports neighborhood. The team actually based in the neighborhood was the Harlem Rens (short for Renaissance and also variously known as and descended from the Spartan Braves of Brooklyn, Spartan Five, and New York Renaissance Big Five). Not only was the team created in Harlem, but in 1923, when the Rens were formed, it became the first full-salaried, black professional basketball team under owner Robert Douglas. In the 1920s, the team and its games were an afterthought, as dual admittances with a dance at one of Harlem’s many clubs. The team grew in popularity as the game matured, and was nationally hailed until it folded in the 40s. Unsurprisingly, people continued to play basketball in Harlem and in 1946 Holcomb Rucker started a basketball tournament that has gained legendary status. Discontinued briefly, Holcomb’s son Phil has brought the tournament back on Friday’s during the summer, and EBC games are played Monday through Thursdays. Legendary players both new and old have played at this Mecca of street ball, including Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Stephen Marbury-just to name a few. Some lesser-known but equally important players built their reputations outside the NBA at Rucker, including players like Pee Wee Kirkland and Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond. Today Harlem is one of the most popular locations basketball players go through to establish themselves, due to its past and continuing vitality.

Happy 76th Birthday to Willie Mays

Might still be the greatest all around baseball player of all time. ESPN's Peter Gammons interviewed him for last night's Giants-Phillies broadcast and Mays brought up an interesting point. When Gammons asked him if had Willie played in more favorable hitters parks than Candlestick and the Polo Grounds, would he have hit possibly 800 HR's, Mays reminded him that he lost nearly 2 years to a stint in the Army that may have cost him 70-80 HR's. I'll leave it to the SABR crowd to calculate the park-adjustments, but Mays certainly never played in a park that was nicknamed "The Launching Pad".

Absolutely, one of the most awesome packages of speed and power in the history of the game. Along with Barry and Bobby Bonds, Ricky Henderson and even Joe Morgan.



One of the best qualities about Mays was he had an infectious joy for playing the game. In his earlier years in New York, it was one of his more admirable and marketable qualities. It didn't seem like he had as much fun in the game in his later years, for a variety of reasons.



Given the circumstances (1954 World Series), one of the greatest catches of all-time, and the throw afterward to keep the runner from scoring makes this catch an even more remarkable defensive play.



Always seemed poised to deliver a big strike, a big play, whether it be at-bat, on the bases or in the field. I loved watching him play. To me, like Ted Williams, Mays is baseball royalty. As far as RH hitters: Mays, Frank Robinson and Aaron were the best I've ever seen. LH Hitters: I'd rank Bonds, Ruth and Ted Williams in whatever order you'd like. Among switch hitters: Mickey Mantle and Ricky Henderson. All were great all-around players as well.

HAPPY 76TH BIRTHDAY TO THE SAY-HEY KID.

Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy...and Bonds at 740.

This is a perfect example of the hypocrisy we'll continue to see as Barry Bonds makes his march towards the home-run crown. Jeff Perlman, the author of Love Me, Hate Me, The Making of an Antihero has his own special man-crush on Josh Hamilton. Well, isn't that special? He clearly hates Barry Bonds and the example he provides, but gushes eloquently over Josh Hamilton. That's just so special.

from espn.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/070420&sportCat=mlb

Of course, this nation is so full of forgiveness, but apparently on a selective basis only. It may be full of something, but it's clearly not forgiveness.

from espn.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/07411&sportCat=mlb

Another comes courtesy of Sports Illustrated's Peter King, who is not going to mention Barry Bonds any more because he believes he cheated. Here's his take on Shawn Merriman after he tested positive for steroids:

MERRIMANMANIA. From Bruce White of Indianapolis: "Should Shawne Merriman be eliminated from the Pro Bowl due to his positive steroids test?''

No. If he's eligible for 12 games and plays at a very high level in those games, he should be able to play in the Pro Bowl. Now, if he were to miss three games down the stretch for any reason, let's say, I'd say he didn't deserve a bid because he missed too much time. But he paid his penalty according to the collectively bargained rules of the game.

All right, let me get this straight Mr. King:

You're going to protest Barry Bonds achievement with your silence, (sounds more like a reward than a penalty, hey whatever) but have no problem with Shawn Merriman being rewarded for his achievement by participating in the Pro-Bowl even though Merriman flunked a steroids test and to-date Bonds hasn't flunked one?

Sounds like your disdain for cheating is a bit selective, don't you think? Merriman served his time according to the CBA? Weak argument. Apply same logic to Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, than we can talk like intelligent, rational people.

Do you do any special contortionist exercises to reconcile your logic in these two instances?

I think I've about had it with the blatant stupidity of braying jack-asses like this.

Somebody on this planet needs to complete the Honesty and Integrity Trifecta (we'll call it the HIT for short) for me before I give them an ear on this issue.

That is, whenever I hear or read somebody blast Bonds, (and of course they know everything he's done or didn't do, because he's always been so open and accommodating with his time with the media) I ask, "what do you think about Clemens, might he be cheating to get the results he's getting at an advanced age?"
 "Oh no, no way".

How about Lance Armstrong, couldn't he have done something to help him defeat not only Cancer but his competitors, all of whom seem to be on something? Nobody except the French seems to think he does anything but win Tour de Frances.

There seems to be just as much of a mountain of real or circumstantial evidence to implicate Clemens or Armstrong from what I've seen, heard or read. But we gleefully leak information on the one hand and blissfully redact in the other? Not to mention some other guys we let slide because they're still popular, like Pujols, Prior and many others.

And I'm a little tired of hearing, "Well these guys aren't approaching "hallowed" records" as if cheating is somehow OK, up until a point. Try that the next time you rob a bank and don't steal all the money in the vault. You want to start erasing records from the record book, you better get yourself an awful big eraser, or gallons and gallons of white out.

Guys like Perry, Sutton and Whitey Ford are in the Hall of Fame and lionized in spite of careers built on bending rules. Time to put it away folks. Never mind whatever was accomplished as a result of the use of "greenies", which were made illegal in 1970.

There is a huge problem in this country among youth with use of crystal meth. Meth being shorthand for methamphetamine or "speed". Hey, Dad baseball players use it, why can't I?

There is a also a huge problem in this country with alcohol use among youth, but I don't see any major sport turning away sponsorship dollars on principle. I know it's legal and that makes a huge difference, but spit tobacco is legal also and they took a stand there. Tobacco by contrast does not generate sponsorship dollars. Seems like we're picking our spots to take a stand based on dollars to be lost or gained (wait, where have I heard that before?).

Palmeiro I can see venom being directed at. He knew the deal and still tried to get away with something. Anyone else caught under the drug testing program deserves whatever animosity they get.

McGwire, Sosa, Bonds all of them have the Lance Armstrong defense in my opinion, they've never failed a test. You want to blame them for baseball not having adequate testing, that's pretty ignorant and unfair. I don't see anyone at work unilaterally offering up urine or blood tests unless they have to and even then, under protest. You want to retroactively punish people for behavior, start by taking racists like Cobb, Anson, et al out of the Hall of Fame, then you'll have my attention. Or take out some of the cheaters you've glorified in the past. Then I'll be impressed by your position on the issue.

And by the way, Peter King and his ilk on the Football Hall of Fame have no problem whatsoever looking the other way on all sorts of reprehensible behavior when voting on membership in the Football Hall of Fame. Drug Use, Murder, Manslaughter, anything goes as long as you perform on the field. And your little piss-ant silent protest against Barry Bonds is supposed to mean something? Give it a rest you MF-ing hypocrite.

The biggest Performance Enhancer Bonds has used in his favor IMO has always been Questec. Since being put in service in 2001, the year he hit 73 homers, his strikeout to HR ratio has turned from about 1:2 before to about 1:1.25 afterwards. Only Pujols seems to be as close in terms of HR to K ratio. That's a pretty significant change in one year.

Pitchers cannot pitch to him and get him out within the constraints of the strike zone as defined in the rule book, period. And it's possible they were never able to. However, prior to 2001, Major League pitchers had an extra 5-10 inches off the outside corner to work with. Anyone care to debate that fact? I didn't think so.

It's the same problem with Alex Rodriguez. He's so locked in and so good as a hitter and a slugger that he simply can't be pitched to. And even A-Rod strikes out about 4 time for every HR.

There is still a significant portion of the guys who study the game from statistical viewpoint who do not see the numbers of Bonds, McGwire and Sosa as being abnormal.

Here's another interesting outlook from Daniel Engber's article in Slate titled "The Growth Hormone Myth: What athletes, fans, and the sports media don't understand about HGH". The gist of the article is there is really not much data out there that indicates, from an exercise physiology standpoint, that using any of this stuff works to enhance performance on the baseball field. You have to make leaps of faith or assumptions that are not backed up by any scientific data.

The following paragraphs were I thought most interesting:

The most likely reason that athletes use HGH, though, is superstition. A ballplayer might shoot up with HGH for the same reason we take vitamin C when we have a cold: There's no good reason to think it does anything, but we're willing to give it a try. The fact that the major sports leagues have banned growth hormone only encourages the idea that the drug has tangible benefits. Why would they ban something unless it worked?

This mentality has put doping officials and athletes into a feedback loop of addled hysteria. The World Anti-Doping Agency will ban any drug that athletes use, whether or not it has an effect. The WADA code points out that the use of substances "based on the mistaken belief they enhance performance is clearly contradictory to the spirit of sport." In other words, it doesn't matter if HGH gives athletes an unfair advantage. If Jerry Hairston believes he's cheating, then he really is cheating.

That twisted logic has turned the latest round of busts into a giant PR campaign for growth hormone. Every star athlete who gets caught with a vial of HGH turns into a de facto spokesperson for the drug. In a certain sense, that might be a good thing: The media hype may soon make HGH so popular that it squeezes the more dangerous anabolic steroids out of the market. That's one way to clean up the game.

Seems like a silly way to go about it though, travelling from one bogeyman to another, but that seems to be the way things get done in this country.

And who cares if Hank Aaron doesn't show up for the record breaker? As far as I'm concerned, he couldn't hold Willie Mays' jock as a player. And if Mays had played in as hitter-friendly ballparks as Aaron enjoyed, we'd be taking about Bonds breaking Mays' record. And we might be waiting a bit longer for the record to fall. Mays might have hit 800.

I'm not going to go as far as calling Aaron a coward as Rob Parker did in this Detroit News article, but I do feel it shows a lack of class and respect for the game of baseball and Bonds accomplishments.

from detnews.com
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/SPORTS08/704200362/1129/rss15

And Bud Selig can stay home to for all I care. He was gutless at the beginning of this whole "steroids" mess and it wouldn't surprise me if he continued to be gutless now. If you really want to label anyone a coward in this whole mess, the guy for me would be Commissioner Bud Selig, representing all of the owners.

And for all the whiners, who won't be able to face baseball with Barry Bonds as it's Home Run King can always cheer on Alex Rodriguez as he makes a run at 800, 900 or, if he can get to Wrigley Field on a regular basis, who knows maybe 1000 HR's as the mark for future sluggers to shoot for.

Then tell me that the size of ballparks, the springiness of the baseballs, the dilution of pitching, etc. hasn't been a factor all these years. Me, I'll celebrate a great achievement, by a great major league hitter, possibly the best all-around hitter of this generation and most others.

The Keith Olbermanns of the world can stay home and make love to their inflatable Rebecca Lobo dolls or whatever young lady they're currently stalking (ahem, allegedly stalking) and try to pretend that they are the moral compass not only for baseball, but for the entire free world. Give me a M.F.-ing break. Where have you gone Harold Reynolds?

Aaron vs. Bonds Career Statistics

To pick up the conversation, so to speak, from my previous post dated February 24,2007 and titled "Steroids? And the HR King? Say it isn't so Hank!":

Around the time that Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth and starting making his move towards Hank Aaron, I wanted to take a look at both men's home run path throughout their careers and put it into the context of both the era in which each man performed , as well as historically. Were Bonds career numbers or career path or trajectory similar to Aaron's or were they significantly different in some way?

The method I thought would be the fairest to answer the most relevant questions was to compare the rate at which each man slugged home-runs (HR Rate or HR/AB) vs. the League Average (Total League HR's/ Total League AB's). In this way, we would see how well each man performed vs. the "average" player in his league that year. Pretty simple, right? This is basically how your IQ score is computed, your score is compared to the entire population of scores to determine a mean-adjusted score.

I took each year's statistics (from Baseball_Reference.com) and charted the results.
What I expected to see was Aaron being the better home-run hitter from age 25-32 and Bonds overtaking him in the latter stages from age 35-40.

First, I took a detour and wanted to get a look at how other "great" players and home-run hitters performed to see what the "normal" path should look like. This is similar to what some of the SABR guys are referring to as "career trajectory" and is used to find out at what age most players peak and when skills decline. Some of the work I've seen here indicates that players generally peak statistically around age 27 and their skills begin to decline around age 32-33. This is a generalization for the entire population of players. I wanted to see if the same thing applies to the smaller population of elite home-run hitters.

When we charted the data, we looked at what age did a player showed his best years (peak) and when did he show his last improvement (decline) and I also looked at when the player had the best two year periods in his career to look for when they were able to put long-term sustained excellence together. Looking at some of the SABR career trajectory graphs of the great sluggers of the past, we did see quite a few different looking career trajectories. In other words, there isn't a clearly defined "norm" for elite players, who by their very nature are not normal. They are freaks of nature, superstars. That's why we watch them.

Recall that Willie Mays power hitting skills diminished around age 34-35 and seemingly fell of a cliff thereafter, whereas Henry Aarom seemed to continue on strong even after age 35. McGwire's career seems to mimic Mays (partly due to injuries) whereas Bonds appears to look more like Aaron and Ted Williams. Small sample by definition, but you clearly have to start somewhere.

Here's a look at some of the all-time elite home-run hitters and when they peaked in their respective careers: (click to enlarge)



Not much in the way of surprises, although its interesting that both Bonds and Aaron had "peak" years in the early stages of their careers (25-28 age) and then a resurgence of sorts late career (35-38 age).

Next, we looked at the Average players and the Elite players home-run rate to see what changed from the 70's to 90's. Clearly, the rate of home-runs changed (chicks dig the long-ball) for a variety of reason that are noted. Those changes seem to have occurred across the board, indicating that they were the result of changes that would effect virtually all players somewhat equally.

Comparison of "Average" Players and "Elite" Players from the 70's vs. the 90's with factors which could contribute to the change in rate of HR's: (click to enlarge)



If you notice the comparison of players with 500 AB's, the Average players fly under the radar going from:
5 to 6 HR's for your basic banjo-hitter
10 to 13 HR's for your slap-hitting middle infielder
15-20 HR's for your decent hitters
20-26 HR's for your lower tier sluggers
and 25 to 33 HR's for your budding superstars.
Not very noticable differences and certainly not "hallowed record" threatening numbers.

But the guy from the 70's who was
hitting 30 HR's jumps to 40 HR's in the 90's,
the 40 HR guy becomes a 50 HR guy,
and the career year guy who hits 50 HR's in the 70's,
jumps right up to 66 HR's in the 90's.

So it seems as if, at least perceptually, the effect was more pronounced among the upper-tier sluggers. If a guy has a career year in the 90's (as Maris did in the 60's
and certainly Ruth did in the 20's when he socked 60 HR's) that guy is going to challenge history.

This is based on comparing the Mean League HR Rate throughout Aaron's career (2.225%)
to the Mean League HR Rate throughout Bonds' career (2.835%). An increase of approximately 27% on Average. In other words, the AVERAGE player hit home-runs at a 27% higher rate during Bonds years than during Aaron's years.

And if the AVERAGE player increased 27%, how much would you expect the superstar sluggers HR rate to increase? I'm not sure that the approximately 40% higher rate that Bonds stroked HR's throughout his career than Aaron (9.436% Bonds vs. 6.473% Aaron) is totally unexpected or unrealistic under the circumstances.

The 90's became the "chicks dig the long ball era" and attendance rose accordingly. And it had to after various labor pissing matches and a cancelled World Series. SO more than anyhting else, Home Runs saved baseball, not Sosa and McGwire exclusively, but HR's throughout baseball. Sosa and MGwire would only change attendance at Wrigley and Busch, for the most part. But attendance increased throughout baseball with some minor exceptions.

And so not only did chicks dig the long-ball, but owners did too, because when attendance rises, revenue rises. And when revenue rises, profits rise and when profits rise, owners bank accounts rise. And when owners bank accounts rise, that makes something else rise for owners faster than when they take those little-blue pills and without any of the nasty side-effects. Just a little Economics 101 for you, on the house.

If you don't believe me, go to BaseballGraphs.com and look at the graphs for Home Runs and attendance and see if you don't notice a close correlation between the two.
It's how baseball pulled itself out of the Black Sox scandal and it's how they did it again after the scandalous and ill-advised World Series cancellation.

Is this conclusive proof of owners hands in manufacturing higher home-run rates to increase attendance? NO. Is it the equivalent of a positive steroid test? NO. But does it meet the same rough equivalent, circumstantial evidence that has been used to convict many current players i the court of public opinion? YES. So, I would have to say, if you're willing to live by the sword of innuendo, you should be willing to die by the same sword.

Here is the graph comparing Aaron vs. Bonds career numbers by age: (click to enlarge)



You can see from the graph that the two players career paths move in fairly close lock-step. Some years Aaron jumps up and overtakes Bonds, other years Bonds is ahead, never by too much. In fact, if you look at the mean-adjusted HR Rate and compared each guy at 25, 26,27, etc, throughout until age 40, Aaron wins the competition 8-7. He was a better HR hitter on a relative basis for more years in his career than Bonds.

So maybe, it's time for Aaron to be the classy gentleman he is alleged to be and understand that the old saw "records were made to be broken" applies to all records, including this one.

Also, maybe it's time for any jackass who refers to this record as "hallowed", almost as if it were some sort of religious shrine or icon that's never to be disturbed, needs to either get a life at best or a better understanding of religion at worst.

These records are not a deity and neither are the person(s) who set them or break them. And neither are they the devil personified.

And maybe it's time for the owners to start stepping up and taking some of the heat, some of the tar and feathering, some of the public lynching for this so-called scandal. As I recall, our current President was at the epicenter of some of the most egregious "alleged" usage. And most, if not all of them profited from the popularity of the efforts of guys like McGwire and Sosa. Now, they want to publicly run away from them as if they didn't know what was going on. Scattering like kids caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.

For these scumbags to remain silent on the sidelines, letting the players twist slowly in the wind in this public lynching is beyond repugnant, in my opinion. Where are the beer-baron Busch's, who pocketed gate receipts from fans eager to see McGwire perform? Or the corporate giants like the Wrigley's and the Tribune Company in Chicago, who benefit ted immensely by having Sosa as the marquee player for the lovable losers known as the Cubs? They sure knew how to cash the checks when the money was flowing their way.

There's always been a symbiotic relationship between owners and the press in baseball. The press (local or national) has often been used as a tool by the owners to whip up a public frenzy against individual players or the entire union when it suits ownership, either individually or en masse. That's been true throughout the history of baseball. Anyone who denies it or is either naive or lying.

I don't know why it's so hard to see the fingerprints on the smoking gun on this one.
But the issue gets clouded more and more each day by some of the willing co-conspirators in the media in my opinion.

It's high time for people to stop banging the drum against the game of baseball. Baseball hasn't been as popular as it is now in quite some time, certainly not in my lifetime. I think it's time to get off the issue or at the least give it the same relative importance that is attached to football players who cheat. Cheating is cheating. And the effect on our nation's youth is the same regardless of the sport. Can't have it both ways. You can't have the hypocrisy of crucifying one sport and letting the other one have a pass. And save the lame excuses about the strength of each sports respective drug policies being a factor, that's insulting people's intelligence.

Just look at the recent Orlando case. Gary Matthews gets whipped publicly every day and by proxy baseball does also. The Pittsburgh Steeler team doctor puts enough HGH on a personal credit card to juice an army and says it's for his nursing home patients and weekend warriors, not the football team. And the media is like Sgt. Schultz in Hogan's Heroes, "I see nothing, nothing".

As the kids say today, whatever. I guess the nations youth aren't influenced by football after all, even though we constantly hear that it, and not baseball, is the new national pastime. And that the participation numbers are higher in youth football than any other sport. And we don't see HS offensive and defensive lineman weighing 300+ pounds and running sub 5.0 40 yard dashes. Not sure I need much testing to you what's going on there.

These are Bonds career numbers: (click to enlarge)



These are Aaron's career numbers: (click to enlarge)



Many thanks for all the help in providing the stunning visual effects (charts, graphs) have to go to my wife, who by the way, is my personal favorite stunning, visual effect. Thanks, honey.