:lol: :lol: :lol:

Nothing says "Hey, I'm in the Hall Of Fame", like annoucning you're buying the tema you sepnt your career with...

I knwo waht ya maen.

Typothalamus...the region of the brain responsible for keybroad wrrors

Toomuchtimeamus...the region of the brain responsible for being able to read such atrocious typos.

But yeah, what a way to go out...or in...either way lol.

doesn't jay type on a hand-held while on a train?

nah, Toomuchtimeamus was this guy's less-celebrated cousin:

That I do, so with the small keyboard errors do happen. Unfortunately I typed the post in question from my office, so I really have no excuse. Can I blame it on attending college in Florida???

I feel shame...

Just messing with ya Jay. I wish that was all
an O's fan needs to worry about.

no shame. blame it on keith law or bill simmons 'cause they're both assholes.


from keith law's blog, jan. 2007:

yeah, let's hope, 'cause we all know how likely it is that ripken pulls a rickey henderson "Lou Brock was certainly a great basestealer, but today I'm the greatest of all time" moment.*

from bill simmons' Page 2 article, sept. 2001:

not exactly a diligent sportswriter is he...


*yep, i know, it wasn't at a HOF ceremony. just comparing egos...

As a person with Dylsexia, I compleetly undersit. But it was two fuynn, I still typed LOL. Oops, my bad, I typed Loud out Laugh. LOL.

Liw Clak

Meesp rep.

thought I'd bump this with a article.


http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/20...-hall07.article


The perfect ending
Can CAL RIPKEN pass top vote-getters in Hall history?

January 7, 2007
BY DAVID GINSBURG
BALTIMORE -- Cal Ripken is a virtual lock to gain first-ballot entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame when the results are announced Tuesday.
The real question is, is the feeling unanimous? No player has received 100 percent of the vote, but no one has had a career quite like Ripken's, either.

''He's got a shot,'' Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson said. ''It's a long shot, but it's going to be interesting.''

Ripken put up plenty of dazzling numbers during his 21-year career, all with the Baltimore Orioles. He played in 2,632 consecutive games, notched 3,184 hits, hit 431 home runs, was voted MVP twice and appeared in 19 All-Star Games.

Now, five years after his retirement, he has a chance to accumulate yet another eye-opening number for his Hall of Fame plaque: 100, as in the percentage of votes received for entry to the Hall.

Since the Baseball Writers' Association of America began voting for Hall entrants by ushering in Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner in 1936, no player has received 100 percent of the vote.

Each year, more than 500 eligible BBWAA members receive a ballot filled with around two dozen possibilities. Only a few players get votes.

''History tells us he's not going to be unanimous because nobody's ever unanimous,'' said Peter Schmuck, a baseball writer for the (Baltimore) Sun. ''Until somebody is, my gut feeling is it won't happen that way.''

It's hard to imagine a candidate more worthy than Ripken, a player who respected and honored the game. The son of a lifelong baseball man, Ripken never asked for nor wanted a day off. He was a power-hitting shortstop, one who redefined a position manned previously by diminutive slap hitters.

Some say Ripken saved baseball in September 1995 with his impromptu feel-good lap around Camden Yards after he broke Lou Gehrig's record of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. Ripken's march to 2,131 that season displayed what was right about a game that had been staggered a year earlier by a labor dispute that forced the cancellation of the World Series.

''I know the criteria to be a Hall of Famer,'' Robinson said, ''and Cal is every one of those things.''

The closest anyone has come to receiving 100 percent of the vote is Tom Seaver, who was on 425 of 430 ballots (98.84 percent) in 1992. Nolan Ryan ranks second with 98.79 percent in 1999, followed by Cobb with 98.23 percent in 1936. Babe Ruth is ninth with 95.13 percent, which says a lot about the chances Ripken has of earning unanimous selection. If 11 guys felt inclined to leave Ruth off their ballot in 1936, it's not difficult to imagine at least one person failing to check the box next to Ripken's name.

''No one ever gets 100 percent,'' said Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan, who was teammates with Ripken. ''It's been a tradition, so I suspect that will probably remain true. However, I don't know what criteria you could use to decide not to vote for him.''

Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer said: ''I suppose it's always possible that it could be unanimous. ... If he doesn't get at least 77 percent of the vote, they will have to administer a drug test to all the writers.''

Palmer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner with the Orioles, gained entry to the Hall in 1990 with 92.6 percent of the vote (411 of 444 ballots). Robinson got 91.98 percent (344 of 374 ballots) of the vote in 1983.

''We are very pleased with the job the BBWAA has done over the years,'' said Jeff Idelson, the vice president for communications and education for the Hall. ''Why has there never been a unanimous selection? Because it is inherently a democratic process in which each participant has to make an arbitrary decision.''

Joe DiMaggio didn't even get in on the first ballot. So how can Ripken possibly garner 100 percent?

''The voting has evolved, which explains why Tom Seaver is the highest vote-getter by percentage,'' Schmuck said. ''I don't think that anyone would say that Tom Seaver is the No. 1 greatest pitcher that ever lived. It's a function of how the voting has changed. So if anybody has a chance to be unanimous or close to it -- or, for that matter, just to exceed Tom Seaver's vote total -- I think it's Cal Ripken.''

Seaver won 311 games and three Cy Young Awards and finished with a 2.86 ERA. Great numbers, but not as impressive as Ripken's -- beginning with 2,632.

Ripken has said he doesn't care how many votes he receives. What matters is being a part of the Hall.

''The beauty of the game, in my opinion, is its players and its former players,'' he said in August. ''That tells the story, and that celebrates the game. And if you can add to that, if you can join that group, that's a very special honor.''

He won't get 100% of the vote. He doesn't deserve to get more than Ruth, Cobb, Seaver, or Ryan for that matter.

I can see the consecutive games streak being broken. Ryan's strikeout record is damn near untouchable.

I'm with Bark. While Ripken had a stellar career and holds record that will never be broken, he's no Cobb, Williams, Ruth, or Robinson.

Besides, Keith Law will make sure it doesn't happen.

http://www.examiner.com/a-498046~Local_med...o_the_Hall.html

I think that we are all products of the environment and time-frame that we grow up in. So, to compare Ripken to guys that I never had the opportunity to see play is comparing apples to avocado's.

Ripken was the most consistent ball player that I have ever had the opportunity to see play. He didn't have the single greatest season that I have ever witnessed offensively (Pujols or A-Rod would win that one) or defensively (Ozzie Smith or Andruw Jones) or overall (Griffey) but he did alot of things consistently well.

So, I am sure that when I am in my 60's (God willing) and I am talking with my students they will have other names to fill in parenthically and I will have to fall back on them not being a Ripken.

Let me be clear, do I think that Ripken was the ball player that Ruth, Cobb, or Ted Williams were, No. However, for me and my frame of reference no one was better and more deserving of a high total of votes.

PUMA