Jim Rice is in the Hall of Fame... oh yeah and so is Ricky

I'm so excited, it finally happened.... JIM RICE WOO!

Despite the fact the writers barely voted him in (76.4%), Rice is in putting in 2/4 of the 1975 Red Sox outfield. Yaz of course counts, even though he was sharing time as a first baseman.

But Rice put up consistent, strong numbers in Beantown, nearly won the 1975 Rookie of the Year (he lost to AL MVP teammate Fred Lynn), but got no love from the writers. He hit a solid number of home runs for the time period (he led the league three times with 39, 46, 39) before teams built these tiny matchbox stadiums with shallow walls. Also his career fielding was near 98%, not too shabby for having to play leftfield at Fenway half the year.

Ricky was no surprise here to see, his stolen base record dramatically overshadows the fact he's played since the game was invented. Though in his defense he created the power hitting lead off man position, much to my dismay (Lofton didn't need to hit 30 home runs at lead off, that's what Ramirez was for).

Here are the other guys who didn't deserve to get in but got a huge amount of votes:

Jack Morris 44% - Granted I love him, especially since his 1991 World Series clincher, but his victories fall short of being a legend, despite having three seasons with 20 wins.

Tommy John 31.7% - Okay, so you have a surgery, apart from that out of over 25 years of pitching only three 20 win seasons, even then he never blew the league away.

Tim Raines 22.6% - He would be in for the Drug Users Hall of Fame (with Dale Berra and Keith "I'm Keith Hernandez" Hernandez, but what did he do after the 1980's? He floated around from team to team, especially late in his career, as a pinch-hitter and back-up outfielder. A .334 AVG in 1986 isn't enough to put him in Cooperstown.

Mark McGwire 21.9% - Why is he still even mentioned? Despite the league not banning his substances until after 1998, his play to the game is unofficial stricken from the record. He does not embody the game.

Don Mattingly 11.9% - I'll say this, I grew up loving Donny Baseball. However, my heart is not voting, his stats vote for him and despite his lovable spirit, his numbers do not come close to even being considered. He was like Dale Murphy, great at first but the quality just never really sustained time. Also, his career ended earlier than his likelihood of enrollment would allow.

Harold Baines 5.9% - I love ya, but really, should we vote in Ellis Burks (his time will be soon, I believe next year)

Mo Vaughn, Jay Bell, Jesse Orosco, Ron Gant, Dan Plesac, Greg Vaughn less than 2% - Are you kidding me? Who and why would you vote for them!?! Take away those writers votes!

Though again the things that troubles me is the lack of votes for Andre Dawson (67%). Every year it feels like he is getting passed over. The Hawk was a strong outfielder for Montreal and Chicago for the peak of his career, where he was the best of the players of that decade the 1980's. He held a steady average over time but did show flashes of power (49 homers in '87). He is similar to Rice in that respect though Rice was a stronger average hitter.

Also Lee Smith deserves his day in the sun. Lee Arthur Smith Jr. is one of the best closers in the game's history. He was a closer when those guys were required to pitch more than one inning, unlike today's closers. In 1991 and 1992, respectively, he had 47 and 43 saves, led the league. Better yet he was so effective in most seasons he was striking out more than innings pitched.

I hope in the future the writers will consider them next year, even though that class is stronger with Barry Larkin, Roberto Alomar and Edgar Martinez up to the plate.

Yankee Fans: I cannot feel your pain... ever!

After Marky Mark went from sunny California to the Big Apple where every at bat and every trip to the barber shop is examined, the Yankees proved once again that the only God in sports is the Almighty Dollar. This is a team assembled by a corporation set out on creating robots that are so uniform and sterile, you'd think they didn't have reproductive organs.

See, growing up in a family where most of our sports allegiances have suffered decades without a conference championship let alone a World Championship, I can never ever feel sorry for a group of fans who have waited only since 2000 for the hopes of a title.

Yankee fans are always believing that their wealth and the fact that they always recieve the best players is what makes them the best. Combine that with their desire to have the most boring looking lineup and rotation in baseball (called "The Yankee Way") makes them more intolerable than having your toe nails being pulled out.

This Yankee Way has been a thorn in my side. Groups of players known for their flair and color are not good enough to be Yankees or would be promptly told to change "their ways" for the "Yankee Way."

To me this is more of a group of historically rich fans to think of themselves as richer. For them winning the World Series is like Mr. Burns getting another ivory back scratcher. These titles are so plentiful some of them are really of no value and no signifigance to the fans. While easily any Phillies fan could treasure both of their teams Fall Classic triumphs. For someone like myself who grew up an Indians fan, the only recollection I have is failure through David Justice/Tom Glavine and Edgar Renteria.

While Yankee fans are down in the dumps since 2000 but are now riding an optomism that can only surpass how they felt since Joba became a starter (based on what again?), these fans will become unbearable. Major League Baseball, outside of the New York market has enjoyed success over the last several seasons as many teams unfamiliar to postseason play have become stars to it. Honestly who could have thought that ten years we would see Tampa, Colorado, Detroit, Chicago AL and Houston in World Series play, let alone two Red Sox World Series wins? I know I couldn't. Let the Yanks buy their players, it's gonna happen but don't ever let me think that people should pity their fans.

The Great Debate: Hall of Fame Class of '09

I love the Hall of Fame. It showcases the best of the game and the greatest achievements of not only the players but of the human spirit. Nothing is more American than the National Baseball Hall of Fame. However, I hate some aspects of the Hall.

First and foremost I hate the Veterans Committee. A bunch of old players who think no one was every good enough to be voted in... except themselves of course.

"This guy didn't hit enough homers."

"This guy didn't have a 20 win season."

"This guy was too... BLONDE!"

Arg! I hate that.

The second thing I hate is the fact that as soon as retirements starts happening after the World Series the Yankee fans, writers, supporters start coming out of the wood work and demand their players get in. It's like when people apply for pardons from the President. None of them deserve it because if they did, then they would be free or in the Hall already.

First on the list is Mike Mussina. Yes, he retired this year and he did almost throw to perfect games (not a legit reason to vote someone in). He did not win 300 games, he had a decent strikeout total and he was a solid pitcher for the era.

However, meeting that win total and being considered a dominant pitcher is what will drag him down. Though he did finish second every year he was up for the Cy Young, the fact he never won and never really had that break out year is what will leave him staying at his home and not in Cooperstown when he is eligible. I'm sorry, he couldn't even get the Yanks a World Series with the staffs they had in 2001, 2003 or even the pennant in 2004.

Roger Maris is a consistent pick to be considered for the Hall. Granted he may have hit 61* homers in 1961 and he had some hardware to go with it, but need less to say, he was nothing special. He never had a season where he hit .300. His totals were never that great from 1961 beyond. The Yankee fans who supported him where not there in '61 when they pretty much attacked him, wished him dead, etc. So why do you guys think he is worthy to be with Ruth, Mantle and Aaron? Those guys were great sluggers.

Now, since this man has been having poor health recently and turned over the franchise to his sons (or is that spawn?). George Steinbrenner has been getting this grass roots campaign to be elected. Frankly, this man is not a saint or a person who held the game to the highest standard.

Yes, he was one of the first owners to embrace free agency and yes he won plenty of world championships. However, George was constantly being punished by Major League Baseball for breaking rules and flat out not caring about the rules that applied to "other teams". My favorite vice was when Dave Winfield came to New York and had an agreement with George to doante money to Winfield's charity. The payment was never made and George went out to assualt Winfield's character and charity. This man is as much a saint as Marge Schott was a civil rights activist. No embrace from me.

In fact we really need to examine our thinking of who is a Hall of Fame player. The last few years we have voted in the greats of the game. The last twenty/thirty years have blessed us with legends of the diamond but I hope that we don't try to water down the hall with slightly less standards and "Maris" like players.

Sal Sez: " I was catcher for the Red Sox when Maris hit #61."

Doc Ellis: 1945-2008

Sad news from the AP, legendary pitcher... make that folk hero pitcher Doc Ellis is dead at 63. The former Pirates pitcher died in California from a liver ailment.

Those who remember Ellis, know of his LSD no-hitter where he walked 8 Padres but still had goose eggs in the hits column. The only reason he pitched high, was because he did not know he was slated to start that day. But I'm pretty sure he was high when he wanted to bean every batter on the Cincinnati Reds line up (he failed, Pete Rose walked to break his streak).

This is truly a sad day since his colorful attitude and hair style really makes people feel nostalgic for a great 1970's fashion and baseball. Of course if he played for the A's he would have had a Fu Manchu and dropped acid while playing in yellow double knit uniforms. The colors children, notice the colors!

He would later change his lifestyle and advise against the use of drugs and in the 1980's was hired by the New York Yankees to consul minor leaguers on the dangers of substance abuse.

Doc, you will be missed.

The New York Yankees 2008 Off-Season or How I learned to stop worrying because we have no soul

I love those references.... AH, it makes me feel so safe and warm.

I do not however feel safe and warm when the Yankees spend more money than God on two pitches;
one of which started the first half of last season losing more games than he lost all of last season and the second never really living quite up to expectations from when he left his previous team a few years earlier.

This is like a Yankee knee jerk reaction, when you lose in the regular season, make sure you spend money on players like a kid in a candy store who happen to find a twenty on the corner.

In fact in signing A.J. Burnett and C.C. they pretty much took a pile of cash and set it on fire. They did the same when they signed Jaret Wright (product if an overly productive contract year), Kevin Brown (same thing) and Carl Pavano (well, that was all potential there).

Now to add to the fact they spent large (three times the size of the Rays payroll) on two guys, the Yankees actually had the audacity to ask New York for more funds for their new stadium, "The Place that Taxpayers Might Have to Build".

Though the fact remains and this is one thing both of us at Sal's 401K believe is key to a championship team. Oh, that's right Yankee fans, your team has not won a single World Series since that dumb Subway Series that is barely a Series at all. Might I digress, Yankee teams are composed of mostly 33 year old plus players who were assembled by a dollar amount rather than a strategic purpose.

See, baseball teams much like other teams need to have chemistry and I just don't see the chemistry and of course key role players on the New York Yankees. The point I always make, and it angers Yankee fans is that in 2004 the Boston Red Sox traded Nomar Garciaparra. You may have remembered him, he was the franchise player. Well, they traded him and acquired Orlando Cabrera who was not as much as a power hitter as Nomar was. He didn't make the same wage as Nomar. But he was pretty flashy on the field with defense and his speed helped add some horsepower and stolen bases when they needed it. In fact their key stolen base was by Dave Roberts, some backup outfielder who doesn't hit 30 homers a year. Try finding that on the Yankees.

Fact remains that the New York Yankees get drunk with their check book everytime they lose. Though as usual they will probably unload most of the old guys when they realize they weren't worth it to begin with. Maybe they will unload their crappy young players... like Joba.

Sal Sez: "When I was with the Yankees they made me shave my mustache off. I killed a trainer at spring training when he tried to shave me."

The Streak is OVAH!!! NOMMMMMAAAAARRRR!!!

Oh yes Lady's and Gent's this is a glorious day. The Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians last night, extending a Rays-Sox lead in the AL East. What this means is yes, say it with me people, THE YANKEES WILL MISS THE PLAYOFFS!

Say it slowly, the New York Yankees... who have the highest payroll, the dumbest fans and the worst hometown announcing crew in the league, will miss the 2008 Major League Baseball Postseason for the first time since 1993. That was when crappy players like Kevin Maas and Steve Sax were on the Yankees. Oh don't forget about the 1980's when they had really crappy players and young players they would unload in the 1990's.

The last game at Yankee Stadium was in September which is bittersweet. It's sad because it is the most important park in baseball history. However and for those who were on Deadspin last week, it was home to the biggest bunch of idiot fans who honestly thought the sun only rose each day for a Yankees win. In a related note, the sun didn't rise for the Yankees during the 2004 Playoffs through the present day.

At Sal's 401K, again, located in Rochester, NY, we argued all year long that teams such as Tampa Bay could not exist as the perennial cellar dwellar (save that now for Baltimore). That team is good and showed it when key players went down.

Also, they had to realize that as much as most people hate Red Sox fans, they are right that the Red Sox are wicked hard! These guys play to win. The Yankees are really a bunch of hired fielders with huge salaries and do not deliver in the clutch and play around a miserable pitching staff complete with wash ups, has beens and never will be's. Also they have a few good players here and there.

Let it be told that we might actually see Yankee fans realize that New York is not home to the best baseball. Los Angeles is making a strong case now along with Boston and Tampa. Oh let's not forget Chicago.

Sal Says: Nomar Garciaparra is still a member of the Red Sox in his eyes. Of course that does mean missing 30 games and swinging on every first pitch.