Even the Greats Fall (to the Greats)

27 Tuesday May 2025

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Even the Greats Fall (to the Greats)

Tags

1985, baseball, Hunter Hines, Mississippi State, Rafael Palmeiro

It was the same year I earned my trusty certificate in computers from MSU. I was there, many afternoons, at Dudy Nobel Field for the 1985 season, and the whole “Thunder and Lightning” era. Forty years does a lot of things. For instance, it sees records broken.

It’s taken 40 years, but there is a new home run king in Starkville.

After holding the Mississippi State career home run hitting record since 1985, Rafael Palmeiro has finally been dethroned as Hunter Hines now stands alone.

Hines’ two home runs against Missouri in game one of the final regular season series tied the record and his shot in game two against the Tigers broke it on Friday night. The Bulldogs won 13-3 in seven inning to capture the series.

Congratulations to Hines. Here’s to the memories of a better time, and the excitement thanks to Palmeiro (and Clark, Thigpen, et al). Hail State.

The WAR on Ruth

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

≈ Comments Off on The WAR on Ruth

Tags

Babe Ruth, baseball, Steve Sailer, War

Steve Sailer ran the numbers on the baseball greats. Does this list surprise anyone?

I went on to point out that the eight highest-achieving careers, according to the composite Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric for estimating the best all-around players at the popular Baseball Reference website, belong to Ruth, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Roger Clemens, all of whom were extremely famous during their careers among fans who had never heard of WAR or James’ own rival composite statistic: Win Shares.

Cashing Out With the Devil (Worship) Rays

27 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Cashing Out With the Devil (Worship) Rays

Tags

baseball, cash, economics, MLB, society, Tampa

One step closer to that utopian cashless society, down in St. Petersburg.

Fans at Tropicana Field in Florida can expect shorter lines at the concessions stands this year as the Tampa Bay Rays announced that their stadium is going cash free.

Rays vice president of strategy and development William Walsh said on Friday that the move is an attempt cut the average transaction time in half during games, ESPN reported

“We have made significant investments each year to improve the ballpark experience for fans,” he said in a statement. “This change will increase speed of service and reduce lines throughout the ballpark.”

The stadium will accept major credit cards, apple pay, season-ticket holders’ Rays Cards and, for those wanting to use cash, they can do so by purchasing Rays gift cards to use at concessions, Fox 13 reported.

Surrendering more freedom to Big Bankster and getting that over-priced beer-flavored water at a slightly faster pace – what a deal! I suspect the local fans will be all over it.

This particular demise isn’t a concern if, like me, you still haven’t let MLB off the hook for the Strike of ’94.