More fuel for the Hall of Fame

Here’s a really nice table from baseball-reference that breaks down the HoF ballot and lets you see the stats at a glance. It doesn’t show all the pitching stats, but you can pull up the original table if you like.

							Batting Stats													Pitching Stats
Rk		YoB	%vote	HOFm	HOFs	Yrs	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	W	L	ERA	ERA+	WHIP	G	GS	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	SO	Pos. Summary
1	Andre Dawson	9th	67.0%	118	44	21	2627	9927	1373	2774	438	1591	314	589	.279	.323	.482	.806	119														++9,+8,D,7
2	Bert Blyleven	13th	62.7%	120	50	22	218	451	19	59	0	25	0	5	.131	.144	.146	.290	-19	287	250	3.31	118	1.198	692	685	0	4970.0	4632	430	1322	3701	+1
3	Harold Baines	4th	5.9%	66	44	22	2830	9908	1299	2866	384	1628	34	1062	.289	.356	.465	.820	120														+D,++9,8,-7
4	Lee Smith	8th	44.5%	135	13	18	770	64	2	3	1	2	0	3	.047	.090	.094	.183	-50	71	92	3.03	131	1.256	1022	6	478	1289.1	1133	89	486	1251	+1
5	Jack Morris	11th	44.0%	122	39	18	23	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	254	186	3.90	105	1.296	549	527	0	3824.0	3567	389	1390	2478	+1,-D
6	Tim Raines	3rd	22.6%	90	47	23	2502	8872	1571	2605	170	980	808	1330	.294	.385	.425	.810	123														++7,8,D,4,-9
7	Mark McGwire	4th	21.9%	170	42	16	1874	6187	1167	1626	583	1414	12	1317	.263	.394	.588	.982	162														+3,D,-5,–9
8	Alan Trammell	9th	17.4%	118	40	20	2293	8288	1231	2365	185	1003	236	850	.285	.352	.415	.767	110														+6,D,5,-4,–7,-8
9	Dave Parker	14th	15.0%	124	42	19	2466	9358	1272	2712	339	1493	154	683	.290	.339	.471	.810	121														++9,+D,7,8,-3,-4
10	Don Mattingly	10th	11.9%	134	34	14	1785	7003	1007	2153	222	1099	14	588	.307	.358	.471	.830	127														+3,D,9,7,-5,-4,-8
11	Dale Murphy	12th	11.5%	116	34	18	2180	7960	1197	2111	398	1266	161	986	.265	.346	.469	.815	121														++8,+9,3,7,2
12	Roberto Alomar	1st		194	57	17	2379	9073	1508	2724	210	1134	474	1032	.300	.371	.443	.814	116														+4,-D,-6
13	Edgar Martinez	1st		132	50	18	2055	7213	1219	2247	309	1261	49	1283	.312	.418	.515	.933	147														+D,+5,-3
14	Barry Larkin	1st		118	47	19	2180	7937	1329	2340	198	960	379	939	.295	.371	.444	.815	116														+6,-4,-D
15	Andres Galarraga	1st		114	35	19	2257	8096	1195	2333	399	1425	128	583	.288	.347	.499	.846	118														+3,D,-5
16	Fred McGriff	1st		100	48	19	2460	8757	1349	2490	493	1550	72	1305	.284	.377	.509	.886	134														+3,D
17	Mike Jackson	1st		52	11	17	374	28	3	5	0	1	0	1	.179	.207	.250	.457	21	62	67	3.42	125	1.218	1005	7	142	1188.1	983	127	464	1006	+1
18	Ellis Burks	1st		50	42	18	2000	7232	1253	2107	352	1206	181	793	.291	.363	.510	.874	126														++8,+9,+D,7
19	Pat Hentgen	1st		37	12	14	42	84	4	9	0	0	0	4	.107	.148	.107	.255	-34	131	112	4.32	108	1.391	344	306	1	2075.1	2111	269	775	1290	+1
20	Robin Ventura	1st		32	30	16	2079	7064	1006	1885	294	1182	24	1075	.267	.362	.444	.806	114	0	0	0.00		1.000	1	0	0	1.0	1	0	0	0	+5,3,-D,-4,-1,-6
21	Kevin Appier	1st		32	24	16	41	83	4	8	0	4	0	1	.096	.118	.096	.214	-43	169	137	3.74	121	1.294	414	402	0	2595.1	2425	232	933	1994	+1
22	Eric Karros	1st		30	17	14	1755	6441	797	1724	284	1027	59	552	.268	.325	.454	.779	107														+3,-D
23	Ray Lankford	1st		22	26	14	1701	5747	968	1561	238	874	258	828	.272	.364	.477	.840	122														++8,+7,-D,-9
24	Shane Reynolds	1st		18	12	13	296	546	34	77	5	43	0	14	.141	.165	.196	.361	-6	114	96	4.09	103	1.314	305	278	0	1791.2	1935	191	419	1403	+1
25	David Segui	1st		15	16	15	1456	4847	683	1412	139	684	17	524	.291	.359	.443	.802	110														+3,D,7,-9
26	Todd Zeile	1st		14	27	16	2158	7573	986	2004	253	1110	53	945	.265	.346	.423	.769	103	0	0	22.50	20	3.500	2	0	0	2.0	5	0	2	1	+5,+3,2,-D,-7,–1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/31/2009.

EU 3 Rise to the Throne: A review you can use [tm]!

This will be a quick review – my opinions on Europa Universalis III can be found here and here. The purpose of this article is to hit the high points.

First off, DO NOT BUY THE GAME FROM IMPULSE. It’s direct download only, and I used Impulse because I had earlier purchased Sins of a Solar Empire on Kevin’s recommendation (review on that coming soon). However, there’s a lovely little trick – Impulse’s version won’t work as packaged if you didn’t buy the game on direct download! I found out after the fact, but the notice is quite small. Thanks to the folks on the Impulse forums, who eventually helped me out. If you have the same problem, the fix is here.

The changes:

New casus belli system — Honestly, worth the price of admission here. There’s not just one generic cb, there are lots of them (30+!). With more options for ending a war (more later) and starting one, you tend to get more frequent, but shorter wars for limited objectives. Good stuff.

Army balancing — Biggest news here? Zero morale = automatic surrender, so no fighting the same army in thirty battles. Also, they made infantry a little more powerful and reduced casualty rates a bit. More decisive in the early game.

Pirates! — Pirates are no longer annoying. Instead of popping up every two to three seconds with two ships, they appear much less frequently but are more dangerous when they do.

Trade leagues — You can now form trade leagues between merchant republics and non-republics, exclusive trading rights, and much more! Makes republics worth something now.

Dynasties — The title says it all. With a new stat called legitimacy, your dynasty is relatively strong or weak. If you have a weak dynasty, you can have wars of succession. Claiming the throne of another power makes lots of people irritated but when it works… Spain + France = scary! A wonderful opportunity here, gives you a CB if you’re impatient too.

New diplomacy options — During peace time, you can expand your sphere of influence (basically, if somebody starts trouble inside your sphere, you can kick the crap out of them with no penalties) or work with trade (if you’re a merchant republic). However, after a war, there are more options besides demanding money, territory, revoking claims, ending vassals, or releasing nations. You can make them break agreements (who’s your ally now, Scotland? Not France!), force them to concede defeat (small bonus to prestige, no infamy), and much more!

Interface improvements — Moving reputation (now Infamy) to the top screen is a big boost, and when you make demands, you actually find out what kind of punishment you’ll take infamy wise. They redid the mini-map, and added more options for viewing the map. Modifiers are now in one separate window instead of dozens of different ones.

There are other changes, like magistrates, cultural decisions, national focus, and a bigger role for the HRE and Papacy. Overall, a great expansion that nobody expected!

And why I should have a HoF vote.

Just finished reading a post by Rob Neyer, who talks about Jon Heyman’s HoF Ballot, reproduced here (from twitter):

voted for alomar, dawson, larkin, parker, morris & mattingly

Dave Parker? Really?!? This guy? Look, Dave Parker was a good player. But he’s an outfielder. Judged against his fellow outfielders, well, he doesn’t look good. Neyer points out the stupidity of voting for Jack Morris and not Blyleven. I won’t dignify Don Mattingly with a response.

My Hall of Fame ballot (if I had one, which I don’t)

I read an article on the other day on ESPN by David Schoenfield. I had earlier thought of writing a post on this topic, but his article inspired me. In his article, Schoenfield mentioned one stat that absolutely floored me about Edgar Martinez.

He had an OPS+ of 150 eight seasons. In an offensive era, to have those kind of numbers (and these are adjusted for park and era) is simply mind boggling. 24 other men in baseball history have accomplished that feat. There is one fewer 300 game winner. There are two more hitters with 3,000 hits. Of those 24 men, all who are eligible are in the Hall of Fame, except for Dick Allen. Those that aren’t eligible are guys like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez, all guys who will likely (or should likely) find their way into the HoF some day.

Anyway, here’s my imaginary ballot. Keep in mind, you only have a maximum of ten names.

1. Bert Blyleven — I honestly thought he was already in. He’s no. 5 in strikeouts all time, has 287 wins and a career ERA + of 118. Tommy John deserves to be in more, if for no other reason than his contribution to pitchers of today with TJ surgery, but Blyleven shouldn’t be punished because his teams sucked.

2. Mark McGwire — PEDs have nothing to do with the Hall of Fame. Andro was not banned by MLB when he used it. The man was an absolute hitting machine, with a career OPS+ of 162. Here’s the list of folks with a better OPS+ over their career.

1.	Babe Ruth+	207	L
2.	Ted Williams+	191	L
3.	Barry Bonds	181	L
4.	Lou Gehrig+	179	L
5.	Rogers Hornsby+	175	R
6.	Mickey Mantle+	172	B
	Albert Pujols (29)	172	R
8.	Dan Brouthers+	170	L
	Joe Jackson	170	L
10.	Ty Cobb+	168	L
11.	Jimmie Foxx+	163	R
12.	Pete Browning	162	R
	Mark McGwire	162	R

Source: Baseball Reference.

That’s one hell of a list.

3. Roberto Alomar — And I’m not just saying that because he played for the Indians. If you were to make an argument for the best 2B of all time, Alomar would be in the discussion. I don’t think he’d win (Rogers Hornsby for my money, you could talk me into Joe Morgan), but he’s in the conversation, definitely top five. 2700 hits, 200+ HRs, nearly 500 SBs, and a great fielder to boot. OPS + of 116 for his career, but that’s dragged down by his lousy seasons with the Mets.

4. Tim Raines — Like Bert Blyleven,  unfairly punished for playing on bad teams. .385 career OBP, 800+ stolen bases, 2600 hits, the second best leadoff hitter of all time. OPS+ of 123+, 131+ just with the Expos.

5. Edgar — See above.

6. Barry Larkin — It’s creepy how close Alomar and Larkin are in offensive quality. A point’s difference for career OPS. OPS+ is identical. Nearly the same number of hits. More power and stolen bases for Alomar, but a better SB rate and higher OBP for Larkin. I was ultimately going to leave Larkin off, mostly because the 1995 NL MVP should have gone to Maddux or Piazza, but I have to be consistent. Jayson Stark makes some good points, but he does base it awfully highly on awards.

That’s my ballot. You could talk me into Alan Trammell, I suppose, who was a slightly poorer man’s Barry Larkin. He did play in a tougher offensive era, too, but ultimately Larkin towered over the shortstops of his era, and you can’t say that for Trammell.

Lee Smith may have held the all-time saves record for a time. Saves are a junk stat, though, and he just wasn’t that dominating. He has the same ERA + as Roberto Hernandez. Hell, Kent Tekulve has a better one!! Relievers are tough to judge, and if he got in, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Nietzsche – Big Jerk or the Biggest Jerk?

Since we were rooming together at the eponymous 36 Chambers, I have heard much about him, from Dan and Kevin. Now, thanks to my European general field exam, I have actually read him. My opinion?

Nietzsche was a misogynistic, narcissistic jerk. I hate him more than Karl Marx, which I thought would never be possible. In fact, he is my newest enemy. For those curious, the book I read was Beyond Good and Evil.

Why do I hate him more than Karl Marx, another of my sworn enemies? Karl Marx, while misguided, wrong, and possibly insane (maybe it’s the hair), was actually trying to contribute positively to society. Nietzsche only sought to make other people look stupid. Now, making people look stupid is fun, so I don’t dock him for that, but at some point, it degenerates into meaningless abuse. So, to the enemies list with you!!

Quick Notes

- My latest in the “What the heck?” series involving Japan.

- Can you squeeze your car into that space? Answer:  yes, but getting it out will be tough.

- “Hide the decline” should become an internet meme.  It makes fun of people, involves some level of being in the know, and sounds vaguely naughty.  What’s keeping it from exploding?

- My first foray into robotics may be this thing.  Also, during one of my used book runs, I found this book on easy electrical projects on clearance.  Given that I’m more likely than the average geek to give myself lead poisoning with a soldering iron, this may not be the smartest thing to do, but I’ve become interested in robotics and electronics and would like to try it out.

Another Purchase

I decided to try to get into cycling shape a bit early by purchasing an exercise cycle.  It’s roughly the same price as a fluid trainer plus a mat to hold my bike, so I was fine with that.  Apparently, though, I am entirely incapable of anything with “some assembly required.”  It would help if I put the things right-side-up before screwing them in, but at least I had a second pair of hands to hold things and mock me when I do it wrong.  Fortunately, it’s 98% complete.  Unfortunately, I need an adjustable wrench to complete it.  Seeing as how I just bought one of those for my dad, you’d think I would have one for myself.  You’d think wrong…

My thoughts on Assassin’s Creed III

In Grand Theft Auto (the new ones, anyway), there’s always been a great deal of speculation on where the next game will take place. Although the AC franchise is fairly new, I think it’s about time to speculate already on where the next game will take place.

I used the following criteria:

1) It can’t be an overly industrialized time/region. Sword play is too prominent a feature of the series and I don’t want to see it become another FPS.

2) I doubt they’ll retrace any steps, so no more 10th-11th century Levant or 15th century Italy.

In no particular order, my guesses for the next AC III.

1. Russia, ca. 16th century

Why it will be : You get Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles. Lots and lots of people assassinating other people.

Why it won’t be: I think Russia is simply too alien a frame of reference for most folks. I highly doubt it would be outside of Europe, to be honest.

2. France, French Revolution-Napoleonic Empire

Why it will be: Ubisoft Montreal does the series, and I can’t imagine they would pass up this opportunity. If you get to meet Napoleon, that would be the greatest game ever.

Why it won’t be: The French Revolution is still really controversial, even in France. It’s a bit too industrialized for a largely sword based game, but perhaps not too much.

3. Germany, Protestant Reformation

Why it will be: The first AC had religious overtones; although they really aren’t there in AC II, religion is still a subtext.

Why it won’t be: Ultimately, you need interesting people the man on the street will recognize (Richard the Lionhearted in AC I, Leonardo Da Vinci in AC II). Martin Luther is pretty much your only option, and I don’t think most people care about Martin Luther, except possibly Lutherans.

4. World War II

Why it will be: Tons of oblique references to World War II in AC II, particularly when solving the glyph puzzles. Lots of great characters to meet.

Why it won’t be: I don’t see how you could avoid turning AC into an FPS in this scenario. I’m sure it’s possible, but it’s hard to see.

5. England, English Civil War

Why it will be: Guns are prevalent about this time, but they’re muskets for Crissakes. Swords are probably more effective. You have the prerequisite characters (Oliver Cromwell) and plenty of potential for war.

Why it won’t be: No reason not to be, other than the fact that there aren’t too many beautiful/interesting places to visit in England during this time. It’s not very exciting to jump from thatched roof to thatched roof, when you usually fall in.

6. The Roman Republic

Why it will be: The opportunity to kill Julius Caesar? Score! Lots of great places to visit, including Rome restored to her former glory.

Why it won’t be: The Assassins, at least those based in the Middle East, weren’t around yet. The Pieces of Eden were, but Templars and Assassins were not.

Put your thoughts in the comments!

Book Ordered

Among the authors of the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives book, there are several whose websites I follow.  I just ordered the book (with discount code helpfully provided by Kalen Delaney, editor of the performance tuning and optimization section).  I’m not sure how much longer the code lasted, but it did on the 26th of December.

Preparing For Ubuntu

After buying a new power supply, I am going to give Ubuntu a try on my newly-repurposed computer.  Being a Red Hat/Mandrake/Fedora fan, I’ve spent most of my Linux time in the RPM world, but I like the idea of Wubi and will probably put it on my non-Linux laptop.  Here’s hoping that I won’t have the problem that killed me last time with Ubuntu:  not being able to get wireless networking going.