04/24/24
April 23, 2015
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Just something that came to mind last night.
posted by grum@work at 10:05 AM on April 23, 2015
Canada, Brazil, and Germany being among the few countries that are represented in all 4 sports.
posted by beaverboard at 11:04 AM on April 23, 2015
Canada, Brazil, and Germany being among the few countries that are represented in all 4 sports.
I am assuming Brazil is on the NHL list because of Robyn Regehr, so in light of his retirement that country probably comes off the list for next year's iteration. And depending on how "nationality" is defined/construed maybe should not be on the list at all.
posted by holden at 11:35 AM on April 23, 2015
I wondered who the Brunean (?) hockey player was, and it's getting by on a technicality - Craig Adams was born in Brunei, but spent his entire hockey career (from a small child) in Canada.
posted by dfleming at 11:55 AM on April 23, 2015
Canada, Brazil, and Germany being among the few countries that are represented in all 4 sports.
Of course, the USA should be on the MLS list, but I simply forgot to type them in.
So Canada, Brazil, Germany, USA are the four nations with representation in all four sports.
I wondered who the Brunean (?) hockey player was, and it's getting by on a technicality
I am assuming Brazil is on the NHL list because of Robyn Regehr
It counts! It counts!
posted by grum@work at 03:01 PM on April 23, 2015
The early leaders in the "Franchise Four" (and more) voting in MLB.
Begin complaining....now!
posted by grum@work at 03:59 PM on April 23, 2015
Happy to see Pete Rose where he should be.
Lots of these are mostly where they should be. But:
CY YOUNG IS NOT ON THE BOSTON TOP FOUR OR THE PIONEERS LIST? YOU GOD DAMNED ANIMALS.
posted by dfleming at 04:06 PM on April 23, 2015
The St. Louis vote is wonky (although nothing as egregious as leaving Cy Young off the Boston list). I predicted Pujols would be left off in favor of Ozzie Smith, for a ballot of Musial, Hornsby, Gibson and Ozzie (which should probably be Musial, Hornsby, Pujols then Gibson). But I never would have guessed that Rogers Hornsby (127 career WAR, 90+ of which came with the Cardinals) would be dropped in favor of Lou Brock (45.2 career WAR). The fact that Brock is apparently polling higher than Ozzie (76.4 career WAR) is a head scratcher as well. Guess there are a bunch of Tribe Called Quest fans in the STL.
[And yes, I appreciate WAR (all figures above from Baseball Reference) is not the end all, be all of career value analysis, but at a minimum should provide a sense of whether any ranking passes the straight-faced test, which the current Cardinals vote does not.]
posted by holden at 04:39 PM on April 23, 2015
No contemporary Yankees on the list. I would think there would be at least some top 4 love for Mariano Rivera or even maybe recent sentimental favorite Jetter. Rivera may have been the greatest relief pitcher ever (though I don't have the stats to prove that).
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:14 PM on April 23, 2015
Clearly we need a decent Ice Hockey program in Australian schools.
THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
posted by owlhouse at 01:24 AM on April 24, 2015
We're close, owlhouse, the Caps took an Aussie in the 3rd round of the draft last year. Another million or so from the AIS and well be as prominent in ice hockey as we are in baseball.
posted by deflated at 03:43 AM on April 24, 2015
Joey: who would you remove from the list for Jeter or Rivera?
posted by NoMich at 06:40 AM on April 24, 2015
nothing as egregious as leaving Cy Young off the Boston list
He played 22 seasons but only 8 of them for Boston. He's one of those players who doesn't neatly belong to any franchise, especially given the Cleveland Spiders haven't been around for a couple of years.
posted by yerfatma at 08:22 AM on April 24, 2015
Rivera may have been the greatest relief pitcher ever (though I don't have the stats to prove that).
He was, but the best reliever in the world over 19 seasons is only a 57 WAR guy. Joltin' Joe's was a 78 WAR player, plus you could tack on about 18 (average of the two seasons before/two after) he lost having served in the military during the prime of his career. The other guys have double his WAR.
posted by dfleming at 08:38 AM on April 24, 2015
Rivera may have been the greatest relief pitcher ever (though I don't have the stats to prove that).
It's either Rivera or Hoyt Wilhelm, but you have to give a LOT of extra credit to Wilhelm for throwing more than just 1 inning in a game. Wilhelm pitched in fewer games, but has almost twice as many innings as Rivera.
That said, being "the greatest relief pitcher ever" isn't necessarily a strong case. Anibal Sanchez, David Price, Max Scherzer, and Johnny Cueto have almost the same number of innings pitched as Rivera, and they are all 31 and under. They're probably only halfway through their careers.
Being the best relief pitcher is like saying you're the best RH-platoon DH in history. You are really limiting your impact on the game.
posted by grum@work at 08:53 AM on April 24, 2015
Player nationalities in the four North American sports with international drafts/signings:
NHL (2014-2015) MLB (2014) NBA (2014-2015) MLS (2014) Austria Aruba Argentina Algeria Belarus Australia Autstralia Argentina Brazil Bahamas Bosnia & Herzegovina Australia Brunei Brazil Brazil Bermuda Canada Canada Cameroon Brazil Croatia Colombia Canada Cameroon Czech Republic Cuba Croatia Canada Denmark Curacao Czech Republic Chile Estonia Dominican Republic Dominican Republic Colombia Finland Germany DR Congo Costa Rica France Jamaica England Cuba Germany Japan France Denmakr Italy Mexico Georgia DR Congo Kazakhstan Netherlands Germany Ecuador Latvia Nicaragua Greece El Salvador Lithuania Panama Isreal England Norway Puerto Rico Italy Estonia Russia Saudi Arabia Jamaica France Slovakia South Korea Lithuania Gambia Slovenia Taiwan Macedonia Germany Sweden USA Mexico Ghana Switzerland Venezuela Montenegro Grenada USA New Zealand Guam Nigeria Guatemala Philippines Haiti Poland Honduras Puerto Rico Hungary Russia Indonesia Senegal Ireland Serbia Italy Slovenia Jamaica Spain Japan Sweden Kenya Switzerland Liberia Turkey Mali Ukraine Mexico USA Morocco Venezuela New Zealand Nigeria Panama Peru Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Romania Scotland Serbia Slovakia Spain St. Kitts & Nevis Sweden Switzerland Trinidad & Tobago Uruguay Venezuala Wales