I'm not sure why "this isn't good for baseball". It may not be good for those players but not good for baseball is a little melodramatic.

How many of them will cost a QO pick? How many of them are hoping their magic season of last year covers the stench of a multiyear crater? How many are older and will be on their 3rd team in 3 years?

And Hendricks on that list is a red herring. He's coming off TJ and wouldn't be able to pitch until mid season. No one is going to pay him closer money to sit and not play. Someone may want to sign him cheap and flip him at the deadline but that's not what he wants either.

redline248 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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TED was ahead of his time.

Sox put this sign up at the batting cages. The Kid was all about launch angle and exit velo. They just didn’t call it that back then. pic.twitter.com/SP7ctlyZcy

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) February 17, 2024

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Being a relative youngster I knew Ted was a great ball player, but never looked into his career. At age 41 he had an OPS of 1.096 in almost 400 PA. What would his numbers look like if he didn't miss 3 prime years because of war?

A note for Porkchop: Joey Gallo struck out more times in 7 years with Texas than Ted did in 19 years.

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You should come visit the Baseball.Reference.com threads some time, we talk a lot of history over there. This is a post I researched and put together last spring about Ted Williams and what might have been.

________________________________________________________________________________________
Ted Williams' talk time.

He's one of only two HOFers to actively serve in two wars. He was in WWII from 1942-1944 and in Korea from 1952-1953.

As such, during the seasons when he was 24-26, he played ZERO games.
In the seasons he was 33-34, he played in 43 games.

In 1942, when he was 23, he hit .356 with 36 HR and 137 RBI, winning the triple crown.
In 1946, back from the war, he hit .342 with 38 HR and 123 RBi.

In 1952, he played in just 6 games before being called back to duty. he was hitting .400.
He returned from Korea at the end of the 1953 season, playing in 37 games and hitting .407 with 13 HR.
In 1954, he hit .345 again with 29 HR and 89 RBI.

So now we'll play the "what-if" game. We'll give him an average of 145 games a year for the 5 years he missed in the service. That gives him an extra 682 games in his career.

What does that do to his career totals? Let's take a look (all simple math of course, no real measure of decline, injuries, etc.)

Games Played: He played in 2,292, good for 118th. With the war seasons, he would have been up to 2,974, which would have been 12th.

Runs Scored: He scored 1,798 (20th). Adjusted, it's, 2,333, which would be #1 all-time (Rickey Henderson the real leader at 2,295).

Hits: He got 2,654 of them, which is 77th all-time. Adjusted, it goes up to 3,444, which would be 7th.

Doubles: Real total is 525, good for 46th, tied with Willie Mays. Adjusted, it's 681, which would be 6th.

Home Runs: Real total is 521, good for 20th; Adjusted, it's 676, which would 6th all time, and would have been 2nd behind Ruth when Williams retired.

RBI: Real total is 1,839, good for 16th all-time. Adjusted, it's 2,386, which would be #1 all-time (Hank Aaron leads at 2,297).

Walks: Real total is 2,201, good for 4th all-time. Adjusted, it's 2,622, which would be #1 all time, even ahead of Gigantor Head himself (2,558).

Total Bases: Real total is 4,884, good for 25th. Adjusted, it's 6,337, which would be #2 all-time behind Hank Aaron (6,856)

His percentages otherwise
Average: .344 (7th)
OBP: .482 (1st)
SLG: .634 (2nd)
OPS: 1.116 (2nd)

Pretty solid resume for the greatest player of all time.

Mathguy64 said:

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I'm not sure why "this isn't good for baseball". It may not be good for those players but not good for baseball is a little melodramatic.

How many of them will cost a QO pick? How many of them are hoping their magic season of last year covers the stench of a multiyear crater? How many are older and will be on their 3rd team in 3 years?

And Hendricks on that list is a red herring. He's coming off TJ and wouldn't be able to pitch until mid season. No one is going to pay him closer money to sit and not play. Someone may want to sign him cheap and flip him at the deadline but that's not what he wants either.

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I think it's actually good for baseball. It's pretty obvious all these players have a higher value on themselves than the teams do. Teams handing out bad contracts is what's not good for baseball. It's okay for players to seek a particular contract, but at some point, they either have to accept that their market value is lower than what they and and their agents think, or they can continue to not play and not make any money.

Twisted Helix said:

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"Ted Williams' talk time.

He's one of only two HOFers to actively serve in two wars. He was in WWII from 1942-1944 and in Korea from 1952-1953."

Who was the other one? Rogers Hornsby? Just a guess.

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It's actually the baseball exec Larry McPhail, who has one of the most incredible lesser-known stories in American sports history.

A brief summation (brief by Porkchop standards)

Drafted into World War I when he was in his mid-20s.

Was an artillery captain in WWI, and went on a non-sanctioned mission with his CO into the Netherlands to arrest Kaiser Wilhelm and bring him to be tried for his war crimes! They got all the way inside the castle where Wilhelm was hiding and McPhail got in trouble for stealing one of his ashtrays before they were made to leae.

Was a lawyer after the war and wound up purchasing an interest in a minor-league affiliate of the Cardinals in Columbus, Ohio.

Had known Branch Rickey before the war and wound up getting hired by the Reds as their CEO and GM in 1933 on Rickey's recommendation.

Became president of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938 and introduced, among other things - flying teams between cities, having games at night, and broadcasting games regularly on the radio. he hired Red Barber to call games first for the Reds, then for the Dodgers.

In 1942, he resigned as president of the Dodgers PRESIDENT! To accept a commission in the Army to fight in WWII. Was a colonel when the war ended. When he came back, he was hired as president and GM of the Yankees.

Was quite the alcoholic and got kicked out of the Yankees' ownership after several "confrontations" after he won they won the WS in 1947.

If you recognize his name, his family has a long history in baseball.
Lee McPhail was GM for the Orioles and Yankees and president of the AL. He's in the Hall as well.
Son Bill McPhail was president of CBS Sports and CNN Sports
Andy McPhail, his grandson, was GM for the Twins and Cubs, and president of the Phillies a few years ago.

Pretty good article about his exploits in WWI here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/08/05/the-bizarre-tale-of-a-kidnapping-attempt-the-german-kaiser-and-a-beloved-ashtray/

Twisted Helix said:

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"Ted Williams' talk time.

He's one of only two HOFers to actively serve in two wars. He was in WWII from 1942-1944 and in Korea from 1952-1953."

Who was the other one? Rogers Hornsby? Just a guess.

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I helped take care of Ted Williams in his last days during my surgery residency. I called my dad to tell him about it and told my dad he was kind of an *******. My dad said he was always an *******!

Someone on texags has done literally everything. My goodness.

Prior to the first full-squad workout, Joe Espada said Ronel Blanco will start Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener. More importantly, Espada said his primary players will all play from the get-go. That’s a change from recent years. pic.twitter.com/EcGyY8tVuV

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 19, 2024

another aspect of the Astros dynasty...

it neutralized Mike Trout's career

You could argue that Griffey Jr's extreme popularity helped keep the game afloat after the strike. Even as mcgwire and Sosa and bonds chased the hr mark, Griffen was easily the most popular player and the most marketable.

The SNES game Ken Griffey Baseball actually did a lot to pull in a younger generation of fans. I played that game a TON.

Anthony Rendon on playing pro baseball:

"It’s never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving."

Here's the full exchange: pic.twitter.com/xtgaywzNx9

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) February 19, 2024

This should go over well with their fans

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Anthony Rendon on playing pro baseball:

"It’s never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving."

Here's the full exchange: pic.twitter.com/xtgaywzNx9

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) February 19, 2024

This should go over well with their fans

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That's actually a great mindset to have.

Pressly vs. Bregman in live BP pic.twitter.com/cQG2a4TjtU

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 19, 2024

That’s a … really different look from Jeremy Peña, who has quieted his batting stance down a ton. Makes good contact here in a live BP against Ryan Pressly. pic.twitter.com/pDCO3OlQtJ

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 19, 2024