Dennis Lamp, that was a weird name. My favorite pitchers name is Orval Overall--he pitched with "Three Finger" Mordecia Brown on the Cubbies. As for non-pitchers, Pete LaCock is still a funny name, especially because he looked a little bit like a porn actor. He played for the Royals in 77 and in the 77 WS Box Set, they also have Game 5 of the ALCS, where Bill White says, "LaCock used to be a pull hitter but now he likes to go the other way."

1 "LaCock used to be a pull hitter but now he likes to go the other way."

Thanks for that one - I was having a ho-hum morning until I read that and started laughing out loud.

Gotta give some votes to Boof Bonzer and Vinnie "cough, cough," Chulk, even though those two names don't necessary run with your pitcher theme. And, can you just imagine the backpage splash on The Post if Vinnie was a pitcher here in NY and had blown a game? A "VINNIE CHOKE" headline is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Tony Suck is the best baseball name I've ever come across.

I'm fascinated by his Baseball-Reference page which lists Suck's hits/throws as "unknown" yet his precise height (5'9") and weight (164) are recorded.

Also, forget the Mendoza line -- the Suck Line is a better barometer for suckitude, especially for catchers, which Suck was.

Suck's career line (58 games): .151/.205./.161
Wil Nieves's career line (also 58 games!): .144/.181/.182

conclusion: Nieves = Suck

1 I really must start reminding myself NOT to be drinking my coffee while reading these things! Almost shot out my nose!

2 I see the humor has quickly reached the gutter, which reminds me of a headline announcing that the Dodgers would be without 3B Billy Cox for much of the 1949 World Series.

"Dodgers to Play with Cox Out"

As for Matsui's prodigious blasts, Emma, you are dead on. According to www.hittrackeronline.com, Matsui has hit 2 of the top-5 blasts in terms of standard distance. He also is tied for 6th in "no doubt HRs" with the likes of Big Papi and Vlad (Arod leads the league with 8). Matsui also achieved the second fastest "speed off the bat" HR.

You slay me, Emma.

"La Leche League."

Ok, I'll go read beyond the title, now...

6 FireJoeMorgan.com has a small collection of CM Wang puns in newspaper headlines.

I wonder if that happened when Bobby Cox was playing for the Yanks? Or in Atlanta now, when Cox gets ejected?

Welday Wilberforce Walker was the second black in the majors, after his brother Fleet Walker (Moses Fleetwood Walker).

Wilberforce is the name of one of the first universities opened for African-Americans, back in 1856 in Wilberforce, Ohio.

FWIW, Cuddyer says he definitely went around.

Btw, Emma, have I mentioned that you slay me?

I've not seen a game in what feels like forever now, but I'm especially pleased that Leche's hitting the baseball.

Anyone want to weigh in on what he's doing differently?

Is he looking confident up at the bat?

1 Funny that you mention Orval Overall. I recall watching a Cotton Bowl came in the seventies where the Baylor team had an Orval Overall and a Tommy Turnipseed.

1 I think Pete LaCock was also Peter Marshall's son, of Hollywood Squares fame.

As for Matsui's prodigious blasts, Emma, you are dead on. According to www.hittrackeronline.com, Matsui has hit 2 of the top-5 blasts in terms of standard distance. He also is tied for 6th in "no doubt HRs" with the likes of Big Papi and Vlad (Arod leads the league with 8). Matsui also achieved the second fastest "speed off the bat" HR.

9 Of course, we can't forget that Wang made his MLB debut against one Mr. David Bush.

15 How did that happen!

I think my favorite baseball name is Clyde Kluttz, a BUC from the 40s and early 50s. He hit well above the Suck Line and briefly played for the '51 Browns -- the team best known for pinch hitter Eddie Gaedel.

my personal favorite pitcher name:
urban shocker

16 My comment in 9 didn't repost like yours did, but it did take about 7 minutes to show up originally. I kept hitting reload and didn't see it - and then it finally appeared.

Stubby Clapp is also another fantastic baseball name, especially for a backup MI.

So, if we can take one out of three from California, I'll consider it a successful series.

God, this weekend's going to be fugly...brace yourselves.

Funniest name, Dick Pole . He is in a league of his own.

20mmmm, don't know because of the setup of the rotation. Don't we have Andy, Moose and Rodger? We should win 66%

22 Ha ha ha haa haa!!! ha ha ha ha ha!!

That's a good one, bob, tell another!

21 This one's too filthy to type at work:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burnsdi01.shtml

22 Actually...it's Andy, Rocket and Wanger...so, maybe 100%?

I see that Bartolo Colon is pitching tonight. If anything should make Arod feel better, I think that would be it.

24 I don't know about the 1890's, but I think they make something for that now.

0 Great list, but how could you forget former Yankee Eric Plunk?

A year or so ago I discovered my new favorite name: Bris Lord. As far as I know, he's the only player to be named after a circumcision rite.

But the fun doesn't stop there. His full name was Bristol Robotham Lord, which is pretty cool in its own right. And while his nickname clearly should have been "The Mohel," it was - and I'm not making this up - "The Human Eyeball." I have no idea what that means. I can't find any reference to its meaning, and the Hall of Fame research department doesn't know, either.

One final note on Bris "The Human Eyeball" Lord: Connie Mack picked him up in midseason 1910, a pennant-drive trade. Lord had the best 1-1/2 seasons of his career, helping the first great A's dynasty to back-to-back championships. To get him, Mack gave up a kid outfielder, just turned 20, who'd done nothing in two brief stints with the A's. Kid by the name of Joe Jackson.

I think we've all forgotten (because of his shoulder surgery) that in the very near future the Yankees' bullpen will likely feature Mr. J. Brent Cox.

21 The rare double-phallic name. Like Peter O'Toole.

There's also Rusty Kuntz (pronounced "Koonts." Right) and Randy Bush. Not to mention The Big Unit, our favorite 6'10" johnson.

I don't get any of these name jokes. Are they based on some sort of slang?

30 They're based on Pig Latin, rendered in Morse code, deciphered by a super-duper decoder ring.

Get with the program, RI.

30 It's the lingo where Albert Poo-holes was an instant Hall of Famer.

1 Orval Overall and 4 the Suck Line are truly excellent. And 27 Eric Plunk! [smacks self in forehead] Of course!

However, Bris Lord really takes it to a whole new level. Thank you for that, JL... the "Human Eyeball" thing is really going to bother me, though. What a creepy unexplained nickname.

And while we're at it: I think young Richard Harden made a dreadful mistake in shortening his name to Rich.

4 Actually those lines show that Nieves will have to improve to equal Suck.

Just for once I want to see a U.S.C. (Southern California) vs. U.S.C. (South Carolina) championship:

Trojans vs. Game Cocks

27 33 This page says that Bris was called "The Human Eyeball" because of his very large forehead:

http://tinyurl.com/366fmm

I can't find anything to corroborate it, but it makes sense, I guess.

Can I play? This sounds like fun.

Harry Child brings up a funny image.

36 Yeah, I just ran across that, too. But you really think that makes sense? Have you ever seen someone with a high forehead and thought, that guy looks like a human eyeball? And why would that be an "ugly" nickname, rather than just a strange one?

And, as you note, no one else seems to have heard that explanation, and we have no idea where this site dug it up. Without some other source, I'm not buying it.

23Are you trying to tell me that the Halos are gonna sweep?

36 In fact, I can't even find a picture that shows Lord's forehead, so I don't know if that's true, either.

29 Talk about double-phallic. How about Dick Cox. His real name is Elmer, so it leads one to believe they were in on the joke back then as well.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coxdi01.shtml

And I can't believe I forgot "Pebbly Jack" Glasscock, who was apparently a genuinely excellent ballplayer.

I love this thread.

38 40 If we had access to Philly newspaper articles from 1905-1911, maybe they would tell us. If Bill James' biographical baseball encyclopedia ever got out of the Bs (I don't think it did), I bet it would tell us.

As for the name making sense, what I pictured was a guy with a big forehead, a bushy mustache (seems like lots of guys had those back then), and a long neck (he a big forehead, so why not?). Maybe its a stretch, but that's the best I've got.

Nicknames sure were more fun back then. Today he'd be B-Lor or something similarly uncreative.

Here's a picture of him. No matter how high his forehead, I still can't see him looking like an eyeball. But what do I know?

http://tinyurl.com/363jnk

44 OTOH, at least we no longer have nicknames like "Dummy" or "Nig."

46 And "Lefty" was an uncreative name in its time, too.

45 I can't understand how anyone would think he had a high forehead. Or how an eyeball plays into it. No 'stache, so my guess is out. His head isn't particularly eye-ball shaped, so that's out. If he had really good eyesight, you'd think he would have been "Eagle Eyes" or something along those lines. I am at a loss.

No pitchers names here, just wanted to say that Emma's recaps and posts are one of the rare bright spots in an otherwise dismal baseball season for the home team. I absolutely love, love, love your writing.

OK, back to the thread. One of my favorite names, though not a baseball player (and some would say not a sports figure even), is Dick Trickle (a former NASCAR driver). Always gets me giggling (I'm childish that way).

48 I agree completely. Emma, I always looke forward to your posts, and they always seem to lead to playful, spirited discussions without a dead horse in sight. Thanks.

47 Not sure I can help with ol' Bris and the Human Eyeball nickname. But it did remind me of this old joke:
http://tinyurl.com/24ygh2

49 What about Barbaro?

45 Wait a minute. What if his nickname is a pun on his first name?

A bris is a circumcision rite. And what does a bris result in? Why, (bear with me here) a clear view of a "one-eyed willie". No one would have ever dared call him "one-eyed willie" at the time, that would have been too blatant. So, instead, "The Human Eyeball."

I may be crazy or sleep deprived, and I have no idea where this idea came from. But I like it better than "he had a big forehead".

Memo to Cashman: trade for Ensberg now.

http://tinyurl.com/33s9cj

50 He made them into wallets that, when you rub them, turn into suitcases.

52 I doubt that there were ten people in baseball in 1910 who knew what a bris was.

But it's amazing how the nickname gets under your skin, isn't it?

Pickles Dillhoefer is a pretty slick baseball name.

Similar batters? Dud Lee and Coot Veal.

I (heart) Baseball-Reference.com

So, if
http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/poledi01.shtml
got together with
http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kuntzru01.shtml
and ended up with
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burnsdi01.shtml
due to a bad case of the
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clappst01.shtml
should he go to
http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wooddo01.shtml
for a
http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dicksjo01.shtml

53Only under one or more of the following circumstances:

1) We suddenly time-warped back to 2005.
2) Yankees give up no more than Chase Wright or Steven White (or any other players that rhyme).
3) Ensberg is intended strictly as a righty off the bench, and not in any kind of starting role.

I mean come on, he's a 31 year old two years removed from a decent year, has never played anything other than 3B, and is not eligible for free agency until after the 2008 season. Oh yeah, and he has a 2007 OPS+ only slightly higher than Miguel Cairo.

He's apparently a nice guy though...

58 Let me add: 4) If Phillips starts sucking again.

57 tinydickjoke.com is your friend, Bama.

Kiddin' of course. Nice job, dude!

Cannonball Titcomb is another beaut of a baseball name -- and what about Bill Calhoun of the 1913 Boston Braves?
They called him Mary.
Baseball Reference doesn't explain why but he hit .077 over his 13 game career.

60 LOL, Sliced. You got me with that one. Although, I seriously doubt that link is safe for work... ;-)

58 In 2005 and 2006, Ensberg's OPS+ was 147 and 118. His career number is 117. Why should 184 ABs erase all that. If I was Cashman, I would take Ensberg off Houston's hands and find a role for him.

60 Was Parcells the manager?

55 Could be. But you're right - its such a compelling nickname, you just keep wondering where it came from, and why it stuck.

All funny that, according to b-r.com, only three guys had nicknames involving "human": Mike Hargrove (the human rain delay), our friend Bris, and Ralph Savidge (the human ripcord).

Which raises another question. An eyeball is part of a human. So why the human eyeball?

(And, way off topic, wasn't Hargrove also known as "Grover"? Why isn't that listed as a nickname on his b-r.com page?)

I've always liked Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson.

64 I love baseball-reference beyond words. I'm a little ticked at them for one thing, though: they no longer list Greg Wells's nickname. He was the original Boomer Wells.

64 Could it be something as simple as the possibility that Bris had exceptional eyesight? I'm sure it is common for major leaguers to have better than average vision and maybe Bris' eyesight was "head and shoulders" (or in his case "forehead and eyeballs") above the rest of the league. Just a thought.

Now you got me curious about that "Human Ripcord" guy... on second thought, the way this thread has been going, I'm sure I don't want to know... ;-)

64 66 BR is one guy. Can't hurt to email him.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/contact.shtml

67 It could be...it could be anything, and none of it makes sense. Good eyesight --> The Human Eyeball?

JL25and3, you beat me to it. I have him co-champion with "Piano Legs" Hickman. (Too lazy to look up the first name.) Ducky Wucky Medwick may be the only children's show nickname to win a triple crown.

67 Hmmm...The Human Ripcord. As far as I can tell, the parachute ripcord was invented in 1919, ten years after Savidge pitched. So it would have been this meaning: "a cord fastened to the gas bag of a balloon or dirigible so that pulling it will open the bag, releasing the gas and causing a rapid descent."

So maybe he was a big talker? Or, since he seems to have more or less sucked, maybe his presence in a game led to a rapid descent?

69 According to the link below, it stems from his protruding forehead.

http://tinyurl.com/26xbmy

One interesting thing about the Human Eyeball is he was traded with Shoeless Joe Jackson and then for him straight up. That deal has to rank at the top for best nickname swap combined with greatest talent disparity in one trade.

71 or maybe he released a lot of gas in the dugout...

I will now shock the assembled audience (thanks to Marc Normandin).

Yankee relievers by BP's WXRL (Win Expectation above Replacement, Lineup-adjusted - aka, how many wins a reliever adds above a replacement level pitcher):

Kyle, .764
Mo, .700
Viz, .635
Henn, .500
Bruney, .379
Kei, .364 (entirely from his shutdown of Boston in relief of Karstens)
Andy, .147
Villone, .028 (LEV of .23, 17.3 IP)
EDSP, .010
the "LOOGY", -.473

In summary:

Villone is contributing almost nothing, and he's pitching in garbage time almost exclusively. Why he's on the team is beyond me. Why that spot wouldn't be better used on a position player (paging Shelley Duncan for a DH trial!) is beyond me.

Krazy Kyle isn't worthless . . .

. . . but EDSP may be.

And Myers can't be dumped fast enough. Swapping in Henn in his place is worth a win immediately.

Full stats (including leverage scores and IP) at http://tinyurl.com/2tkvk4.

Oh my god...Chad Finn of FOX Sports thinks the reason the Yankees haven't won a championship since 2000 is because Derek Jeter hasn't talked to the media about the team's struggles enough.

Jim Dean: Tag, you're in.

74 I'm not sure how the stat is derived, but could it be that Farns has benefitted from having Mo clean up his messes, while Proctor, Bruney and Viz have had to rely on each other's ineffectiveness (as Farnsworth never comes into an inning with men on).

72 We went through all that already - read the earlier comments.

Also, Lord was never traded with Jackson; I'm not sure where than comes from. Nor were they traded for each other straight up - the A's actually included more in the deal. It was Morrie Rath and a PTBNL for Lord, and Jackson was sent along later to complete the trade. Rath later played for the 1919 World Champion Reds, who won the World Series against...

Here's more confirmation on Bris Lord:

"Of course, Lord, whose large forehead earned him the ugly nickname "The Human Eyeball," was not a great player like Jackson, and was out of the league in 1914."

http://tinyurl.com/366fmm

ooh, interesting friday thread. echoing some earlier comments - yeah, i was excited when i saw emma had a post up today! i thoroughly enjoy reading your writing!!!

we had another good funny name thread pretty recently. for the double entandra, you must include Peter Schmuck - even though he's a baseball writer and not player (baltimore sun, i believe).

some funny shit here today, you guys rock!

GO YANKS!!!

76 Actually, no. WXRL accounts for inherited and bequeathed runners (more bare bones info here http://tinyurl.com/2wuucx). So Kyle has been doing that all on his own.

78 Hate to spoil it for you, but that's the same info I linked to in 36! So we still don't really know.

77 . . . Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox!

78 That's not confirmation, that's the only source of the info. They don't list any other source, and nobody else has ever heard that story. A picture of him doesn't look even the slightest bit like an eyeball, no matter how big his forehead is. And come on - would you ever look at a guy with a big forehead and think he looked like an eyeball?

A couple of years ago I wrote the Hall of Fame research department. They have no idea where the nickname came from. They even checked a book they consider the Bible of nicknames, and it said "origin unknown."

Bottom line is, one website tosses off that factoid with no attribution and no confirmation.

And yeah, we went through this entire discussion above.

On WXRL over at BP

One reliever statistic which you might be familiar with because it's used extensively on this site is WXRL. WXRL is a metric developed by Keith Woolner which is based on a Win Expectation framework. Win Expectation has its own statistical report (the Win Expectancy Matrix), and is a pretty complicated topic, so I'll give you a bare-bones, no-math explanation. Win Expectation breaks down each game situation—inning, score, number of outs, number of runners on base, and which bases they're on—that occurs in the major leagues, all to measure how the transition from one situation to another alters a team's chance of winning the game. So, within this framework, a pitcher who enters a game in a classic "save situation"—ninth inning, three-run lead, bases empty—increases his team's win expectancy if he makes it through the ninth without giving up the lead, albeit by a small amount, since the chances of victory with a three-run lead were pretty good to begin with. If the pitcher comes into the ninth with a one-run lead, no outs, and two men on, and gets out of the jam, his contribution to the team's win expectancy is considerably greater.

In WXRL the raw change in Win Expectation (the "WX" in WXRL) from the reliever's entrance to his departure is adjusted for the replacement level (the "R" in WXRL) and for strength of the opposing lineup (the "L").

The qualities of WXRL to keep in mind:

WXRL is a counting stat, measured in wins.
All WXRL values are above replacement level—any below replacement-level performances have negative values.
WXRL accounts for inherited and bequeathed runners.
Leverage matters. A reliever who comes into high-leverage situations will accumulate more WXRL than a player who pitches just as well in garbage time.

82 One hundred years from now, on the Bronx Banter, our grandchildren will be checking the archives and trying to figure out what everyone's handle is- "JL25and3... that's easy, Guidry 1978! But... mehmattski? He's Italian, not Polish, so why the ski? I don't get it!"

77 Late to the party...sorry...although I did read somewhere that Lord and Jackson were involved together in some transaction on the same side. Both players played for Philly before Lord went to Cleveland (after which he returned to Philly in the jackson deal).

84 What about "weeping for brunnhilde" and "cult of basebaal"? Those are a couple that I have been wondering about...

80 But, I'd imagine ERA is a component? So, if Mo saves Fransworth runners, it must boost his rating? I guess I should just read the link myself to see.

82 Actually, the idea of a third eye (in the forehead) is not uncommon to some cultures (including some examples from our own pop culture). So, yes, I could definitely see that being the derivation of the nickname. Having said that, Lord's picture doesn't show evidence of such a forehead (although the accuracy of the pictures could be called into question).

86 And for those who care, mehmattski is my generic internet message board handle. It comes from playing way too much FIFA 2003, where my favorite player was Mehmet Scholl, and my friend started calling me "MehMatt." His favorite player was Scholl's teammate Carsten Jancker. Later, when playing very drunk one night, we discovered anothe player named Marek Jankulovski, and the joke was that you could add "-ski" to any name for instant Eastern Europeanification. And so MehMatt became MehMattski.

84 What's funny is that, in this very forum, a number of posters had no idea what my name meant. I didn't realize it until someone addressed me as "JL24and3" D'oh!

"Weeping for Brunnhilde" is obviously a fan of the Ring cycle - and no, I don't mean Frodo. I'm a big fan of the Ring cycle as well, but I have far less sympathy for Brunnhilde.

I assume that "cult of basebaal" is a play on words referring to Ba'al, a cult god commom (in various forms) in the ancient Middle East. (Wasn't he the male counterpart of Ashtaroth?)

Mehmattski? I have no freakin' idea.

88 That's way too deep an explanation. We're talking about ballplayers here, in an era when they weren't considered, ah, sophisticated.

91 It's not really too deep...one thing that immediately pops to mind was a Twilight Zone episode in which an Alien had a third eye in his forehead. If such a reference could exist in 1950/60s pop culture, why not turn of the century?

80 83 Also, if leverage is being mesaured, does it account for self created leverage. Two examples:

1) If Farns walks the lead-off batter, does he get extra credit for working out of a man on/no out jam?

2) If Farns enters a tie game and gives up 4 runs, does each run get assigned to tie game leverage, or is leverage reduced with each run he allows?

87 a bit more on WXRL, with examples:

WXRL is the change in expected runs due to the reliever's performance. As such, it matters very much the kinds of situations he comes to pitch in--and whether his good outings were in high or low leverage situations.

A simple example. A pitcher appears in two games. He gets lit up for 3 runs in one inning of work in game A, strikes out the side in game B.

Now consider two different game situations:

Situation 1: 1 run lead, bottom of the ninth. Assume win probability
upon entering is 80%.
Situation 2: Down by 12 runs, bottom of the 7th. Assume win
probability upon entering is 5%.

Combining the games and situations, there are two possibilities: A1,B2 or A2,B1.

A1: Blows a tight game, and his team loses. The reliever's win
expectation for this appearance is 0% - 80% = -0.800
B2: Pitches a perfect inning, but the game is pretty much
hopeless. Maybe the team has a 7% chance of coming back now. Win
expectation for this game is 7% - 5% = +0.020

The pitcher's combined WX for these two games is -0.800 + 0.020 = -0.780. Let's look at the other case:

A2: Pitcher shuts down the other team to preserve a clutch win. WX =
100% - 80% = +0.200
B1: Pitcher puts them further into an already deep hole. Suppose Win
probability drops to 4%. WX = 4% - 5% = -0.010

Pitcher's combined WX for the second case is +0.200 - 0.010 = +0.190.

A pitcher's performance in higher leverage situations will have a larger effect on his WX (and WXRL) than his performances in low leverage situations. Game A was very high leverage, Game B was very low leverage. And his performance in Game A pretty much determined his actual game value over that span.

WXRL is a way to assess past performance, usage, and game importance. But it is not independent of how and where a pitcher is used. A better measure for that would be Adjusted Runs Prevented (ARP), which takes into account only how a pitcher performed, not the leverage of the situation, but does consider inherited and bequeathed runners fairly in doing so. Hope that helps.

I think Bris Lord's family photos explain the nickname...

http://tinyurl.com/yw937m

Have a looksee... if you dare...

that was from a Keith Woolner article over at BP, not me, btw

95 And of course his favorite band:

http://tinyurl.com/2edpz2

97 his favorite album?
http://tinyurl.com/ynobey

96 Thanks...it still leaves open a lot of questions though. Also, with the small sample size of most relieves (besides Proctor!), stats can be misleading. For example, if you watched Farnsworth give up very hard hit balls to three batters yesterday, you might think he pitched well in retiring the side in the 8th inning.

95 and his fave song would be Third Eye by TooL

98 Combining that with Shaun P's theory from 52 made me laugh...

92 I thought the same thing about the TZ episode (it was called "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up")
http://tinyurl.com/2c5u8h
I tried in vain to find a picture of that dude with the third eye on his forehead.

Wasn't Rod Serling supposed to be ahead of his time and not behind it? So, I doubt that those guys had the third eye thing in mind when they came up with the nickname... unless, Bris was actually an alien from Venus who had already set up a colony here and intercepted the Martians... Hmmm, maybe we are on to something now, where's Jim "ET" Dean when we need him?

102 Well, Rod Serling was only copying from Buddhism, which had only been around for 3000 years prior to The Human Eyeball:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye

If we could find anything about Lord's background, maybe williamnyy23 is correct in thinking that it's a reference to the Third Eye, and if Lord had one, it would be huge, given his giant forehead.

102 Serling wasn't ahead of his time...he just used popular culture to touch on social issues that otherwise would have run afoul the censors. I still see a lot of validity in the derivation, but alas, it's just an opinion without facts.

"You'd probably need to get a forensics team in there to be sure: "Well, based on this partial thumbprint, it appears this was meant to be a curveball… but it's difficult to be sure, as the ball has suffered severe blunt trauma."

That had me laughing out loud in my cube. Nice.

On WXRL:
Good info at 83.
Here's the main thing I don't like abut WXRL. It allows the game situation to have too much impact. If you looked at 1000 innings, then this shouldn't matter, and in fact in theory it ought to be better than a stat that doesn't allow 'leverage' to make an impact, because it could be that some pitchers are great in high-pressure situations and some are particularly bad (worse than they usually are). Yankee fans will find this easy to believe.
But for smaller sample sizes, the leverage is just more noise. Now we have to worry not only about 'random fluctuations', but also about a further randomish factor that's getting mixed in. In short, with more noise the n has to be even larger to get significant results.

As cult of basebaal says, it's fine as a measure of past performance, but much worse (with small n) as a predictor.

103 Taken even further...an "all knowing" third eye would be very appropriate for someone with an omnipotent name like Lord.

99 obviously, it's just one slice of the information that's out there, it's not the end of any attempt to understand the overall picture of a pitcher's work ...

BP's sortable stats are awesome, btw, fer instance ... i can tell you that 31 of the 33 innings Krazy has pitched have been whole innings, that he has inherited NO baserunners (cause he never comes in to someone else's inning) and that he has only bequeathed 7 runners (in those appearances where he doesn't finish the inning) ... only 1 of those inherited runners scored

Neifi! Perez caught using steroids.

109 Not steroids, greenies. But presumably for the second time, since the first offense doesn't involve a suspension.

95 That's great. I especially liked the photos of "eyeball gumballs," and the picture of "Wayne eating eyeball soup." Yum, yum!

104 "he just used popular culture to touch on social issues that otherwise would have run afoul the censors."

That's seems ahead of his time to me... or maybe everyone else was doing that on early 60's television.

From the Neifi!riffic one himself: "I say to my fans that I am not stupid. I know the difference between good and bad and there are things that are going to be known going forward, but my lawyer has advised me not to talk for now."

I can't wait to hear this one.

great song title:

Soundgarden "Searching With My Good Eye Closed"

chris cornell is a god

112 Sure, that's what 60s TV was all about. Look at Gilligan's Island, with its portrayal of a monogamous, domesticated homosexual relationship, along with its commentary on exploitative capitalist fat cats, the cult of sexual celebrity, and the conflict between science and superstition.

new twist in the lineup today ...

YANKEES
Damon LF
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Abreu RF
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B

115 LOL. You might be on to something... what about "Leave It to Beaver"? Who knows what that was really all about?
;-)

116 Is that the best line-up we've had in a while? Seems like it.

I'm not sure why Damon is leading off. I guess because "he's more comfortable there"?

115 then the Brady Bunch surely must be a Freudian clusterf**k!!!

;-)

119 not to mention what was going on with Wilbur and Mister Ed...

120 DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!

121 What? I was talking about how Wilbur was ahead of his time in his ability to communicate with the horse... you know, kinda like the horse whisperer (except Mister Ed talked a little louder than that).

Oh, you thought I was talking about something else...
;-)

From PeteAbe:
This, to me, is a sort of "get ready for next year" move. The Yankees need to determine whether Damon can play left field and first base. Then next year you use him as a sort of super utility player at 1B, LF, CF and DH.

I hope he's right.

And can someone pontificate on the greater meaning of "My Mother the Car"?

116 Hey - look at that. Someone in the organization does pay attention to statistics.

1) Damon = Nancy arm
2) Matsui = Bad fielder

1 + 2 = 3

3) Damon in LF; Matsui at DH.

Now the leadoff thing 118 - who can figure. A-Rod struggles and he gets dropped to eight. Damon struggles? He's the leadoff hitter.

Thanks everyone... I learned a lot about silly baseball names today, and gained a (probably lifelong) obsession with Bris Lord's forehead. This thread is like a living embodiment of the Wisdom of Crowds. But with better dick jokes!

Also, because I'm surprised no one's brought it up yet, let me just add: Tim Spooneybarger.

BTW: Problem solved - the Yanks have signed their catcher of the future(from PA):

Zhenwang Zhang (catcher): He is only 5-10 and doesn't look like a baseball player whatsoever. Cashman only spoke about his defensive ability. Zhang prides himself on throwing out runners. He played for China in the World Baseball Classic.

86 Indeed, Bama, JL 90 has it right.

But (in case you're interested) the full phrase comes from Augustine, who in his Confessions bemoaned the fact that as a youth he "wept for Dido, Queen of Carthage" and yet shed not a tear for his own benighted soul, estranged as it was from the love of God.

Well, I was writing a paper on this, trying to address (broadly) why Augustine was so repulsed by the idea of sympathizing with what he later judged to be a broken character, undeserving of sympathy.

Around the same time I finally managed to get to see a performance of Wagner's Die Walkure and indeed, I wept for Brunnhilde.

It's been my screen name for a couple of years now.

So there you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about Augustine and the origins of one man's handle.

:)

125 Tim Spooneybarger. Excellent. And how about Juan Tyrone Eichelberger?

127 In Die Walkure, fair enough. In Gotterdammerung, I think she's rather of a whiner.

125 Emma, I've been kind of obsessed with Bris Lord ever since I ran across his name a couple of years ago. Someday I'm going to take some time off with the express purpose of tracking down that nickname.

Although, on my drive home today, I hit upon another possible solution. The Human Eyeball wouldn't seem all that unusual as an apellation for Sun Ra - and did anyone ever see Bris Lord and Sun Ra together? Kinda makes you think, no?

127 Thanks for the explanation. Although, sometimes the way the Yanks play (vs. the way you and I would like to see them play) I'm sure you could also be known as "Weeping for a Bunt-Hit"... ;-)

Unless it was in a previous link: how did everyone avoid the mention thus far of Dick Such? (you know: Such, Dick).

129 :)

Now, the real question is whether this is to serve as the Game Thread.

I vote yes, because Emma's non-game thread Game Threads are lucky and God knows, we can use all the luck we can get with these confounded Californias.

131 :)

When I was a kid I remember reading about Rod Carew and how he would often bunt to break himself out of a slump.

Good old Rod Carew.

122 Sure...yah...of course, I knew that!!!

126 Gotta love those scouting reports that contain gems like "He doesn't look like a baseball player."

Apparently in Japan, he used to sit behind the plate wearing a costume he stole from backstage at "A Chorus Line." It was frickin' bizarre. Totally did not look like a baseball player.

126 Gotta love those scouting reports with gems like "Doesn't look like a baseball player."

It's a little known fact that in Japan he used to take the field wearing an ornate hat made of tropical fruit, and a coconut bra.

Totally did not look like a baseball player.

goddamn it. the first time i tried to post that lame joke it gave me an error, so I tried to recreate the joke, and now I look like a first rate ass.

138 Don't flatter yourself, Schteeve. You look more like a second rate ass.

Ba-dump-bump!

139 Yeah but at least I put the ball in play.

140 ha ha hah aha ha hah ha!

136 & 137 re: "He doesn't look like a baseball player."

What's he got a third eye on his large forehead or something...

Great stuff today, the Banter's en fuego.

If you want some more humor, or perhaps horror, go look at the box score for game 1 of the C. Sox-Twinkies game today, specifically, Garland's line...

By the way, has anyone mentioned Dick Hoover yet?

Or, one of my favs, Frank Angelo Joseph "Creepy" Crespi.

143 I was listening to that game on the radio. I see the White Sox scored a second touchdown to close the gap a bit.

And it's Game 1. It's a doubleheader. o_O

Aww, don't they look cute in their YES polos.

146 I thought it was the Bears vs. Vikes.

Allow me to do Cliff's honors:

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, Earth

2007: 52-33, 1st AL West
Pythagorean Record (49-36)

The Angels are basically the same team that came swept the Yankees out of the Stadium at the end of May. The only difference being that sophomore catcher Mike Napoli is injured and Jose Molina has assumed his playing time. Macier Izturis has also taken some playing time from Howie Kendrick at 2B.

Rob Quinlan gets the start at first thanks to his extreme split versus lefties.

Let's see if they can score some damn runs for AP tonight.

150

Did you really think Cliff wouldn't put a new thread up? Wannabe.

Man, Bartolo Colon sure is pitching a perfect game

143 The fact that the dreadful ChiSox line-up scored that many runs against the Twins makes me feel less good about scoring off them.
But, a W is a W, I guess.