2020-21 Baseball Offseason Thread

Bauer had a 1.79 ERA this season and a 2.29 ERA in 2018, yet hasn't had an ERA lower than 4.19 in any of his seven other MLB seasons. What a strange career.

 

Andrew Linker
3h
Voters in Philadelphia give their OK 56 years ago today for a $25 million bond issue to build a new home for the Phillies.

More money will be needed in 1967 to cover cost overruns and Veterans Stadium, in the foreground, does not open until 1971 with a final cost of $50 million.

The Vet sits to the north in a south Philly stadium complex that includes JFK Stadium, background, and the Spectrum.

All three are long gone today, giving way to an arena in 1996 for the Flyers and 76ers, as well as, of course, parking spaces for that arena and the new stadiums for the Phillies and Eagles.

Thanks for looking ... Andy Linker @www.harrisburgbaseball.com

 

Did MLB choose today, of all days, to announce Gold Glove winners? And they wonder why interest is waning?

 

I was 0 days old when I learned that Reggie played for the Orioles.

Andrew Linker
4h
After a one-year stopover in Baltimore, free-swinging and hard-hitting outfielder Reggie Jackson finds himself as the headliner of the first class of free agents 44 years ago today.

Back then, a draft is held for teams to select free agents they want to sign.

The Yankees are among those vying for Jackson and eventually sign the future Hall of Famer for five years at $525,000 in each of the first four years of the deal and $588,000 in the final year.

Other marquee names in the first free-agent feeding frenzy include pitchers Rollie Fingers and Don Gullett, outfielder Don Baylor and first baseman Willie McCovey.

Free agency is as much of an iffy proposition then as it remains today with no team selecting the 38-year-old McCovey, who returns to San Francisco in 1977 and has the last big year of his Hall of Fame career with 28 homers and 86 RBIs.

Thanks for looking ... Andy Linker @www.harrisburgbaseball.com

 

You did not know Reggie played for the O's?

 

No. A's, Yankees, Angels, yes, but have no memories of him in an O's uniform.

Maybe I saw baseball cards or photos as a kid but I have no memories of that.

 

The photo above is jarring to see precisely because he's in an O's uniform.

 

I didn’t understand it as a kid, of course, but I find the concept of a draft in order to negotiate with a free agent to be kinda interesting and weird.

 

It’s one of those forgotten facts that’s pretty interesting.

Finley trader him to Baltimore because they both knew he was going to be a free agent. He was traded for Don Baylor, who ended up leaving Oakland as a free agent after the one year.