Glavine, Maddux & Smoltz

See, this is what I get for backing up a Braves fanboy.

Lucky for me, I no longer have the ability to feel anything regarding the Pirates...cheap, incompetent fuck-ups that they are.

 

No love for Avery -- Maddox is the late comer to the party

 

Tom Glavine is the answer to my favorite bar bet:

What pitcher has appeared in the most games without ever logging a relief appearance?

669 games appeared; 669 games started.

 

I was there. I swore on the way home that I needed to get out of sportswriting right then, because I'd never see anything to top it. 15 1/2 years later, I still haven't. Not in sports, anyway.

At one point, Glavine was also the pitcher who had gone the longest without giving up a grand slam. I don't know if that is still intact ...

 

The biggest tragedy of all is Blyleven not being in. People want to gripe about him not being an absolutely dominant player, but he was certainly one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball during his fairly long prime. Even though they aren't exactly compatible, let me put it to you this way: here are some batters in the 3K club who didn't exactly corner the market in batting titles:

6) Carl Yastrzemski -- 3,419 (.285 LIFETIME average)
17) Robin Yount -- 3,142 (.285 average)
19) Dave Winfield -- 3,110 (.283 average)

And though he just retired, Craig Biggio, #20 all-time in hits with 3,060, batted "just" .281 over his career, which overlapped with a huge offensive explosion (for this case, I'm throwing out the whole steroids issue). Never finished higher than fourth in the MVP voting. No batting titles, HR titles or RBI crowns. No World Series ring, either. Yet, a lot of people say he's going in on his first three ballots. Am I on to something, or did I completely overlook something here?

 

fuck. more blyleven and morris apologists?

thanks to you guys i'm hoping they never get in.

 

Who says anything about being an apologist? When you're top five in any major category of any sport, you should be in that sport's Hall of Fame, IMHO. That and I blew out my shoulder twice trying to throw a curveball as nasty as the Dutchman.

 

yup.

 

god bless you

 

I will pistol whip you.

 

Shenanigans?

 

Shut the fuck up, Farva.