DonnieD

I feel it is unfair to a player to exclude him from the Hall of Fame when there are inferior players to him already enshrined. Now I wouldn't go crazy finding the worst statistical player enshrined and demand that every player that has better stats than him belongs. I would say especially if a player is significantly better but even if they are extremely comparable to several people that are already in, I believe they should be elected. I don't like the inclusiveness of the Football and Hockey HOF's, so I don't want to see the Baseball HOF start letting in players that were just all-stars, but the donminant players of their generation deserve to be in. In my opinion Rice is one of those.

Did you decide to flat-out cut Neifi Perez and eat all of his new contract? Not a bad move in my opinion. Or maybe Neifi and Macias are a package deal and when we don't tender Macias a contract Neifi will be so heartbroken he will retire.

Jay Mariotti for Cubs GM!!!

I admittedly put a lot of stock in “traditional” stats, probably more than many people around here. However, I love rate stats and put even more emphasis on them. But I won’t jump on the bandwagon of some of these newer stats and suddenly determine that they are the most important stat to look at, especially when I can’t figure it for myself or even know how it is figured. Kingman was first in the league in REAL OPS, not to mention HR, SLG, and 2nd in RBI, all while hitting a not too shabby .288 which was 35 points higher than Schmidt. You can’t seriously think the voters in 1979 considered his 6th place finish in Adjusted OPS+ when they cast their votes.

I'm assuming you mean Dave Winfield, because Dave Parker did not have a particularly stellar year in '79. 1978 was a different story, but he won it that year. Personally, I think Dave Kingman should have been the MVP in 1979 and it really shouldn't have been close. Hopefully that is not indicative of how Lee will finish in the balloting. Although Lee's year was better than Kingman's they do parallel each other. Both played for Cubs teams that finished a few games under .500 and toward the bottom of their division and both had the best season in their league statistically. By the way, talk about questionable voting. The MVP voters in 1979 had to have been on drugs. Kingman deserved it, and ended up in 11th place. In the AL, Fred Lynn got robbed of the award, he had by far the best season and he finished 4th in the balloting. What a JOKE.

Mark Sweeney actually throws and hits Left handed. I would love to get him as a 4th outfielder and possibly even as a platoon with Murton.

Why in the world would you make Neifi Perez your starting second baseman and make Todd Walker into a platoon outfielder? Walker has been one of the few bright spots in this anemic offense and you would move him from 2B where he is an above average offensive player and an average to slightly above average defensive player to a corner OF spot where he would be a below average offensive and defensive player, and reduce his playing time while giving Neifi Perez and his stellar .304 OBP even more plate appearances. Why don't we just let Walker be the first option off the bench and have Jose Macias play LF every day? He is hitting .278. :roll:

I can come up with 3 games off the top of my head. How about the 3 games the Cubs lost out of LaTroy Hawkins 4 blown saves. Dempster should have been the closer coming into the year and everyone knew it. Hendry spoke during the off-season like it was a forgone conclusion that the job was his. But Dusty's M.O. of sticking with his guys 'til the bitter end gets us again. If Dusty was on the Titanic, I wonder if he would have ridden it all the way to the bottom.

Hi all, I figured I would recap our (my wife and I) weekend at Cubs Convention to give a slightly different perspective than those already given. This was our first Cubs Convention and we went primarily to get autographs. My office is a baseball shrine and has a display featuring many signed baseballs that I have been able to get at games and appearances. All weekend I was completely astounded by the unbelievable number of people that were in attendance, the crowds were at times unbearable and the autograph lines for some of the players were absurd. We missed the opening ceremonies, even though we got to the Grand Ballroom 45 minutes or so early the room was overflowing with people. We did participate in the Autograph Hunt Game, but it was tarnished by how badly prepared this event was. The “treasure” maps that were supposed to be distributed starting at 5:30 never got brought to the autograph lottery booth where we were waiting. By 5:45 or so I was very frustrated that the maps were not even in the vicinity and no one had any answers as to why, when, or how else to get one. We left and were finally able to find a map laying on the ground. By the time we got there the lines were quite long, but we got a few players nonetheless. The rest of the weekend went pretty well, although for autograph hunters the weekend consists of a whole lot of standing in line. Hour after hour of line standing takes a toll on your legs and feet. It was well worth it to me as I got to meet some of my heroes. The one major complaint that I have is the miscommunication, lack of preparation, and general incompetence of the people in charge. The “security force” consisted largely of elderly women and it seemed they had little control over the crowds. I would assume that in the 19th year of any event, the organizers would have some idea of what needs to be done to run the operation more smoothly. Another unfortunate thing for us is that we did not win any of the autograph lotteries so we had no chance to get Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Ryne Sandberg, or Ernie Banks to sign a ball for us, but my wife did wait in line Sunday to have her picture with Ernie Banks and he signed the folder that holds the picture. That said, we had a great time and will definitely be going again next year, and now that many of the autographs we wanted are out of the way, hopefully next year we can make it to some of the other events. All of the players and celebrities were gracious and personable. They would always make eye contact with you and you usually got to say a few words while they were signing your item. In case anyone is interested I will list the autographs I received. 1984 Team Ball: Steve Trout, George Frazier, Bobby Dernier, Leon Durham, Keith Moreland, Richie Hebner, Davey Lopes, Dave Owen, Jay Johnstone, Tim Stoddard, Warren Brusstar, Dickie Noles 1989 Team Ball: Vance Law, Dwight Smith, Gary Varsho 60’s & 70’s Cubs: Rick Monday, Randy Hundley, Glenn Beckert, Jose Cardinal, Don Cardwell Coaches Ball: Jim Hendry, Wendal Kim Announcers Ball: Chip Carey, Wayne Messmer Single Signed Balls: Leon Durham, Mickey Morandini, Lee Smith, Jody Davis, Don Cardwell, Milt Pappas, Andy Pafko, Fergie Jenkins, Dave Kingman, and Michael Barrett