I can already hear my biggest fan, Kathy Harvell, muttering "not another baseball story." Well, if you'll pardon me this one more moment I promise to get back to writing my more blood rising blogs.
I was watching baseball, and baseball shows, this weekend, and as I was tuned into MLB Tonight on the MLB Network I had a sudden thought that today in baseball we have the kind of talent we haven't seen in one season since 1969.
I can hear you shouting, "Dan, stop thinking, you'll hurt yourself." Maybe, but bear with me on this. As they were showing various highlights it hit me that right now there are nearly a hundred superstars playing the game, give or take a couple. Of those superstars, industry experts, not just me, feel strongly that there are at least 27 of them that are Hall of Fame bound.
I felt that back in the 1969 era there were as many, or more, Hall of Fame players playing, with fewer teams. So, I did some research, something not often seen on these pages, and discovered that I was correct. In 1969 there were 39 players who ultimately went to the Hall and one that should have, Pete Rose.
I'm not going to list them all, you can go to www.baseball-reference.com and look them up yourself. But here are just a handful of players still playing, or just starting that year.
And the list of greats doesn't stop there.
Remember, these are just the guys that are in the Hall of Fame it doesn't include all the other hundreds of guys that were superstars and in the class of Hall of Really Good. It was a magical time for talent in baseball and others, like Sandy Koufax, had just retired prior to 1969.
Today, some of the twenty-seven future Hall of Famers include the three above plus the likes of the following.
And others including these locks to make it.
I counted at least another seventy that I consider to be grouped into the Hall of Very Good but not quite HOF bound. Of course many of them are just starting so who knows. The point is that the talent level in baseball today, despite all the bellyaching about the game is historical.
I know many of you have never been baseball fans, and some of you have lost your love for the game, but trust me on this, if you spend one week watching games, even games that your favorite team isn't playing in, and watch MLB Tonight you will be hooked and surprised at how great the game is today.
No matter how hard the corporate suits are trying to ruin the game, the players playing today are keeping the great tradition of baseball alive and well.
I promise, I will get back to the stories you love to hate next week.