Ray’s Ramblings: A Retirement & The IBB

A former fleet of foot outfielder hung up the cleats. Barry Bonds set intentional base on balls records, and the numbers are astounding. Corey Seager, Mike Trout, Marcus Semien, Bonds, Clemens and Topps highlight the rest of the piece.

MAYBIN RETIRES

Cameron Maybin announced his retirement yesterday, and if you played baseball at any point over the last decade plus, I would venture to say that at some point you had Maybin on one of your teams.

A first round selection in 2005, Maybin ranked in the top-10 prospects in all of baseball for a couple of years before making his big-league debut. Blessed with blazing speed and some pop, folks were hoping that he would be a perennial 15/30 player. Alas, injuries often got in the way of him piling up big time seasonal numbers as he ended up playing with, wait for it, ten teams: SD, MIA, DET, NYM, ATL, CHC, LAA, SEA, NYY & HOU.

His career OPS of .697 was terrible, and he never made an All-Star team and he was limited to 400 at-bats just three times in his 15-year career, but, and there is a but… he still had some useful sprints as a fantasy player. Maybin swiped 20 bases on four occasions topping out at 40 thefts in 2011. His best three-year run was from 2015-17 when he averaged .268-8-46-64-24 in just 465 plate appearances.

He never reached the heights that were expected, but he had a long career and there were still some fantasy highlights.

Remember when Maybin — at 20 — hit the first homer of his career off Roger Clemens?

Parked it dead central at Yankee Stadium. https://t.co/1icJkhqYUd pic.twitter.com/NZSQXV12m4

— Paul Hembekides (Hembo) (@PaulHembo) January 4, 2022

THE INTENTIONAL WALK

Barry Bonds was walked, intentionally, 688 times in his career including a will never be broken record of 120 times in 2004.

Do you know how many times there was an intentional base on balls issue last season?

Remember, Barry Bonds had 668 in 12,606 career plate appearances.

Every player in baseball last year, which amounted to 181,817 plate appearances, was walked intentionally a total of… 703 times.

There were eight men with at least 10 IBB last year:

Juan Soto 23
Shohei Ohtani 20
Freddie Freeman 15
Bryce Harper 14
Matt Olson 12
Manny Machado 10
Jose Ramirez 10
Nelson Cruz 10

Bonds had 120 IBB in 2004.

The top eight men in baseball last year combined for 114 IBBs.

In case you missed it… and you really shouldn’t…

Pabst Blue Ribbon deletes bizarre tweet about Dry January https://t.co/TNELICzBWg via @nypost

— Ray Flowers (@TheRayFlowers) January 3, 2022

BASEBALL CARDS

The baseball card industry is about to be shaken up, at a time where the card market is on an unprecedented rise.

Sources: Fanatics has acquired Topps in a deal to be announced Tuesday.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) January 4, 2022

it sounds like the deal was for about $500 million. You can read more about the details in the link, but I struggle to think this is a good thing. Fanatics is going for a monopoly here, and putting out of business THE card company… hate to see that. To me, this is a sad day for baseball.

By the way, it’s not just cards anymore…

Entirely new to the modern collecting world, this studio photograph of Hall of Famer Albert Spalding is awaiting auction at REA.
@REAOnline @PSAcard #baseballcards #prewarbaseball #vintagebaseball #baseballhistory #collector #Auction #collect #thehobby #americaspasttime #MLB pic.twitter.com/V0XXAkIidO

— REA (@collect_rea) January 3, 2022

THIS AND THAT…

Do Bonds and Clemens deserve to make the HOF? Here is an interesting report written by a former federal agent who investigated both men directly. He says they should be in the Hall.  

This is one famous picture… but from an angle I have never seen before.

You know that famous image of Yogi Berra leaping onto Don Larsen after the 97th and final pitch of his perfect game in the 1956 World Series (October 8)? Here is what it looked like from the other direction. Photo by Marvin Newman for LOOK, not published. pic.twitter.com/KPPC9sjIXy

— John Thorn (@thorn_john) January 3, 2022

What a locker room looked like in the early 1900’s.

From the NY Press, 1904: Dan McGann, Hooks Wiltse, and Billy Gilbert pose in the newly-built Giants clubhouse at the Polo Grounds. Standing is team trainer Gus Guerrero. Player's wire lockers line the walls. This is the earliest photo of a team dressing area I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/gT2zP7AsCU

— The National Game (@TheNtlGame) January 3, 2022

You saw that MLB Network let Ken Rosenthal go yesterday, right? Why? Because he had the audacity to call out MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for his poor handling of matter. You know, he did his job, and he was let go for it. Writers across the continent came to the defense of Rosenthal immediately saying he is a person of integrity that they all aspire to be like one day. MLB continues to make cowardly moves, and it is depressing.

Corey Seager in his new home…

Corey Seager rakes at Globe Life Field. pic.twitter.com/rPwYCj8tAV

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) December 2, 2021

Mike Trout last played 142 games, which would be missing 20 games, in 2016. Marcus Semien has played 159 or more games each of the last three seasons. In fact, he has missed three games in those three full seasons. Speaking of Semien, he averaged 17 homers and 58 RBIs a season from 2015-18. The last two full seasons, taking out Covid 2020, he’s gone 33-92 and 45-102. Yep, he’s doubled the homers.

Birthdays and WAR

The birth year which has produced the most WAR in baseball history is …

From @SlangsOnSports:https://t.co/08YNpmQtaV

— Manny Randhawa (@MannyOnMLB) January 1, 2022

More HOF talk…

Derek Jeter (HOF): 4.2 bWAR/162
Avg. HOF SS: 4.9

Lou Whitaker: 5.1 bWAR/162
Avg. HOF 2B: 5.1

— Manny Randhawa (@MannyOnMLB) January 1, 2022