On January 15, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt wrote the following letter to Kennesaw Mountain Landis, the Commissioner of Baseball, giving big league baseball his personal "green light" to continue for the 1943 season.
Coming just over a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, FDR believes the National Pastime will help all Americans as our nation headed into World War II.
The letter is a pure joy to read.
Happy Veteran's Day.
Today I'm finishing up my regular season big league baseball posts for the annual Baseball Bloggers Alliance awards.
The BBA is a membership of over 200 dedicated baseball bloggers, and I'm honored to be a member of the general baseball category.
Because I write a generic/ general baseball blog I am able to vote for award winners in both the American League and the National League.
My votes are counted in with all the other voters in my category, and the votes are totaled up for the final votes.
Before I reveal my winners in the Walter Johnson Award for the top pitchers in each league, I must be honest to you, my readers, on how I decied the top five pitchers and winners.
For the entire baseball season of 2014 I had no cable or satellite TV service.
My baseball TV viewing was relegated to the few FOX games of the week and the annual All-Star Game.
I was also able to watch some ball games on MLB.TV, the FREE Game of the Day, and then several Detroit Tigers games the last two weeks of the season.
I followed baseball mostly through MLB.TV, my Twitter page... @freehan11, on my Facebook page, and on Instagram.
I must also remind you, as I try and do every year, that I will never vote for any player who has used steroids, HGH, etc.
So, for instance, I refuse to acknowledge any stats by know steroids users.
I mostly vote for players using basic, traditional baseball stats... HR, RBI, batting average for hitters, Wins/Loses and ERA for pitchers.
There are two exceptions... OPS for hitters, and WHIP for pitchers.
Yes, I understand I'm considered a baseball stats dinosaur, but thats OK, I actually appreciate that I still love baseball and its traditional statistics.
OPS and WHIP are SABR stats that I understand and recognize as valuable stats.
There are no right or wrong choices for fans, its just our opinions.
I hope to at the very least to be able to have good baseball conversations with all baseball fans, and will never argue that their choices are wrong...their choices are to be respected , and I hope they feel the same.
OK, with all that said, here are my choices for the Walter Johnson Award...
In the American League...
1. Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians, 18-9, 2.44 era, 269 K's, 1.09 WHIP
2. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners, 15-6, 2.14 era, 248 K's 0.92 WHIP
3. Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers, 18-5, 3.15 era, 252 K's, 1.18 WHIP
4. Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 169 K's, 18-8, 3.59 era, 1.21 WHIP
5. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 16-4, 3.04 era, 124 K's
In the National League...
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, 21-3, 1.77 era, 239 K's, 0.86 WHIP
2. Johhny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds, 20-9, 2.25 era, 242 K's, 0.96 WHIP
3. Doug Fister, Washington Nationals, 16-6, 2.41 era, 98 K's, 1.08 WHIP
4. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals, 20-9, 2.38 era, 179 K's, 1.03 WHIP
5. Zack Greinke, L A Dodgers, 17-8, 2.71 era, 207 K's, 1.15 WHIP
I did as much research as possible, combining over stats for as many pitchers as possible.
My goal is to do as honorable job at voting with the information I've collected.
Many fans will say that Felix Hernandez should be the clear cut winner in the A.L., or wonder why Chris Sake or Phil Hughes arent on my list.
Some of my fellow Detroit Tigers fans will wonder why I didn't vite Max Scherzer, the defending A. L. CY Young Award winber, #1 on my list, and will argue David Price should be in my top five list.
I'm pretty sure no one will complain about the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw as my #1 choice, and I believe the Reds Johnny Cueto deserves his #2 place on my list.
Again, I did my best, and wish all my fellow bloggers good luck in their voting this year.
My next post will be for the annual BBA Stan Musial Award for leagues MVPs.
Play Ball!
Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, is one of the regional covers for the July 7th Double Issue of Sports Illustrated.
We love baseball on magazine covers...
Let's Play Two!
@SInow on Twitter.
As we enjoy this annual weekend of baseball, family, and bar b que, let's also remember the service men and women who died in the many battles fought for the freedom of our great county since 1775.
God Bless America!
PLAY BALL!
Today I received a copy of Dan Epstein's new book about baseball and America in 1976, Stars and Strikes.
I won the book in a contest on Twitter, courtesy of The Book Dude.
Growing up a baseball fan in the 1970s was fantastic, from Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game, to Willie Stargell's World Series winning 2-run HR in Game 7 of the 1979 Fall Classic.
I look forward to reading about the Bicentennial year of 1976, and re-live the wonderful year of my 16th birthday, and the great game of baseball.
Play Ball!
Few pitchers with a 29-19 career record are remembered in baseball.
In Detroit, a rare bird took flight on this day in 1976, sending Tigers fans in a frenzy every day he pitched.
Mark Fidrych is revered by all us Tigers fans who grew up in the 1970s.
Fidrych was just a kid, not much older than we teenagers were.
I was 16 years old in '76, and the Tigers were everything to me.
Mark Fidrych was just 22 years old when he made his big league debut on May 15th, and what a debut it was.
9 innings, just 2 hits and 1 run allowed to the Cleveland Indians.
That amazing debut by the curly haired rookie was the first of 19 wins, a American League best 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games.
The A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1976, Mark Fidrych was the starting pitcher for the Junior Circuit at the All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Fidrych hurt himself running around in the outfield grass in Lakeland during the spring if 1977, and he really never recovered.
Mark Fidrych was the big baseball show in 1976, and we can only imagine what a healthy career would've been for him and the Tigers.
Fidrych was beloved by Tigers fans long after his big league career was over, right up to his passing in 2009, and continuing to this day, 38 years after he took the ball at Tiger Stadium for his first start.
To me, the Tigers need to honor Mark Fidrych, with a nice statue of him talking to the baseball.
We miss Mark Fidrych and that great big smile.
A special thanks to the DetroAthletic Company for the Fidrych box score on their Facebook page today.
