The best Third Basemen in Major League Baseball history

The best Third Basemen in Major League Baseball history

10) Pie Traynor – A two time All Star, Traynor played 1,863 games in 18 years at third for the Pirates from 1920-1937. He had a career batting average of .320, drove in 1,273 runs and stole 158 bases. His .947 fielding percentage equaled the league average for that time period.

9) Graig Nettles – In 21 seasons from 1968-1988 “Puff” played 2,412 games at third base mainly for the Yankees, Indians, Twins, and Padres. A six time All Star and two time Gold Glove winner his fielding percentage of .961 was higher than the league average of .952, and he saved 134 runs at the hot corner. Nettles batted .248 with 390 home runs, and 1,314 RBI’s.

8) Scott Rolen – From 1996-2012 Rolen played 2,023 games at third base for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Reds. A seven time All Star and eight time Gold Glove winner, his fielding percentage of .968 was higher than the league average of .954, and he saved 150 runs at third base. Rolen had a career batting average of .281, with 316 home runs, 1,287 RBI’s and 118 stolen bases.

7) Ron Santo – A five time Gold Glove winner and nine time All Star, Santo played 2,130 games at third for the Cubs in 15 seasons from 1960-1974. He had a .954 fielding percentage, with the league average being .948, and saved 27 runs in his career. Santo had a .277 batting average, 342 home runs, and 1,331 RBI’s.

6) Chipper Jones – Winner of the 1999 National League MVP award Jones played 1,992 games at third base for the Braves in 19 seasons from 1993-2012. He also played the outfield. An eight time All Star, Jones batted .303, with a .401 on base percentage, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBI’s, and 150 stolen bases. His .954 fielding percentage was close to the league average of .953.

5) Wade Boggs – “Chicken Man” played 2,215 games in 18 seasons at third base from 1982-1999 for the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, and was selected to 12 All Star teams. He won two Gold Gloves, saved 95 runs, and his fielding percentage of .962 was higher than the .951 league average.  Boggs batted .328 with a .415 on base percentage in his career, and won five American League batting titles.

4) Eddie Mathews – “Cap’n Eddie” was a 12 time All Star during 17 seasons, mainly with the Milwaukee Braves. He batted .271 with a .376 on base percentage, .509 slugging percentage, 512 home runs, and 1,453 RBI’s. Mathews played 2,181 games at third base, is credited with saving 40 runs defensively, and his .956 fielding percentage was higher than the league average of .950.

3) George Brett – “Mullet” was named to 13 All Star teams while playing 1,692 games at third in 21 seasons from 1973-1993 for the Royals. Brett collected 3,154 hits while batting .305 with 317 home runs, 1,596 RBI’s and 201 stolen bases. He won the 1980 AL MVP and a Gold Glove in 1985, and is credited with saving 54 runs on defense in his career.

2) Brooks Robinson – Perhaps the best defensive baseball player of all time, winning 16 Gold Gloves and credited with saving an amazing 293 runs in 2,870 games at third base for the Orioles in 23 seasons from 1955-1977, the “Human Vacuum Cleaner” was named to 18 All Star teams. Robinson’s fielding percentage of .971 was higher than the league average of .953 for third basemen. He batted .267 with 268 home runs and 1,357 RBI’s in his career, and was named the American League MVP in 1964.

1) Mike Schmidt – A 12 time All Star and 3 time National League MVP, “Schmitty” played 2,212 games at third base for the Phillies in 18 years for the Phillies from 1972-1989. Schmidt hit .267 with a .380 on base percentage, 548 home runs, 1,595 RBI’s, and 174 stolen bases. He won 10 Gold Gloves; his .955 fielding percentage is higher than the league average of .949, and he saved 129 runs defensively during his career.

 

 

Vikings’ Bridgewater sometimes looks like Ponder

Minnesota Vikings second year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has shown the poise of a veteran at times. Other times, he has looked intimidated and indecisive. 

Unfortunately, this is the same pattern exhibited by 2011 number draft pick quarterback Christian Ponder, during his four seasons wearing the purple. 

Granted, Bridgewater has been running for his life on many passing downs, as the offensive line in front of him is mediocre at best. Still, he hasn’t always reacted quickly, and his arm isn’t the cannon that you see in other star NFL quarterbacks. 

If the front office brings in some quality offensive linemen through free agency and the draft in the offseason, blockers that give Bridgewater time to read the defense and find open receivers, then we may have a better perspective on what he will become as a quarterback. He does have some decent weapons in Adrian Peterson, Mike Wallace, Kyle Rudolph, and Stefon Diggs, so if the blocking improves, we’ll know if Bridgewater is the man who will lead Minnesota to the Super Bowl.

 

Top 10 TV Action Heroes of All Time

TV Guide recently released its list of the 24 greatest action heroes on TV in the history of the medium. Here is one viewer’s opinion of the 10 best action heroes on TV of all time, based on too many years of watching television…

The Top 10 TV Action Heroes of All Time

10) The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore, The Lone Ranger, ABC, 1949-1957)
9) Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman, ABC, 1975-1979)
8) Xena (Lucy Lawless, Xena the Warrior Princess, syndicated, 1995-2001)
7) Nikita (Peta Wilson, La Femme Nikita, USA, 1997-2001)
6) Emma Peel (Diana Rigg, The Avengers, ABC, 1961-1969)
5) Jaime Somers (Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman, ABC/NBC, 1976-1978)
4) Steve Austin (Lee Majors, The Six Million Dollar Man, ABC, 1973-1978)
3) MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson, MacGyver, ABC, 1985-1992)
2) Superman (George Reeves, The Adventures of Superman, syndicated, 1952-1958)
1) Batman (Adam West, Batman, ABC, 1966-1968)

What is the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, anyway?

Who is the New Jersey Council of County Colleges?  And what do they do, anyway?

 

There’s a bill in the New Jersey state legislature that would allow the county colleges to not be required to join the council and pay the estimated $90,000 per year in annual dues. Instead the colleges could spend that money to lobby legislators on their own, or not spend it at all. Either way, taxpayers and students are on the hook, since that’s where all the money for the county colleges comes from. State taxes, students paying on their own, and federal funds that are given to students in the form of financial aid.

 

You’d think that the state legislators would be intelligent enough to provide sufficient funds to the county colleges to operate. I guess that isn’t the case, since taxpayers and students have to pay lobbyists to fight for their cause in the state capitol of Trenton.

 

Too many lobbyists, not enough common sense.  But what else is new?

A Super Bowl with the most pressure: Minnesota Vikings vs. Buffalo Bills

The Vikings and the Bills both have 0-4 Super Bowl records. What would happen if they met in the title game?

Losing a championship game – especially your fourth Super Bowl – can be pretty awful, but at least New England Patriots fans can take some solace in the fact their team has also won three Super Bowls. The Denver Broncos have two wins, somewhat making up for their four losses. However, the Bills and the Vikings don’t have any victories to go along with their four defeats. Buffalo lost all four of their Super Bowls in consecutive years. Yikes.

So what would be a pressure-packed Super Bowl in 2013? Minnesota versus Buffalo. One would be the first team in NFL history to lose five Super Bowls. What’s worse, the loser still would not have any wins in the big game. People would be talking about it for two weeks prior to Super Sunday. Television ratings for the game might go even higher than this past year.

For fans of the Bills and Vikings, the stress of this game would be immense, probably more so than for the players. I would not be surprised if many of the players weren’t even aware of their franchise’s history, and wouldn’t know much about the significance of the game until after it was over.

But fans know. Players and coaches come and go, but fans remain. A fifth Super Bowl loss without a win for the Vikings or Bills might finally send some of us looking for something else to do with our Sundays in the fall.

Vikings’ coaches are dumb

Being a Minnesota Viking fan can drive a person crazy. Only the Chicago Cubs can be a more difficult team to root for.

 

Sunday’s 27-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys is just another excruciating loss for the Vikings. What is hard to understand, as usual, is the thinking of the coaches. Why defensive coordinators slack off at the end of games when they have a lead is beyond me. They allow the opposing team to march down the field and score seemingly at will. Why not just keep playing the same way the entire game. Rushing more guys and keeping pressure on Tony Romo would have made more sense than trying to cover all the Cowboys receivers, especially since the Vikings were missing safety Harrison Smith and cornerback Chris Cook to injuries.

 

Why would head coach Leslie Frazier opt to try the Cowboys offsides on a 4th down, instead of letting kicker Blair Walsh try a 54 yard field goal? The fact that Walsh pushed an extra point attempt wide does not matter. Walsh is recovered from his hamstring injury and has made field goals over 50 yards look routine. It would have made more sense to just let the offense go for it on that 4th down instead of trying to draw the Cowboys offsides.

 

Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave continues his conservative play calling, making us wonder what he’s thinking. Tackle Phil Loadholt is 6’8″ and weighs 345 pounds, yet can’t move anyone off the line.

 

Defensive coordinator Alan Williams said last week he wasn’t “changing anything” despite the fact the Vikings’ defense is at the bottom of the league in most statistical categories and the team is sporting a 1-7 record.

 

Rick Spielman and his scouting staff have obviously swung and missed on some players – Josh Robinson, Brandon Fusco, Charlie Johnson, John Carlson, Toby Gerhart, Erin Henderson, and Mistral Raymond to name a few – haven’t amounted to much and are some reasons why the team has only won one game so far this season.

 

If Frazier and his crew don’t win some games during the second half of this season, it’s time they, along with Spielman, be shown the door in January, and Vikings fans will have to once again look to the future for some hope.

Some TV studio bosses are full of baloney

In this week’s issue of TV Guide the heads of eight television studios were asked a number of questions, such as “What would you say is your new sleeper hit?” and “Which actor is poised to become a superstar?” I have no problem with their answers to most questions – even though for those two questions they’re just guessing – but the one question I sense some B.S. with their answers is “What would you be doing if you weren’t in the entertainment business?”

 

The most honest answer was from Jamie Erlicht, president of programming and production at Sony Pictures Television. His reply was “Trying to get back in.” Honest and funny.

 

But the two ridiculous answers were from Kevin Beggs, chairperson of Lionsgate Television Group, and Peter Roth, president and chief content officer of Warner Brothers Television Group. Their response? “Teaching.”

 

Really? I’m supposed to believe that these guys would give up their six or seven – or maybe eight – figure salaries and work as teachers? They would actually work at a difficult job such as teaching, for fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year? If they were not working in the entertainment business? Come on.

 

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since they’re really in the bullshit business, so they’re trying to make themselves feel honorable by saying they’d be teachers if they weren’t in entertainment. I’d like to see some of them spend even one day as a teacher. Actually they probably wouldn’t last two minutes in a classroom, let alone a day.

 

Come on Beggs and Roth. I could do your jobs better than you, and I’ve never work in the entertainment business. At least I’d pick some quality shows to be on TV instead of junk that lasts one episode.

Television’s 25 best catchphrases

A catchphrase is a way to build a character and give an identity to a television show. TV Guide recently released its list of the 60 most notable catchphrases on TV shows in the history of the medium. Here is one viewer’s opinion of the best 25 catchphrases of all time, based on too many years of watching television…

 

25) “Kiss my grits!” (Flo Castleberry, Alice)

24) “Dy-no-mite!” (J.J. Evans, Good Times)

23) “This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.” (Mission: Impossible)

22) “Resistance is futile.” (Star Trek, The Next Generation)

21) “How you doin’?” (Joey Tribbiani, Friends)

20) “Yadda, yadda, yadda.” (Elaine Benes, Seinfield)

19) “Baby, you’re the greatest.” (Ralph Kramden, The Honeymooners)

18) “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” (Jim McKay, Wide World of Sports)

17) “You look mahvelous.” (Fernando, Saturday Night Live)

16) “Danger, Will Robinson!” (The Robot, Lost in Space)

15) “To the Batmobile!” (Batman, Batman)

14) “Yabba Dabba Do!” (Fred Flintsone, The Flintstones)

13) “Eat my shorts.” (Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)

12) “Live long and prosper.” (Commander Spock, Star Trek)

11) “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” (Adventures of Superman)

10) “Good night, John Boy.” (The Walton family, The Waltons)

9) “I’m listening.” (Frasier Krane, Frasier)

8) “Come on down!” (Johnny Olson, The Price is Right)

7) “Make it so.” (Captain Picard, Star Trek the Next Generation)

6) “Book’em, Danno.” (Detective Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-O)

5) “Let’s be careful out there.” (Sergeant Phil Esterhaus, Hill Street Blues)

4) “And that’s the way it is.” (Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News)

3) “Aaay!” (Fonzie, Happy Days)

2) “D’oh!” (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)

1) “Heeere’s…Johnny!” (Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show)

The best animals on television of all time

There have been many animals on television since its beginning. Some have had starring roles, others supporting roles; some have been real, others cartoons.  TV Guide recently released its list of the 60 most notable animals on TV shows in the history of the medium.  Here is one TV viewer’s opinion of the best 15 animals of all time, based on too many years of watching television…

15) Yogi Bear (cartoon, 1961-1962)

14) The Pink Panther (cartoon, 1964-1980)

13) Gentle Ben (1967-1969)

12)  Flipper (1964-1967, 1995-2000)

11) Winnie the Pooh (cartoons, 1966-2010)

10) Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Late Night with Conan O’Brien, 1997-present)

9) Dino the Dinosaur (The Flintsones, 1960-1966)

8) Miss Piggy (The Muppet Show, 1976-1981)

7) Scooby Doo (cartoons, 1969-1993)

6) Eddie (Frasier, 1993-2004)

5) Rin Tin Tin (The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, 1954-1959)

4) Kermit the Frog (Sesame Street, 1968-present)

3) Snoopy (cartoons, 1950-2000)

2) Bugs Bunny (cartoons, 1940-2011)

1) Lassie (1954-1973, 1989-1991, 1997-1999)

The 15 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of All Time

Some of the most fun and interesting stories can be found in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. There have been many popular shows on television in these categories, and TV Guide recently released its list of the 60 best sci-fi TV shows in the history of the medium. Here is one TV viewer’s opinion of the 15 best sci-fi television shows of all time, based on too many years of watching television…

15) Quantum Leap (1989-1993, NBC)
14) Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001, syndicated)
13) Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007, SHO/SYFY)
12) Game of Thrones (2011-present, HBO)
11) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003, WB/UPN)
10) Lost in Space (1965-1968, CBS)
9) Batman (1966-1968, ABC)
8) Lost (2004-2010, ABC)
7) Falling Skies (2011-present, TNT)
6) The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978, ABC)
5) Star Trek (1966-1969, NBC)
4) The Twilight Zone (1959-1964, CBS)
3) Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994, syndicated)
2) The Walking Dead (2010-present, AMC)
1) The X-Files (1993-2002, FOX)