iambic pentameter day

By 98 LB baseball BOSS' request, this is the day nocramps has been waiting for. Iambic Pentameter baseball poetry, the style favoured by Shakespeare and friends.

The 2017 BBWAA HoF Ballot

The 2017 BBWAA HoF ballot has been released, and once again it's pretty crowded. There are 34 players on this year's ballot, which can be seen (just the names, along with the 2016 vote tally if there was one, and how many years the player has been on the ballot) here. There's also one with a bit more info at the website of the National Baseball Hall of Fame here. Finally, there's one at Baseball-Reference, which has some stats and stuff beside the player's names. For some reason, it hasn't been updated though, and if you want to use it you have to knock off Danys Baez, Julio Lugo, Aaron Rowand, and Javier Vazquez, as they were not put on the ballot by the BBWAA, and you have to add Casey Blake and Matt Stairs, who were put on the ballot. More after the jump.

David Andrew Stieb and the HoF (Part II: Top o' the Mountain to ya!: 1982 - 1985)

From 1977 through 1981, the Jays had stumbled through five seasons of mostly bad baseball. How long could .359 baseball (270 - 482) bring fans out to the ballpark? How long could you sell them on coming to see the stars of the American League, with very little hope for the home nine ever getting their act together? To be fair, they were assembling quite a lot of young talent, but that hadn't translated into wins yet, and let's face it, wins are what bring fans out to the ballpark in droves. The novelty of big league baseball in Toronto and seeing all the different stars on the opposing teams was starting to wear thin with the fans, and it showed. In 1981, they had their worst ranking for attendance in the history of the franchise. They finished 11th in the 14 team American League in attendance. Something needed to change.

Party weekend!

Every weekend is an open thread to shoot the shit. There will be a challenge each week but don't feel confined by it.

Transaction Friday!

It's transaction Friday! What do you think is going to be announced today?