Deuce Bigelow, Mail Gigolo

Jason Michael Barker

The email has been piling up in recent weeks, and it's high time to field some reader comments. We begin with Dave (no, not our own Dave Paisley), who writes:

In my opinion there is a major hole in your list of unsung heroes. I feel that Paul Abbott of the Seattle Mariners was a huge success albeit an unknown success. In 1999 in 25 appearances (7 starts) Abbott went 6-2 and posted a 3.10 ERA in 72 2/3 IP. And not many people had heard of him going into the season and I feel he should get some recognition for his outstanding 1999.

Good call, Dave. Abbott had an outstanding season, and only missed making the list because he threw limited innings. That wasn't really his fault, though -- he missed the first half of the year after suffering an injury during the off-season. In addition to a fine 3.10 ERA, Abbott allowed just 50 hits and 32 walks in his 72.2 innings, which works out to a 1.13 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and .278 on-base percentage against. He also struck out 68 batters, or just under one per inning of work.

The Mariners have an interesting dilemma regarding Abbott next season. He's pitched well enough to deserve a spot in the starting rotation, but he might be more valuable shoring up the bullpen.

In case you missed it, there was some minor news last week mentioning that a biographical movie is being made about Marge Schott, former owner of the Reds. Alex had this to say:

Now explain this to me: Marge Schott, who everyone knows is an ignorant old woman, says some dumb things and they suspend her from baseball for a couple of years and force her to sell the Reds. Bud Selig manages to run things so the World Series is canceled, something even Hitler and Tojo couldn't manage. He also manages to make labor relations in baseball worse than before, not a bad trick. And they elect him commissioner.

The way I see it, the owners' problem with Marge Schott boils down to one thing: she's a woman. As I alluded to in my column earlier this week, she broke into an old boys' club, and the old boys didn't much like it. Sure she did some crazy tightwad things while running the club, but was it anything worse than some of the old antics Charlie O. Finley pulled when he owned the Athletics? Probably not.

No, she wasn't the most politically correct person. But baseball got lucky in a sense, in that Schott had a hard time keeping her, um, political views to herself -- they had an easy way to force her out. If she had been different, i.e. a man, this whole thing probably wouldn't have happened, and she might still own the club. I'm not saying baseball isn't better off without her, but I do believe there's something of a double standard at work.

As for Selig being commissioner, there's only so much you can say. Personally, I equate it to letting Hannibal Lecter run the cafeteria at the asylum.

And now for something completely different. After some serious dead time (it is the off-season, after all), there has been a bit of baseball news in the past few days. To recap:

• John Olerud signs with Seattle. A great addition for the Mariners. He's not the traditional slugging first baseman, but he'll hit for average, draw a ton of walks, get on base at a good clip and play good defense. Between Olerud and Edgar Martinez, Seattle might have the top two on-base percentage guys in the American League next season -- throw in Alex Rodriguez and you've got four AL batting titles between the three of them. The best part? Olerud signed for $20M over three years, which of course is well below market value. How much is Mo Vaughn making again?

• Carlos Delgado signs with Toronto. Great news for Blue Jays' fans, bad news for the Mets. Having lost Olerud, the consensus was that the Mets would go after the free-agent-to-be Delgado, but that doesn't appear likely now. Is GM Steve Phillips now left with free-agent David Segui? Now that would be a good defensive infield. What's that? You have to score runs as well?

• This year's Hall of Fame ballot is out, and while in general I don't consider myself good enough with baseball history to have an opinion on players without the "automatic" credentials (3000 hits, 300 wins, etc.), I do think Carlton Fisk is a no-brainer. Ditto Bert Blyleven and Gary Carter, the former with 287 wins and the latter not really that far behind Fisk.

• If Pete Rose were to suddenly drop off the face of the Earth, never to be heard from again, it certainly wouldn't bother me any.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker has been trying for years to get a bit part in an SNL skit. Tell him that you don't have to actually be funny to do that at jmb@strikethree.com.