All Things Bubba

I was poking around Amazon tonight, and came across this item.

Official Rawlings NL baseball autographed by assistant coach Larry Hays and 23 members of the 1997 USA National Team that finished in 4th place at the International Baseball Association's XIII Intercontinental Cup in Barcelona, Spain: Brian Oliver, Jason Tyner, Josh Bard, Casey Fossum, Bubba Crosby, Adam Pettyjohn, future Phillies slugger Pat Burrell, Zach Sorensen, Rob Morrison, Jeff Austin, Chris Magruder, Mike Fischer, Eric Munson, future All-Star Brian Roberts, 2002 NL Rookie of the Year Jason Jennings, Ryan Mottl, Chuck Crowder, Monty Ward, Jody Gerut, Dave Matranga and three players who have yet to be identified. Some signatures have minor fading, overall in excellent condition.

This must be the college all-star team Bubba played on. The one where he roomed with Brian Roberts.


I don't see Bubba's sig on the pictures posted, but they only show two sides of the baseball. You'd need four to see all the signatures. I do see Brian Roberts' name.

This story is making a splash in the blogosphere and the tabloids: A-Rod one of baseball's best shortstops, Jeter is worst.

Comparing Jeter and A-Rod, Jensen said, "suggests the Yankees have one of the best defensive shortstops playing out of position in deference to one of the worst defensive shortstops." A-Rod won two Gold Gloves as a shortstop before he came New York in 2004.

I wonder if Jeter would still be playing SS if he were on another team. The Yankees don't seem to care much about defense.

Here's what the article says about outfielders:

The toughest outfielders to hit against were the Indians' Jason Michaels, as well as Coco Crisp (now with the Boston Red Sox) and Gary Matthews Jr., currently playing for the Angels, they said.

The worst? Bobby Higginson, formerly of the Detroit Tigers; ex-Yankee Bernie Williams; and Wily Mo Pena, now with the Washington Nationals.

Success depended on a player's range as well as good decision-making and positioning themselves well, said Jensen, an assistant professor of statistics at Penn's Wharton School.

The study covered 2002-2005. According to my favorite defensive stat, BP's rate, Bernie's defense fell off a cliff in 1996, and then fell even further in 2002. So the study basically captured the very worst years (defensively) of Bernie Williams' career.

Wow, I never noticed before that Bernie's defense fell so precipitously, so early. He went from being well above average (110-116, when average is 100) to below average. Oh, I knew he was declining by 2002 or so, but what's up with the sharp drop in 1996? That was his age 27 year. He should have been at his physical peak. Injury, maybe? (It wasn't the Lasik surgery, as many fans suspect; that was in 1999.)

And check out this prank played on a hapless rookie by Brett Myers. Funny, but pretty mean to carry it that far. I hope the kid gets Myers back. (Actually, Myers belongs in jail, the wife-beating idiot.)

And it appears Phil Hughes' new number is 34. He took it from Sean Henn, in exchange for dinner at Flemmings. Why 34? He explains:

3+4=7, my Mom’s favorite number, and 34 was the number of my favorite pitcher growing up, Nolan Ryan

Nick Green is wearing Andy's old number, 12. (Nick's previous number, 17, is now being worn by Shelley Duncan.) Outfielder Jason Lane is wearing Bubba's number 19.

I just noticed Jason Lane bats right but throws left. That's kind of odd. You see right-handed players batting left fairly often, but left-handed players batting right is unusual.