The Baseball Hall of Fame is BROKEN

 Jeff Kent, Andruw Jones, and Carlos Beltran were fine players. They were very good players But truly when they were active did anyone think they were watching a Hall of Famer. I doubt it.

I thought Dick Allen and Dave Parker were borderline choices last year. They won MVP and seemed to be the best players in the league for about a year or two.

Harold Baines got in. Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio (ok he got 3000 hits) were borderline. 

The problem with the hall of fame began years ago when they put all of those players in from the 1920s and 1930s who did not really deserve it - but when the 1960s and 1970s were happening those batting averages from those players in the 20s and 30s, made them look like gods. Of course the NL hit .300 in 1930.

Who is not in

Joe Jackson - 2nd highest batting average all time

Pete Rose - All time hit King

Barry Bonds - let me see Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron steal 500 bases.

Roger Clemens - 7 Cy Youngs

A-Rod - are you kidding me there is not a pill that can make you hit

Manny Rameriz - He was baseball for 10 years - Dominate

Mark McGuire - When you saw him play - he was greatness

Rafael Palmerio - To me he was borderline and like some of the players from the 1920s and 1930s who had inflated stats but he probably should be in. 

T J Watt has been the most valuable defensive player since he entered the league

 The Steelers have won 60 games and lost 24 games with 2 ties if TJ Watt gets a sack or interception

When he does not get a sack, interception or does not play the Steelers record is 26 wins and 30 losses.

That is a winning percentage of .703 vs. .464

2025-26 Topps Basketball is being release .........without Luka Doncic in the set

 It sort of ruins the wait and anticipation for this set. This set is missing one of the Top players in the world,  It would be like having a set without Ohtani, Mahomes, or McDavid in it.

How was Topps not being able to acquire his rights to publish his card.

Topps is reusing the 2025 baseball design which I  really did not like but I have seen samples of a few NBA cards and for some reason the design seems to work better with the NBA than MLB

HITLESS WONDERS - The National League has one .300 hitter (Trea Turner) matching the American League in 1968

 There is something seriously wrong with baseball now.

Trea Turner is the only .300 hitter in the National League which would match the American League in 1968 (Yaz).

Baseball has become Softball to an extent. This year produce 4 - 50 home run players - which ties 1998 and 2001 for the most ever.

In 1968 Gibson had an era of 1.12 and Denny McClain won 31 games.  Nothing happened close to that this year. Pitchers hit in both leagues in 1968 - not in 2025.

How to get the batting average up - decrease the foul area, put seats in there with nets. You would have nets but the fans would be closer to the action more than ever. Make it harder to home runs. Move back the fences, make the wall higher. 

Baseball has been trying a number of rules to change the offense in this game and it does not seem to be working.

A larger problem looms a lockout by the owners at the end of 2026. It is salary cap or bust by the owners. I am cutting back on my card buying now. 

HITS - The Major League leader will have the least amount of Hits since 1891 ( - in a non Strike, Covid, WW1 year)

 The major league hits leader will be  maybe Bobby Witt Jr or Luis Arreaz and they will likely finish with 185 or less hits. That will be the lowest since Billy Hamilton 179 in 1891 when the most games a team played was 140 games.

The leader this year will be below every leader during the 154 game era. In 1918 the season stopped at the beginning of September because of WW1 and most teams did not play 130 games. George Case had 178 hits

WE ARE NOW LIVING IN THE ERA OF 

THE HITLESS WONDERS

Rating the Topps Heritage sets (2001-2025) - Did it capture the feeling.

 The Topps Heritage sets for the last 25 years has been an imperfect group, I really was not paying much attention to them until 2008 when I discovered Sports  Card Blogs. Also the aspects of short prints limited my collecting.

In one of the most agonizing decisions I pick 1958 (2007) over 1959 (2008).

1, 1958 (2007) - It appears these cards actually exceed the original 1958. This is probably the only Heritage set that does this.  I only had the original set ranked 23 all time. 

2. 1959 (2008) - The photos were cropped just a little to tight. But I love the design

3  1971 (2020) - This set had to be released in the pandemic year -  when prices were through the roof - I might have collected. When I look at these Heritage cards I feel something. I did not collect this set when it first came out but some how got a hold of some in 1972 and 1973 but my big haul was going through a box at a flea market in about 1980 as a 15 year old and just pulling semi stars Jim Hickman, Don Mincher, Johnny Callison,, Rick Wise, Tommie Harper - I will never forget that day - what a feeling. 

4. 1976 (2025) 1976 was my collecting prime - This heritage set gives me a feeling. There is a huge drop off after these top 4 sets.

5. 1969 (2018) This set stands on an island it is better than everyone below it but it does not give me the feeling of the 4 above

6. 1975 (2024) Probably the heritage set I was looking forward to the most. Slightly disappointed, the photos were just a tad too small, the borders were just a tad to big.

7. 1972 (2021) My favorite set of all time but for Heritage I was slightly more disappointed than 2024 - A big part of the feeling is missing

8. 1962 (2013) I was feeling it with these cards back then - maybe it was the wood grain

9. 1968 (2017) Not near the 1962 set but the brown borders help

10. 1965 (2014) I have this I my 6th favorite design but Topps kind of missed this

11 1964 (2013) Not great but this was not a total miss

12. 1966 (2015) Did not do too much for me

13. 1967 (2016) Kind of dull compared to the original

14. 1954 (2003) inferior to the 1994 reprint set 

15. 1963 (2014) There was something missing about the look and feel of these cards

16. 1952 (2001) - Kind of Blah

17. 1957 (2006) - Kind of Blah

18. 1953 (2002) - A huge disappointment they felt nothing like the original

19. 1974 (2023) Not a favorite designs heritage did not improve on it

20. 1973 (2022) - First set I ever started collecting at the beginning of the season. As a 7 year old I discovered 1972 Topps Baseball in the middle of the summer - then I went into the fall collecting football, hockey, basketball. When I was 8 years old this set gave me a tremendous feeling bit it was lost over the years and heritage did nothing to recapture it and might have made it worse. 

21. 1970 (2019) - had this ranked 31 all time - heritage did not improve on it.

22,23,24 - 1955(2004), 1956 (2005) 1960 (2009) - Too much like Topps Big

25. 1961 (2012) - The cards/photo in this set were horrific in this set and felt nothing like the original

Are you ready for some football. Why Football has surpassed Baseball as the National Sport

 For me it was 1981 when the NFL passed MLB and became a the National Sport. 

In 1981, there was the strike - The first summer of my youth without baseball.

For the NFL, that was the first season that they would break into games and show you highlights from those other game (oh that satellite technology). The Dwight Clark catch.  But here are some more reasons.

Most of the season action occurs before 7pm. About 75% of the season takes place before 7pm. 40 years ago it was probably 90%.- The older I get the more I like that

75% of the seasons is concentrated on Sunday Afternoon (it is changing for the worse)- It is a predictable time period - you can set aside. It is once a week sport- it is a great advantage over MLB, NBA, NHL -

Most of the action is in the daylight and as the days grow shorter and colder - there something about being in house warm - watching while those players are out there in the freezing cold and snow