It seems that the NHL has come up with a clever idea to change up their all star game, by letting the players pick their own teams school-yard style. I love this idea! But where have I heard it before? Oh yeah – I suggested it last year to fix Baseball’s all-star game.
Well, I guess seeing my idea in action, even if it wasn’t the sport I thought of it for, is thanks enough… but cash would have been nicer.
The Giants have won the World Series, and with 7 HBPs in the postseason, I think we can say they earned it. That’s tied for 11th for most plunks in a single postseason, and that’s pretty respectable. Among teams that won the World Series, they had the 6th most postseason HBPs. So, congratulations to Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres and Edgar Renteria for their World Series HBPs, and to Travis Ishikawa, Cody Ross, and Juan Uribe for getting plunked to help win the NLCS, and Freddy Sanchez for his NLDS plunk against Atlanta. Your pain and sacrifice led to the final reward for all the other Giants who got hit by a pitch in the postseason, but didn’t get hit by pitches quite often enough to win the whole thing. Ray Durham and Jeffrey Hammonds in 2003; David Bell, Kenny Lofton, Rich Aurilia, and Jeff Kent twice in 2002; Matt Williams in 1989; Robby Thompson and Jeffrey Leonard in 1987; Al Gallagher in 1971, and Jose Pagan in 1962.
This year’s group of plunked Giants are the first to take HBPs for a World Series champion Giants team since Johnny Rawlings got hit for the 1921 Giants.
So, Nice Work Giants!
Plunk Signal