Category Archives: Pittsburgh Pirates

Update: 2011 MLB Payrolls & Individual Salaries.

Posted on August 27, 2011 | 2 comments

Courtesy TTF Baseball

Here’s the 2011 update to our 2010 Major League Baseball listing published November 22, 2010.  This comes to us compliments of USA Today.  If you’ll click the individual teams, you can access the individual players salaries.  It will be interesting to note the annual salaries of the teams that make the playoffs;  in other words, did they get what they paid for?

 TEAM                          TOTAL P/R             AVG SALARY       MEDIAN

New York Yankees

$ 202,689,028

$ 6,756,300

$ 2,100,000
Philadelphia Phillies

$ 172,976,379

$ 5,765,879

$ 2,625,000
Boston Red Sox

$ 161,762,475

$ 5,991,202

$ 5,500,000
Los Angeles Angels

$ 138,543,166

$ 4,469,134

$ 2,000,000
Chicago White Sox

$ 127,789,000

$ 4,732,925

$ 2,750,000
Chicago Cubs

$ 125,047,329

$ 5,001,893

$ 1,600,000
New York Mets

$ 118,847,309

$ 4,401,752

$ 900,000
San Francisco Giants

$ 118,198,333

$ 4,377,716

$ 2,200,000
Minnesota Twins

$ 112,737,000

$ 4,509,480

$ 3,000,000
Detroit Tigers

$ 105,700,231

$ 3,914,823

$ 1,300,000
St. Louis Cardinals

$ 105,433,572

$ 3,904,947

$ 1,000,000
Los Angeles Dodgers

$ 104,188,999

$ 3,472,966

$ 2,142,838
Texas Rangers

$ 92,299,264

$ 3,182,733

$ 1,251,000
Colorado Rockies

$ 88,148,071

$ 3,390,310

$ 2,318,750
Atlanta Braves

$ 87,002,692

$ 3,346,257

$ 1,275,000
Seattle Mariners

$ 86,524,600

$ 2,884,153

$ 825,000
Milwaukee Brewers

$ 85,497,333

$ 2,849,911

$ 1,050,000
Baltimore Orioles

$ 85,304,038

$ 3,280,924

$ 1,425,000
Cincinnati Reds

$ 75,947,134

$ 2,531,571

$ 825,000
Houston Astros

$ 70,694,000

$ 2,437,724

$ 467,000
Oakland Athletics

$ 66,536,500

$ 2,376,303

$ 1,400,000
Washington Nationals

$ 63,856,928

$ 2,201,963

$ 1,050,000
Toronto Blue Jays

$ 62,567,800

$ 2,018,316

$ 1,200,000
Florida Marlins

$ 56,944,000

$ 2,190,153

$ 545,000
Arizona Diamondbacks

$ 53,639,833

$ 1,986,660

$ 1,000,000
Cleveland Indians

$ 49,190,566

$ 1,639,685

$ 484,200
San Diego Padres

$ 45,869,140

$ 1,479,649

$ 468,800
Pittsburgh Pirates

$ 45,047,000

$ 1,553,344

$ 450,000
Tampa Bay Rays

$ 41,053,571

$ 1,578,983

$ 907,750
Kansas City Royals

$ 36,126,000

$ 1,338,000

$ 850,000
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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, A4 Uncategorized, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

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Garlic Fries and Baseball: The Book

Posted on August 12, 2011 | 6 comments

Update:  Now available at Amazon as Book and Kindle.

Finally it’s here!  My book’s been in the works since February and  it’s being published today.  It’s available for sale here first, and will be available on Amazon.com early next week and in Kindle form  soon thereafter.

The book’s a compilation of some of my favorite blogs, some in expanded form, with a few little ditties added in and formatted in such a way you’ll hardly recognize it!  I have to admit ~ writing a book is a great experience, but it’s much easier writing a blog!

Let me know what you think but please be kind.   This is my debut you know ♥   Ronni

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, A2 Ballparks, A3 Ballpark Food, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

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Umpire makes Really Bad Call……or Does He?

Posted on July 27, 2011 | 7 comments

Wow!  Take a look at this.  You won’t believe it.  This makes that Jim Jarvis call on the Armando Galarraga play look like play-doh!   Unfortunately, it’s another reason for the instant replay pundits to continue beating their drums.   I’m not a fan of instant replay, but I have to admit I sometimes wonder if maybe Selig might, just once in a while, override a call.  You know, like maybe once or twice a year? 

The call was made by umpire Jerry Meals during the 19th Inning of the Atlanta Braves vs Pittsburgh Pirates game last night, giving Atlanta the win by a score of 4-3. The Braves’ runner, Julio Lugo, was clearly out as seen in the video and appears to be as surprised as the catcher was at the call.  I guess Jerry Meals wanted to go back to his hotel room and either sleep or eat a meal since it was already 2am in Atlanta.

The blog title’s a little skewed since I’m sure the runner thought the umpire made a fabulous call as did a lot of the  Braves fans.  It depends a lot on your perspective, doesn’t it?  Videos and some of the commentary  provided from D’Wizzle’s World, a Yardbarker network.

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, A5 Baseball Videos, Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates

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MLB Standings vs MLB Payrolls …. How do they measure?

Posted on May 17, 2011 | 4 comments

Okay, so we’re maybe 25% through the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.  How is your team doing?  How is your team doing in relation to their total payroll?  In other words, are they getting what they paid for?

Here’s an interesting article published by Hayes & Taylor recently.  I’m always amazed at the amount of work some of these guys put into their daily blogs;  I mean who has time for this stuff?   In any event, this is a great chart and one of the better blogs and I wanted to share it with you.

“The Cleveland Indians are in first place in the AL Central. They have the fifth lowest payroll in all of baseball. Which got me thinking, how do the other teams in the MLB rank in the standings relative to their payroll. It turns out that the Indians aren’t even the best example right now.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the second lowest payroll in the majors. The are currently in first place in the power packed AL East. Ahead of the number one payroll in baseball the Yankees, the number three payroll in Boston and numbers 19 and 24 in Baltimore and Toronto. The Royals, Marlins and A’s are all over .500, and are all in the bottom ten payrolls in the league. Not to mention all are very alive in the playoff races.

If the season ended today, four of the eight playoff teams would come from the bottom eleven in payroll (Rays, Indians, Marlins, Reds). On the other side, only three would be coming from the top eight in payroll (Angels, Phillies and Giants).

What does this all mean? Talent wins in baseball and not always how much you pay for that talent. If money was how you win, the Yankees would win every year, but they don’t. That makes me very happy. I love to see underdogs win. I love the fact that some of the lower payroll teams won’t be trading away all of their talent this season to teams who will pay whatever it takes. Baseball is stronger than ever right now.

Click here to link to a chart that shows  where all 30 teams in major league baseball rank in payroll and where they are currently in the standings. Is your team over or under achieving?”

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

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Top Baseball Players of Past 59 Years!

Posted on December 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

“2010 Baseball Players Mathematical Study, written by Don Davis, Department of Mathematics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA., and printed here with his permission.”

(GFBB Note:  I found this  information fascinating and posted the 2009 study last August.  This is the 2010 updated version with a few variations.  You can view the entire study here:  http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/baseball.html    It explains the  criteria used and the history behind the study as well as a wealth of other information related to it.  You can contact Dr. Davis directly for more information regarding the list@ dmd1@lehigh.edu )

Pos’n First team Second team Third team Fourth team Fifth team
P,1 Roger Clemens, 266.0 Tom Seaver, 181.1 Bob Gibson, 140.4 Juan Marichal, 107.9 Phil Niekro, 84.9
P,2 Randy Johnson, 202.1 Warren Spahn, 167.5 Sandy Koufax, 137.8 Gaylord Perry, 102.8 Johan Santana, 84.6
P,3 Greg Maddux, 197.5 Bob Feller, 157.6 Robin Roberts, 136.5 Fergie Jenkins, 87.2 Roy Halladay, 84.1
P,4 Pedro Martinez, 187.5 Steve Carlton, 143.5 Jim Palmer, 133.2 Curt Schilling, 85.1 Nolan Ryan, 83.7
C Johnny Bench, 112.9 Yogi Berra, 94.9 Gary Carter, 77.3 Mike Piazza, 76.6 Ivan Rodriguez, 72.7
1B Albert Pujols, 158.9 Jeff Bagwell, 99.9 Eddie Murray, 91.6 Willie McCovey, 88.4 Harmon Killebrew, 80.8
2B Joe Morgan, 140.6 Rod Carew, 100.5 Ryne Sandberg, 94.8 Jackie Robinson, 93.8 Roberto Alomar, 81.1
3B Mike Schmidt, 184.1 George Brett, 120.9 Eddie Mathews, 112.2 Wade Boggs, 110.5 Brooks Robinson, 105.1
SS Alex Rodriguez, 151.9 Cal Ripken, 121.6 Ernie Banks, 97.6 Robin Yount, 88.2 Derek Jeter, 83.4
OF,1 Barry Bonds, 270.7 Stan Musial, 208.6 Frank Robinson, 141.2 Al Kaline, 119.2 Reggie Jackson, 111.5
OF,2 Willie Mays, 243.2 Mickey Mantle, 208.3 Rickey Henderson, 138.4 Ken Griffey, 117.1 Pete Rose, 99.4
OF,3 Ted Williams, 219.8 Hank Aaron, 201.3 Carl Yazstremski, 131.8 Roberto Clemente, 112.1 Tony Gwynn, 97.1
DH Frank Thomas, 101.0 Paul Molitor, 58.8 Edgar Martinez, 53.4

 

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Best Players in Past 58 Years ……. A Mathematical Study!

Posted on August 12, 2010 | 6 comments

I came upon an interesting study a few months ago.  It was written by Don Davis, Mathematics Professor at Lehigh University, Bethleham, PA.   There’s a lot of criteria used in determining different aspects of this study, but for the most part the players names are all recognizable and only a few to make the list are surprises.   The following table lists the top five All Star Teams, using 4 pitchers per team.    It also lists the overall rating percentage by player.   Take a look:

Pos’n First team Second team Third team Fourth team Fifth team
P1 Roger Clemens, 266.2 Tom Seaver, 166.9 Bob Gibson, 129.2 Jim Palmer, 106.4 Johan Santana, 85.4
P2 Greg Maddux, 203.9 Warren Spahn, 160.5 Robin Roberts, 128.3 Gaylord Perry, 96.1 Tom Glavine, 84.8
P3 Randy Johnson, 202.4 Bob Feller, 143.7 Sandy Koufax, 126.0 Phil Niekro, 96.1 Curt Schilling, 80.7
P4 Pedro Martinez, 185.7 Steve Carlton, 140.7 Juan Marichal, 109.5 Fergie Jenkins, 91.7 Bob Lemon, 79.9
C Johnny Bench, 115.5 Yogi Berra, 97.2 Mike Piazza, 82.2 Ivan Rodriguez, 77.7 Gary Carter, 75.5
1B Albert Pujols, 145.4 Jeff Bagwell, 103.2 Eddie Murray, 95.2 Willie McCovey, 92.1 Harmon Killebrew, 86.4
2B Joe Morgan, 140.3 Rod Carew, 94.5 Ryne Sandberg, 92.4 Jackie Robinson, 82.4 Roberto Alomar, 81.1
3B Mike Schmidt, 173.2 George Brett, 119.2 Eddie Mathews, 111.7 Wade Boggs, 108.0 Brooks Robinson, 88.4
SS Alex Rodriguez, 145.4 Cal Ripken, 113.6 Robin Yount, 93.0 Ernie Banks, 90.7 Derek Jeter, 81.6
OF1 Barry Bonds, 270.7 Stan Musial, 205.2 Frank Robinson, 145.3 Ken Griffey, 114.2 Tony Gwynn, 100.3
OF2 Willie Mays, 226.8 Mickey Mantle, 198.3 Rickey Henderson, 141.5 Al Kaline, 110.1 Pete Rose, 99.7
OF3 Ted Williams, 213.4 Hank Aaron, 195.6 Carl Yazstremski, 127.5 Reggie Jackson, 108.9 Roberto Clemente, 99.3
DH Frank Thomas, 115.0 Edgar Martinez, 64.4 Paul Molitor, 62.4 David Ortiz, 43.4  

Are you kidding me?  Can you even begin to imagine a game with all of these guys on the same team?  What was particularly interesting to me is  that mathematically Roger Clemens is the highest rated pitcher and Barry Bonds is the highest rated batter.   These  ratings are through the 2009 season,  and personalities and private lives are not taken into account.   This is just  using good old fashioned baseball statistics.  

I found the study intriguing and spent a lot of time viewing the criteria used in coming up with the lists.  Rather than go into all the particulars here, you can view the study yourself @ Lehigh University   http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/baseball.html  

 This information is being used with the permission of Professor Davis.

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

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Whew! 7 Days of Baseball and 10 Different States…..

Posted on July 3, 2010 | 2 comments

Who wouldn’t love this?   Never mind the early mornings, late nights, blisters, junk food and sunburns!   Looking back who’ll remember any of this stuff?   What I’ll remember is getting to sleep on the bus (our reward for getting up on time and actually making it to the bus) and those great movies (Corner Gas?  Who Knew?) and great food and the comraderie of great baseball fans gathered together for the experience of  baseball, ballparks, and ballpark food.    And that’s exactly what we did!   We could ask Dan anything and if he didn’t have the answer, our driver, Mark, did.  A pool of knowledge from these two!   And the best part was sharing their baseball experiences  with us.  The time flew by and now I’m safely home just in time to cheer my home team out of a 7 game losing streak ~ sure glad I could help!    There’s something very special about baseball fans.  When you’re sitting in a stadium with 40,000 fans cheering and clapping for whichever team, there’s a common bond that says it really doesn’t matter, just for today, what’s wrong with the economy.  And just for today I’ll let BP worry about that oil mess and I’ll let someone else solve the world problems because today I’m watching grown men throw baseballs around a field shaped like a diamond, hopefully hitting  more baseballs and scoring runs, just because they can.  Well, I can’t explain it, but there’s something very special about baseball fans!  

We’ve waited all winter, withstood snow and cold
Thru free agent signings for millions in gold.
“Play ball”, “Batter up”, the umpire will yell,
Peanuts and crackerjaks the vendors will sell.
Like Bogey has said with panache and glitz,
“A hot dog at the ballpark beats roast beef at the Ritz!”
Baseball: ‘Ode to Opening Day by Mark H. Young ©

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners

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Day 6. Philadelphia Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates!

Posted on July 2, 2010 | 4 comments

Thursday, 7/1/2010.     Long day on the bus to get to a great ballpark and a great game!  Pirates won 4-2 as I remember.  We left this morning at 8:00AM   and arrived at PNC Park at 6PM after a couple of quick 20 minutes stops, rushed into the stadium to find our seating.  Whew!  Grueling day for most but honestly I slept most of the day so was ready to go once we got there!  The park itself was set on the river and directly opposite the Steelers football stadium.  We could stand at the concessions and look out over the river.   Really great views! 

This was the most accessible and user-friendly park to get around of all the parks we’ve been to so far.  Took about 5 minutes off the bus to our seats which is pretty amazing when you compare it to some of the marathon walks we’ve been through!   As far as ballpark food goes, the Fermenti Bros sandwich lays claim to the best food at PNC and they’re probably right!   This sandwich sure makes carrying it back to your seat “easy”.   It not only loads the bread with lots of deli sliced roast beef, but also layers the coleslaw, condiments AND french fries on the sandwich.  No kidding!   And they were lined up to get it!   The Quaker State BBQ Chicken looked great but had an awful sauce.  Big mistake so I was glad I got the smallest order.  It pays to listen to the locals!    As far as the game went, Pittsburgh has one of the worst records this year, and the Phillies are doing great.  But we were all compelled to cheer for the Pirates which I wanted to do anyhow.  So it was fun to hear the cheers and enthusiasm when they pulled it out in the end.  They were ahead the entire game but it was one of those “you score – I score” games and was never really comfortable until the end!   This is a great ballpark.   The backdrop looking out from the 3rd base line toward Right Field is spectacular, resembling a Hollywood backdrop of high rise buildings that look super-imposed, not the real thing!    We arrived here at our hotel after the evening game at 1:30AM and leave 7AM for Chicago.   It’s now 2:45AM so goodnight all!  Next stop Wrigley Field in Chicago!

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, A2 Ballparks, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates

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