The ballot for the baseball hall of fame is out, and the list is a little uninspiring.  There are 23 players that will be voted on. 

• Harold Baines
• Jay Bell
• Bert Blyleven
• David Cone
• Andre Dawson
• Ron Gant
• Mark Grace
• Rickey Henderson
• Tommy John
• Don Mattingly
• Mark McGwire
• Jack Morris
• Dale Murphy
• Jesse Orosco
• Dave Parker
• Dan Plesac
• Tim Raines
• Jim Rice
• Lee Smith
• Alan Trammell
• Greg Vaughn
• Mo Vaughn
• Matt Williams

Of these, one name definitely is above the rest.  That of course is Rickey Henderson.  This is his first time eligible, and I am pretty sure that he will get into the hall of fame on his first attempt.  My question is, is it possible that he will get in via a unanimous vote?  We've all heard the funny stories about Rickey being Rickey, but when you look at his numbers they are very very impressive. 

All Time Stolen Bases Leader

All Time Leader in Runs Scored

Most Games Led off with a Home Run

Most Stolen Bases in a single season

Four Time AL Walks Leader

One Season ML OBP Leader

One Time AL MVP

Ten Time All Star

Gold Glove Winner

Three Silver Slugger Awards

Comeback Player of the Year

Over 3,000 Hits

Fourth All Time in Games Played

20th All Time in Hits

2nd Most walks all time

Career Leader in Secondary Bases

His career numbers are staggering, and I believe Bill James said it best, "Without exaggerating one inch, you could find fifty Hall of Famers who, all taken together, don't own as many records, and as many important records, as Rickey Henderson."

Why wouldn't you vote for this guy?  I know some writers won't vote for a player on first ballot, so it's unlikely that he will be a unanimous choice, but I think we should institute a "Rickey Rule".  If you have a vote and you don't vote for Rickey, you should lose your vote!

The Results of the National League Rookie of the Year Voting have been release.  They can be found here.

No surprise that Soto wins, and Votto comes in second, and Jay Bruce gets a few (but not enough) votes.  What is surprising is the others receiving votes category.  Edinson Volquez received nine votes.  I thought he wasn't eligible for the award?  If, however, they are allowing votes for him, how did he not win?

I received this letter via email, and I'm sure that many of you did too!  I would like you guys to share your thoughts on it! 

Dear Fans,

Thank you for your loyalty and support of the Cincinnati Reds.
You are extremely vital to the success of the Reds, and it is
important we share with you the thinking behind our recent
personnel decisions.

Since taking ownership of this franchise, we have aggressively
tried to improve our Major League roster for the purpose of
restoring championship baseball to Cincinnati. We have sought
and signed proven players. We have extended the contracts of
select current players. We added Dusty Baker, a proven winning
manager. And, we have capitalized on our burgeoning younger
players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto.

We had high expectations for the 2008 season. Unfortunately the
team has not played up to our expectations and we have sustained
injuries to key players within our starting lineup and rotation.

We opted to trade Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn at this time
because we believe it provided the best outcome for the long-
term success of the organization. By executing these inevitable
changes now, we secured more players as part of our focus
towards building a deeper, stronger inventory of young talent.

We are pleased that the trades allow Griffey and Dunn the
opportunity to play for teams in tight division races. Both Ken
and Adam made significant contributions to the Reds and we are
extremely proud and grateful they wore the Reds uniform.

While the run production generated by these two veterans will
not be quickly replaced, we chose to endure the short-term
ramifications for the sake of building a strong, competitive
team for 2009 and many seasons to come.

The vast majority of our 50 draft picks were signed, culminating
last week with first-rounder Yonder Alonso and a pair of
talented pitchers. Our expanded scouting operations also signed
Juan Duran from the Dominican Republic and Yorman Rodriguez from
Venezuela, who are arguably the best amateur free agent position
players from their respective countries.

As we near September, we will continue to provide valuable
playing time to our young players and new acquisitions who we
feel can become significant contributors at the Major League
level. We ask your continued trust and patience as we build the
roster that will get us back on top. We appreciate your support
and look forward to seeing you at the ballpark.

Sincerely,

Bob Castellini
President & CEO

Walt Jocketty
President of Baseball Operations & GM

I'm sitting here bored, so I figured, "Why not start up and NFL Draft Thread"?  The Reds get a late start again tonight, so we are going to need something to pass the time.  I assume most of us have at least a passing interest in the draft, so we can use this space to discuss the draft in depth.  Or you can just look it over to see who has gone where.

The team of most interest I would assume will be the Bengals.  Most every mock draft I've seen the last few weeks has them taking Ellis from USC at #9.  What is everyone's prediction for that pick?  Will they take the best available defensive player, or will they shock the world and trade up to get McFadden?  Also, will Chad Johnson still be a member of the Bengals after tonight?

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I know that I have built this Eyewitness report up to a level that is going to be very difficult to live up to, but let me promise you that Friday was as much fun as you can ever have at the ball park.  Before I get into the pictures, I want to send another thank you to JCH for the awesome tickets, and an opportunity toexperience a Reds game in a way that I never had before.  Also, thanks to Ash and OBC for joining us.

I am going to post some of the pictures that I took, and provide the best commentary on them that I can.  One of the great things about the night was that the beer was free, and we drank a lot.  One of the worst things about the night was that the beer was free, and because of that, much of it is a blur, and I don't remember the stories behind all of the pictures.  I hope that JCH, Ash, and obc will be able to help fill in some of the gaps, and provide you with stories.  

Also, some of the stuff may have been funnier when it was happening.

The first picture we have came from fairly early in the evening.  In fact, I think it's from before the game had started.  As you can see the beer had just started, and they were a quite reserved group.  

The seats we got were located in Party Deck A.  We were guests of WLW, and if you've never been privileged enough to attend, it is a very sweet setup.  There is a ballpark buffet of hot dogs,
vegetables, mac and cheese, popcorn, peanuts and cookies.  And oh yeah, did I mention that the beer was free?  This is a picture of the buffet area.

Party Deck A is located down the Right Field line directly under the Restaurant.  There is an open patio area where the food is located, and also there are a few rows of padded seats that provide an excellent view.  We had seats 1-4 in row A, but actually managed to stand for the entire game.  However, I did get a picture of where we could have sat.

Now onto some of the more important parts of the evening.  When you go to the ballpark, you'll realize that there are a myriad of ways to eat a hotdog.  First of all there is the traditional hot dog on a bun.  Here is a view of my first plate of the evening.

There are also those that are more refined, and choose to eat their hot dog with a knife and a fork.

While not technically a hot dog, I think that we can all agree that a Bratwurst is close enough to count.  This kid demonstrates the peeling the skin off style.

Then of course there is the tecnique that words just can not explain.  Credit for this picture goes completely to JCH, as my view wouldn't allow me to capture it quite so well.  I'll admit, that I feel a little dirty for even having this picture on my computer.  Also, I just realized that this dude's friend totally
busted JCH taking this picture!

Also, there is this picture of obc's plate, that I thought was absolutely hilarious at the time.  (I had already consumed a sizable amount of beer.)  I think I just found it odd that he didn't finish his carrots.

I know it may not seem like it, but believe it or not, I actually did get some pictures of the players and the field.  This is the section where I'll start posting them.  I must say this was seemingly one of the quickest games I have ever attended.  I looked up and all of a sudden it was the 9th inning.  All I really remember about the game on the field is Dunn, Griffey, and Phillips hitting homeruns, and Hamilton doubling off of the wall.  

This first picture was taken at the insistance of obc.  He made a very funny joke about sukr to go with this picture, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.  Obc, can you fill us in on this joke?  Anyway, this picture is pretty easy to explain.  It's just a pregame pic of the grounds crew doing their job.

The next two pictures are representative of the biggest piece of baseball history that I have ever witnessed in person.  I took the first picture before the game, and I took the second picture as Griffey was rounding the bases.  This homerun tied him for sixth all time with former Cincinnati Red Frank Robinson.

While we were witness to a milestone in the career of one of the greatest baseball players of all time, we also witnessed a life milestone of two complete strangers.  A couple sitting directly in front of us got engaged during the game.  

My digital camera has pretty good clarity when taking pictures, but the zoom is not that great.  If I had sukr's awesome camera with the big lens these player pictures would have turned out a bit better.  However, you can tell who the players are, and these are the kind of pictures that I will always want to have.  First, we have an early inning pitch being delivered by Kyle Lohse.  Note, Scott Hatteberg is also present in a textbook defensive stance.

Next I have a picture of Ken Griffey Jr. standing in the batter's box.  This picture was taken shortly before he belted that historic homerun.

I think it would be safe to say that Friday's game was a sparsely attended affair.  We took a picture of the stands directly accross the stadium.  You will notice a lot of red empty seats.  However, if you look closely, you will also notice some jackass sitting by himself at the main top of the stadium.

I know that most of the people who frequent this site have made at least one trip to Great American Ball Park.  You will all be familiar with the subject of this next picture.  I think that the giant score board out in left field is one of the coolest features of the park.  However, for those of you that have never been there, I should warn that it is the only scoreboard in the stadium.  If you are planning your first trip, I strongly suggest that you make sure you get your tickets in a place that the scoreboard is clearly visible.  Otherwise you won't be able to answer the trivia question.  BTW, the four of us came up with four
of five correct answers for the trivia question Friday night.  I considered that a respectable showing.

After the game, obc and I made our way to the private bathroom.  Reading that last line back it sounds kinda dirty, but I promise everything was on the up and up.  However, while in the bathroom, we did meet a father an his son.  The dad was using the urinal when an interesting exchange started.  The son says, "Dad, you've got a biiiiggg penis!".  The Dad while a little embarrased told the kid to make sure that he shared that with his mother.

Good news, the dad did insist that the kid wash his hands after using the bathroom.  He went on to explain that it's very important to wash your hands after each trip.  He said, "Son you have to wash your hands after you pee.  It's not that your penis is dirty, it's just a good opportunity to clean your hands from the rest of the day.  In fact, your penis is probably the cleanest part of your body, because it's protected by your underwear and your pants."  

We thought this whole conversation was very amusing, and made sure to share our story with JCH and Ash as soon as we could find them.

As I said earlier, the game seemed to go by extremely fast.  After the game, I don't think that any of us were really ready to go home, so we spent some time outside the stadium around the statues.  I got two pretty great pictures.  The first one is pretty normal, as I got them to pose (mostly) normally.

With the last picture I have though, I just don't know how to describe it.  Somehow, JCH wound up shirtless and in obc's lap.  Judging from obc's pose, he didn't have much of a problem with the situation. :-)  Also, Ash is motioning as if she's really enjoying the show!

This is the end of my pictures and the end of my Eyewitness report.  I should add however that I had a tremendous drive home, as I rolled down the windows, and sang along to some really loud Buffett music!

So, I've decided to use this lost Cincinnati Reds season as an opportunity to learn more about the game of baseball.  What that means is, I've decided to give in and learn just what it is that Slyde, Boobs, Red Menace, and Man Mountain are talking about.  What I'm trying to say is, I have determined that it's time for me to learn about the ugly side of baseball, Sabermetrics.

However, I do have a problem.  I don't know what to read to give me a good primer.  I searched the library, and all I got was Moneyball.  Is that what I should read?  When I searched Amazon for Sabermetrics, it did direct me to the Bill James handbook, but after reading the reviews it appears it is more about listing statistics than really telling why the stats are relevent.

Therefore, I'm asking all of you new school boneheads to help me out :-).  I want to know why the pitcher should bat 8th, and why a walk is as good as a single.  Please direct me towards the best book that I can read.  With your help, maybe in the next week or two I can be as nerdy as everyone else :-)