Congratulations Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2026

Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame

Congratulation to the three newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent were inducted into the Hall yesterday afternoon. When the three were officially elected in January, I had doubts about the credentials of Jones and Kent. But, after reading more about them and their lifetime statistics, I'm convinced they do belong in the Hall and the Baseball Writers Association knows a lot more than I do. Congratulations are also in order for Joe Buck and Paul Hoynes. Buck is the 2026 winner of the Ford Frick broadcaster award. Hoynes is the winner of the J. G. Taylor Spink writer award.

I saw Beltrán, Jones and Kent all play in person. I also listened to Joe Buck call St. Louis Cardinal games on the radio. He started his career with his father, Jack Buck who won the Frick Award in 1987. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to read Hoynes' work. But seeing his introduction and speech on Saturday makes me wish I had, during some of the Indians/Guardian seasons. Rather than recap their careers I will leave you with memories of the three players and their acceptance speeches.

I remember Carlos Beltrán from his days with the Mets in the mid 2000s. My strongest memory of him was not a shining moment for him. Instead, I remember him at the plate for the Mets in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Then Cardinal closer Adam Wainwright struck out Beltrán on three pitches to secure the game for the St. Louisans. On the final pitch of the game, Wainwright threw a filthy curveball that froze Beltrán and sent the Cardinals on to the World Series. You can watch Beltrán's acceptance speech here on YouTube.

Initially, l did have doubts about his credentials in getting him into the Hall. But, after looking at Jones' career aggregate stats, he belongs in Cooperstown. If nothing else his WAR rating is better than a lot of others in the Hall, including his teammate in Atlanta Fred McGriff. And to top it off Jones is in the top 50 all time home run hitters. I count myself luck to have seen him play against the St. Louis Cardinals frequently at Busch Stadium II from the mid 90s to mid 00s. View Jone's induction speech here.

Jeff Kent was a clutch hitter. It seemed like every time I had a chance to watch him play in person in St. Louis he would destroy Cardinals pitching and was on base every time you looked up. He hit more homeruns than anyone else to play second base in the history of the game. They've been playing professional baseball for 157 years. His 377 dingers is the gold standard at second base. Add a 17-year career OPS of .855 and a WAR rating of 55.4 and he is certainly a Hall of Famer. Kent's speech is also available on YouTube.

Joe Buck and Paul Hoynes had their own awards ceremony the day before the player induction ceremonies in the city of Cooperstown. Hoyne's acceptance speech for the Spink Award can be seen here. Buck's acceptance speech for the Frick Award can be viewed here.

Happy Semiquincentennial

 Happy 250th Birthday United States of America!

I am blessed to live in the USA. We are still the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But more importantly, I'm allowed to worship as I please. I am able to express myself and criticize our leaders as I see fit due to the Bill of Rights of this great land.

We are passionate about how our nation should be run. We are more divided now than I remember when we celebrated the Bicentennial on Sunday, July 4, 1976. But in the end, we are all still Americans wanting the very best for our democracy, our heirs and future generations of Americans.

We are one of the longest running democracies in the history of this world. This has been accomplished through the sacrifice of thousands upon thousands of patriots going back to the Revolution against the British. It continues today with our troops deployed in Iran and other Middle East hot-spots. The brave men and women of our military paid the ultimate price for our liberty. I have no good way of sufficiently expressing my gratitude to them and to those who have served in conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and now Iran. I say thank you to all of our armed forces, past and present! Because of you, I'm able to live in what I truly believe is the greatest nation in the history of the world! Happy Semi-quincentennial America! May God bless America! Long may she stand!

Where Has the Month Gone?

It's the end of June and this is the first post of the month. Not much here to really write about, but I have a few thoughts on my mind.

-The World Cup Soccer Tournament is underway here in North America. Numerous tourists are here to watch the "Beautiful Game". I've watched the US play its three Group D matches, including a real 'who cares" game Thursday night. Türkiye beat the United States 3-2 on the final kick of the match. Türkiye gets to save a lot of money on hotels and food and go back home early. The US moves on to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 on July 1st. Being retired, I've seen parts of quite a few games on TV. One of the things that has impressed me is the support of fans from around the world for their country's team. They are loyal and spend a lot of money following their teams. They've been complimentary of the host nations.

-This month also saw the completion of the NCAA Men's Baseball and Women's Softball College World Series tournaments. Congratulations to the Oklahoma men and Texas women. Gee, isn't it interesting both of these teams are members of the Southeast Conference. That's the same collegiate conference my beloved Missouri Tigers compete in. Personally, I rooted for both the schools' opponents in the finals. I wanted Texas Tech to knock off Texas and North Carolina to beat Oklahoma.

-We also saw the US Open Golf Tournament on Long Island, New York. It was played at Shinnecock Hills Country Club in the Hamptons. Wyndham Clark not only had to beat a very difficult course but also deal with a lot of nasty New Yorkers who didn't want him to win. More than just a few of the fans were assholes, but as one of my buddies put it, "they don't know any better. That's how they're raised".

-There's been a tempest in a teapot in Washington, D.C. over United States President Donald Trump's newly "refurbished" Reflecting Pool. After years of doing its job of reflecting the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments on the mall, Mr. Trump decided he wanted to paint it another color. Trump's cronies got a contract to do it, and now it looks like an algae-filled cesspool. The president is angry and claims his enemies put a "250 foot gash in the pool liner." Seriously? Mr. Trump is aware there are a multitude of security cameras trained on the mall at all times.

I'll tell you the same thing I do each month; "I plan to write more in the coming days", but, in reality, I'll probably have just a couple of posts and one will come at the end of the month to keep my monthly submission streak alive. Have a nice July.

Memorial Day in the United States of America

Thank you to those who have paid the ultimate price to keep this great nation free. I also say thank you to the brave men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line each and every day to keep the rest of us safe especially those in harms way today in the Iran War. Happy Memorial Day! May God bless the United States of America!

The image above was taken in early September of 2015 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. The view is looking east across the Potomac River towards the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Happy 21st Birthday Anti-Post!

Today marks the 21st anniversary of this blog. I started it on this date, May, 21, 2005. I didn't really know what to expect but was gung-ho to jump on this new form of communication called a "blog". At the time there were literally thousands of blogs popping up on the web. As you are probably aware, since then many of the blogs that existed have gone away or have been abandoned by the authors. There have been several times when I thought I was done with "The Anti-Post".

My favorite topics have been sports related. I love writing about my beloved Missouri Tigers and ripping on Major League Baseball's incompetence. I also love to rip on local and national media when they screw up or attempt to pass off commercials as news. (It happens more frequently now, then it did 21 years ago. Now, you'd be surprised how many stations are compensated for news coverage or product placement).

Sometimes it's been a blast to write for, God only knows, who reads this. Other times its been a drudge to find a topic and write. My current goal is to post at least once a month. So, with this birthday post I've doubled my average monthly production!

I will keep writing as long as I'm able if you will keep reading. I very much appreciate your patronage!