VOLUME:LI ... Dec 1 2025
LATEST NEWS
COMMISSIONER NOTES:
After a rather long delay from past years, the APBA carded list came out. A few surprises to say the least. Trey Yesavage (Tor) gets a card on 3 regular season starts totaling 14 innings. Position players Sal Stewart (Cin) first baseman 18 games, Jerar Encarnacion (SF) outfielder 19 games. Several MLB teams made so many trades at last years Jul/Aug deadline the company turned back the clock and had to put players on teams they were traded FROM. Cal Quantrill finished up with 2 starts for Miami but is carded on with Atlanta. Charlie Morton ended up on Atlanta for one game, one inning and is carded with Detroit. Andrew Heaney was dealt to the Dodgers, pitched 1 game and his card is with Pittsburgh. Remember when if a player was traded during the year from AL to NL or vice versa that he didn't get a card with anyone?..... APBAGO card reveal is still scheduled for probably the first week of December. They now have a Master Game version on line to go along with the Basic Game version. The cards remain on schedule for early January and the disk date middle January..... Looking at our Hot Stove we've had over 50 trades thus far which is almost double what we had last year at this time. Big names getting moved. Mark of course leading the way and he landed Paul Skenes as this years coup. For how long is a total unknown. Rafael Devers has been flipped a couple times. Spencer Torkelson been moved 5 times. Four first round picks have been dealt. A total of 103 different players on the move..... Ed Morgans is recovering well from his recent heart issue. Randy is doing rehab and doing well.
It's that time of year when each of us celebrates in our own way. Visiting relatives. Giving of gifts to loved ones. Helping those in need. My wish for all of you is for a truly happy and wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.
- THIS IS CHRISTMAS (John Lennon)
- So this is Christmas and what have you done.
- Another years over and a new one just begun
- And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun.
- The near and the dear one, the old and the young
- A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
- Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear
- And so this is Christmas, for weak and for strong
- For rich and the poor ones, the world is so wrong
- And so happy Christmas, for black and for white
- For yellow and red ones, let’s stop all the fight.
- A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
- War is over... if you want it.
... IMPORTANT DATES ...
- January 30-Feb1: Lancaster gathering
- January 31 2026: Draft
THE SHOW
.
The HALL of FAME ballot was released last month and there you see it
If I had a vote:
Carlos Beltran - Compare with Billy Williams. He has more hits, HR, rbi and SB
Andy Pettitte - Only 27 pitchers have a +100 WL record. He's 103
Alex Rodriguez - Get over it. Look at the stats. He hit 696 bombs, 2086 rbi, 3115 hits
Manny Ramirez - Yes busted twice but stats say 312avg, 1800+ rbi with 555 big flies
Contemporary ERA HOF BALLOT (or the backdoor good ole boys HOF entry)
As of Dec 1 the Hall of Fame history has seen the BBWAA selected 139 players. The Special Committee on Negro Leagues added 11 more. The Veterans Committee (the good ole boys) have added another 123.
If I had a vote:
Barry Bonds - The Pittsburgh stats say he's was already HOF. His stats exist
Roger Clemens - Another arrogant ass but those 353 wins can't be erased
Gary Sheffield - Can you ignore 509HR, 1676 rbi, 292 avg and 10 years of +300 avg
The Baseball writers also announced their 2025 Awards
ROY-NL... Drake Baldwin (Atl) 21 first place votes on 274avg/19HR/80rbi. Cade Horton (ChC) had 9 votes on an 11-4WL & 2.67ERA
ROY-AL... Nick Kurtz (Ath) all 30 votes on 290avg/36HR/89rbi
CY-NL... Paul Skenes (Pit) all 30 votes with a 10-10 WL and 1.97 ERA over 187 innings
CY-AL... Tarik Skubal (Det) 26 first votes on 13-6 WL/2.21 ERA in 195ip. Garrett Crochet (Bsx) got 4 first votes on 18-5 WL/2.59 ERA.
MVP-NL... Shohei Ohtani (LAD) all 30 votes. He posted 282avg/55HR/102rbi and 392 OBP along with 20 steals
MVP-AL... Aaron Judge (NYY) 17 first votes 331avg/53HR/114rbi & 457!! OBP. Cal Raleigh (Sea) 13 first 247/60HR/125rbi & 357 OBP