jwaltz

For the record my vote is the Great Bambino. Not only was Babe Ruth a monster at the plate but he was a fine pitcher too.

Don't forget to consider Honus Wagner. The guy was a fantastic hitter and history seems to remember him as a pretty fine defender at short too. Dude won 8 batting titles and lead the league in OPS 7 times and OPS+ 6 times.

The closest thing I can remember was Jenkins 3 HR game against the Expos at Miller Park. I think it was in '05 or thereabouts.He had a solo, 2 run, and 3 run homer, and came up in the 7th with the bases loaded. HAD he connected and hit the granny, he would have been the first player in MLB history to complete a HR "cycle" in a 4 HR game. The fact that he came up with just the CHANCE to do it has to be crazily defiant of the odds to begin with. I was at that game too. It was great to watch. I also remember watching Vladimir throwing the ball across the field before the game. The guy's arm is amazing. Another good memory of mine was Twins/White Sox at the Dome a few years ago. Santana going against Garcia. After about 7 or so innings both pitchers were working on a no-hitter. The only baserunner was a walk issued by Garcia. It might have been Jaque Jones who broke it up. Can't remember exactly who. I also remember about 20 years ago at County Stadium Greg Vaughn hit this monster shot. I was very young at the time and remember sitting there in awe of how far he hit it. I know that's not a rare thing but it made a nice childhood memory for me.

Joe Johnson's all around game and unselfish play will appeal to a lot of teams. He's going to have a healthy market for his services. He's too good not to. If you miss out on a marquee FA he's almost as good but not as big a name.

So? Neither is Joe Morgan but that hasn't stopped ESPN from putting him there.

Must be that Borg inspired technology you installed.

I'd swear that article was from the Onion. That's what I was thinking when I opened this thread. Jeff, you could have came up with a better story. If the pillow thing is, in fact, true, then make something up. Like something involving the Cubs sabotaging you.

Jericho v Edge - Edge. Typically the babyfaces win at WM. Taking the belt off Jericho won't do anything to dimish his status as the top SD heel. Batista v Cena - Early favorite for most boring match of the night. Batista wins his last championship here and loses a retirement match at either Summerslam or next year's WM. Taker v HBK - Early favorite for match of the night. Should be a good one. I can see this going to a time limit draw. Bret Hart v Vince - Bret. You can't have Bret lose here unless you bring him back soon for a rematch. Punk v Mysterio - Second favorite for Match of the Night. Should be a good one with a lot of intensity and great ring psychology. Punk is the best heel in WWE. Punk "injures" Mysterio to explain the time he's going to take off for surgery. MITB - Smart move would be for Christian to win it. He's almost at main event level and could get there in a month. Kingston would be a good choice too. Although they could give Kane the nod as a way to thank him for his years of service. ShowMiz v Morrison/R-Truth - Should be an entertaining match but I would have put Miz, Truth, and Morrison in the MITB match instead. ShowMiz wins. HHH v Sheamus - I can't see Trips losing at WM to Sheamus. Legacy in a triple threat match - If they think DiBiase is ready for the main event he'll win. If not, Orton wins. Orton gains little by winning here and DiBiase's pretty much ready so I'm going with Ted Jr.

The Twins are losing Nathan but getting back a very good reliever in Neshek this season. I don't think the Twins will make a move until they see how well their own guys pick up the slack. They have a few guys that have the potential to be good closers.

C - Surhoff 1B - Fielder 2B - Loretta SS - Yount 3B - Cirillo LF - Braun CF - Thomas RF - Jenkins DH - Molitor Rotation: Sheets Higuera Gallardo Haas Bosio CL - Plesac

I meant he was the guy on the White Sox whom other teams feared the most. Not the most feared hitter in all of baseball.

Frank Thomas was always a classy guy and impressive hitter to watch. Throughout his time on the White Sox he was the guy other teams feared the most. I feel he definitely deserves to get in the HOF but if Alomar can't get in on the first ballot I don't think The Big Hurt will either. He'll get in on his second or third ballot though. The fact he was a DH for most of his career won't help him.

Neugebauer for me. The guy had a heck of an arm and terrific stuff. Unfortunately injuries ended it. If Manny Parra doesn't turn it around he'll be up there too. Mike Jones was on the list but he's still got a shot at making it.

A few of my friends sent most of their invitations via e-mail. Saved them a little bit on invitations and postage. Nobody seemed to mind. In the e-mail they explained they were sending invitations out this way to save money. Everybody seemed to understand and liked the idea. As far as thank you's go, just make them yourself.

You can make a very strong case for Gomez being the best defensive center fielder on the planet. He's that good defensively. When you see him in person he makes very difficult plays look routine and easy. With him out there we have the best defensive shortstop and the best defensive center fielder. He's got as much untapped potential as anybody. If he meets half of his potential he'll be a star. Going to Twins games the past few years I saw Gomez in the same outfield with Span. Those two seemed to have the entire outfield covered. The third outfielder didn't seem to have much to do. That was fun to watch.