Statistically speaking, I love stats.
When I was a little kid I couldn’t wait for the weekly hockey statistic updates in the newspaper. I’d pour over the leaders in goals, assists, plus/minus, wins, shutouts, etc etc …I would make my own stat-charts and maintain stat books that I still have to this day (no joke, stacks of ’em in my garage!) Yeah, I became kind of obsessed …
… and when it comes to stats, there is no other sport like baseball. It’s all about the numbers – the HR’s, the RBI’s, the ERA, SB, AVG., Holds, Saves, OBP, etc etc etc …
Did you know that R.A. Dickey has only had three winning seasons in his career? If he wins the Cy Young this year, he’ll be the 4th Blue Jay to do so. (Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens and Pat Hentgen are the others). Did you know that Jose Reyes lead the National League in stolen bases three times during his career and is ‘statistically’ projected to cop 55 bases this year for the Jays (last year’s SB leader, Mike Trout, stole 49 bases) Did you know that Brett Lawrie, at only 23, is on pace to match or better the career numbers of Hall of Famer Andre Dawson! …ah I could go on.
Since this blog is primarily based on music, here are a few musical ‘stats’ and tid-bits about baseball ::
*R.A. Dickey’s warm-up song is the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars.
*San Fransisco Giant pitcher Barry Zito is a published songwriter. The left-hander co-wrote a song, “Butterflies,” that is featured in an Eddie Murphy movie called “A Thousand Words”. Zito comes by his talent naturally as his father was a conductor/arranger for the great Nat King Cole.
*Retired New York Yankee Bernie Williams pursued his lifelong passion of music after his baseball career ended. He took up classical guitar and has been nominated for a Grammy Award.
*Geddy Lee of Rush has been a longtime Blue Jays season ticket holder and baseball junkie. Tonight (Tuesday April 2nd, 2013), Geddy will toss the first pitch as the Jays open their 37th season.
Statistically speaking, I could go on about stats all day. I love the numbers, almost as much as I love the chances of the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays. Has their been this much buzz about a Toronto-based team heading into a season before? If so, I can’t remember.
It’s starting to feel like 1992 all over again …time to get out my stat books.
Thanks for reading, see you next time.
CRAIG ROBERTSON 