The Best Ball Player to ever Live

Written by Nick Szafranski

Rickey is the best. You’ve probably heard that many people consider Rickey Henderson the best lead-off hitter all-time. This is true, but I’m going to go even further by saying he is the BEST Baseball Player to ever live.

When you hear about the best players of all-time; Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays always come to mind. Why must it be a home-run slugging player that is considered the greatest?

Rickey Henderson dominated more in stolen bases ever then Hank Aaron did in Home-runs. In Rickey’s twenty-five major league seasons he accumulated 1,406 stolen bases averaging more than 56 per season.

Lou Brock has the second most stolen bases all-time with 938. Rickey has 50 percent more stolen bases than Brock. Think about how amazing that really is… that would be if Barry Bonds had his 762 home-runs and Hank Aaron, in second place, would only have 381.

Henderson led the American league 12 times in stolen bases and the majors six times. In 1982 Rickey set the major league record by swiping 130 bases during the season. Let me put that in perspective for you, Willy Taveras led the ML with 68 stolen bases last season. Rickey more than doubled that total in 1982.

Only 27 people in MLB history are a part of the “3,000 hit-club,” Rickey Henderson is one of them. He is a gold-glove winner and a ten-time all-star. And did I mention that he won the MVP award in 1990?

Rickey Henderson has the second most walks (BB) all-time, only behind Barry Bonds. He has the most un-intentional walks in MLB history. The scariest stat is that he led off an inning with a walk 796 times in his career…As a pitcher you never want to walk the first batter and to give Rickey Henderson a free-pass…..wow.

He led off a game with a home-run more times than any other player in history with 81 in his career. Rickey had some pop in his bat with 297 trots. That puts him ahead of sluggers Roger Maris, Ryne Sandberg, and Roberto Clemente.

Rickey played on nine different teams in his 25-year career, playing for the Athletics in four separate stints. He preformed for every team with dominant consistency.

When Rickey got on base you knew he was going to score, and that’s what he did. He stepped on home-plate more times than anyone else in history. Scoring runs may be the most important thing in all of baseball and he did that. You cant win, if you don’t score and Rickey was a winner. He was a two-time World Series champion, once with the A’s and once with the Blue Jay’s.

Rickey knew how to get on base better than anyone else and when he got on base he wreaked havoc. He walked, he stole, he scored, and he won. Rickey is the best.

Wednesday Potpourri

The is just another reason why so many people love Shaq. Even in public he displays this humorous personality, and that's rare among many of the great atheltes. I do wonder who would win in a real fight between Shaq and the Big Show. Comments..



For those of you who don't know, Slamball is back!! It runs on saturdays and sundays at noon on the Carton Network( a little strange). My favorite dunks are by the white guy who does the front flip and the last one who put it between his legs twice.

More reasons for why I hate Brian Urlacher...

Wade told our pal Paul Allen of KFAN within the hour that, during an offseason trip to Vegas with Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, Urlacher expressed a not-so-flattering opinion of new Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

Basically, Wade said that Urlacher said that Cutler is a "pussy."

First, Urlacher is a pussy and Second, Cutler is the best thing that has happen to the Bears since 86'.

Stupid Things in Sports...

6. People who wear jersey's of teams that are not even playing at the stadium- Everytime I go to a game I see at least one person who decides to wear a jersey of some player who is not going to be in the game that they are attending. For example, at the Super Bowl there were more Ray Lewis jersey's than there were Thomas Jones, when the Bears played the Colts. Why do people do that? I do not know, the only thing I can think of is pride for their team. All I know is that I will never wear a Lebron jersey to a Bulls vs Pistons game.

Wednesday Potpourri

One of my favorite songs as of late.



The funniest infomercial I have ever seen. The best part is that they include the puzzle pieces.



The best part about this video is that the guy is bending over to see the drive only to have it hit him in the ass.

UFC 100

After watching UFC 100 tonight, I realized how exciting mixed martial arts is. Before, I thought it was a sport about a bunch of crazy madmen who like to hit people. Now, I understand the athletic ability and discipline it takes to be one of these fighters. My favorite is Brock Lesnar. For those of you who don't know Lesnar, he is a Division 1 Nation Champion in Wrestling, played for the Vikings in the NFL, and became popular among the nation through the WWE. I first watched him fight in his title bout with Randy Couture, which ended in a knockout. My favorite thing about him is his tatoo, which is by far the greatest tatoo in sports( just look at the picture).
If there is one thing that I have learned is that everyone hates him, or at least the people in Vegas. After destroying Frank Mir tonight in two rounds, the crowd responded with "boos". I'm not sure why so many people dislike him, maybe because of his cockiness, but the display he put on tonight against Mir was simply amazing. Even though fans may not like his style, his record speaks for itself. His post-fight interview with Joe Rogan is absolutley hilarious. Watch below...

World Series decided by a game played in mid-July?

Every year right around the MLB all-star game; it starts. People start saying “Why is so much emphasis put on an exhibition game? " It used to be a “for-fun game,” where all the best players got together and showed off their talent.

So when you see Josh Hamilton get voted into the All-Star game this year as a starter, you know the best players are not being put out on the field for a game that decides home-field advantage in the World Series. Hamilton has had two trips to the DL this season and in the 40 games he played, he batted .248 with just six home-runs.

Home-field advantage since 2003 as we know has been determined by the winner of the all-star game (the American League has won each All-Star game since then). Even prior to 2003, the way home-field advantage was decided, wasn’t great. It was decided by every other year the other league got the advantage in the World Series.

The World-Series/ the best-of-seven game series that decides the best team in all of baseball, could ultimately be decided by an exhibition game played in mid-July. Which seems ridiculous…. You might as well base everything off of the Home-run derby…. So is there a better way to decide home-field advantage in the World-Series?

Here's the solution.

It’s quite simple, home-field advantage should be decided by….. the overall league records in interleague play….

Each team from both leagues play 18 total interleague games, three home series and three away series. Each team plays nine games with a DH and nine games with a pitcher. There is no advantage for either league.

The league awarded with home-field advantage would have to prove itself in a 252 game interleague series. Whichever league would have a better record against the other league would be rewarded home-field advantage.

Many people may argue that the team with the overall better record should get home-field advantage, just like in the NBA. But when u have a team that plays in a easy division and just rolls over the easy competition, their record will look a lot more impressive then a team that is good in a very competitive division. This would be better than the current system but the competition is just not the same in each league. Thats why comparing the overall records for the leagues in interleague play would work best.

This way ultimately the better league will have proven itself and be given what it truly deserves, home-field advantage in the World Series.

What's your favorite dunk??

Mine is when Pippen posterizes that guy on the Knicks.

Stupid Things in Sports...

4. People who attend Poker Tournaments and Bowling events- The only fun thing about poker is playing in it. Could you imagine having to sit hours watching people play poker when you can't even see what cards they have? With bowling, I think it can be fun to play sometimes but after awhile it just gets boring. I would rather go to a Chicago Sky game then go to a PBA event.

5. Three periods in hockey- I think it just prolongs the game so much more. Why can't there just be one halftime like every other sport? I liked watching the Blackhawks during the playoffs but having to wait for 20 minutes from one period to the next would force me to turn it off. The game is played so uptempo that it doesn't make sense to have three periods.

Stupid Things in Sports....

1. The people who write down the lineups, hits, strikeouts, etc. on scorebooks at baseball games- First, there is a scoreboard at every stadium for a purpose. Second, isn't the point of going to a game is to have fun,drink, relax and not have to do work. This really got to me when I was sitting next to someone at Spring Training, and they were so in to it that they even wrote down pinch hitters.

2. Fans during the seventh inning strecth- I know some people love this but it is so pointless. Baseball is the only sport that during the middle of a game everyone in the crowd will get up and stretch. Once again, I realized this at Spring Training when me and my buddy were the only ones sitting in the stadium. Why should the fans need to stretch? They have been sitting for the past two hours.

3. Coin Toss- Everytime I go to a Bears game I think about how the coin toss was originated. There needs to be a better way for football to decide who get's the ball first. I honestly believe that the "coin toss" has lost teams games, conference championships and super bowls because of how the overtime rules are designed. Basketball, does it a great way with the jump ball. Maybe, the home team should get to decide what they want to do because every team has the same amount of home and away games. Fair?

- Jim

This blog...

The purpose of this blog is to inform people everything from stupid things in sports to what are the best video games on the market. All of the writers are avid sports fans and have a good sense of humor. We intend to update it as much as possible, and I'm sorry if we are a little biased towards Chicago teams but we got to represent the "CHI".

-Jim