Ted Turner Manages the Atlanta Braves May 11, 1977

On This Day in Baseball History May 11, 1977: Atlanta Braves owner and media mogul Ted Turner takes over the reins as manager of the team that he owns surprising everyone in Baseball including his own players. Why did he do it? Turner felt that he wanted a first hand look as to why things were going bad for the team he owned which was in the midst of a 16-game losing streak. In doing so, he told manager Dave Bristol to take 10 days off to go on a scouting trip. Naturally this didn't go over well with the powers that be: National League President Chubb Feeney and MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

The team would extend their losing streak to 17-games with a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in Turner's managerial debut. In order to avoid Turner managing the team for a second consecutive game, Feeney would turn to the rule book to stop Turner. According to the article Turner Barred as Manager But Sees Team Triumph, 6-1 by Murray Chass from the New York Times dated May 13, 1977:

The rule, Major League Rule 20, section "e" says, "No manager or player on a club shall directly or indirectly own stock on any other proprietary interest or have any financial interest in the club by which he is employed except under an agreement approved by the commissioner..."

Turner would ask Feeney to get approval from Commissioner Kuhn. Not surprisingly, both Turner and Kuhn had butted heads during Turner's brief tenure as owner of the Braves. Turner had been found to violate free-agency rules in the attempt to sign Gary Matthews, which had led to a one-year suspension and a lawsuit filed by Turner that put a stay on the suspension. So on the backdrop of that contentious relationship, does anyone think that Kuhn would grant Turner an exemption allowing "Billionaire Ted" to manage the Braves? Kuhn tells Turner: NO DEAL.

According to the article Kuhn Decides Against Turner from the New York Times dated May 14, 1977:

"I am satisfied," Kuhn said in a statement late yesterday afternoon, "that Mr. Feeney's disapproval of the Turner coach's contract should stand. Given Mr. Turner's lack of familiarity with game operations, I do not think it is in the best interest of baseball for Mr. Turner to serve in the requested capacity." Later Turner said Bristol would return as manager today.

So what did Turner think of his banishment to the owner's box? According to the article None of the Braves by Rod Smith in his Sports of the Times column of the New York Times dated May 15, 1977:

Turner was understandably aggrieved. "If Walter O'Malley wanted to manage the Dodgers," he said "they wouldn't stop him. Would they?" 

Probably not, but Walter is one of the good old boys who Kuhn seldom, if ever, tells what to do. Turner is a fresh punk who would be under suspension now if a judge in Atlanta hadn't intervened.

And the banishment of Turner brought the team back to their losing ways with a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Maybe Turner should have stayed. Wouldn't have been any worse than Bristol. No?

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- The night Ted Turner managed the Braves by Doug Williams from ESPN.com dated May 23, 2013

Baseball Bloggers Alliance Award Predictions Part II

In my last post, I made my first round of year end award predictions as required by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Where the last post focused on the Connie Mack (Manager of the Year) and Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) awards, these predictions focus on the Goose Gossage (Reliever of the Year) award, the Walter Johnson (Pitcher of the Year) and the Stan Musial (MVP) awards. As with the last post, I will only place my choices here for today and when the awards are announced after the World Series will I give thoughts into the award winners.

Goose Gossage (Reliever of the Year)
American League

1. Greg Holland (Kansas City Royals)
2. Dellin Betances (New York Yankees)
3. Zach Britton (Baltimore Orioles)

National League

1. Craig Kimbrel (Atlanta Braves)
2. Mark Melacon (Pittsburgh Pirates)
3. Aroldis Chapman (Cincinnati Reds)

Walter Johnson (Pitcher of the Year)
American League

1. Felix Hernandez (Seattle Mariners)
2. Corey Kluber (Cleveland Indians)
3. Max Scherzer (Detroit Tigers)
4. Matt Shoemaker (Los Angeles Angels)
5. Phil Hughes (Minnesota Twins)

National League

1. Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
2. Adam Wainwright (St. Louis Cardinals)
3. Johnny Cueto (Cincinnati Reds)
4. Doug Fister (Washington Nationals)
5. Madison Bumgarner (San Francisco Giants)

Stan Musial Award (Most Valuable Player)
American League

1. Victor Martinez (Detroit Tigers)
2. Nelson Cruz (Baltimore Orioles)
3. Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels)
4. Jose Altuve (Houston Astros)
5. Adam Jones (Baltimore Orioles)
6. Michael Brantley (Cleveland Indians)
7. Jose Abreu (Chicago White Sox)
8. Robinson Cano (Seattle Mariners)
9. Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers)
10. Corey Kluber (Cleveland Indians)

National League

1. Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
2. Jonathan Lucroy (Milwaukee Brewers)
3. Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants)
4. Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins)
5. Anthony Rendon (Washington Nationals)
6. Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates)
7. Justin Morneau (Colorado Rockies)
8. Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh Pirates)
9. Hunter Pence (San Francisco Giants)
10. Adam Wainwright (St. Louis Cardinals)

When the results of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance are all announced, I'll return to the predictions and see how my choices matched up with my fellow alliance members.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

Last MLB Game Played at the Polo Grounds September 18, 1963

On this day in Baseball History September 18, 1963: The real last MLB game is played in front of 1,752 riveted fans showed up to watch the final home game of the New York Metropolitans of the 1963 season against the Philadelphia Phillies. Why do I say real?

The New York Giants played the first last MLB game at the Polo Grounds on September 29, 1957. They marked the occasion with a 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The arrival to the New York Metropolitans for the 1962 season meant that the Polo Grounds would be given a second lease on baseball life while the Mets waited for Flushing Meadows Park Municipal Stadium later rechristened Shea Stadium (in honor of William A. Shea) was finished being built in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

The Mets were set to play at the shiny new ballpark to begin the 1962 but delays pushed that back. Then the Mets were supposed to begin playing at the new stadium for the 1963 season. The second final MLB game was played at the Polo Grounds during the record setting 40-120 season by the 1962 Mets. The Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs on September 23, 1962 by a score of 2-1 to bring the history of the old Ballpark in Harlem to an end on a winning note. But alas, it was not to be so.

Photo Courtesy of Peter Putnam/New York Times

The book Shea Stadium by Jason D. Antos describes what was happening at Shea Stadium in terms of construction delays:

On April 28, 1960, the green light was given to contractors P.J. Carlin and Thomas Crimmons to begin construction. On January 18, 1961, Wagner now announced that the new Flushing Meadows Municipal Stadium, now budgeted at $16 million, would be ready for the Mets' inaugural season of 1962. City Controller Lawrence E. Gerosa responded negatively, "Even if construction started last fall, they would still have to work overtime to finish it in time for the 1962 season." One week later construction was delayed.

Three months later on March 15, the assembly in Albany vetoed the measure that authorized the city to finance and build the new ballpark. Wagner pleaded in front of the assembly and won. The lease for the new ballpark was approved on October 6, 1961. Under the terms of the lease, the ballpark would pay $450,000 in rentals the first year with it decreasing to $300,000 in seven years. The Mets were able to lease the stadium for 30 years with an option for renewal of 10 additional years. Finally, on October 28, 1961, Wagner along with Robert Moses and the New York Parks Department president Newbold Morris attended the official groundbreaking ceremony.

Construction was further delayed because of loose girders and broken beams that needed to be repaired, and opening was moved to April 1964...As the construction progressed, the cost of stadium was rising faster than the ballpark itself. An extra $1.7 million was needed, causing the grand total to become $26 million. Finally, the official dedication ceremony took place on April 16, 1964.

Based on that and the bad weather in the winter of 1962-1963, the Metropolitans would play their 1963 home games at the Polo Grounds. Fast forward to the last home game of the season where the Mets fell in lackluster defeat to the Phillies 5-1. That must have been the fastest clean-up by the grounds crew at the Polo Grounds. How much of a mess could 1,752 fans really make.

Here is the boxscore from the last MLB game at the Polo Grounds from the September 19, 1963 edition of the New York Times:

The Polo Grounds would meet the same fate as Ebbets Field six days before Shea Stadium was dedicated. On April 10, 1964, the same wrecking ball that was used to demolish Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, was used to bring down the Polo Grounds. As with Ebbets Field, a housing development was built on the site of the old ballpark in Harlem.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:

- Click here to access the article Polo Grounds, and Its Former Tenants, Emerge From the Shadows by Richard Sandomir from the New York Times dated January 19, 2011
- Click here to access the article Memories of Polo Grounds on Anniversary of Final Opener by Ken Belson from the New York Times dated April 8, 2013
- Click here to access the article Did They Ever Play Polo at the Polo Grounds? by Toby von Meistersinger from the Gothamist dated July 21, 2008 
- Click here to access the PDF of the report THE POLO GROUNDS CASE (part II) by John Hogrogian from THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 12, No. 1 (1990)  
- Click here to access the article The Last of the Polo Grounds: New York City Will Repair a Forgotten Staircase by Chris Epting from the National Trust of Historical Preservation website dated  March 6, 2009
- Click here to access the article Polo Grounds (New York) by Stew Thornley from the SABR Biography Research Project.

Tony Mullane: The Apollo of the Box

I often wonder if the fans of the future will look back at today's players in the same way I look back of the players of yesteryear. I love reading stories of the characters that played the game back in the dead ball era. It seems to me that players today are so image conscious that genuine characters are few and far between. In reading The Emerald Diamond: How The Irish Transformed America's Greatest Pastime by Charley Rosen, One such character that I came across from the dead ball era was Anthony John "Tony" Mullane (January 30, 1859-April 25, 1944).

Now Mullane was a 13-year veteran of the American Association (Louisville, St. Louis, Toledo and Cincinnati) and National League (Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland) who compiled a 280-222 record with a 3.05 ERA winning 30 games in five consecutive seasons played (1882-1884/1886-1887). In 555 games started, he had 502 decisions with 468 complete games and 52 games finished out of the bullpen. He would strike out 1803 batters, walk 1408 and give up 4195 hits in 4531.1 innings pitched for a WHIP of 1.237. Pretty impressive. No? Well, it gets better.

According to Rosen:

Prominent among these Irishmen was Tony Mullane, who won 30 games in five consecutive seasons. During the 1880's, Mullane's excellence was rewarded with a average salary of $6,000 (equal to $85,000 in today's economy), which rightly placed him among the top earners of the time.

Because of his stylish clothes, his magnificent handlebar mustache, and his way with the ladies, Mullane had several nicknames, most notable "The Count" and the "Apollo of the Box." His incredible athleticism was proven both during and after he injured his right arm in throwing a baseball the prodigious distance of 416 feet, 7 3/4 inches, to demonstrate his strength. This feat was all the more remarkable since the leansome 5'10" Mullane only weight 165 pounds.

Mullane responded by pitching left-handed, with only minimal loss of effectiveness, until his right arm was fully healed.

The Apollo of the Box. Think about that. That meant that Mullane was a good looking dude to be compared to the Greek God Apollo. Check him out for yourself. What do you think. Back to the ambidextrous story.

In the article Two-Handed Approach: Ambidextrous pitching star Tony Mullane to be considered by Pre-Integration Era Committee By Bill Francis dated November 20, 2012 from the national Baseball Hall of Fame website, Mullane is quoted as recovering from his injury as follows:

“I simply put on two heavy sweaters, and although it hurt me even to raise my arm, I went to work and pitched ball after ball,” is how Mullane explained his method of recovery. “Great streams of perspiration poured off me, and it hurt me so badly that I had to grit my teeth. It was a case of grin and bear it. I was bound to work it out and I succeeded. The sweat did me good. Although the pain was intense I persevered and the soreness left me. The arm was a little weak at first, but now it’s as good as ever. Had I sat around nursing my sore arm, I am confident that I would not now be solid as a pitcher.”

Players today would have sat on the DL nursing the sore arm. Francis also states:

Among Mullane’s other notable pitching achievements was tossing a no-hitter for Louisville against Cincinnati on Sept. 11, 1882, and going all 20 innings, the record at the time for a big league contest, for Cincinnati against Chicago’s Ad Gumbert, who also went the distance, in a 7-7 tie on June 30, 1892.

I came across an article Cork’s Tony Mullane remains longshot for Hall of Fame by Dave Hannigan dated February 16, 2011 from the Irish Echo webpage that describes Mullane's chances at being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (he was not inducted). One angle the article touches on is how Mullane was a racist. While it was not right, it was not rare for the era. I'll let you read on that for yourselves if you feel so inclined to do so.

Mullane would end up retiring from the game in 1894 and served as an umpire before joining the Chicago Police Department, rising to the rank of Detective. He would pass away on April 25, 1944 at the age of 85.

As I come across some of the more colorful members of the professional baseball fraternity, I'll post about them for your reading pleasure.

Until Then Play Ball,
Sisco Kid

Joe Quinn The First Australian Major Leaguer

With the recent two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. The Arizona Diamondbacks played at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, I wanted to take a look at someone I came across from reading The Emerald Diamond: How The Irish Transformed America's Greatest Pastime by Charley Rosen. Rosen highlights that in the late 1890's, one of the most popular baseball players of the era was an Australian-born Irishman by the name of Joe Quinn. Quinn not only was the first Australian-born major leaguer, he was also the first Australian-born manager of a major league team.

Born on Christmas Eve, 1864 in Sydney, Australia Joe Quinn would make his debut for the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association Baseball League in 1884. Quinn would bat .270 in his rookie season for the Maroons. Baseball politics of the era caused the rapid rise and falls of leagues and the Union Association (UA) was no different. Surviving for only one season, the UA's best team was the St. Louis Maroons that finished their initial season with a 94-19 record. Being the best of a dying league, the National League added the Maroons. In a sign of how weak the UA was, in 1885 the Maroons finished in dead last with a 36-72 with Quinn batting .21. He would play another season for the Maroons before being inactive for the 1887 season.

Quinn would return to professional baseball with the Boston Beaneaters in the National League for the 1888-1889 seasons before jumping ship to the Players League in 1890. Quinn was a tireless champion for players rights. According to the article Joe Quinn, the Australian baseball legend you’ve never heard of by Alex Brown of the Couriermail.com.au from March 21, 2014:

Nicknamed “Ol’ Reliable”, Quinn was a tireless campaigner for players’ rights during an era of rough-and-tumble industrial relations. Perhaps the best example of this was his role in a player rebellion against the draconian labour restrictions placed upon athletes by major league owners in 1890. He was a frontman, a mouthpiece, for the breakaway Players’ League and communicated their objectives to the press in defiance of the millionaire owners of National League ballclubs. The press respected him, the players loved him, the owners feared him.

The Players League came about due to the players bristling at the lack of freedom and options that they available to them due to the reserve clause. According to Scott Simkus author of Outsider Baseball: The Weird World of Hardball on the Fringe 1876-1950:

In order to curb escalating salaries, big-league owners formally adopted the first official version of the reserve clause in December 1879. During this era, all players signed one-year contracts, but under the new clause, teams were able to "reserve" the services of a certain number of players for the upcoming season, even after their contracts had expired. By 1885, the reserve clause was expanded to include everybody. players were forbidden from shopping their services to other clubs or leagues and therefore had almost zero leverage when negotiating compensation issues with their employers. About the only thing players could do, when dickering over contract details, was threaten to hold out. At the time, it was either shut up and sign the contract or hunker down in a nerve-racking one-man player strike.

In one season for the Boston franchise in the Players League, Quinn would bat .301 . Upon the demise of the Players League after their only season, Quinn would return to the National League Boston Beaneaters for two more season before being traded to the St. Louis Browns for the 1893 season. It was during this season, that Quinn was recognized by the Sporting News as being the most popular Baseball Player in America. Quinn would become the player/manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1895 leading the team to a 11-28 record. Quinn would play in St. Louis until part of the 1896 season when he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the National League (not the same Baltimore Orioles franchise that exists today in the American League). 

Quinn would return to player/managing with the Cleveland Spiders in 1899. The team is arguably the worst professional baseball team to play for any league. The Spiders would finish the 1899 season with a 12-104  record (.103 winning percentage). Alex Brown sheds light on why this team was so bad in his article Joe Quinn, the Australian baseball legend you’ve never heard of by Alex Brown of the Couriermail.com.au:

Quinn had the dubious distinction of captain/coaching the Cleveland Spiders to a 12-104 season record - finishing a whopping 84 games out of first place. The 1899 Spiders, nicknamed “The Misfits” by the local press, are considered the worst team in major league history. But fault can hardly be levelled at Quinn. The team’s fate was effectively sealed when team owner Frank Robison sent all Cleveland’s best players to the St Louis Cardinals, who he also owned.

Quinn play for a handful of National League teams before jumping ship to a new rival of the National League: Ban Johnson's American League. Quinn would finish his playing career with the Washington Senators in 1901 with a .252 average. In seventeen seasons, Quinn would have a lifetime .262 batting with a slash line of .302/.328/.631. Quinn would score 893 with 1800 hits (228 2B/70 3B/30 HR) with 796 RBI, 268 stolen bases, 365 walks and 294 strikeouts. Quinn would also have a 23-132 record in (.148 winning percentage) two seasons as a manager.

Last year Quinn was inducted into the Australian Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Australian journalist and librarian Rochelle Llewelyn Nicholls will have a biography of Joe Quinn released later this year entitiled “Joe Quinn - Among The Rowdies”.

For Further Reading
- Click Here to access Joe Quinn's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to read the article Australian Baseball: A Brief History by official MLB historian John Thorn dated March 3, 2014

Looking Back At My Pre-Season Predictions 100 Games In

Hot on the heels of giving those darn Red Sox credit (Giving The Bad Guys Their Due) for their amazing 2013 season and on my earlier post where I went back to look at my predictions after 30 games (A View of the Standings Almost 30 Games Into 2013) here I go looking at my predictions with a little more than 100 games played in the season.

Here is what the standings currently look like as the afternoon of July 23 (Courtesy of Yahoo Sports):

American League
East	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
Boston Red Sox	60	41	.594	--	33-18	27-23	512	424	+88	Lost 1	6-4
Tampa Bay Rays	59	41	.590	0.5	34-19	25-22	468	400	+68	Won 6	9-1
Baltimore Orioles	57	43	.570	2.5	29-20	28-23	485	444	+41	Won 5	8-2
New York Yankees	52	47	.525	7.0	28-23	24-24	387	392	-5	Lost 2	4-6
Toronto Blue Jays	45	53	.459	13.5	25-25	20-28	444	470	-26	Lost 5	2-8
Central	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
Detroit Tigers	54	44	.551	--	29-19	25-25	493	399	+94	Won 2	5-5
Cleveland Indians	52	47	.525	2.5	30-19	22-28	466	438	+28	Lost 1	6-4
Kansas City Royals	45	51	.469	8.0	24-24	21-27	375	391	-16	Lost 2	3-7
Minnesota Twins	42	54	.438	11.0	23-24	19-30	390	441	-51	Won 1	5-5
Chicago White Sox	39	57	.406	14.0	21-23	18-34	365	425	-60	Lost 1	5-5
West	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
Oakland Athletics	58	41	.586	--	30-15	28-26	440	376	+64	Won 2	6-4
Texas Rangers	55	44	.556	3.0	28-22	27-22	421	402	+19	Won 1	3-7
Seattle Mariners	47	52	.475	11.0	26-25	21-27	401	443	-42	Won 7	7-3
Los Angeles Angels	46	51	.474	11.0	26-27	20-24	439	445	-6	Lost 2	4-6
Houston Astros	33	65	.337	24.5	17-36	16-29	368	524	-156	Lost 6	1-9
National League
East	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
Atlanta Braves	56	43	.566	--	31-15	25-28	430	355	+75	Won 1	5-5
Philadelphia Phillies	49	50	.495	7.0	26-21	23-29	388	434	-46	Lost 2	6-4
Washington Nationals	48	51	.485	8.0	27-22	21-29	367	392	-25	Lost 4	2-8
New York Mets	43	52	.453	11.0	19-29	24-23	395	422	-27	Lost 1	6-4
Miami Marlins	36	61	.371	19.0	21-27	15-34	309	405	-96	Won 1	4-6
Central	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
St. Louis Cardinals	59	37	.615	--	29-17	30-20	477	348	+129	Won 1	7-3
Pittsburgh Pirates	58	39	.598	1.5	32-18	26-21	373	328	+45	Won 2	5-5
Cincinnati Reds	56	43	.566	4.5	32-17	24-26	436	360	+76	Won 1	6-4
Chicago Cubs	44	53	.454	15.5	22-26	22-27	397	410	-13	Won 1	5-5
Milwaukee Brewers	41	57	.418	19.0	25-27	16-30	381	439	-58	Lost 1	5-5
West	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	RS	RA	Diff	Streak	L10
Los Angeles Dodgers	51	47	.520	--	27-23	24-24	389	388	+1	Won 4	8-2
Arizona Diamondbacks	51	48	.515	0.5	27-21	24-27	407	401	+6	Lost 1	4-6
Colorado Rockies	48	52	.480	4.0	28-23	20-29	441	437	+4	Lost 1	5-5
San Francisco Giants	45	53	.459	6.0	27-22	18-31	385	435	-50	Lost 2	5-5
San Diego Padres	44	56	.440	8.0	27-23	17-33	397	458	-61	Won 1	4-6
x-Clinched Playoff Spot; y-Division Champ Last updated Tuesday, Jul 23, 2013 1:16 pm EDT

If the season ended today, my predictions would still be off. LOL. In the AL East, the Red Sox and Blue Jays went and screwed up by playing against expectations. (Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays, Yankees and Red Sox). In the Central, the Indians and White Sox have screwed me over (Tigers, White Sox, Royals, Indians and Twins). In the West, we all know how bad the Angels have played so in doing so they ruined the order of my predictions (Angels, Rangers, Oakland, Mariners, Astros).

In my last post, I was doing better with the predictions so let's see where we stand now. In the NL East, the Nationals are really taking a helluva nose dive both in the standings and in my predictions (Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Mets and Marlins). In the Central, those pesky Pirates are disrupting the order I came up with (Cardinals, Reds, Pirates, Brewers and Cubs). In the wild and wooly West, where it seems like no one wants to win the division everything is just head over heels in terms of what I predicted except for Padres who are in last place (Giants, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rockies and Padres).

Luckily for me I don't make a living off of prognosticating Baseball standings. We'll see how things end up before I tap out.

Sisco Kid

Taking Another Look At The Potential All-Star Game Starters

Back on May 10th, in a post entitled Early Favorites To Start the 2013 All-Star Game, I looked at who could be the potential starters for both leagues at this year's Midsummer Classic which will be hosted at Citi Field on July 16, 2013. Where on that date I stated that The New York Mets' Matt Harvey and the Boston Red Sox's Clay Buchholz should be the starters up to that point, other pitchers have made their mark since then.

While Clay Buchholz is still the heavy favorite to start the All-Star Game for the American League, his being on the disabled list is opening the door for Detroit Tigers starter Max Scherzer to get consideration for the starting nod. As I described with more detail in my post from June 12, 2013 entitled I Might Have To Start Calling Tim McCarver Karnak Scherzer is at the top of the league in almost every pitching statistic. Here are his statistics up to today:

Player		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV		IP	H	R	ER	OBA	BB	K	WHIP
Max Scherzer		10	0	3.08	14	14	0	0	0		96.1	64	34	33	.189	24	116	0.91

Here are Buchholz's statistics up to today:

Player		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV		IP	H	R	ER	OBA	BB	K	WHIP
Clay Buchholz		9	0	1.71	12	12	1	1	0		84.1	57	16	16	.195	29	81	1.02

The biggest difference in both pitchers is the amount of runs allowed. Buchholz has allowed half as many runs  as Scherzer has while Scherzer holds an advantage in walks, strikeouts, WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched) with 12 more innings pitched than Buchholz.

Bartolo Colon is a darkhorse to get the starting nod with a surprising 9-2 record with a 2.89 ERA. As well as Hishashi Iwakuma who sits at 7-2 with a 2.06 ERA.

I really think that the A.L. starting nod is a real toss-up at the moment with either Scherzer and Buchholz getting the nod. I think the game changer here is where Buchholz sits after coming off the DL and how he pitches after that.

In the National League, I believe that Arizona Diamondback starter Patrick Corbin has the advantage in getting the starting nod for the Senior Circuit but has two members of the St. Louis Cardinals hot on his heels.

Corbin is still undefeated at 9-0 as of today and is near the top of most of the National League pitching catergories. Here is where he stands as of today:

Player		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV		IP	H	R	ER	OBA	BB	K	WHIP
Patrick Corbin		9	0	2.28	14	14	1	0	0		94.2	73	25	24	.212	23	74	1.01

Lance Lynn and Adam Wainwright of the N.L. Central leading St. Louis Cardinals have also made their case for the All-Star starting nod with their performances this season.

Player		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV		IP	H	R	ER	OBA	BB	K	WHIP
Lance Lynn		10	1	3.42	15	15	0	0	0		92.0	73	35	35	.221	34	94	1.16

Player		W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV		IP	H	R	ER	OBA	BB	K	WHIP
Adam Waiwnright		10	4	2.37	15	15	3	2	0		110.0	102	31	29	.248	9	116	1.01

While I think that Corbin is still in the lead, Wainwright with 4 losses makes a compelling case with his three complete games, two shutouts and only NINE walks allowed. I also think Jordan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals is a dark horse with a 10-3 record with a 2.26 ERA. 

Matt Harvey has been a victim of his team's lack of run support and sits at 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA. While I don't think he'll get the starting nod, I believe he will be selected to join the NL All-Stars and will get a well deserved inning in front of the hometown crowd at Citi Field. 

It'll be interesting to see where these starters stand by the time the All-Star game rolls around and who actually gets the nod to start for both leagues. Stay tuned folks.

Sisco Kid