Welcome to another week of The Runback. Have you been enjoying The Duckpin? Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you want to write for us? Let me know at theduckpin@gmail.com. And please be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Thanks in advance.
Podcast Episode #17
This week I discussed the conservative movement and how it has been broken by Donald Trump.
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News and Politics
Unelected Delegate Proposes Stupid Bill: Reid Novotny's new to Annapolis, but already embracing attention-seeking behavior instead of leading.
Maryland Democrats' Digital Advertising Taxes Likely Illegal: Leave it to Maryland Democrats to spend their political capital on passing a tax bill whose revenues they are unlikely to be able to collect legally.
Sports
NFL Divisional Round Graveyard: Saying goodbye to Drew Brees.
Tennessee Should Hire Me as Their Next Football Coach: Nothing else has worked and while I don't know the words to "Rocky Top", we can work on that.
Programming Note
There will be no new episode of The Duckpin Podcast this week.
The Monday Thought
Hall of Famer Hank Aaron died on Friday.
Most people remember Aaron from his time as Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king.
Of course, most people still recognize Aaron as the home run king considering his home runs were not chemically enhanced like those of Barry Bonds. Fortunately, there is still a chance that Aaron will again become the home run champion given Major League Baseball’s decision to count Negro League statistics as official Major League statistics. If he hit eight home runs there, then he’s the champ again.
Regardless of whether or not Aaron is the greatest home run hitter of all time, an argument can be made that Aaron is the greatest player of all time.
Just take a look at some of these numbers;
25 All-Star games;
Eight forty home-run seasons;
18 seasons in the top 10 home runs;
19 seasons in the top 10 in RBI;
A .305 career bating average;
Two batting titles;
Eight years leading the league in total bases;
15 seasons scoring 100 or more runs;
A 30-30 seasons;
“2nd” in career home runs
3rd in career hits
The all-time career leader in RBIs.
The only players, in my opinion that would even be in the conversation along with Aaron for the greatest of all time would be Babe Ruth and Willie Mays.
Ruth, for his part, was one of the greatest pitchers of the 1910’s and, of course, the greatest slugger in the 1920’s. Of course, he played in a game that was not integrated and where pitchers threw a whole lot more pitches than they did in later eras.
Mays is a more interesting case. His peak was better than Aaron’s and he was a better defensive player. But the last five or six years of Mays career were not nearly as productive as Aaron’s.
Either way, hopefully Aaron will be continue to be recognized as one of, if not the, greatest player we have seen.