Adam Dunn

Let's start with some basic numbers.

14 seasons

2001 games played
8328 ABs
462 HRs
1168 RBIs
1317 BBs
2379 Ks
.364 OBP

Do we need to say his batting average?  Oh, okay.  

.237 batting average.

Alright, that's not as putrescent as I expected.

Some other things:

Voted 4th in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, even though he only played in 66 games in his rookie season, 2001.   His WAR that year was 2.1.  Jimmy Rollings, who came in 3rd, and played in 158 games, had a WAR of 2.4.  First place was a little known fella named Albert Pujols, who played like a veteran.  

Okay, I have to go over Albert's numbers from that rookie year.  Sheesh.

161 games, 590 ABs, 112 Rs, 194 hits, 37 HRs, 130 RBIs, 69 BBs, 93 SOs, a batting average of .329, OBP of .403, slugging at .610, OPS at 1.013.  

Yes, that was absurd.  Man, I love that guy.

In 2nd place was Roy Oswalt, who was 14-3 with a 2.73 ERA.  Started only 20 games.

So, as you can see, Dunn was up against some tough competition, so getting 4th after playing only 66 games was doing pretty well.

From 2004 to 2008, Adam hit 40+ HRs every season.  In fact, for the latter 4 years, he hit exactly 40.  During all those years, though, he never led the league.  He did, sadly, lead the league in strike outs four times--including three in a row from 2004 to 2006.  His epic strike out season, though, was 2012 with the Chicago White Sox, in which he hit.. er... didn't hit anything 222 times, leading the AL.  That same year, though, he led the league in walks, too, with 105.  He led his league in BBs twice, but crossed 100 8 times in his career, with a high of 128 in 2002.  

Baseball Reference.com shows he was an all-star twice (sophomore season, as well as 2012), was 28th in voting for MVP in 2004, 26th in 2005, and 21st in 2010.  

~ ~ ~

A few possibly interesting things for the stat-heads out there. 

All time high strike out seasons?  Adam has the 2nd highest, ties for 7th highest, ties for 13th highest, owns the 15th, ties for 17th, then doesn't make another appearance until he ties for 48th.

All time HR seasons?  Tied for 96th with a host of players, makes another appearance at 224th, then ties with himself repeatedly as well as many others at 263rd.

His best season of BBs tied for 68th all time.

His best season of HRs per at bat came in 139th.

~ ~ ~

The Dayton Dragons had Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns on their team one day when some friends and I attended a game.  It may have been in 2000, maybe 2001.  I don't remember.  It seems to me they were both in MLB within a year.  

Dunn, affectionately known as "Big Donkey" to both fans and peers, was always a fan favorite.  When you hit epic home runs, you tend to be loved by the fans, but it was not just hitting HRs that made him a favorite.  He always seemed to have a good attitude, even during his career worst year of 2011.  Maybe he didn't, really, but as a fan, looking from afar, he seemed to carry himself well during what may have been the worst MLB season in the history of man.  

Then, the very next year, he bounced back with 110 Rs, 41 HRs, 96 RBIs, 105 BBs, and an appearance as an All Star.  

Loved.  That's about it.

I won't be the only guy wishing that he would hang around another year or two.  His bat has the same pop in it as it always has, and I'd love to see him get to 500.  Without that historic number, he probably has no chance at the Hall of Fame.  

But here is a bit of a case for him.

He is one of only 11 players in MLB history to hit 40+ HRs in six or more seasons.  If you have any baseball history in your head at all, you'll know every one of these names: Ruth (11), Killebrew (8), Aaron (8), Fathead Bonds (8, 5 of which were after he was juiced), ARod (8, I don't know how long he was juiced), Griffey Jr (7), Sosa (7, when wasn't he juiced?), McGwire (6, ditto), Jim Thome (6), Albert Pujols (6), and our friend Adam Dunn (6).

How about an even more exclusive list?  There have been only eight players in MLB history to hit 40+ HRs in five consecutive seasons.  Again, you'll know all of these (and I'll refrain from juicing comments this time):  Ruth (7), ARod (6), Sosa (6), Ralph Kiner (5), Duke Snider (5), Griffey Jr (5), Barry Bonds (5), and Adam Dunn (5). 

Ah, well.  Chances are these tidbits won't influence HOF voters.  [Sigh]

In the end, he had finally been on a team that made it to the post season... but the A's lost the wildcard game, never having put him in the lineup.  

You can follow Adam Dunn at  twitter.com/adamdunn_44.

I know I will be.  As Adam Dunn walks quietly into the sunset, I cannot help recognizing the quiet.  He apparently had this one thing against him--he wasn't a Yankee.

Thanks, Mr Dunn.  You were fun to watch.

Read more about him here, see his stats here. 

Book Review: "Joe Tait: It's been a real ball"

As a long-time Cleveland fan, I absolutely loved this book.  It was amazing to see how quickly Joe went from a little-known sportscaster handling little gigs and college sports to The Voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  His connections (aka, "networking rules") helped to get him well-placed and into the homes of thousands, then millions, of fans via radio. 

WWWE was my primary radio station as a boy, because of Joe Tait and Pete Franklin.  The Joe Tait story, as told here, was mostly unknown to me--particularly the parts about how he got into the NBA.  Recently I used his story to illustrate how there are times in life when we simply land quite well, based partly on our own hard work, partly on our network of friends and associates, and partly on a virtual flip of the coin (aka, "Sovereignty"). 

From his early days working local gigs, to his leap into the organization of the Cleveland Cavaliers, to his days working radio and some television for the Indians, through his temporary ouster from the Cavs and back, this book tells the story of Joe Tait.  Having missed a good portion of the story between my time in Ohio as a boy and my return to Ohio as a man, I loved getting "caught up" with Tait's career.

Long-time Cleveland sports fans will love this book.  Those outside of Cleveland's fandom may or may not.  Joe Tait is known outside of the Cleveland community, of course, but his greatest fans are in Cleveland.  The airwaves of WWWE spread all across the country for many years, so many folks have heard Joe's unique style, whether or not they were Cleveland Cav or Indian fans.

Book Review: "Our Tribe"

As a lifelong Indians fan, thought living all but six years of that life away from the Cleveland area, I never really knew anything about Terry Pluto until I recently read "The Curse of Rocky Colavito" (which you might read about here).  After I read that book I sent it to my oldest brother.  He and I had our birth into sports fandom in our youth back in Bedford, Ohio, on the outskirts of Cleveland.  We would lie in bed listening to Pete Franklin talk sports, or Joe Taite telling us what was happening in an Indians or Cavalier's game.  Neither of us has very foul language, though we really liked Pete Franklin.  We also don't have official "I hate the Yankee" hankies.  Ah, well.

Where was I?  Oh, yes.  

When I sent that book to my older brother, he pointed out a few other books which Pluto had written.  Finding that they were primarily Cleveland-based, I dug into it a bit and reserved some at my local library.  The first to show up was "Our Tribe", a heart-warming story of not only Mr. Pluto's youthful sports fandom, but of the connection with his dad that it created in his youth, as well as the vibrancy that it brought between he and his aging, stroke-victim father in their later years.  

This isn't just another sports book.  Mr. Pluto demonstrates, by his own relationship with his father, some of the beauty of the connections that can happen between fathers and sons in connection with sports, and how those relationships can be kept enduring through those same events and commonalities.  Obviously such relationships can be kept enduring through other means, but "Our Tribe" shows it specifically in the connection that is made by being fans of a particular team for a lifetime.  Together.

A delightful read (even for this grown male who also, like Terry Pluto, cried when Jose Mesa blew it in game 7 of 1997).

Book Review: "They Call Me Sparky"

This book appealed to me as an Ohio baseball fan.  I cut my baseball teeth in 1975, the first of two World Series victories by the real Big Red Machine.  While the rest of my family visited with my grandparents, I was in their bedroom watching the games one night after another.  I don't recall whether I watched any games from our own home, three hours to the north.  I only remember watching my favorite players from that bedroom.  

I had my own Joe Morgan twitch.  Second base was my position at the time, though my hard-throwing arm led me to third eventually.  But, as a second baseman, my hero was very clear.  I also loved the stolen base, and who, on the Reds anyway, was better at that than Joe Morgan?  

Well... maybe Davey.

Hmm... I'm getting distracted.  

"They Call Me Sparky", by Sparky Anderson and Dan Ewald was a fun read for me mostly due to my Reds fandom, but also because Sparky was such an interesting character.  That character comes through in this book!

For the first few chapters, I had the impression that only a Sparky fan could endure the book.  It felt choppy.  But, as I continued reading, I found the format kind of fun, and began looking forward to the variety.  Every other chapter is written clearly in Sparky's voice (even down to the grammar), the other chapters being in the voice of Mr Ewald, narrating the stories of Sparky's life.  The more narrative chapters fill in some gaps in the stories, whereas the chapters in Sparky's voice seem like interviews.  

Miss those interviews with Sparky?  Those chapters are definitely for you.  Heh heh heh.

Fun read, especially for Reds or Tigers fans. 

Book Review: "The Curse of Rocky Colavito"

 

I just finished reading this book by Terry Pluto.  Previously, I had never heard of the author, but he caught me with his subject. The subject at hand?  My beloved Cleveland Indians.  

The story isn't merely about the Cleveland Indians, though.  It is of their historic defeat.  As you can tell by the subtitle, it all begins back in 1960 when an idiot (and Pluto may have actually referred to him as such) named Lane traded Rocky Colavito away for players who are now forgotten.  Colavito was the pride and star of the Indians in 1960, but Lane was a man who was part traitor and part trader.  Some of his bragging listed in the book has to do with how many trades he made.  As if trading was a good thing in and of itself.

Pluto tells quite a few stories beginning in 1960, and going all the way to the early seasons of the 90's--right before the Indians became successful (for too short a time) again.  Some of my favorite chapters are of the heroes I had in the 1970s--Duane Kuiper, Rick Manning, Dennis Eckersley, and, the most beloved of all, Andre Thornton.  If I were to pick one chapter to re-read, and I have, it would be the chapter called "The Conscience of the Indians."  That chapter is all about Andre, the greatest man to be on the Indians team in the last forty years.  And by "Greatest", I mean character, not simply as a ball player (though he was a great one).  

In fact, after I re-read that chapter later this evening, I'll probably have something to think about in terms of my own feelings of Loser (which I spoke of here a few years ago).  I've needed to really learn something from my Cleveland fandom for many years.  Just last night I apologized to Bronco's fans online, because I, a Cleveland fan, was cheering for Peyton Manning.  Peyton and the Broncos were absolutely slaughtered on the Super Bowl last night.  

And, like so many devastating Cleveland losses ("The Drive", for example, though I don't think I ever cried at a loss like I did the Jose Mesa blunder in '97), I felt this one too deep for a grown man to feel.  It wasn't even my team, but I felt like my personal "L" was stamped on a man for whom I cheered.  

This book gave me the courtesy of knowing that there are others out there who feel some of that angst.  I appreciate that.  And, after I re-read that chapter about Andre, I hope I can grasp a bit more of his perspective on life, and roll on past this giant L which haunts me.  I hope I can see past the L that tracks me in all my sports fandom, the L that keeps people interrupting me in conversation, the L that lingers as I painfully attempt to re-establish tools I've provided for hundreds, the L that keeps me under the 'leadership' of a control freak, the L makes me doubt something I've always said ("Luck is pagan"), the L that keeps me in the pile of disrespected former leaders... The L that tracks me down and gives me a beating in spirit over and over and over and over again.  I'm tired of being a giant L.

My L needs to die.  

I hope it will.