SB Nation User Blog: Rev Halofan

City of Anaheim will drop $150,000 on this Rose Parade float promoting the 2010 All Star Game.

Rev Halofan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:05:46 -0000

City of Anaheim will drop $150,000 on this Rose Parade float promoting the 2010 All Star Game.

A Veterans Day Reminder

Rev Halofan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:58:55 -0000

Happy Veterans Day and a Halos Heaven salute to all of our readers who have ever served our country.

Did you know that Arte Moreno is a veteran? He fought in the Army in Vietnam for two years.

Can anyone tell me if any other Major League Baseball owners are U.S. veterans?

I guess banks and post offices are closed today, so you can all mail me money tomorrow.

ANGELS ALL TIME JERSEY ROSTER - #59

Rev Halofan — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:06:56 -0000

Angels Uniform #59 ...Highest Angel Jersey on the 1991 team...

1991: Kyle Abbott
1996, 97: Shad Williams
2001: Ismael Valdez
2005, 06: Esteban Yan
2007: Marcus Gwyn
2008: Freddy Sandoval
2009: Rafael Rodriguez

Torii Hunter Gold Glove #9

Rev Halofan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:40:43 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

G O L D (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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The Angels added some hardware Tuesday with Centerfielder Torii Hunter collecting his 9th career gold glove and his 2nd as an Angel in as many seasons with the club.

Suffice to say that shortstop Erick Aybar was absolutely robbed in the awarding of the prize to Derek Jeter. Angels 3B Chone Figgins at least lost out to Evan Longoria, a competent fielder.

The official announcement is at MLB.COM's website.

Angels Franchise Gold Glove Winners (Official Team Site Listings has not been updated since 2004)

Torii Hunter	OF	2009

Torii Hunter	OF	2008

Orlando Cabrera	SS	2007

Darin Erstad	1B	2004

Bengie Molina	C	2003

Darin Erstad	OF	2002

Bengie Molina	C	2002

Darin Erstad	OF	2000

Jim Edmonds	OF	1998

Jim Edmonds	OF	1997

J.T. Snow	1B	1996

J.T. Snow	1B	1995

Mark Langston	P	1995

Mark Langston	P	1994

Mark Langston	P	1993

Mark Langston	P	1992

Mark Langston	P	1991

Devon White	OF	1989

Devon White	OF	1988

Bob Boone	C	1988

Bob Boone	C	1987

Bob Boone	C	1986

Gary Pettis	OF	1986

Gary Pettis	OF	1985

Bob Boone	C	1982

Rick Milller	OF	1978

Ken Berry	OF	1972

Jim Spencer	1B	1970

Bobby Knoop	2B	1968

Bobby Knoop	2B	1967

Jim Fregosi	ss	1966

Bobby Knoop	2B	1966

Vic Power	1B	1964

SBN A.L. Rookie of the Year

Rev Halofan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:59:02 -0000

Matt Palmer wuz robbed

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

Cool 1968 Fregosi Collectible

Rev Halofan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:55:45 -0000

Cool 1968 Fregosi Collectible

The Topps Vault has a proof of a classic Jim Fregosi for sale on EBAY. Unique, especially if you like the color yellow.

ANGELS ALL TIME JERSEY ROSTER - #60

Rev Halofan — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:07:52 -0000

Angels Uniform #60 ... Highest Angel Jersey on the 1990 Team

1990: Rick Schu
1996: Ryan Hancock
1999 - 2003: Scott Schoeneweis
2004: Scott Dunn
2009: Robert Mosebach

Tim Donaghy Book a Warning to MLB

Rev Halofan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:40:04 -0000

More photos » by Joe Murphy - NBAE/Getty Images

This could be your MLB ump. (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Tim Donaghy is about to be released from prison for his part on fixing NBA games. His book was supposed to be release later this month. But... (as DEADSPIN reports) money talks...

About 10 months ago, Donaghy shopped the book to Triumph Books, an imprint of Random House, according to a source close to Donaghy. Triumph, the source says, "put forth a huge effort to verify every statement in that book." (Triumph's editorial director, Tom Bast, declined to comment.) Two weeks ago, Blowing the Whistle was ready for printing; 60 Minutes had plans to interview Donaghy in conjunction with the book's publication. Then the NBA came calling. "They came after Random House and threatened a lawsuit," the source says, "and Random House just rolled and decided to not go with it. It's really that simple."

Here is lengthy collection of excerpts from Tim Donaghy's book about gambling and cheating as a referee in the NBA.

Referee Dick Bavetta told me Denver needed the win and that it would look bad for the staff and the league if the Nuggets missed the playoffs by one game. There were still a few games left on the schedule before the end of the season, and the standings could potentially change. But on that day in Oakland, Bavetta looked at me and casually stated, "Denver will win if they need the game. That's why I'm on it."

I was thinking, How is Denver going to win on the road in San Antonio? At the time, the Spurs were arguably the best team in the league. Bavetta answered my question before it was asked.

"Duncan will be on the bench with three fouls within the first five minutes of the game," he calmly stated.

As it turned out, Denver didn't need the win after all; they locked up a spot in the playoffs before they got to San Antonio. In a twist of fate, it was the Spurs that ended up needing the win to have a shot at the division title, and Bavetta generously accommodated. In our pregame meeting, he talked about how important the game was to San Antonio and how meaningless it was to Denver, and that San Antonio was going to get the benefit of the calls that night. Armed with this inside information, I called Jack Concannon before the game and told him to bet the Spurs.

To no surprise, we won big. San Antonio blew Denver out of the building that evening, winning by 26 points. When Jack called me the following morning, he expressed amazement at the way an NBA game could be manipulated. Sobering, yes; amazing, no. That's how the game is played in the National Basketball Association.

A critical fact about the Donaghy scandal is that he was caught by a federal investigation that was wiretapping criminal suspects on completely unrelated charges. There was no internal investigation of Donaghy.

The media loves sports advertising revenue and is downplaying the whole affair relative to the terrible legacy it leaves. Of course, the level of naieveté on the part of supposed sporting insiders is astounding. One gets called all sorts of names when one implies anything besides the belief that umps are dishonest or biased or anything but trying to be good blue collar workers at their jobs. Meanwhile Tim Donaghy openly mocks veteran announcers' analysis of his rigged game calling...

We had another variation of this gag simply referred to as the "first foul of the game" bet. While still in the locker room before tip-off, we would make a wager on which of us would call the game's first foul. That referee would either have to pay the ball boy or pick up the dinner tab for the other two referees. Sometimes, the ante would be $50 a guy. Like the technical foul bet, it was hilarious — only this time we were testing each others nerves to see who had the guts to hold out the longest before calling a personal foul. There were occasions when we would hold back for two or three minutes — an eternity in an NBA game — before blowing the whistle. It didn't matter if bodies were flying all over the place; no fouls were called because no one wanted to lose the bet.

We played this little game during the regular season and summer league. After a game, all three refs would gather around the VCR and watch a replay of the game. Early in the contest, the announcers would say, "Holy cow! They're really letting them play tonight!" (emphasis mine) If they only knew...

...but just look at hype surrounding the steroid scandal and understand that baseball's status as the national pastime will not let any coming potential disaster of umpires adversely affecting the game go as lightly as buying off a publisher. The entire NFL is brain-cancer-in-waiting-roiders, but instead Henry Waxman demands MLB run the congressional hearing gauntlet. Why baseball? No matter how popular other sports are, baseball is part of the American DNA and everyone has an opinion on how to fix it. When it is baseball, the sharks taste blood in the water and attack with ferocity.

Could baseball survive such an attack like Tim Donaghy revealed? Think of the damage two strikes brought in the 80s and 90s and the taint of steroids this decade and think - would the discovery of a Donaghy behind the plate be a nail in the coffin for the MLB?

Mike Scioscia: SBN Manager of the Year

Rev Halofan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:26:54 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

SBNations's 2009 AL Manager of the year. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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The bloggers at SBNation have voted for the American League Manager of the year - and the skipper of the Angels, "The Soth," Mike Scioscia was elected AL Manager of the year. 2 bloggers per blog voted - our own RGHAN and WIHALOFAN took part in the voting to represent Halos Heaven on the final day of 2009 season.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

In the National League, Colorado Rockies Manager Jim Tracy took the honors. Sucks to be the Dodgers right now.

Waggle Room: SBN Golf Blog

Rev Halofan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:48:46 -0000

Waggle Room: SBN Golf Blog

In case you are hitting the links this offseason, there is a Golf Blog on SBN called Waggle Room - up now is a Tom Watson interview. There is also an in depth discussion of the PGA's drug testing policy and much, much more.