As I often do when reading about baseball players, Hall of Famers in particular, I immediately decided to check out Wade Boggs’ Baseball Reference page. I love looking at the stats of old-time players in a perpetual personal process of putting everyone in the proper historical context in my own mind.

For some reason today something jumped out at me about Boggs’ stats that never had before the other times I’ve visited his Baseball Ref page (and, yes, there have been other times). What jumped out at me was the number 24, as in the 24 home runs that Boggs hit in 1987. Certainly this does not sound like a lot for a guy in the Hall of Fame, but it does when you look at the rest of the Boggs’ season totals and realize his next highest total was 11;  and never in the four years before or after his 24 home run season did Boggs ever hit more than 8.

Think about this in the context of today: in 1987, coming off of a season in which he hit 8 home runs, Wade Boggs slugged 24 long ones, or three times as many. Think a jump like that might arouse a little water cooler PED discussion in 2011? Ask Jose Bautista. Yet I’ve never heard Boggs’ name bandied about with righteous indignation by doubters of his preposterous (by his own standards) 1987 explosion.

No, Boggs isn’t…Brady Anderson.

For shits and giggles, I decided to look at the years surrounding Brady Anderson’s infamous 50-home run season – which no one believes was legitimate, right? – and see just how drastic a jump he made. What I found surprised me.

In 1996, Brady Anderson’s 50 home runs were 322% increase over his average season during the previous four years. In the four seasons after 1996, Anderson maintained a little bit more of the power than he had before, so his 50 home runs were only a 253% increase. Still, his 50 home run season rightfully jumps right out when you look at his career log and is an oft-cited, highly suspicious anomaly.

But look at Boggs! When he hit 24 dingers in 1987 it was a 355% increase over his established average from the previous four seasons. And Boggs actually showed less power after his monstrous 1987 season, averaging just 5.5 home runs per season after that, making his 1987 total 436% greater than the four years that succeeded it.

As much as I love looking at baseball statistics, and as much as I was caught up in the Steroid Era, and the numbers, and intrigued by crazy jumps in production, I’m surprised that Boggs’ 1987 season had never grabbed my attention before.

Now, let me stop right here and state something for the record: I am not (NOT NOT NOT) insinuating that Wade Boggs took steroids. I’m not saying that at all. It would be a ridiculous assertion. I merely find it interesting that while Brady Anderson’s 1996 season is always held up as one of the iconic steroid-fueled seasons in MLB history, I’ve never even heard a whisper about a season like Boggs’ 1987 jump, which actually featured a more pronounced jump than Anderson’s, unbeknowst to me before today.

And when I say I find it interesting, that’s it. I’m not trying to insinuate anything. It’s just interesting to me because I didn’t realize it, and in some ways it’s more interesting regarding Anderson than it is Boggs. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that Anderson’s gargantuan jump was the gold standard of HR jumps, as if the seasons surrounding his 50 were more like Boggs’ and less like Anderson’s solid though unspectacular HR production, which I had forgotten about.

Veiwing Boggs’ 1987 season through the context of today, I did get curious to see what was written online about it, and in the course of looking that up I learned something else new about baseball history that I either never knew or had forgotten about.

This thread at baseball-fever.com discusses how Boggs’ big jump in home runs in 1987 was actually part of a league-wide bump in power due to what was “generally accepted” as “an extra tightly wound batch of balls throughout the majors.” Apparently this batch of balls was used up 2/3s of the way through the season, so home run production tapered off in August and September, but not before a host of well-known sluggers could accumulate enough tightly-wound dingers to set career highs. (Sure enough, Boggs had 17 home runs by game 87 in 1987. He would hit just 7 more the rest of the way.)

So the explanation for Boggs’ home run surge seems pretty clear. I’m just surprised that I’d never heard about this batch of extra tightly wound balls before (or that I’d forgotten about it. I’m getting old.) Boggs’ home run binge and the probability of tightly wound balls make even more sense when you look at the individual home run jumps that were seen around the league, as explained by Calif_Eagle in a message in the thread that breaks down the league leaders:

On the NL side in 1987:

• For Dawson (49) a career high by 17 HR,
• For Murphy (44) a career high by 7,
• For the Straw, a new career high of 39, would tie this CH in 1988 with 39 again.
• For Eric Davis (37) a career high by 3.
• For HoJo (36) 2 off his career high of 38 in 1991 which would lead the league.
• Jack Clark (35) career high by 7.
• Will Clark (35) career high by 6.
• Mike Schmidt (35) below his career high by 13, but this was his final season over 30, or even over 20; HR ever. Schmidt would hit only 18 more over the next 2 seasons before hanging them up for the last time.
• McReynolds (29) career high by 2.
• Samuel (28), career high by 9.
• Of the 10 leading 1987 NL HR hitters, 7 career highs and 1 career high tie. Only Mike Schmidt, (at the end of the trail) and Howard Johnson missed career highs. Only HoJo had a career high year yet to come in the future, although the Straw did match his career high again in 1988.

On the AL side in 1987:

• McGwire (49) An all-time Rookie Record & a then career high that McGwire wouldn’t surpass for 9 seasons (probably when the Andro days had begun.)
• Bell (47) a career high by 16!
• Darrell Evans (34) 7 under his career high. His last 30+ season. He would hit 22, then 11 then retire.
• Dwight Evans (34) a career high by 2.
• Hrbek (34) a career high by 5.
• Joyner (34) a career high over his previous rookie season of 22 by 12. He would play 14 more seasons but would never hit more than 21 in his best year thereafter.
• Tartabull-(34) a career high by 3, in the future he would hit 31 twice in 1991 and 1993.
• Cory Snyder (33) career high by 7.
• 6 players would tie for ninth position (32) Brunansky, Carter, Jacoby, Nokes, Pagliarulo and Parrish. Brunansky tied his 1984 career high. Joe Carter’s 32 was a career high then but he would surpass it 4 times in the years ahead. Jacoby a career high by a whopping 15 HR. Nokes a career high by 8. Pagliarulo a CH by 4. Larry Parrish a career high by 2, in his 14th year of a 15 year career. he would hit 14 in 1988 then retire.
• So to sum up 10 career highs and 1 tie for a career high out of 14 AL HR leaders. McGwires season could be regarded as an 11th CH, counting the clean years only. (you could argue it anyway.)

So it seems pretty clear, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Boggs’ massive HR spike has absolutely nothing to do with any performance enhancer other than tightly wound balls (which, if you can’t tell, I think is fun to type).

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering what the point of this post is. To be frank, I’m not actually 100% sure, but I think – and hear me out on this – that it has something to do with this whole hour-long Boggs/Anderson/balls obsession I just indulged being a microcosm for why I love baseball so much.

That I could randomly click on an article about Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs, then be inspired to go look at Boggs’ Baseball Reference page, and then that lead me to Brady Anderson’s page, which then led me to seek out information about the 1987 season…somewhere in this meaningless pursuit of random baseball knowledge is the beauty of this great sport and why it remains America’s pastime, at least to me, no matter what the Sunday night TV ratings may say.

Kerry Collins retired today and I saw many people talking about how he is in the top 10-12 in so many passing categories. Sure, that’s interesting, and I didn’t realize it, but I didn’t give it another thought. Comparing the relative percentage increases in Wade Boggs’ and Brady Anderson’s greatest HR seasons though? For that I busted out Excel and spent an hour writing a post that maybe 17 people will read.

So no, there isn’t really much of a point to this post, other than to discuss some arcane and essentially useless statistical information; except that it’s baseball, so it’s not really useless. All the stats, the myriad stats, and these kinds of discussions, it’s all what ties the game together through generations, and it’s what makes the game such a joy to follow every summer. These seemingly pointless conversations about trivial statistics are neither trivial nor pointless to people who truly love the game. (You know, the kind of people who participate in this.)

So just consider this, in its own figurative way, a mid-summer love letter to the sport of baseball. Ultimately, I suppose looking at it that way  explains the purpose of this better than anything else.

And besides, writing this was a hell of a lot more fun than thinking about this. I have all weekend to think about that.

Luckily, this man and his magnificent shirt were captured by Getty Images and then broadcast to the world via ESPN.com.

In so doing, this man, Getty, and ESPN have joined forces to sum up what all non-hockey fans think of the NHL.

Image source: Mark Buckner/NHLI via Getty Images via ESPN.com

And is it just me, does the shadow on the glass have a conspicuously phallic shape? Just sayin…

Anyway, when I showed Matt here at the office, his first reaction was, “That’s photoshopped.” Well, no Matt, no it wasn’t, unless ESPN goes around photoshopping the pictures it puts alongside its game recaps. Here is the picture live on ESPN.com and Brooks nabbed a screenshot of it earlier in case the powers that be at the Worldwide Leader take it down when this man and his T-shirt go viral.

The moral of the story? The next time you attend an NHL game, ask yourself if it was worth shaving your balls. If not, come back to us in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. It’s okay. We’ll take you, shorn and all.

As you may have heard, Brett Favre took an errant football in the junk at practice yesterday. While there has been no confirmed report yet that his wife Deanna is the one who threw it, she would be suspect #1 on my list. (She would also be completely justified.)

In and of itself, this video was not worth posting. First, because you’ll probably see it somewhere else; and second, because watching another man take any type of flying object in his package is just painful.

But as I said, I always post the really important stuff. And when said video of Favre is narrated by Pat Summerall and John Madden, I have no choice but to share it with you.

Thank you Internet. Thank you for things like this.

Hat tip: Hot Clicks

Anyone else think Deanna Favre might really appreciate this image being blown up and put in a frame for her?

As Brett Favre just learned, justice is often served swiftly…and painfully.

However, this story made me laugh out loud and will make you at least smirk/chuckle as well, if not outright guffaw/belly laugh.

And if it doesn’t…you’re lying.

I did find it rather interesting that the writer of the story randomly throws in the explanation for why “Balls Ferry Road” is called “Balls Ferry Road”. I would assume he wanted to make sure people didn’t think this was some type of Onion-like satire.

Either way, it’s the story of a “large, naked, hairy man” being stopped by police on Balls Ferry Road. And just know that it’s okay to laugh at that. It’s funny.

Entering Friday night’s MAC Championship game against Buffalo, Ball State had won every game it had played this season — including two over Big Ten opponents — and came in at 12-0. Led by QB Nate Davis and RB MiQuale Lewis, the Cardinals were an offensive juggernaut that many people were clamoring to see in the BCS.

I did not watch the game, but I just glanced at the box score, and it was clear to see that the Cardinals continued their dominant ways on Friday night. Nate Davis was 31-48 for 351 yards and a touchdown. MiQuale Lewis ran the ball 30 times for 131 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Just look at the team statistics and you will see how much Ball State dominated an overmatched Buffalo team that few people game much of a chance to win the game:

First Downs: Ball State – 30 | Buffalo – 18

Total Yards: Ball State – 503 | Buffalo – 301

Passing Yards: Ball State – 351 | Buffalo – 206

Rushing Yards: Ball State – 152 | Buffalo – 95

Time of Posession: Ball State – 34:18 | Buffalo 25:42

Final Score: Ball State – 24 | Buffalo – 42

Wait — what? Ball State lost? Say it ‘aint so!

Oh…it be so, sadly for fans of the Cardinals, for David Letterman, and for fans of football in the state of Indiana in general.

The most important stat of the Ball State-Buffalo game was the one that often determines the outcome of football games: turnovers. Ball State turned the ball over five times, while Buffalo only turned it over twice. Compounding the problem was that Buffalo scored off of all five Ball State turnovers.

According to the ESPN recap, Buffalo returned fumbles 92 and 74 yards on consecutive drives in the third quarter. Ouch. And superstar Nate Davis was involved in all four fumbles. The other turnover was a Davis interception.

After the MAC Championship debacle was over for Ball State, Nate Davis said that is coming back to school for his senior season. That is probably a good move. A putrid game like that on a big stage, when you are already fighting an uphill battle by not coming from one of the “big schools”, cannot be good for the draft stock.

On the bright side, only 12,871 fans were in attendance at Ford Field in Detroit to watch the game. My conjecture would be that this total exceeds the cumulative total of fans who have watched all Lions home games this year, but I have not been able to confirm that.

With the victory and MAC Championship, Buffalo and new head coach Turner Gill will be playing in the International Bowl, located in Toronto. Coincidentally, the Buffalo Bills are playing the Miami Dolphins in a “home” game in Toronto this weekend. And soon, if you are mailing letters to friends who live in Buffalo, you will just be able to address them to Toronto.

Ball State may end up back near the 8 Mile if they end up in the Motor City Bowl, which is played in Detroit. If the Motor City Bowl does not work out, they could always go on David Letterman and participate in his skit where people drop things off the roof and watch them splatter.

If they do, they might want to grab a watermelon and write “OUR UNDEFEATED SEASON” in big letters on it. Then they can drop that and watch it splatter all over the place…just like their chances for an undefeated season splattered tonight.

I am not sure why, but I have ended each of the last four paragraphs with really lame one liners. I think it is because I am tired, and aggitated, and can no longer write the post I had been planning about Ball State ducking a potential matchup of the under-appreciated unbeatens against Boise State.

I guess it’s a moot point now. But I was looking forward to saying that Ball State should change its name to “Tate University” — because they had no balls.

Now, of course, that joke just seems lame and sophomoric. So let’s just say that Ball State should change its name to “Drop the Ball State University”, because that is definitely what they did tonight; and it’s not a ball joke.

Who thinks ball jokes are funny anyway?

Damn you Ball State. I’m a Browns fan, a Tennessee Volunteers fan, and an Indiana grad. Combined, I’m not sure those three teams would have enough wins to be bowl eligible. I was clinging to Ball State and hopping on the bandwagon in hopes that they could give me something to cheer for. If you are a MAC team and you aren’t shooting for an undefeated season, you’re just another team with a good record that played a poor schedule.

And I’m just a tired, lonely blogger writing about MAC football and ball jokes on a Friday night.

It’s time for bed. Both for me, and for all the talk of Ball State in the BCS.