worrying that this didn't generate a good LoC rant yet

"Let’s get this straight from the start: When it comes to my Hall of Fame ballot, I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want to be a curmudgeon with a ridiculously high standard — not when the standard for election is 75 percent.

So, by design, I have decided that if I can make a good case for a player, I am going to vote for him.

Sometimes I surprise even myself. I did it this year, checking eight names the first day I considered the ballot and going back to add a ninth just before putting it in the mail. That would be Mark Grace, the guy who sometimes seemed as much a politician as a player during his 13 seasons as the Cubs’ first baseman.

He didn’t hit for power, which is the first thing most people look for in a first baseman. But otherwise he was terrific: .303 career average, more than 11/2 walks for every strikeout, elite fielding skills, leadership in the clubhouse. He led the majors in hits in the 1990s, with 180-plus in seven of those seasons."

I think I know this guy...

he was the one spilling beer on Corms while going back to his seat during the fourth inning a couple Sundays ago while Aramis smoked a double to left.

Or was he one of those guys throwing baseballs on the field and giving Marty Brennaman jittery rage?

From the Marc Normandin chat on baseballprospectus.com comes this little nugget of ignorance during a discussion of Will Clark's worthiness for the Hall of Fame:

Gray (Chicago): Yeah, but Grace was the man...smoked 2 packs a day, played old school baseball and tells great stories.

Marc Normandin: Like that one about the time Clark's team rocked the Cubs in the playoffs? That's being unfair to Grace though, who hit .647/.682/1.118 over those 5 games.

Andrew (Brooklyn): You are all fuckers. I would rather have John Olerud than Mark Grace, because at least Olerud wasn't a fucking backstabbing piece of shit who got away with undercutting his teammates because he had a sly grin and an ability to make the nerd beat writers feel, for a moment, like they went out with a cheerleader once - you can take his two packs a day and shove them up your bleacher sitting inning standing ass and light them. Old school baseball? What does that even fucking mean? Bunting? Hustling? Hitting singles from the three hole? Great. Only playing with white people? Go watch fucking Bull Durham again and pretend like you're not talking out of that asscrack you call a mouth you PHOKKKKKKKKKK!

greatest broadcasting team ever?

Josh "The Kid" Lewin paired with Mark "The @hole" Grace today. Gracie had some ingratiating Sammy stories! Like the year they combined for 83 homers...funny, FUNNY stuff!