Who owns baseball? Updated for April 22, 2013

I have decided to organize my tally for the title of Who Owns Baseball in a less chaotic manner. I had been listing all the winners in alphabetical order with the multiple winners up top.

But here we are in late April and already it is a laundry list that takes longer to read than the school cancellations on the radio when I was a kid.

 My explanation for "Who Owns Baseball" can be found here.

 There are four categories: American League Hitter, American League Pitcher, National League Hitter and National League Pitcher.

 At the end of the year, we will tally up who owned baseball the most individual days and see how it compares to the final MVP and Cy Young vote.

 Is it subjective? Sure.

But so are the MVP and Cy Young votes.

 On April 22, 2013, A. J, Pierzynski, Matt Moore, Buster Posey and Shelby Miller all owned baseball.

So let's update the tally taking into account their heroics last night. 


AMERICAN LEAGUE HITTER LEADERS
Prince Fielder - 2 
Justin Maxwell - 2 

AMERICAN LEAGUE PITCHER LEADERS

Clay Buchholz – 2 
Yu Darvish - 2 
Derek Holland - 2


NATIONAL LEAGUE HITTER LEADERS

Bryce Harper – 3 

Zack Cozart - 2 
Buster Posey - 2


NATIONAL LEAGUE PITCHER LEADERS

Clayton Kershaw – 2 
Cliff Lee - 2 
Shelby Miller - 2
Adam Wainwright - 2 


Barry Zito - 2


Other players who owned baseball for a day

Alexi Amarista, Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, Madison Bumgarner, A. J. Burnett, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Shin-Soo Cho, Alex Cobb, Kevin Correia, Chris Davis, Wade Davis, R. A. Dickey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Yovani Gallardo, Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Gonzalez, Gio Gonzalez, A. J. Griffin, Matt Harvey, Travis Hafner, Felix Hernandez, Greg Holland, Austin Jackson, Adam Jones, Hiroki Kuroda, Jon Lester, James Loney, Jed Lowrie, Lance Lynn, Manny Machado, Paul Maholm, Justin Masterson, Joe Mauer, Andrew McCutchen, Michael McKenry, Will Middlebrooks, Shelby Miller, Matt Moore, Brandon Moss, Mike Napoli, Daniel Nava, Bud Norris, Angel Pagan, Gerardo Parra, Andy Pettitte, Brandon Phillips, A. J. Pierzynski, Albert Pujols, Wandy Rodriguez, Sergio Romo, Wilin Rosario, CC Sabathia, Ervin Santana, Drew Smyly, Nick Tepesch, Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Upton, Will Venable, Joey Votto, Matt Weiters, Jake Westbrook, Josh Willingham, Ryan Zimmerman.
 

I guess I have to address the Derek Cheater incident

Derek Jeter did the whole Caddyshack "Ow my arm" routine a few days ago and frankly I didn't give a damn.

Yeah, I thought it was kind of silly but all I cared about was the Yankees lost the game.

Of course if the Yankees WON the game (and they took the lead after Granderson's homer) I would probably be a little P.O.ed, but I saw it as karma.

But man, if you read my e mail box, you would have thought I was Walter Cronkite not giving his opinions about the moon landing.

I only have 3 thoughts on the subject:

1 - JETER SHOWS THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING GOOD WILL IN THE BANK.

Take note, Colby Rasmus, who thinks he is already good enough to be making waves in St. Louis. If you act like a pro for 16 years and do everything right, you can get a pass when you do something kind of Bush League.

The great Lisa Swan pointed out the double standard between how Jeter has been treated in this situation and how A-Rod was treated on things like yelling "HA!" or slapping Arroyo's glove in the 2004 ALCS.

Imagine if Manny Ramirez, Milton Bradley, Miguel Cabrera or A. J. Pierzynski tried to pull this off.

2 - INSTANT REPLAY ANYONE?

We ALL saw almost instantly (and while Joe Maddon was still arguing) that the ball hit the bat. It wasn't a matter of opinion... it was a matter of fact. EVERYONE on the planet Earth could see what the correct call was, except the people who actually make the calls.

Folks, this could have been all taken care of in one minute with zero controversy.

But of course that would make too much sense. We CAN'T have that!
(Insanity).

3 - THIS IS A REFRESHING CONTROVERSY

It wasn't that long ago that when people called out cheaters, it was because they were injecting hormones designed for horses into their buttocks.

This is more fun. It's silly and in the end harmless. There will be no Senate panels and parents of dead kids saying "My son pretending to be hit like a pitch like Derek Jeter... AND NOW HE'S DEAD!"

And it goes to something I wrote before... cheating will ALWAYS be tolerated in baseball. People will just have trouble with things that are against the law.

It's subtle.

That's all I got.
Back to baseball.

Varitek an All Star?

I had a few people write to me regarding the Mike Sharperson Award.

I gave the prize, given to the player who is on the roster only because each team needs a rep and will inevitably make people at home say "WHO?" to Nate McLouth.

Mainly people said I was being a homer and ignoring Jason Varitek's selection to the team.

Let me say that first of all he isn't Sharperson eligible.
People HAVE heard of him and clearly has had All Star years in the past.

That being said, the only way that Jason Varitek should be at the 2008 All Star Game is if he buys a ticket.
I love the captain and will give him standing ovations from here to the end of time (which will be indicated by a Cleveland Championship).

But he's been such an automatic out this year that sometimes I wonder if the Sox should bring back Doug Mirabelli for his bat!

This is clearly a reputation selection and a respect selection rather than honoring the production of someone currently batting sub .220.

Plus there is no shortage of Red Sox this year at the All Star Game...
Papi, Papelbon, Drew, Pedroia, Youk, Manny... Christ I think Marty Barrett will be there too!

But how does Varitek get the call over A.J. Pierzynski?
Jorge Posada?

Hell, Kevin Cash!

Oh well, the bizarre selections are as much a part of this game as the snubs.
Starting next year I will hand out not only the Sharperson Award but also the Varitek Award.

How's about that, dear readers?