In what could possibly be the funniest baseball blog post of all time, Flotsam Media comes up with a statistical formula to measure that most Ecksteinian of descriptions: gritty.

After Tim McCarver’s month-long David Eckstein sploogefest that was October 2006, a serious investigation into ‘grit’ was long overdue. Despite the penchant of sportswriters and broadcasters to throw the term around willy-nilly, I was hard-pressed to locate a firm definition of grit in the baseball sense. Using lots of laptop science stuff, I think I’ve improved the definition, which isn’t really saying much, since there wasn’t one to begin with.

…

RESULTS
Across 13,249 player-seasons, the data appears to have a relatively normal distribution. The data shows a range of about -50 to +50 with one outlier at -90.011 (see below), and a mean and median extremely close to 0. These numbers are promising for the prospects of GRIT as a statistic, as they suggest that the average player is neither extremely gritty, nor extremely talented.

Check the link for actual GRIT statistics. I believe this is a nerdy mcnerderson statistic that people like Joe Morgan could get behind. via Fire Joe Morgan.

Join the CWAMB staff in the funk, as we wish a Happy Birthday to former major league outfielder Oscar Gamble, born December 20, 1949.

Gamble got to the majors as a 19-year-old in 1969, and hung around the majors until 1985, playing for the Cubs, Phillies, Indians, White Sox (twice), Yankees (twice), Padres, and Rangers. He hit .265 for his career with 200 home runs and 666 runs batted in. He was never an All-Star, but he did put together a great season for the White Sox in 1977, batting .297 with 31 homers and 87 RBI.

It takes a lot of talent to get to the majors, much less hang around for the better part of two decades, but we don’t remember Oscar Gamble for being fleet of foot (47 career steals) or good with the leather (a subpar .977 fielding percentage), and the annals of major league lore are clogged with average-to-good hitting outfielders. However, we remember Oscar Gamble for the greatest photograph in the history of bubble-gum cards.

Baby, do you feel my funk now? Awwwwww, yeah… (image courtesy of baseball-fever.com, as well as the Topps 1976 “Traded” Series)

When I was a kid, my dad took my brother Rob and I to Yankees Bat Day a couple of times. The first year, which I believe was 1982, the bats that were handed out had players’ names written on them. Both of the bats that came home with us had Oscar Gamble’s signature on it. My dad was a little leery of them… Gamble was a part of the Yankees squad that had lost the World Series in 1976, spent the Yankees’ World Championship seasons of ‘77 and ‘78 in Chicago and San Diego, respectively, and was back for the heartbreaking loss in the 1981 Fall Classic. Of course, we were too young to know any better about such superstitions then, but we had the baseball card pictured above, so he was something of a hero to us based on his hair alone. He wasn’t quite in the Irizarry Household Yankee Parthenon, with Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry and Lou Piniella, but he was certainly a lesser god on that Olympus, where he remains with the Mike Pagliarulos and Rick Cerones.

The only question left unanswered by the legacy of Oscar Gamble is: how the hell big is that hat?

Happy 58th, Oscar.

Charlie Weis Ate My Baby presents to you definitive proof that there is no God:

Bob Kravitz is getting his own drive time sports talk radio show.

What did Indianapolis sports fans do to deserve this? Wasn’t The Brawl enough?

In tribute to Bob Kravitz I am writing this entire post with simplistic, one sentence paragraphs, just like Deadspin noted two years ago.

Derek Anderson celebrates after he successfully makes a batch of his Derek’s World Famous Cleveland Brownies.

Add your own captions below.

Random wikipedia browsing is a fun little hobby, and sometimes leads you to some pretty interesting revealations. This little stream of wikipedia consciousness led me to the Indianapolis Colts NFL Draft 1st Round Picks (aka Bill Polian Is A Savior Sent From Above) and eventually to the Indianapolis Racers, our city’s member of the World Hockey Assiciation in the late 70’s.

The WHA existed from 1972 - 1979 as a competitor to the NHL. In 1979 they folded their top four teams out of the surviving six into the NHL: Edmonton, Quebec (now Colorado), Winnepeg (now Phoenix) and The Whale (New England, now Carolina).

Okay, so no surprise that Indianapolis wasn’t one of the four. They had folded a mere 25 games into that final season. But what if?

Two players on that 1978-79 roster for short stints?

Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

Gretzky was sold to the Edmonton Oilers after only 8 games and Messier played “five games and failing to register a point before being released. He was picked up by the [Cincinnati] Stingers for the remainder of the season, before being selected by the Oilers in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.”

To me, having BOTH Gretzky and Messier on your team and failing to hold onto them for more than 8 games, has to rank as one of the greatest sports management mistakes in history. Remember, Gretzky and Messier went on to form the backbone of the great Edmonton teams of the 80’s that 5 of 7 Stanley Cups (Gretzky only around for four of those). Not saying a Racers NHL franchise would have repeated that success, especially without goalie Grant Fuhr, but with two of the greatest players to ever lace up it’s hard to say there wouldn’t be at least one Cup in Indy.

And what about further fallout for Indy sports? If the Racers had joined the NHL and shown some success, creating a and sustaining a hockey fanbase, would we even have the Indianapolis Colts? Would the Dome have been built?

Who knows, but it’s fun to think about. Unless you are a hockey fan in Indianapolis. Then it just hurts.

(I’m hoping to find a copy of Red, White & Blues: A Personal History of Indianapolis Racers Hockey 1974-1979. )

…because we’ve had our first Jamaal Tinsely off-court incident.

Someone in a group of people fired on cars carrying Tinsely and his friends outside the Conrad hotel in Downtown Indianapolis early Sunday. Pacers equipment manager Joey Qatato was shot in both elbows.

Two of Tinsley’s three vehicles were pocked with bullet holes and his brother, James Tinsley, apparently returned fire with a gun he carried legally.

Now for the benefit of the non-locals in the audience, here’s what you have to understand. The Conrad Hotel is no dive where things like assault rifle shootings take place. It’s Indy’s first four-star hotel. It’s in the heart of downtown in the Wholesale District, where many of the city’s nicest restaurants and so forth are located. Thank God this was at 3:40 in the morning, because it’s an area normally heavy with pedestrian and auto traffic on a Saturday night. Most disturbingly from my perspective, it’s about 8 blocks from where I live.

This incident actually gets stupider, if that’s possible.

Members of Tinsley’s group said people in another group harassed them about Tinsley’s expensive cars — a Mercedes, Rolls-Royce and Dodge Charger — and the amount of money he made.

Tinsley’s group left the club and headed for Tinsley’s Downtown condominium, but soon realized they were being followed by a gray Chrysler and a dark pickup truck, Thompson said. They pulled into the Conrad Hotel because they thought it would safer, he said.

The shooting began about 3:40 a.m., after both groups reached the hotel, Thompson said. After Qatato was shot, he went inside, where Conrad employees called emergency medical services and police.

Qatato had been sitting with Tinsley in the player’s Rolls-Royce. A Methodist Hospital spokesperson said Qatato was released Sunday afternoon after being treated. Tinsley, in the front passenger seat, was not injured.

Two of the three vehicles in Tinsley’s group followed the shooters to Monument Circle, and James Tinsley returned fire. It was not known whether anyone was hit. James Tinsley had a gun permit, Thompson said.

That last part’s my favorite. See, I’ve never been shot at, but if I ever am, I certainly doubt my reaction will be to get into a car chase with the shooters.

A memorial to honor those who fought for the United States from the American Revolution through the Civil War, or a good place for a shootout? CWAMB reports, you decide. (Image by Flickr user cbteam234, used under Creative Commons license)

Some days there’s nothing you can do but laugh, so I submit to you this dialog on the incident by CWAMB writers and regulars:

CJ: A Pacer involved in a shooting incident? I refuse to believe it. And seriously, the Conrad? What that fuck? Am I going to have to start packing heat now?

Matt: sheesh, and the only person arrested so far was a wanted drug dealer Tinsley was hanging with. See Mike? This is why Indy doesn’t love the Pacers anymore. Their image isn’t just tarnished, it’s trashed.

CJ, unless you plan to go start shit on 38th street, I think you’ll be fine :p

It’s a little wild something like that happened in essentially the heart of downtown, though.

CJ: My friend Lars says “OK, when ‘it’s not unusual to see a .223 assault rifle used in street violence’, it might be time to move back to Carmel”

Matt: I think the real lesson learned here is “When you see Jamal Tinsley, duck and cover!”

Andrew: I’m surprised Jamaal didn’t fire off 3 or 4 wild shots that hit nothing but air.

Matt: to be fair he was going to, but he held the gun too long and the shot clock went off.

CJ: Also, the force the air displacement from the bullets injured his back, he’ll be out 4-6 weeks.

Matt: strangely, even though Jermaine O’Neal was not involved in the incident, his knee got injured as well.

Jason: The headline of a Star article the day of the shooting. “Shooting accuracy point of concern”

Hey Jason, isn’t it about time we add a “Police Blotter” category? Sheesh.

I was out tonight, so I missed the Washington Redskins’ 24-16 win over the Chicago Bears.  Of course, as I don’t have an extra fifty bucks a month to shell out for the cable package that includes the NFL Network, I’d have missed it anyway.  Tonight, that’s neither here nor there.

Fullback Mike Sellers (45) and the Pride of New Palestine, IN, tight end Todd Yoder (87) both made the most of their limited touches and scored touchdowns for the Redskins against the Bears.  (image courtesy of espn.com)

Redskins backup quarterback Todd Collins completed 15 of 20 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns in relief of the injured Jason Campbell.  What amused me the most, though, was what you find when you click on the link for “Todd Collins” in ESPN.com’s recap.

That’s right… wrong Todd Collins.  What’s a guy gotta do?  No respect, I tell ya!  No respect at all!