Is ESPN.com really only 15 years old?
Posted by Andy on May 11, 2011
ESPN.com recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. I am amazed it hasn't been a lot longer than that--I feel like I've been reading sports news on there for a lot longer.
Posted by Andy on May 11, 2011
ESPN.com recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. I am amazed it hasn't been a lot longer than that--I feel like I've been reading sports news on there for a lot longer.
May 11th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
No, it's not 15. It's 16. Did you not notice that your link is from April 2, *2010*?
May 11th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
See, I KNEW it was older! 🙂
May 11th, 2011 at 11:12 pm
As a registered user I was invited to a focus group for ESPN.com back in, IIRC, 1997. They were really interested in fantasy leagues and what we thought of them. Nobody in the group seemed to care.
May 12th, 2011 at 12:36 am
ESPN.com is actually, sort of, 17 years old, first launching on Prodigy in April, 1994, when it was known as ESPNet. Prodigy, AOL and CompuServe were the three kings of online before the World Wide Web (been a long time since I wrote those words out) became the medium, and ESPNet made its first home on Prodigy. A year or so later, they cut a deal with a company called Starwave, which helped ESPN set up its first web location in what was called, if I remember correctly, espnetsportszone. If the name they first used on Prodigy was torture, their first Web name was worse! As time went on, Starwave went away and it all became, simply, ESPN.com.
So, yeah, it's only been about 15 years; 17 if you include its online start at Prodigy.
Today's online history is brought to you by...
May 12th, 2011 at 4:25 am
Heh. I'm such a n00b. I've only been reading ESPN.com for 11 years. It was only 13 years ago that I was looking at the Internet as something wild and wonderful.
Anyways...completely off topic, but am I the only person to notice that George Brett is credited with 1596 RBIs in his career on B-R.com when every other sites list only 1595? He is listed as having 90 RBIs in 1975, but when adding them up in the Gamelogs I only count 89, which corroborates with Retrosheet. Anyways, just found that to be somewhat weird, and am wondering what happened.
May 12th, 2011 at 4:53 am
A couple of things I wanted to touch on. The first is I go to espn.com all the time since I don't have a TV, it's a great site. The second is the fantastic defensive game Paul Konerko had last night at California. Konerko is the source of much derision at this site for being a R/R and not being Keith Hernandez in the field, but it now looks like he will end up at about 450 HR's and a ticket to Cooperstown, go Paully! Last thing is that I love this site, I come here all winter long to get my fix, but I would like to see the money-line and the run-line posted each day as opposed to the emphasis on salaries. When I was in Fort Madison all the guys talked about was baseball salaries. Some of the guys were great baseball fans but salaries dominated every conversation and it got old.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Timmy
May 12th, 2011 at 9:14 am
#5 - Re: Brett, a few weeks ago the Royals media relations department contacted us to let us know that Brett had been credited with an additional RBI for the 1975 season, giving him 90 for that year and 1596 for his career. Pete Palmer, who provides our season-level data, handled it very quickly and it was updated when we re-ran the site a few days ago. If you tally up the gamelog data for 1975, it should also add up to 90 (although the summary row at the bottom reads 89, which we need to fix).
May 12th, 2011 at 9:48 am
ESPN has web 2.0 disease, full of gimmicks and flash and java and pay walls and all sorts of nonsense that detracts from the content itself. Part of the reason the sports reference sites are great is there isn't all that junk to get in the way of what matters. I can actually navigate the site without rolling over 5 advertisements. (keep up the good work)
May 12th, 2011 at 10:51 am
@6/Timmy P Says: "... Konerko is the source of much derision at this site for being a R/R and not being Keith Hernandez in the field, but it now looks like he will end up at about 450 HR's and a ticket to Cooperstown, go Paully!..."
If Konerko is getting into the HOF, he going to have to get in line behind other borderline HOF-qualified first basemen such as Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, and Todd Helton, none of whom are considered locks or close to it. That's not to say that he couldn't extend his career another couple years beyond where we think it'll end, and have the career totals of 500+ HR, 1600+ RBI, nearly 3000 hits, etc...
Delgado retired with 473 HR and a much better peak than Konerko, and hardly anyone is considering him a lock for the HOF, so he'll need a very long decline phase to get serious HOF consideration. I just don't see it.
May 12th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Also @6/Timmy P - What is a "R/R"? I cranked up my googling machine, but it was rather creaky and couldn't give me a baseball definition. I'm guessing by context it has something to do with Konerko's perceived lack of mobility around first base?
May 12th, 2011 at 11:03 am
You guys might be paying too much attention to Timmy's posts. I suspect a troll.
May 12th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I'm old enough to remember the time before ESPN TV existed. The world has changed so much regarding the availability of sports. Baseball games and info can be found easily now in ways that eren't dreamed of 20 years ago. Even this site is like the Baseball Encyclopedia on steroids (and I mean that as a compliment).
http://pinetarandbrickbats.blogspot.com/2011/04/baseball-everywhere.html
May 12th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Timmy may indeed be a troll, but I have a TV and watched the CWS-LAA game last night. Konerko actually did make 2 awesome plays on defens. really.
And as for his ticket to Cooperstown-- greyhound.com is probably about 15 years old also.
May 12th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
#13...laf, I was thinking...yeah Konerko gets a ticket, just like the rest of us, who buy a ticket to get in.
Can you believe I have never been to the HOF? And I have been within 5 miles of it a few times in my life and never stopped by.
May 12th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
In 1972 when I was a kid, my family moved from New Jersey to Northern Michigan. I followed the Mets in the Detroit Free Press
If the Mets played on Tuesday night, it wouldn't make the Wednesday paper (at least not the editions trucked up to Saginaw) so unless I could catch them giving the out-of-tow scores on a Tiger radio broadcast; I wouldn't have access to the score until I got home from school on Thursday.
When we first got cable, the sports channel was nothing more than text of the UPI wire with the local Country station for background noise. In the late 70s, that's how i got my news before ESPN.
May 12th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Andy-- arent you based on the east coast? Take a day off of work and make the drive. Leave at 5 am if you have to, and unless your family is ttruly into it, go by yourself.
It will be the best day you spent all year. For a number of years, I had 1 parent in Michigan and another in NJ and later PA. I always made the Cooperstown detour once a year.
May 12th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
@ Jiffy ... news/sports news is NOT, unlike air, a guaranteed free commodity. As a newspaper reporter and editor, I say most general-purpose US papers missed the boat on paywalls long ago.
May 12th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Very true. Think about this blog. The point of it is to showcase the Play Index to generate revenue through subscriptions. This blog is free to all but does generate some (fairly small) revenue for Baseball-Reference.com. but imagine if Sean had to pay a couple of full-time journalists, a couple of researchers, a web site developer, etc. The revenue from PI subscriptions isn't going to cover that. The blog (maybe the whole site even) would need to have a paywall.
May 12th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
@11 Andy, not a troll, love this site!
May 12th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
@10 Lawrence - R/R is bats right throws right. As far as getting in line behind Delgado and others. I kind of always suspected Delgado was using PED's, but like Sosa there is no proof. Sosa, Giambi, Sheffield, Palmeiro, can all be kicked out of line in front of Konerko. 450 non-juiced HR's are pretty good.
May 12th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Well he's still gotta be in line behind Fred McGriff, who has 493 hr and still hasn't sniffed even 50% of the vote for the HOF. McGriff seems to have fallen between the cracks
May 12th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
I followed David Wells' perfect game on ESPN.com. And I remember a 1997 World Series headline, "Everybody's Doing the Fish."
May 12th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@21 Andy - Agreed, Konerko is not as good as McGriff, but McGriff should be in the HOF. Fred had great power and played on some great teams, seems like every team he was on was in a pennant race. I think Fred did it clean no doubt about it. Don't forget A-Rod should be left off any list because he is a juicer. Miguel Tejada is not getting in either he's a juicer.
May 12th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
Is it that unfathomable that Konerko gets to 500? He will have 400 at the end of this season. He's got 2 more years on a big contract and he's the type of guy that would not coast, he hustles. 2 more productive seasons after this year puts him close. Big ifs I know, he's at the age now where his skills could go at any minute. The play he made last night to win the game was one of the most beautiful plays I've ever seen, and Hawk Harrelson was going nuts, it's the kind of play that makes baseball what it is. BTW, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson is the best announcer in sports, good golfer, average players, and worst GM in history.
May 12th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Timmy, since you seemed so excited by the Favorite Toy's Juan Pierre projection, it says Konerko has a 14% chance for 500 HR (entering this season). 50% chance for 451.
He's never going to the HOF, though.
May 13th, 2011 at 8:39 am
@Andy...
If you have never been to Cooperstown you need to go. If you ever do plan to make the trip let us know in advance so those of us who are close can perhaps meet you there. I am in western Mass, practically on the NY border. I have been to the Hall once, and want to go again. Meeting a contributor to this site would make my second trip memorable.
May 13th, 2011 at 8:52 am
@25 It is reasonable to think Konerlo will continue to have a decent 2011.
Say he continues his pace thru the end of this season and winds up with 36 HR. his odds of 500 Hr jumps to 36% and his 50% over under will be 489. Barring major injury, if he gets to 489, someone will give him a roster spot so he can get to 500
One reason for the big jump, Konerko missed 3 weeks of 2008 with an injury that lowers his projections, that will age off after this season. I don't remember the specifics of the injury, but it doesn't appear to have any long term effects.
May 13th, 2011 at 11:01 am
@20/ Timmy P: I think this sort of evidence-free steriod-accusation you are using against Carlos Delgado (to totally dismiss his HOF chances) is the worst form of rumor-mongering. Now Palmeiro actually failed a test; I can see using that against him; Giambi and Sheffield have some fairly strong accusations against them.
But Delgado? - you can't just brush him aside so easily; he's a clearly better HOF candidate than your man Paulie right now. There's just too many similar candidates to Konerko for him to stand out. However, Konerko could play forever (like Thome), and end up with a decent HOF case. Right now, he's a very good player, but does not look like a serious HOF candidate.
May 14th, 2011 at 6:02 am
@28 OK, but there is no hard evidence against Sosa either, but all most everyone thinks he was using PED's. Something about Delgado's body that looked too muscular. I'm not rumor mongering, I'm sitting in the middle of the desert without a TV! Delgado seemed to put up good numbers year after year so quietly, maybe that hurts him.
May 14th, 2011 at 6:12 am
@27 Spartan - Great points, I'm not familiar with the machine and I lose a lot of money trying to predict the future, but Konerko has an ethic much like that of Jim Thome. So long as they pay him, he will work hard and deliver all he can. He has 2 years after this year and this is the most cash he's ever made, this is the rest-of-his-life money. There is every reason to think he will have 30 HR for the 2 seasons after this, and that puts him at 460.
May 14th, 2011 at 6:19 am
@28 Lawrence - "Giambi and Sheffield have some fairly strong accusations against them." No sir! Both have admitted steroid use. They were given some credit for honesty (and they were Yankees) so the press took it easy on them. BTW let's not forget Andy Pettitte has admitted to steroid use. Want to detroy Clemens? Fine, but don't leave Pettitte out. I've heard some NY sportswriters all ready tooting the Pettitte horn for the HOF.
May 14th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
No, he admitted to HGH use.
May 14th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
OK, HGH is all they have Clemens on also, and from I understand HGH works better than steroids, no nasty side effects.
May 17th, 2011 at 2:21 am
If there are no side effects, what possible argument could one have against it?