The final team in the first half of the 2013 Quarry Unlimited set is the Oakland A's. The A's are a team that I would love to be a fan of, but I'm just not. They are underdogs which I usually gravitate towards and their uniforms are unique in this sport which is another thing I tend to go for. Not to mention the pitiable condition of the stadium that they are being forced to play in. I mean, raw sewage, come on how can you not want to like these guys? My biggest problem with them is the whole Moneyball thing. Before I type another word, let me say that I have no problem with the sabermetrics concept or the usefulness of some of those stats. My biggest problem is the egotistical attitude brought by the sabermetrics crowd. Their position is that if you even think RBIs or wins for pitchers are a useful stat then you are an idiot. Sabermetrics was not created to completely throw out baseball history. It was started to find guys that fell through the cracks of the old system. But the pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction and now people are too concerned with how players would play in a vacuum. Baseball is not played in a vacuum, so the stats should not reflect a vacuum. I shouldn't hold the A's responsible for this, but I do. Fair or not, they represent this way of thinking and I just don't agree with it. Let's take a look at some trivia.
A'S TEAM TRIVIA
# of players to play in a A's game (1993-2013) - 452
# of those players to have a A's card (as of today) - 353
% of A's players to appear on a A's card - 78.1%
Big names left out - Hideki Matsui, Dave Righetti, Steve Sax
# of new A's in 2013 - 15
Total # of A's in 2013 - 44
position on last year's list -- #16 = UP 1
Let's take a look at the first half of the 2013 Oakland Athletics with the team card leading the way.
I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.
Thanx for reading.
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