Intimidating Reliever Gains Election In Ninth Year On Ballot

According to the recently released Baseball Writers' Association of America article, Rich "Goose" Gossage, who tormented batters as one of the game's most intimidating relief pitchers over a 22-season career, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in balloting verified by Ernst & Young. He will be inducted into the Hall July 27 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Gossage will be honored along with one of his former managers, Dick Williams, who was elected last month by the Veterans Committee. Former owners Walter O'Malley and Barney Dreyfuss, former commissioner Bowie Kuhn and former manager Billy Southworth, all deceased, will also be enshrined at the ceremony that will include the presentation of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing to the late Larry Whiteside. The Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting will be announced on Feb. 19. In the BBWAA election, 543 ballots, including three blanks, were cast by members with 10 or more consecutive years' service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 408 votes were required.

Gossage was listed on 466 ballots (85.8%) to win election in his ninth year on the ballot, a gain of 14.6 percent over his percentage in 2007 when he finished 21 votes shy of the necessary 75 percent. His election brings to 286 the number of elected members of the Hall. Of that total, 199 are former Major League players, of which 106 have been through the BBWAA ballot. Gossage is the 61st pitcher overall elected to the Hall and the fifth reliever, joining Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley and Bruce Sutter.

Gossage, 56, compiled a 124-107 record with a 3.01 earned run average and 310 saves in 1,002 games for nine clubs with his best seasons coming with the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The hard-throwing righthander led the American League in saves three times, twice won the Sporting News' AL Fireman of the Year Award and was selected to nine All-Star teams.
The closer on the Yankees' 1978 World Series championship club, Gossage also pitched in the 1981 World Series for the Yankees and the 1984 World Series for the Padres. He had a 2.63 ERA and two saves in 13 2/3 World Series innings. Primarily a closer in his career, Gossage did make 37 starts during his first five seasons with the White Sox and had 16 complete games.

To see a complete list of those to be inducted, check out the original article here. Find out your baseball card's value by adding it into our “What's My Item Worth” Collection, and organize and show off your authentic sports memorabilia using a collection of your own.

January Is National Hobby Month

January is National Hobby Month- what better time to get your collectibles organized and your collections valued from the holiday haul? Choose a hobby that you have always wanted to pick up and make a New Year's resolution to let yourself indulge in your new activity. If you have children, help them beat the winter blahs by assisting them with starting a new collection or craft interest. If you need any more ideas, check out this article's list. Add your newly acquired pieces into your iTaggit collection and show them off to our other users. I hope you enjoy your new 2008 pastime and Happy National Hobby Month!

The Art Of Collecting Cookbooks

Miner del Mundo, a food consultant who hails from Manila, started in the food industry at age 19, with his first stint as chef de partie at the Legend Hotel, Palawan. He later became the sous chef for Gualtierro Marchesi, which led him to travel in Portugal, Lisbon, Paris and Milan. In 2005, he went home to the Philippines and established his consultancy firm and, as they say, the rest is history. Del Mundo wrote this fascinating article about collecting cookbooks, which I would like to pass on to you:

In my quest for collecting cookbooks, I already have 250 titles. Not much of a promising feat but maybe when I reach the age of 50, I could have a thousand at least. I had my first cookbook during second year high school. It's the Good Food Cookbook, in full-color and contains simple instructions.

My passion for collecting cookbooks was originally meant to be a collection. If you're passionate about something, you don't aim for quantity but quality. Then, you realize you have enough. Being a collector does not mean having hundreds of such items, but must enjoy what you are doing.

Here are some of the general cookbook classifications you could follow when starting your book collection. Cookbooks are divided into several categories: Type of Cuisine, Specialty Courses, Artisanal Cookbooks and Fundamental Cookbooks. The Cuisine Type Cookbook is focused on a specific country's cuisine --- Spanish, Italian, French or Filipino. One that has colored photographs is better so you could have a comparison with what you cooked. Specialty Courses focus on key areas of cooking like All Salad Recipes or the Pasta and Pizza Book, Purely Fish or Succulent Meats. They also focus on the cooking methods --- Grill, Saute and Boiling, among others. Artisanal Cookbooks are cookbooks written by chefs and are the most expensive. A three-piece collection by Fernan Adria of El Bulli, Spain costs P14,000. Fundamental Cookbooks are those made by top culinary schools like the Culinary Institute of America or the Le Cordon Bleu. You only need to purchase one title that could help you in culinary terms and techniques in case you want to pursue professional cooking.

The important thing is to enjoy and learn from these pieces of knowledge, get inspiration from and develop your own culinary style. If you want to concentrate on one area, it's fine. Just enjoy reading. Until next time. Ciao!

Chef del Mundo offers a great piece of advice about collecting knowledge and deriving inspiration from cooking over time. As time passes, modern software for collectors has been created to help manage collections of recipes that have been passed down. Now, web-based management systems such as iTaggit, have been created for storing and distributing recipes amongst friends and family as a secure means of saving your culinary heirlooms. Check out Okishorty's collection of recipes for a great example. For more on Miner del Mundo's background and accomplishments, click here. For his article in it's entirety, click here.

The Future Of Baseball

I found this feel-good article about what the future has in store for America's Favorite Pastime:

One 1987 Topps Card is the only thing we could find with Roger Clemens name on it at the Baseball Card and Sports Memorabilia Show at John A. Logan College.
Part of that has to do with the fact that we're in Cardinal and Cubs country here in the Heartland. The other has to do with the recent Mitchell Report, suggesting Clemens and others may have used performance enhancing drugs.
"It's had an impact on cards of players named," said Dan Fox, of Fox Sports and Collectibles in Marion. "Clemens cards don't sell for what they used to. Bonds is also down in value."
In fact, dealer Bruce Marsan says that '87 Clemens card is only worth $1.50.
Overall, cards of players who have been implicated are down 30 to 50 percent, dealers estimate. But, Fox says it's hard to tell how long that will last.
"I think the steroid thing is a blip on the radar," said Fox. "Sure, Bonds hit homeruns on steroids, possibly. But, how many pitchers was he batting against that were also using."
Still fans and dealers at the convention say it's good to see all the youth who are interested in trading baseball cards. They say it gives every indication the future of baseball is bright.
For more of the original article, click here.