Looking at the 1982 California Angels

Sometimes my Hall of Names travels and travails cause me to fall into "wander" mode on the greatness of BaseballReference.com; that happened to me tonight and at the end of it all, random clicking led me to the team page for the 1982 California Angels.

This was a good ball club -- they won 93 games (though their Pytagorean results called for 95) and the AL West pennant by three games over the Kansas City Royals ...

You might recall that a while back -- actually, way back in June of '06 -- we introduced a new Hall of Names category focused on players born in a particular year. We met The Bicentennial Men, players born in 1976, and readers chipped in by adding teams for players born in 1957, 1980, 1982 and 1983.

It's a new year and a new group of MLB players is turning 30 this year, so let's take a gander at players born in 1977 (there have been more than 200, at least so far) as we meet ...

ESPN.com is reporting that Randy Johnson has, indeed, been traded from the Yankees to the Arizona Diamondbacks, for Luis Vizcaino and two minor leaguers. The story is here.

Pineiro to BoSox; Ponson to Twins
Neither has ever made an All-Star team, but as recently as 2003, they combined for 33 wins and were each seen as young front-of-the-rotation building blocks. Now Sir Sidney Ponson has signed on with the Minnesota Twins while Joel Pineiro is going cross-country from Seattle to Boston.

Will this do anything to the AL pennant race(s)? Got any other news or commentary to provide?

A dozen college pitchers to look at that should go in the first few rounds, of which 8 are left handers.

Almost lost in the hulabaloo of last week's execution of Saddam Hussein was the death of 93-year-old Gerald Ford, the only man to serve as President of the United States without being elected to a position in the U.S. government's executive branch.

And though Ford wasn't the baseball fan his predecessor Richard Nixon or his Republican successor Ronald Reagan were, the fact that he was an outstanding college football player while at the University of Michigan landed the story of his passing some time on ESPN and Fox Sports News. And now, Baseball's Hall of Names nods respectfully to the man who was the White House's ultimate relief pitcher -- he replaced both Spiro Agnew AND Nixon, after all -- by introducing not one but two all-name teams. To start, let's meet ...

It is the middle of winter and minor league baseball news is almost non-existent.  Baseball America and John Sickels' prospect books are a month away from my mailbox so to keep me going I thought I would look at the Jays minor league system one more time.  This time I decided to put myself in JP Ricciardi's shoes and ask myself What help is likely coming from the system in the next couple of years?  Which prospects should I count on and which ones should I discount?

Everyone all recovered from a night of New Year's revelry? Good -- then let's look to the (immediate) future and fill a thread with our predictions about the 2007 baseball season. (Hey,. every newspaper columnist in every paper in the free world is writing this story today. Why not us?)

Just a few minor "rules" ....

Last year -- okay, yesterday, but that's still last year -- we built a Hall of Names team of players born on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31. Today, New Year's Day, has been more prolific in producing big league talent, with 48 players to the previous day's 28. That, of course, means ... uh, something.

And actually, it's 47 players and one manager who never played big league ball in Bill McGunnigle, who led the 1889-90 Brooklyn Bridegrooms to back-to-back league titles in two different leagues, the 1889 American Association and the 1890 National League. Could he lead this New (Year's) Age team to such success? Let's find out as we meet ...

When you search the greatness of BaseballReference.com for MLB figures born on Dec. 31 -- New Year's Eve babies, as it were -- there are 30 names returned. However, two of them -- one a manager (Jim Tracy), the other a Hall of Fame umpire (Tom Connolly) -- were never actually players, so we are looking at a list of 28 options to build a team.

All that means, of course, is that we must be steadfast and, uh, resolute, in our team-building of ... (wait for it) ...

It sounds like Zito to the Giants might be close to happening. At least that's what the Rangers think. Gammons says 7 years and $18 million/season.  That works out to $126 million.  Wow.

Former Blue Jay seaman, Shea Hillenbrand, signed a one year deal with the Angels guaranteeing him $6.0 million in 2007. The Angels have a $6.5 million option for 2008. No word on what Hillenbrand will be giving to Juan Rivera.

Jeff Suppan cashed in, signing with the Brew-crew for 4 years and $42 million.

It's the Patron Saint feast day of your favourite interactive magazine, as the day after Christmas is traditionally known as Boxing Day -- the day, of course, that we all give thanks for the important Boxes in our lives. In the sports world, that usually comes down to the penalty box, the coach's box and of course, the batter's box. Or in our case, the Batter's Box.

There have actually been 43 men (to date) who were delivered on Boxing Day (born on Dec. 26) and gone on to play in the major leagues, along with another Hall of Fame executive in Morgan Bulkeley, the first (admittedly figurehead) president of the National League when it was founded in 1876.

Two Boxing Day players, a Pudge and a Wizard, went on to Cooperstown induction, and while that's a fine start to any team (catcher and shortstop are arguably the two most important positions to fill on a team, at least defensively), how would an entire roster built from these Boxing Day Babies take shape?

Glad you asked ...

It's time for the annual question (see last year's version if you want "proof") ...

So what baseball-related gifts did people get?

Don't be shy -- Christmas "loot" is all about showing off, so  ... what'dja get???

Regular readers of Da Box may recall that we have introduced Hall of Names holiday themes before -- not just Christmas, either, as one of the very first Hall of Names entries was dedicated to (and published on) St. Patrick's Day. Other odes to Thanksgiving, the U.S. Independence Day, Canada Day, and several others, have also appeared.

And yes, we've tried Christmas -- like this less-than-successful group effort in 2003 and a rather better "ode" to Christmas Carols just last year, in '05. Earlier that same holiday season, we built a team called The Chrismas Presence made up of players born on Dec. 25 -- yes, including one guy born that day actually named "Jesus."

For this year, let's think a bit about those colourfully decorated boxes under the tree that get dismantled while the holiday turkey is in the oven. Yes, that's right, last year we met The Christmas Presence, and this year we're going for ...

The Phillies have signed catcher Rod Barajas to a one year deal for $2.5 million with a team option for a second year.

Last minute holiday gifts for baseball fans are always a bit problematic.  It is the off-season after all.  How about a book?