Trivia Question

Which two MLB players hit their first Major League home runs in Japan?

Trivia Question

I am starting a new segment on my blog where I will periodically give trivia questions however the answer will only be revealed if somebody guesses. I encourage you to not look up the answer but there's nothing that I can do to stop you. 

Question: Ken Griffey Jr broke into MLB in 1989 at age 19, however he was not the youngest player in the league that year. Who was? 

Will Cesar Izturis Make The HOF Ballot?

When players retire, an interesting thing to debate is whether they will make the HOF or not. Unfortunately even the most ardent Cesar Izturis supporters like myself realize that his credentials do not reach the standards that it would take for him to get in the HOF. So the next best thing is for him to make the ballot. This year there were 15 new candidates eligible for the HOF, last year there were 17, the year before there were 19, and the year before that there were 24. For this article we will assume that there will be 15 new HOF candidates in 2019 when Cesar is eligible.

I would say that there are 11 locks to get on the ballot that year. Mariano Rivera, Todd Helton, Michael Young, Lance Berkman, Chris Carpenter, Derek Lowe, Ryan Dempster, Mark Kotsay, Ted Lilly, Andy Pettitte, and Roy Halladay.

The other people left who would even warrant some consideration besides Cesar are players such as Jerry Hairston Jr, Ramon Hernandez, Brett Myers, or Rick Ankiel.  So I would hope that Cesar with his 1 All Star and Gold Glove should have enough qualifications to make the ballot.

Cesar Izturis Update

Cesar Izturis has officially retired from the Lara Cardinales of the Venezuelan Winter Baseball League, and I think he has retired from baseball in general though I am unable to confirm that information because none of the mainstream writers have reported on it.