Mains: Looking back at the Year of the Balk
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on February 13, 2017:
You may have seen that Chris Carter’s agent, Dave Stewart, threatened that the 2016 National League co-home run leader might play in Japan this season. (He wound up taking his two-and-a-half true outcomes to The Bronx.) That story made me think of something I’ve wanted to write about Dave Stewart. But before I can do that, I need to tell you about something else.
That something else is the 1988 season. A lot of things happened in 1988. The Iran-Iraq war ended. The Soviet Union (still a thing back then) initiated perestroika and withdrew from Afghanistan. George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in the presidential election. And the first internet worm appeared.
In the baseball world, there are two indelible memories of 1988.
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Originally published: February 13, 2017. Last Updated: February 13, 2017.