THE RATASS GAZETTE

Rickey Henderson 1982 Topps #610 RANDOM THOUGHTS ... Awesome card here featuring the great Rickey Henderson on the base-paths, which is fitting because in 1982 he set the Major League record with 130 stolen bases. The previous mark had been 118, set by Lou Brock in 1974. Henderson had put himself on the map with 100 steals in 1980, but in 1982 it all came together. ...  He led the league with 116 bases on balls, helping him to a .398 on-base percentage, which means he was getting on base a ton. And if he got on, he was taking second base in a hurry. And maybe third base, too.  ... Henderson was also caught stealing 42 times in 1982, which seems like a lot (and it is), but when you consider his 75% success rate that season (130 steals in 172 attempts), it's acceptable. ... He was 80% for his career, which is phenomenal. ... Henderson, a Hall of Famer,  led the American League in stolen bases in seven consecutive seasons (1980-1986), and topped the century ma...

Paul Goldschmidt is the best baseball player no one is talking about, so let's talk about him...   Paul Goldschmidt: Hitting Machine. Here's a question for all you fantasy baseball fanatics out there... Who is the top-ranked 1st-baseman* on ESPN's Player Rater right now? Hint: It's not Prince Fielder (he's #6), or  Joey Votto (#11), or Albert Pujols (#26). And it sure as heck isn't Billy Butler -- the 1B I drafted in Round 4 of my 10-team league draft -- who is ranked #33. Yep, you guessed it, the answer is Goldschmidt . Check out these numbers: Player AVG OBP SLG OPS R HR RBI SB Goldschmidt .320 .413 .592 1.005 22 9 30 4 Fielder .302 .428 .569 .997 18 8 32 0 Votto .315 .451 .485 .936 24 4 13 0 Pujols .240 .322 .408 .730 14 5 19 0 Butler .245 .380 .388 .768 11 3 19 0 As ...

REVISITING MY PREDICTIONS FOR RANDY MOSS IN 2012 - Back in May when Randy Moss signed with the San Francisco 49ers, I boldly predicted that he would put up numbers to this effect: My Randy Moss Projections for 2012... 64 receptions, 960 yards, 12 TD Actual Randy Moss Totals for 2012... 28 receptions, 434 yards, 3 TD ANALYSIS: I was a little off.   Clearly, I was seeing a huge Moss resurgence after he spent a year away from the game, but I'd figure he'd get close to my projections pretty easily... I predicted 4 catches per game for Moss, and he wound up averaging 1.75 catches per game.  I figured he'd average 15 yards per catch, and I was actually right on the money with that one. He averaged 15.5 yards per catch in 2012.  And I definitely thought he'd play a much bigger role in the red zone, but he managed just 3 touchdowns for the season.  So yeah, I missed the mark on that one by a couple of football fields. But let's move on to the real ...

Here’s a quick look at Green Day’s discography and how many they’ve sold (according to RIAA certifications. Platinum = 1 million copies sold. Gold = 500,000 copies sold.)…  1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1991)  Kerplunk (1992) – 1x Platinum Dookie (1994) – 10x Platinum – a.k.a. Diamond.  Insomniac (1995) – 2x Platinum  Nimrod (1997)– 2x Platinum Warning (2000) – Gold International Superhits (2001) – 1x Platinum Shenanigans (2002) American Idiot (2004) – 5x Platinum 21 st Century Breakdown (2009) – 1x Platinum UPDATE: 21st Century Breakdown was certified Platinum on February 17, 2011, giving Green Day SEVEN Platinum albums ! Four of those seven have gone Multi-Platinum. They just keep on rockin! GREEN DAY VIDEO DU JOUR... "Going to Pasalacqua" - Live in Chicago .  - This originally aired on MTV in December of 1994, just as they were exploding onto the national s...