Cyril Morong

Cyril Morong is a regular contributor to The Chicago Sports Review. He can be reached at cyrilmorong@sbcglobal.net.

Recent Posts By Cyril Morong

From "Small Ball" to Powerhouse

Notice anything about the White Sox this year compared to last? Oh yeah, they are scoring a lot more runs. As of July 6 (85 games), they lead both leagues in runs (506), scoring 5.95 runs per game. Last year, through 86 games, the Sox had scored 413 runs (4.80 runs per game), good enough for 10th in baseball. So [read more...]

Remembering a Great Team: The 1963-67 White Sox

The 1963-67 White Sox were an outstanding team that deserves to be remembered. They had great pitching, good fielding, mediocre hitting and a little base running. Although they did not win any pennants in this time, these Sox were the first team in the twentieth century to have the best winning percentage over a five year period without finishing first [read more...]

A Sabermetric Push for the Hall

Yes, I'm crazy. But not because I think Reuschel deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. What makes me crazy is that I was doing a lot ridiculously time-consuming analysis that opened my eyes. As of now, I don't know how he has done in the voting or if he is still eligible for induction based on the writer's [read more...]

Ron Santo: Hall-Worthy?

With Ron Santo being denied entry into Hall of Fame yet again, let's take a statistical look at Santo's career and see if he's getting screwed or left out for good reason. Stat guru Bill James, in his first Historical Abstract, wrote 20 years ago that he thought Santo's accomplishments would eventually be recognized and rewarded with induction. He certainly has [read more...]

Should Clutch Hitting Stats Affect Personnel Decisions?

This question occurred to me a couple of weeks ago when I tuned into WGN news to watch the sports report. What caught my attention was Cub GM Jim Hendry saying that Jeremy Burnitz batted .307 with runners in scoring position last year to support Burnitz's signing (actually that was with runners on base while he batted .287 with runners [read more...]

Is Crede the Best the Sox Can do at Third?

If it is the Joe Crede of 2003-04, then it may be a long season. It appears that he will be the Sox third baseman again. ChiSox.com reports that Crede "hopes to have the same offensive renaissance as Konerko." But Konerko had a higher level to get back to. As a full-time player, Crede has not had a good year yet. [read more...]

Are Boggs and Sandberg "Hall Worthy?"

Ryne Sandberg and Wade Boggs were inducted into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Did they deserve it? Perhaps. The statistical case is not totally unambiguous in either case, but they both seem to be good choices. There are no official, clear Hall of Fame standards. There is no number of hits, Gold Gloves, all-star selections, etc. that guarantee selection. Other issues [read more...]

Guerrero is Deserving of MVP

I think he deserves it, despite the fact that he is only of many players to have a very good season in a year when perhaps no one player really stood out. We could just check with Bill James and see who had the most "Win Shares," his composite stat that takes all phases of the game into account: Gary Shefield [read more...]

Putting Bonds and Suzuki in Perspective

Now that the baseball season is over, let's look at two players who had a lot of attention in 2004. Barry Bonds, of course, hit his 700th homerun. Ichiro Suzuki set the record for most hits in one season. Starting with Bonds, it is possible that his performance over the last four years is unmatched in baseball history. He led the [read more...]

The Sabermetrically Sound Excel in 04

Yes, teams that have good "Sabermetric" stats are doing well. Sabermetrics, of course, is the term coined by Bill James (who now works for the Red Sox). It combines metric with SABR (for Society for American Baseball Research). Although there are many Sabermetric stats, one of the best known and simplest is called OPS. It adds together on-base percentage (OBP) [read more...]