Forgotten Superstars-Al Oliver

Today's Forgotten Superstar is a player that has been a favorite of mine since I was a young child.
Al Oliver comes up a hair short of being in the Hall of Fame,but regardless,Oliver was an awesome hitting machine.
The seven time All-Star was not a huge power hitter as he hit 20 or more homers just twice,but he was consistently in the 12-19 range,which is equated to the 22-29 homer level today.
But what an average hitter,Al Oliver hit below .280 just once from 1969-1984 and was never below .290 after his .270 performance in 1970.
The lefty with the sweet swing never seemed to get the recognition he deserved as he was overshadowed by first Roberto Clemente and then Willie Stargell in his Pittsburgh years,ignored by the media during his run with Texas and again overlooked in Montreal in favor of teammates such as Gary Carter,Andre Dawson and Warren Cromartie.
Oliver was also an underrated RBI player as in his Pirate years he averaged 80 (actually 79.6) RBI per year and only a 61 RBI year in 1976 in which he missed some time with injuries kept the average from being higher.
Al's four year run in Texas with the Rangers stacks up as one of the best stints in Rangers history.
Oliver never hit below .309 in Texas,with a high of .324,hit 49 homers and drove in 337 runs in the tenure with a career high of 117 in 1980.
The Rangers for some unknown reason began leading Oliver off in 1980 and he only had 55 RBI,still a respectable number for a leadoff hitter.
After his move to Montreal produced a phenomenal 1982 season in which Oliver won the batting title (.331),the shared RBI title (109) with Atlanta's Dale Murphy,led the league in hits,doubles and total bases,Oliver could be looked at as deserving of the MVP.
Oliver also hit his career high in homers in 1982 with 22.
Oliver likely lost his chance at Cooperstown due to a surprisingly fast slide.
In 1984 as a Giant and Phillie,he failed to hit a homer in 119 games,despite hitting .301 and in 1985 with the Dodgers and Blue Jays,his average fell to.252 with 5 homers (all in Toronto).
I got to meet Al at a card show about 15 years ago,very accommodating as far as fan interaction.
Al Oliver may be just short of being in the Hall of Fame,but certainly an excellent player and a forgotten superstar.

Bullpen Notes

The top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes take on the visiting Michigan State Spartans in Columbus.
The Spartans are improved but in the end the Bucks survive and move on to the big game at Penn State.
Our pick-Ohio State 31-16.

Here is more on the Buffalo Bills and their seed planting for engaging the Toronto market.
The Bills reportedly will ask permission to play 1 home game at the Skydome in 2009.

Ryan sends us this link to the troubles in the Nebraska football program.
Seems that the Husker want to sweep their tradition and past stars under the rug to keep reminders of past glory (and current failures) away from being noticed.
New AD Tom Osborne has already taken steps to return the Cornhusker program to past glory.
Count on one of the moves being the firing of the head coach Bill Callahan.
Callahan and Nebraska seemed like an odd fit from day one and that turned out to be the case.

The Ashland Arrows cruised to a 42-21 win over the Clear Fork Colts to set up next weeks OCC title tilt vs the Lexington Minutemen.
The Arrows had another great game from Taylor Housewright,as Housewright threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more.
Lexington had to march 80 yards in the final two minutes for the winning touchdown to nip West Holmes 21-20.
Both teams will enter the game 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the OCC and in addition the two teams are in the same region for playoff spots.
Both schools clinched Region Six playoff spots with their wins last night,but the winner will improve their seeding as the winner is guaranteed to move up to the 5th seed in the tournament and possibly higher depending on other results.
The top 4 seeds host first round games in the playoffs.
As of now Lexington would be the 6th seed with Ashland the 7th seed.

Photo Credits
Oliver-Upper Deck
Helmets-Helmet Project
Ashland-Clear Fork-Jason Molyet-Mansfield News-Journal