Millhouse Awards: MLB First Half Awards

Mike Trout photo by Daniel Millhouse

Another season goes by seemingly faster than ever before. It didn't seem that long ago when people just knew the Milwaukee Brewers and the Colorado Rockies were going to be bad and that the Chicago Cubs would be awesome again thanks to the arms of Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. Then the season began and everything we knew turned upside down.

Mike Trout and Adrian Gonzalez both went down with injuries and in their places, two rookies, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger rose and took their respective leagues by storm.

So, I now give to you the Millhouse first half of the season awards for Major League Baseball.

American League:
MVP: Aaron Judge - It should be no surprise that the rookie right fielder for the Yankees has taken the MLB by surprise. He's only a few big hits from leading the MLB in the triple crown categories, runs scored, and even has a bit of unexpected speed to boot. Judge broke the Yankees rookie homerun record set by Joe DiMaggio within the first half of the season. He also just won the homerun derby without breaking a sweat. Judge may give Mike Trout future competition for the American League MVP on a yearly basis.
Cy Young: Chris Sale - This was a close call between Sale and Jason Vargas. The edge goes to Sale because even though he has one less win than Vargas and is second to Vargas' first place hold on ERA, Sale has 100 strikeouts more and a better WHIP as well. The Chicago White Sox better hope that Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech turn out to be stars or their trade of Sale to the Boston Red Sox might look very one-sided.
Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge - This also shouldn't be a surprise. There hasn't been a rookie hitter that has made this much of an impact on their team in years.
Fireman of the Year: Brandon Kintzler - This one is a surprise, especially since so many people thought the Minnesota Twins would be a flop this season. Kintzler wasn't even originally thought to be the Twins main closer during Spring Training. Second in the AL in saves, Kintzler has a better ERA and WHIP than the Rays' Alex Colome.
AL All-Star Team: C - Salvador Perez; 1B - Justin Smoak; 2B - Jose Altuve; 3B - Jose Ramirez; SS - Carlos Correa; OF - Aaron Judge, George Springer, Avisail Garcia; DH - Nelson Cruz; SP - Jason Vargas, Chris Sale, Lance McCullers Jr, Corey Kluber, and Ervin Santana; RP - Brandon Kintzler

National League:
MVP: Paul Goldschmidt - He goes out and proves he's the best first baseman in the MLB everyday without a whole lot of fanfare. Goldy is ninth in the league in batting average and homers, but he also leads the league in runs scored, is eighth in stolen bases, and is second in the league for on base percentage. Goldy may not get as much press as Bryce Harper or Kris Bryant, but he has quietly had the most solid season so far in the National League.
Cy Young: Max Scherzer - Some may make the argument that Clayton Kershaw deserves this award, but they'd be wrong. While Kershaw has four more wins than Scherzer, the Nationals ace leads the league in ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts. He's been consistently more dominant than Kershaw has been this season.
Rookie of the Year: Cody Bellinger is the clear runaway for this award. Not even originally supposed to be a starter this season, Bellinger has made the most of his playing time after Adrian Gonzalez went down. What has been even more surprising is the power that Bellinger has shown. There doesn't appear to be another rookie in the National League that could challenge Bellinger for the overall season award.
Fireman of the Year: Greg Holland - Taking a flyer on Holland's comeback, the Rockies have been rewarded with Holland's 28 saves in the first half of the season. This is on top of his 1.62 ERA and a stellar WHIP.
NL All-Star Team: C - Buster Posey; 1B - Paul Goldschmidt; 2B - Daniel Murphy; 3B - Nolan Arenado; SS - Zack Cosart; OF - Bryce Harper, Marcell Ozuna, Charlie Blackmon; SP - Maz Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Gio Gonzalez, and Robbie Ray; RP - Greg Holland

Things I Miss from my Childhood

Image is a screencap from the computer game The Oregon Trail

As I get older, the more I'm reminded of the things I enjoyed in my youth that are no longer around...especially when I'm in an antique shop. These things may seem trivial now, but looking back, they helped shape who I am or at least entertained me for hours at end in some way.

1. Panini sticker books: I remember as a little kid, paying something close to a quarter for a pack of baseball stickers to stick on my sticker book. Similar to baseball cards, you would buy a blank album with spots on each page that were numbered. You would then buy the sticker packs and place the stickers in the correct numbered spot in your sticker book. Sort of like a sticker version of a baseball card set. What Panini did that was awesome was that they allowed you to mail in your doubles and they would randomly mail you out more stickers. I collected baseball, basketball, and football albums. I would have collected hockey if my local grocery stores offered them. Along with baseball cards, I would memorize the stats of every player I collected. What shocked me even more while writing this blog...Panini is still in business and they still make sports-related albums.

2. Blockbuster Video: In the 1990's, this was the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Picking a movie or two to watch on your night off was a lot different than it is today. You physically had to get off your butt, go to a store, and look at multiple shelves filled with potential movies you may want to watch. On occasion, the movie you wanted to watch was rented out, but you had so many options that you usually could find something else to watch. Today, you simply click away on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or some other streaming site of your choice. The act of "searching" is no longer something that today's youth will ever get to enjoy.

3. The Oregon Trail: At a time when kids were transitioning from having to find ways to entertain themselves to playing video games, The Oregon Trail was one of the first video games that kids in my generation played. Schools would have this game installed in their DOS based computers to teach children about history, computers, and budgeting, all at the same time. That black screen, green graphic, horrible graphics game was something you looked forward to every week. It would be the day of the week that you would try your hardest not to be sick on. There are versions of this game still around, but nothing will beat the 1980's version. If you want to relive your childhood through The Oregon Trail, there are still emulators out there online that allow you to play it. On a side note, no kid will ever understand the disappointing phrase of "You have died of dysentery" like kids in the 1980's did.

4. Scholastic Book Order Forms: Kids attending public schools in the 1980's would get these mini catalogs passed out once every month to two months that would feature books that you could buy cheaply. It may have been because of this child's version of the book of the month club that I learned to enjoy reading. It was also because of this program that I learned to love and now miss the next item on this list.

5. Choose Your Own Adventure books: A series of books created by the publisher Bantam Books, a kid could read these books and have a different ending every time depending on the choices they made during the story. Big in the 1980's and 1990's, these books came in multiple genres including science-fiction, mystery, and more. I would look forward to the newest Scholastic Book Order Form to be handed out at school so I could beg for my parents to allow me to get the newest addition to the Bantam Books collection.

6. Scented Markers: Originally created to encourage you to draw more and also created during a time period where kids were presented with a vast amount of products that appealed to their ole factory senses (i.e. scratch'n'sniff stickers), these markers carried a scent that would go along with the color. A blueberry scent may have come from the blue marker. An apple scent may have come from the red marker. It's possible these markers could be the reason for so many junkies later on in life. Who knows if the chemicals that created the scent that you enjoyed sniffing were hazardous to your health. Either way, you liked drawing with these markers as a kid.

7. Elvira's Movie Macabre: No, the movies weren't A-list movies, but Elvira would introduce her audience to old horror movies from years before. The movies were often campy, but Elvira had a way of keeping them fun and giving new life to movies that would have otherwise been forgotten with time.

8. Cinnamon Toothpicks: Yes, this was a thing, at least in the early 1990's for Anaheim kids. They were toothpicks flavored like cinnamon and you would just pop them in your mouth and drain the flavor away until the toothpick became mushy. This was an actual candy for kids my age.

9. Pencil Wars: Public schools used to have small vending machines that would sell pencils that were covered in various designs. This ended up leading to a craze that would be a form of gambling. One kid would hold a pencil horizontally while the other kid took a turn and flicked this pencil with one of his own. The point was to break the pencil being held horizontally. If you did, that kid would owe you a pencil. Simple, but this was a trend in early 1990's.