[Westheim]

My main concern in the second half of December was not last-minute presents – Maud had been doing my Christmas shopping including wrapping for years – but Mayor Smith calling into the office. She was thinking of the children and was requesting that we’d stop playing midweek day games outside of the holidays, so parents wouldn’t pick up their kids from school at noon for a “doctor’s appointment” at 1:05 PM any longer. I had none of that. First, I asked the mayor, whether she had ever been outside at ten at night on a rainy April evening, which of course she hadn’t – she had servants for errands of course. She threatened with a city ordinance, I threatened with our legal department – Chad’s uncle, who had much experience in litigating injuries real and perceived against any- and everybody in 15 Pacific and Midwestern states.

Besides that, the mayor complained about the unsavory neighborhood the ballpark was in, which was not a complaint I even understood. Right around the ballpark there was a scrapyard, three liquor stores, the city dump was just three blocks away, and just a bit up the banks of the Willamette was a wildlife preserve where birds were nesting and laying delicious eggs. What more could the Raccoons want from their ballpark infrastructure?

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December 18 – The Loggers sign former Blue Sox closer Ryan Dow (42-39, 3.15 ERA, 207 SV) to a 2-yr, $6.7M contract.
December 20 – The Knights add pitching, signing not one, but two formerly Canadiens hurlers in one go: SP Terry Herman (105-69, 3.51 ERA) gets $10.8M over two years, and CL Ruben Mendez (24-27, 3.53 ERA, 85 SV) grabs $12.2M over three years.
December 26 – 36-year-old veteran ex-NYC RF/LF Danny Rivera (.282, 342 HR, 1,473 RBI) snatches a 2-yr, $10M contract with the Bayhawks.
January 2 – The Crusaders secure the services of lefty closer Ben Lussier (29-36, 3.45 ERA, 169 SV) for $9.84M over three years. The 29-year-old was with the Warriors previously.
January 5 – Cincinnati inks ex-LAP SP Larry Broad (57-71, 4.53 ERA) to a 2-yr, $3.34M deal.

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What are the Raccoons doing? Well, we were trying to get a left-handed infielder to back up the left side or the guys up the middle (or, heck, both!), but haven’t been lucky so far.

Ed Crispin signed with Tijuana for $710k; Adam Bates went to Washington for $482k; Tony Lopez was off to Salem for $484k;

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HALL OF FAME VOTING RESULTS

The electorate enshrined closer Josh Boles in the Hall of Fame this year. The 3-time Reliever of the Year (2027, 2035, 2038) led the league in saves twice in 2028 and 2029, both with the Raccoons, his first major league team, which signed him on a minor league contract after he was let go by the Warriors, who originally drafted him with the #59 pick in 2022. They came to regret that decision, because not only did Boles sign games with the Raccoons, but also their division rivals in Denver and Dallas during his career. In fact, Boles pitched for eight major league teams, getting at least 40 saves for five of them, and 85+ for four. In total he saved 508 games in a 19-year career, going 71-85 with a 2.94 ERA, appearing in 1,114 games and striking out 1,296 batters. He made the All Star Game 11 times, and won two rings, both with the Raccoons in 2026, his rookie season, and 2028.

In fact, the greatly scattered record of Boles in terms of employers made it a bit hard to select a team logo on his plaque, but the committee went with the Raccoons, who he saved the 132 games for (most of all the teams he played for), got one Reliever of the Year award with, and won both of his rings with.

Boles was the 11th player inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Raccoon (most of all teams), joining, last chronologically but first alphabetically: Nick Brown, Angel Casas, Yoshi Nomura, Tetsu Osanai, Alberto Ramos, Neil Reece, Mark Roberts, Kisho Saito, Jonny Toner, and Grant West.

Full results:

POR CL Josh Boles – 7th – 82.5 – INDUCTED
POR LF Manny Fernandez – 3rd – 73.1
??? CL Chris Henry – 5th – 63.6
SAL C Morgan Kuhlmann – 5th – 16.2
PIT SP Roberto Pruneda – 3rd – 10.7
BOS SP Rich Willett – 4th – 6.8
SAL 1B Bill Jenkins – 1st – 6.5
SAL CL Rico Sanchez – 2nd – 6.2
DAL SP Eric Weitz – 5th – 5.2
CHA 3B Jose Farfan – 1st – 3.6 – DROPPED
DAL SS Jon Ramos – 3rd – 2.9 – DROPPED
SAC RF Carlos Cortes – 1st – 2.3 – DROPPED
CHA 2B Oscar Aguirre – 2nd – 1.9 – DROPPED
CIN SP Willie Gallardo – 1st – 1.3 – DROPPED
CHA SP Oscar Flores – 1st – 1.0 – DROPPED
RIC RF Joe Ritchey – 1st – 0.3 – DROPPED
??? SP Josh Vercher – 1st – 0.3 – DROPPED