Baseball is done for 2005. Before we shed too many tears or get too embroiled in the off-season machinations, let's get sidetracked. Yes, it's time for Hall Watch 2005.

I was planning to start with the pitchers, but the retirement of Larry Walker has forced a change of plans. How can a website which promises "baseball from a Canadian perspective" not address the question of Walker's Hall fitness and chances? Easily, I suppose, but I cannot resist.

The first installment of this three part series focuses on pitching.

Recently, after we toured a Hall of Names gallery for each of the 25 most common North American surnames, we also took a dive into the It Makes Census pool, which had a 25-man roster composed of one player each from the candidates with those 25 surnames.

Well, first things ... uh, second, as it turns out ... as we now undertake the same process with the 25 most common first/given names. But there is a bit of a twist ...

Lots of action in the offices lately.

Tim McCleary's contract which expires in December, will not be renewed, according to the Toronto Sun. Thanks to Brent S for the heads-up.

It's never too early to look at the draft!

"Roy" has always been an important name in Toronto Blue Jay terms. Roy Hartsfield, of course, was the team's first manager, compiling a career 166-318 mark in three seasons from 1977-79. Roy Howell made the 1978 All-Star team as a Blue Jay (.270/8/61 as the team's starting 3B). Roy Lee Jackson had four solid years (1981-85) as a RH setup guy for the Jays after being acquired from the Mets in exchange for the team's very first expansion draft pick, Bob Bailor. And it appears that Jackson is the primary "Roy" in team's history not to bear a family name beginning with "H."

Oh, yes, you all know Mr. Halladay, right?

Well, with perhaps some competition from a fellow down in Houston who has been pretty good this post-season, Halladay is likely to be at or near the top of this Hall of Names team's rotation; that's right, it's time to meet ...

Yes, that's your 2005 World champion Chicago White Sox. That's following on the heels of your 2004 World champion Boston Red Sox.

As the guys in Ghostbusters said so many years ago, it's "real wrath-of-God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together -- mass hysteria."

So, what's next for baseball? The 2006 World champion Cubs? In a tight seven-game series with the D-Rays? AL MVP and Triple Crown winner Dave Berg? NL Cy Young Award winner Danny Graves? The Yankees not having the highest payroll next season?

Now's your chance to look like a genius 12 months from now ... what unlikely event will take the baseball world by storm and shock us all in 2006?

Today the full list of minor league six year free agents was released. These players have been granted free agency as they are not on the Jays 40 man roster. The full list of the 19 Blue Jays is here....

After successful stints in Dunedin and New Hampshire, Mike Basso was named manager of the Syracuse Sky Chiefs yesterday. Basso replaces Marty Pevey, who is now the Jays' first base coach. We look forward to seeing Basso and the Chiefs in person in 2006.

Jazz shares history with baseball, rising in the Roaring Twenties, and falling late last century. And now, we'll try to get jazz and baseball to share a team.

A few interesting items crossing the wires... and there's a game tonight, I understand?

So we've completed construction of the newest wing on Baseball's Hall of Names -- full (or in a few cases, nearly full) rosters representing each of the 25 most common North American surnames. Of course 25 is a magic number in baseball -- it's the number of players on a regulation in-season roster. Which leads us to this rhetorical exercise:

What is the best possible roster we could build consisting of 25 players, each bearing a different one of those 25 most common American surnames? It's quite a bit trickier than simply choosing the best player off each roster ...

Scott Podsednik hit a walk-off home run to win a World Series game tonight, making him just the 14th player ever to do so. Was it the least likely walk-off ever?

The White Sox prevailed in a game that didn't seem to be as close as it was. Joe Crede and Bobby Jenks have the early lead in our POTG poll, I thought Contreras was only average, while Neal Cotts was outstanding.