I'm leaving for Florida to watch the shuttle launch so blogging will be light over the next few days. Before I go, however, I have some e-mails that correct some things I recently blogged about.

On Eric Owens (here and here), Ivan Baxter writes:

While I agree with you about Eric Owens playing abilities, I have lived in San Diego for the last 5 years and Bisheff is correct about the Padres most popular player. Tony Gwynn was OBVIOUSLY past his prime and the fans around here recognized it. Gwynn was still popular, but most fans I knew wanted him to retire a year or two before he did. Granted most of them are fans of sabermatrician columnists, so they might not reflect the population at large:). But people loved Owens around here.

As for the previous post about Carter's hat, two readers wrote to correct me on who makes the decision. Jerry Christensen writes:

David- long time reader of your blog. I enjoy it and appreciate your viewpoints. If I recall correctly, after the whole Dave Winfield incident in which he made a drama about which cap he was going to wear in the HOF, I believe the Hall decided they would pick the caps for the players. Some of this logic was to prevent players like Wade Boggs from wearing a Devil Rays cap should he be elected, or from players receiving "payola" from owners like Steinbrenner to wear their team's specific cap. I am almost certain of this unless the article I am recalling was a suggestion/ column rather than a news story. FWIW I think Carter should wear a 'spos cap.

Hi, David. I'm probably not the first person to tell you this, but the choice of team cap on his HOF plaque isn't up to Gary Carter, it's up to the Hall of Fame.

I think a lot of the confusion stems from the induction of Dave Winfield, who I think was given a choice in the matter because he spent roughly equal time w/ the Pads and Yanks. Around the same time, Wade Boggs was said to have made a deal w/ Tampa saying he'd wear a D'Rays cap on his plaque. All of this has fed into the common misconception that players choose their HOF caps.

I expect the Hall will put a Montreal cap on Carter's plaque, even if it "does (him) no good", to use Carter's phrase.

I'm predicting a national firestorm on this issue when McGwire becomes eligible.

However, if the issue is payola, all the policy does is move the payola from the players to the committee making the decision. Why should we think the people in the Hall are any more virtuous than the players? The Hall can always use cash. When the Boggs debate comes up, what's to stop Steinbrenner from coming up with a big donation to the Hall? I guess it's the capitalist in me. If I have something valuable that multiple people want, I should be able to sell it to the highest bidder. If it's the Devil Rays, so be it.