Every once in a while I just have to turn these blogs over to the readers, because you folks are so ingenious, you deserve your own blog. So here goes:

STRIKE ONE -- HALL OF FAME TAG TEAM DEPT.: In the last edition of Three Strikes, I passed along my favorite little Jeff Kent pearl -- that his career and Greg Maddux's career ended in the same game (NLCS Game 5), and, in fact, Maddux's farewell came when Kent pinch-hit for him.

So the question was: If they both turn out to be Hall of Famers, how unique would that be?

Well, the great thing about having such an astute audience is that all I had to do to find out was something that always pays a better rate of return than my money-market account: I turned this research project over to all you Useless Infomaniacs out there.

And two of my most loyal readers -- Trent McCotter and Pete Ridges -- spent hours trying to determine whether any other Hall of Famer's career had ended when he was pinch-hit for by another Hall of Famer.

Here are their identical findings:

• There have been 15 Hall of Famers who finished their careers with the same team. The most recent: Bill Mazeroski-Roberto Clemente (1972 Pirates).
• But only one other pair ended their careers in the same game (regular season or postseason): Bill Terry and Travis Jackson, for the New York Giants, in Game 6 of the 1936 World Series.
• Since neither of those two pinch-hit for the other, however, Maddux would be the only Hall of Famer to have his career conclude when another Hall of Famer pinch-hit for him. For now, anyway.
• Oh, and McCotter reports that the next-closest call involved Mazeroski and Clemente, who ended their careers one day apart in '72.

But hang on. That's not all. Another relentlessly inventive loyal reader, Eric Rosen, embarked on a slightly different project: Hall of Famers whose careers ended on the same day, but not in the same game:

• Oct. 3, 1993: Robin Yount and George Brett
• Sept. 30, 1956: Monte Irvin, Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson
• Sept. 29, 1935: Rabbit Maranville and Earle Combs
• Sept. 2, 1918: Bobby Wallace and Hughie Jennings
• Sept. 4, 1916: Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown
• Sept. 5, 1910: Willie Keeler and Vic Willis

The coolest duo in that group? Mathewson and Brown, who pitched against each other in the final game of both of their careers.

Ah, but we're still not done here. Another loyal reader, Steve Simas, found all these great finishes:

• The last player to steal a base against Gary Carter was Andre Dawson, who now appears HOF-bound.
• The last pitcher Bill Mazeroski faced (in the regular season) was Bob Gibson. Gibson won that duel (groundout to first base).

Anybody have more fun info on grand Hall of Fame finales? Our info bank never closes -- at uselessinfodept@yahoo.com.

STRIKE TWO -- PARITY RULES DEPT.: Amazingly, not one reader challenged my premise last week that baseball now has achieved better competitive balance than the NFL. And a couple of readers even provided sensational analysis to back up that premise.

One was Trent McCotter, who made a point nobody ever seems to make: that the biggest reason the NFL gives off the illusion that it has more competitive balance is that football teams play one-tenth the number of games that baseball teams play.

Consider the old coin-flip principle. The more times you flip, the closer you should get to half heads, half tails. The fewer times you flip, the more likely it is that heads will blow out tails, or vice-versa.

Or suppose, McCotter wrote, we "let the 2008 NFL and MLB seasons play over-and-over with the same players at the same talent level. Then we'd naturally expect the NFL teams' standings to bounce around more than the MLB ones.

"Since the teams are exactly the same as they were in the trial before, then the only reason we see teams switch spots in the standings is due to randomness/deviation (the game they lost by one point is one that they win by two points in the next trial), and since there's more deviation in the NFL than MLB as a matter of statistical fact, then it would actually be weird if the NFL DIDN'T see more different teams making the play-offs each year than MLB does."

Absolutely correct. So as a matter of statistical fact, the NFL has built-in competitive-balance advantages. But as another loyal reader, Dan Boyce, observed, baseball has still done better. A few of Boyce's most inspired points:

• Since 2000, baseball has had eight different champions. The NFL has had seven. (That would go to eight if the Cardinals win the Super Bowl, obviously.)
• Since 1970, baseball has had 18 different franchises win the World Series. The NFL has had 15 win the Super Bowl. (Again, the Cardinals could make that 16.)
• Also since 1970, baseball has had 25 different franchises appear in the World Series. The NFL has had 24 appear in the Super Bowl.

I provided lots more compelling evidence of this same trend in my previous blog. So what does this prove? That the NFL has the better propaganda machine, but not the more balanced sport.

STRIKE THREE -- MORE MUSICAL CHAIRS DEPT.: Finally, one last challenge I tossed out there to the readership in the previous blog: I mentioned that the four teams that appeared in the LCS last October -- the Phillies, Dodgers, Red Sox and Rays -- have been swapping players all winter.

As loyal reader Jamie Brandt reported, you only have to go back four years to find another great example of the same phenomenon, when three of the four LCS teams shuffled players at the same position (shortstop):

Edgar Renteria went from the Cardinals to the Red Sox. David Eckstein went from the Angels to the Cardinals. And Orlando Cabrera went from the Red Sox to the Angels. And there wasn't a trade in the bunch. They all exited via free agency.

Got any more brilliant examples? Operators are always standing by -- at uselessinfodept@yahoo.com.