Talk:Mike Darr

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Mike Darr/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Usernameunique (talk · contribs) 10:51, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Lead

• "Darr batted left-handed but threw right-handed." — Not mentioned in the body.
• "Darr was a second-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1994" — Suggest "Darr was a second-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers out of high school in 1994"
• "(MLB)" — The acronym is used in only the infobox. Is it really needed here?
  • I just noticed that that was the second mention of Major League Baseball in the paragraph, so I moved the parenthetical abbreviation to after the first mention and changed the second mention to the abbreviation. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:14, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "fellow Padre minor leaguer Duane Johnson" — Not mentioned in the body ("fellow Padre minor leaguer"). Also, I assume this is the same Duane Johnson that was his childhood friend? Worth mentioning.

Early life

• Is the name of his mother known? What did his parents do?
  • Found an article that not only lists his mother's name, but also tells about his brother Ryan, who was a minor league baseball player. Can't find the mother's occupation; fact that father played professional baseball mentioned. Info added. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:25, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• How did he know Darrin Chiaverini/Duane Johnson? School? Sports?
  • As is mentioned in the article, they grew up together. They might have done school and sports together, but I don't know if that's how they knew each other or they knew each other and then they did those things together. The article's supposed to be more about Darr than about those two; I think to mention that they knew each other growing up is enough. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:30, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• Any word on why went to live with the Johnsons?
  • As I said in the article, he went to live with them when he was struggling with drug use. Presumably it was because of that, but the source doesn't get more definitive than to say this was when he went to live with them. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:30, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• There's no mention of his athletic involvement here, which was presumably a significant part of his life. Did he place baseball in high school? College? Were there any scouting reports? As a second-round pick, he must have made some noise.

• Assuming you weren't able to find anything about this? --Usernameunique (talk) 05:20, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

• If you check the article, you'll see I added some stuff about this. Wasn't able to find anything else. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 13:18, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

• Ah, I missed that. But where in the ref (#4) does it support the line "Darr played on the baseball team and earned All-California Interscholastic Federation honors"? --Usernameunique (talk) 13:29, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

• Sanfranciscogiants17, just making sure you saw the above comment. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:28, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

• Sanfranciscogiants17, where in the new source does it support the fact that Darr "earned All-California Interscholastic Federation honors"? --Usernameunique (talk) 15:01, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

• Read the source. "Like his father and older brother, Ryan Darr was an All-CIF baseball player in high school who signed a contract to play professionally after graduation." Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 17:25, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

Detroit Tigers organization (1994–96)

• Each year of his career in this section gets little more than a sentence. Granted, it's the low minors, but is there anything else to say? Any profiles on him from the time? Was he ranked as a prospect?
  • Found Baseball America prospect rankings for him in Detroit and later San Diego's organizations. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:45, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Single-A advanced and Double-A (1997–98)

• "This time, he hit 15 home runs" — Where did that rank in the league? Any explanation for the sudden upsurge in power?
  • With baseball players, this is typically due to muscle development, particularly for players drafted out of high school. None of the sources about Darr mentions this, though, which is why I have not. The home runs did not rank in the top 10, or I would have mentioned it. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:46, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• How many games did he play in per year?
• Anything non-stat related from this time to say about him?
  • Added prospect rankings. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:49, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

In the Minors and the Majors (1999–2000)

• "was promoted to the Padres in May" — How was he playing before then?
  • I would assume well, but sources do not say. I couldn't find an article specifically about his promotion, just the games list showing he started to play in May. What I have done is listed his stats from his minor league season as a whole, information that is provided in the sources. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:49, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "After making several starts for San Diego in right field" — Maybe "After making [number] starts for San Diego in right field and batting [average] ..."
• "In 25 games for San Diego" — Assuming that includes his May/June games too?
  • Yes, or I would have mentioned it. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:51, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "126 hits, nine home runs, 65 RBI" — Here and elsewhere, see comparable numbers guidance ("Comparable values should be all spelled out or all in figures ...")

Full season in the major leagues (2001)

• Perhaps better titled as "Full major league season (2001)"?
• "In 2001, for the first time in his career, Darr was the Opening Day right fielder for the Padres." — Technically this could mean that last season he was the Opening Day left fielder for the Rockies.
  • True, but he obviously never was if you're reading the whole article. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:59, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "From May 2 to 23, he was on the disabled list" — Why?
  • Source doesn't say. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:59, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "He began getting fewer starts in August" — Why?
  • Because Bubba Trammell began getting more starts, as the article says. Sources didn't go into greater detail. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:59, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Death

• "The Padre fans hoped that Darr would be one of several young players who would help the franchise become a winner in the near future" — This is the first time since that anything is said how he was seen by fans/scouts/teams etc. Is there anything else to add?
  • I've added prospect rankings. This is, by the way, the only info about how he was seen by fans/scouts/teams listed in the Russo bio. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 21:59, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• "over the legal limit" — Any idea what it was?
  • I don't recall the article saying, and I'm reluctant to click on it again because I don't have an LA Times description. If you've got one, you're welcome to check on this. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 22:02, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
    • Looking at the article, it doesn't even support the current claim—it just says that "alcohol appeared to be a factor". Try this source instead. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:17, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
• This is the first time Johnson is mentioned since "Early life". Did they play together? Were they both in Arizona for spring training?
  • Thanks for asking this. I just checked the sources and realized that only Howard was a Padre minor leaguer; Johnson was just a friend of Darr's. Totally my mistake. I've fixed this in the article now. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 22:07, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
• Anything to say about his legacy?
  • Not for someone who only played three seasons in MLB. Legacy sections are usually for someone who had a significant impact on the game of baseball; Darr did not. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 22:07, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
    • Generally true, except when someone is part of a tragic story, they tend to get brought up in that light afterwards, like this story, or this one about his son. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:36, 10 July 2021 (UTC)
      • Still don't think it should have its own legacy section, but I did add info about his son, as well as quotes by Bochy and Hoffman. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 11:56, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

Hey Sanfranciscogiants17, a couple comments above, but generally looks good. Saw and then forgot about your talk-page message, else I would have returned to this earlier. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:36, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

Passing now. --Usernameunique (talk) 21:33, 17 July 2021 (UTC)