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Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Art Houtteman

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by User:SandyGeorgia 19:07, 22 June 2008 [1].

Art Houtteman

edit

previous FAC (04:36, 22 January 2008)

After having the article pass GA and having it looked at by several people, I believe I solved any problems from the last FAC, and am trying my hand at making this an FA again. Comments really appriciated, of course :) Wizardman 00:02, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Gary King (talk) 22:14, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Wikilink dates in references so they are formatted per WP:CITE/ES
  • There are a few dates that are not linked and should be if you choose to link other dates
  • One-hitter leads to a disambiguation page

Gary King (talk) 00:16, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved stuff from Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 00:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments (ec) I don't know a lot about sports, so please advise me if my comments are worthless.
  • Needs non-breaking spaces throughout.
  • Known on the sandlot for his pitching motion... What's a "sandlot"?
  • The last paragraph of the lead concerns me. All three sentences in that para start with "After". Try to change around the wording some.
  • Art Houtteman was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 7, 1927 Wikilink August 7.
  • Is there any more info on his early life?
  • Due to the Tigers' pitching injuries, as well as many top players serving their country as World War II was coming to a close (Houtteman was too young for the draft), Art Houtteman made his debut on April 29. Wikilink World War II and April 29. As it would be pointless of me to comment on every Wikilink, just make sure the month and days are Wikilinked.
  • He was not on the active roster, and as a result did not pitch, during the Tigers' 1945 World Series victory over the Chicago Cubs. Why is there a comma after the word "pitch"?
  • What's a "shutout"?
  • However, Houtteman's luck went from bad to worse. Is this sentence really necessary?

The prose generally seems pretty good. I read up to the Military section, so let me know when these issues are addressed, and I'll have more. Cheers, Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 00:24, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • More comments
  • "We’ll be back in the first division this season because Art Houtteman is back. Houtteman makes us at least a dozen games better than" last year's Tigers' team. Wouldn't this be better, "We’ll be back in the first division this season because Art Houtteman is back. Houtteman makes us at least a dozen games better than [last year's Tigers' team]."?
  • In ref 25, use an emdash or an endash instead of two hyphens.

Other than that, I can't find anything else wrong. Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 23:52, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support All my concerns have been addressed. Very well-written, plenty of good info and well-referenced. Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 00:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    • Comments

    Otherwise sources look good. Links all checked out with the link checker tool. Ealdgyth - Talk 00:28, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    (ec) I'm unsure about Baseball LibraryAlmanac, so I recommend Retrosheet as a replacement. SABR is a well-known organization in the baseball world, so it should be possible to prove that their people are experts in the field. Since I'm watching the NBA Finals tonight, I'll look for media stories tomorrow. Giants2008 (talk) 01:04, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    While I'm here, some printed sources lack page numbers, which are needed for verification purposes. Giants2008 (talk) 01:05, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • The baseball almanac ref I can move to retrosheet, as it's the same information anyway. As for the page numbers, I'm fairly sure that the ones that don't have them don't have them only because I couldn't find them anywhere. I can look through them again, but I put in whatever information I could find. Wizardman 00:55, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I found an editors page on the SABR site here and it appears discouraging. While it includes several book authors, it doesn't seem that they are all experts, and the Chief Editor's credentials in particular are uninspiring. This is crucial because the FAC is in deep trouble without this source. This is the page of Houtteman's bio author. It does say he is the editor of a trade publication in Washington, but nothing on what publication. Giants2008 (talk) 20:32, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    On the positive side, the biography does list its sources. Giants2008 (talk) 20:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    Looks reliable to me. ffm 22:30, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    Okies, now that I'm done with the horse show that was taking up most of my time, what's the status? Did we replace baseball almanac? And what's the status on SABR? Ealdgyth - Talk 15:23, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I went and changed the reference over to Retrosheet. As for SABR, it seems like it would be okay, at least for this bio because SABR does cite sources for its own bio. Plus, the author of Houtteman is a rather prolific one on the site, so it seems okay. Plus, without it there's virtually no chance of it even being a GA, since that's where all the family info is coming from. Wizardman 16:22, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I'll leave the SABR out for other reviewers to decide on their own. Ealdgyth - Talk 16:54, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    Can someone verify how Warren Corbett meets WP:SPS? What trade publication? Need to track down that he is published by reliable, independent sources as an expert in the field. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:51, 19 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    He's accepted as a baseball historian by Major League Baseball here. I'll try and track down some more. Wizardman 20:56, 19 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    That works. Can you do a lingo check? I found some undefined terms in the lead. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:42, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I'll go through tomorrow and do cleanup/lingo checks where I can find any issues. Wizardman 03:30, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    Resolved stuff from Blackngold29 03:12, 19 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments

    • "He finished the season with a 7–2 record, a 3.42 ERA, seven complete games, two shutouts, and a batting average of .300.[2]" His batting average or opponents batting average? Just wanted to make sure since it would appear Pitching stat, Pitching stat, Pitching stat, batting stat. (If it is his batting average ignore this).
    • "in which he had to drive in the winning run himself" would sound better as "In which he drove in the winning run himself"
    • "He had originally been classified 4-F, or medically ineligible for the draft.." Why was he allowed to enter if he was 4-F?
    Overall, it's well written. Blackngold29 00:49, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      • I fixed the first two comments, as for the last one I'm not sure of the answer. I'll ask someone who's more knowledgeable regarding military matters how that works to see if I can figure it out. Wizardman 21:54, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      • I thought maybe the war had reached the point where they relaxed the rules to allow more people in (that's just a random guess though)? The sources said nothing about this? Blackngold29 22:25, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
        • Nope. Granted, he was classified as 4-F for World War II, but served in the Korean War. Maybe something happened i between there. In either case, can't seem to find anything on this yet. Wizardman 22:36, 12 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
          I hopefully was able to fix the 4-F matter now, I expanded it a bit based on what SABR had written for it, twas all I could find for it. Wizardman 23:51, 18 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support My comments have been addressed. Good job with the article. Blackngold29 03:12, 19 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    • Comments

    • For the win-loss record, that's not a range, so I'm fairly sure it should just be a hyphen, not an en dash.
    • "He was called up to the majors into a pitching staff that lost players due to injuries and being called up to fight in WWII." - awkward, rephrase.
    • In the link "All-Star appearance," I think only "All Star" should be linked - put "appearance" after the link.
    • "He played three more seasons with the Tigers, then he was traded to Cleveland, where he pitched for the pennant-winning Indians of 1954."
    • "he finished his career in the minor leagues for a couple seasons, then Houtteman retired and became a sales executive in Detroit before his death in 2003." - erm, capital letter at the beginnning of the sentence? ;) Also, you first refer to Houtteman by a pronoun and then by his last name, which sounds awkward. One last thing - his death probably deserves a separate sentence, and it sounds awkward squashed into this one.

    Nousernamesleftcopper, not wood 02:36, 9 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments

    • Inconsistent number usage in the second paragraph of the lead. We have "age of 17" and "fifteen games". If the choice was mine, I would change the first of these to avoid having a number end a sentence, but it's up to you.
    • Capitalization error: "he finished his career".
    • Early life: Link 1927 since it is a full date and the remainder is linked.
    • Detroit Tigers, Hard Luck Houtteman: We don't need his first name again here.
    • Redundancy: "yet suffered an extra inning 2–0 loss despite this." Yet and despite this.
    • "Houtteman pitched 13 games as a relief pitcher" Try "Houtteman appeared in 13 games as a relief pitcher".
    • And before "an earned run average".
    • "At the end of the season, Houtteman was declared by six of the eight minor league managers as the top minor league pitching prospect in the International League." Reword to: "At the end of the season, Houtteman was declared by six of the eight International League managers as the top pitching prospect in the league." Also remove being from the next sentence.
    • Capitalize Hall of Famer.
    • In fact, his first victory".
    • "He then lost eight more" Needs to say games.
    • "when tragedy nearly struck". Be very careful with phrases like this, as they can easily be seen as POV.

    Not too bad for the most part. If I get time, I'll perform some cleanup myself in the next few days. Giants2008 (talk) 18:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

      • Done with all of them except the final point. I understand your concern, however if someone dies in a car wreck, tragedy strikes. He almost died, so tragedy nearly struck. That's the way i see it, and i can't think of a good way to reword it. Wizardman 22:32, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
        • I still don't like the tragedy part. The guideline WP:EUPHEMISM lists tragedy as a word to avoid. I would write "when he nearly died in an automobile accident." The rest of it looks okay, so I give Provisional Support due to source concerns. If the SABR site is not considered reliable, this FAC is pretty much done. If other reviewers okay the site, count me as a full support. Giants2008 (talk) 19:19, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
          • Alright. I went and changed that sentence. I'll see if I can get more opinions on whether or not the source is reliable enough (I think SABR's one of those where a case-by-case basis would have done) Wizardman 22:18, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
            • My source concern looks to be taken care of above. The author seems to be a notable baseball historian, so I now give my full Support. Good job on the article. (Full disclosure: I made a few fixes myself, as I said I would above. Nothing major, just some minor edits.) Giants2008 (talk) 18:41, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    Close to Support I've done some CE today. I know this fine article has been at FAC since the 9th, but could the nominator and User:SandyGeorgia spare me another hour or two in the morning? GrahamColmTalk 20:59, 21 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    OK. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 21:03, 21 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I think the one thing that's keeping it from being closed is a nice copyedit to fix some jargon and the like, so by all means take your time and do what you can. :) Wizardman 21:04, 21 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    All done except for this odd sentence which I suspect is jargon: This was due to Jim Delsing who was caught stealing after a single, and the two batters that were walked were caught in double plays. It's the were walked were caught phrase. GrahamColmTalk 09:50, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    I went and removed it, it really didn't contribute much and was indeed jargon. Thanks for reviewing it and fixing it up. Wizardman 13:06, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    SandyGeorgia: Have your concerns been addressed? GrahamColm seems to have taken care of the jargon issue. Wizardman 18:04, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

    The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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