Talk:Joe Borden/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Sarastro1 (talk) 22:51, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

A really interesting little article about a slightly odd person! Just a few points to clear up, nothing too big at all.


 * "was an American starting pitcher in professional baseball for two seasons." A little messy, particularly as the next sentence includes "professionally". It's better to begin really crisply. What about "played for two seasons as a starting pitcher in [major league baseball; forgive my ignorance, but not sure if this is correct here! I'm just going on the infobox!]" Is his nationality necessary in the lead? If so, I think "an American who played for two seasons..."
 * "He was discovered as a local amateur player when the White Stockings needed a replacement for a recently departed pitcher who was released from the team.": Bit of a clumsy sentence; "as a local amateur" may be better as "when playing as a local amateur", or even "when playing local amateur baseball". The second part does not need "recently departed" and "released from the team". I'd prefer just the second one, as it makes clear he was released, and did not just leave. Also, recently departed is a euphamism for dead!
 * "Borden was credited with the pitching victory" Sorry, not sure what that means! Does it mean his pitching earned victory? Please clarify it for the non-expert.
 * "into a prominent family": Prominent how? This needs clarifying, as it could mean rich, famous, influential...
 * The first paragraph of career is very similar to parts of the lead, and sort of churns out facts. Could it be smoothed out a little? Maybe begin with his family disapproving as they were not that type of family (!) (mentioned in the Cook ref) then listing the ways he tried to hide it with a mention of his eccentricity. And to be fair to the guy, maybe this was to prevent his family being embarrassed, in which case it's not so eccentric.
 * The given page ref does not support "Josephus the Phenomenal". Ref 7 supports it but suggests the press gave him the name.
 * "The White Stockings signed George Zettlein, however there was a delay in his arrival." Either needs a period, semi-colon or "but" instead of "however".
 * What was the reaction to his signing for Boston as he seems an odd choice!
 * "...victory against the Cincinnati Reds, however... ": same problem with "however".
 * "...agreed to buyout of his contract, paying approximately three-quarters of the remainder." Presumably Borden bought himself out. Could this be made explicit?
 * Any details of his erratic behaviour? As this suggests it was more odd than his having various names, maybe take out the mention of his oddness in the career section?
 * Any explanation for the doubt over his death?
 * The reference section gives page numbers, which it shouldn't, especially as they are different to the ones in the notes.
 * Are we certain the picture was published pre-1923? (I'm not enough of a copyright expert to argue much, whatever the answer).

I'll put his on hold, but I anticipate passing soon. If any of the info I've asked about is unavailable, it will not prevent the article passing. --Sarastro1 (talk) 23:01, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the thorough review, I made all the corrections you suggested. I now agree with you, when the reference were put into a clearer context, he doesn't seem so odd.  I tried to better explain the contract buyout, meaning that they basically paid him most of his contract to NOT play.  As for the picture, I think it is certain that this is him as a young man, and my educated guess is that this is a isolated picture from a team photo.  If I missed anything, or created new problems, please let me know, and I will fix them quickly. Neonblak  talk  -  00:57, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
 * All good, made one minor change as it said "prominent and family". Passing now. --Sarastro1 (talk) 19:52, 11 February 2011 (UTC)