2014 Season of Shenanigans

[Mach]

sadly it probably isn't knowing Girardi.

And you meant 13 years.

[Tobywan]

Thing is there are too many differences in the game and the types of players that are considered "great" to even attempt to compare them to Jeter or any player today, that's why I said the only great Yank is a dead Yank as far as Olbermann is concerned. Also, in some cases you can't even compare "greats" to other "greats" for the same reasons. Does seeing him play make him great? No, we've seen thousands of players but rarely for their entire HOF career while it's happening and that is pretty great. I've seen several from start to finish, cause I'm old enough. As I said you aren't having to view it in footage or relayed in stories. Seeing a guy that played his entire career with one team at one position for 20 years and put up consistent productive numbers is "great", that part in my view is the only thing to be compared to the "old days". My main gripe is Keith trying to even compare him to those past "greats". I don't think anyone has seriously stated that Jeter will dwarf the memories of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio or even Yogi and Reggie, but Keith is trying to compare a contemporary to legends and that is simply not fair. There are arguments for both sides of whether baseball is better today or yesterday. It has been 75 years since Lou stepped off the field to now when Jeter is stepping down. With the exception of the basic, 9 innings of play, 3 outs, team with the most runs at the end of 9 wins the game, the leagues and players are vastly different. Specifically the comparison to Gehrig, not to diminish his awesome career or anyone from those times, I feel just as sentimental about them and the history as any other baseball fan, but plain and simple it was a different era. Lou only faced 7 other teams in the American League, there was no inter-league except for the All-Star game and the World Series, scouting other teams especially pitchers I would imagine was a lot easier. they played against each other a lot more. Jeter never had Ruth batting in front of him and as I said about Ruffing, Lou never played against anyone that wasn't white. The seasons were shorter, no extended post season, no traveling to west coast, though they traveled by trains. The players now though condition themselves all through the year where as the majority of players in the golden days used spring training and the first month of the season as their getting in shape time. Then you have the old timers that played with flimsy equipment compared to now, no gloves, no helmets, no pads or armor, no video replays to enhance scouting other players or to pick apart their own playing, they weren't as conscientious about nutrition or weight lifting. You could debate 'til the cows come home the advantages and the disadvantages of both eras, just about each decade in fact. As I say you really can't start throwing out comparisons without sounding like you're bashing one era over the other.


It is more rare today for players to have such long careers (especially for one one team) to be able to announce "hey, I'm leaving at the end of the year" like an executive at a corporate firm. Olberman acts like Jeter's retirement will mean that those "greats" will get relegated to the likes of Chuck Knoblauch. He's not replacing any of them in history or in the hearts and minds of baseball enthusiasts, he's just joining them or more accurately being positioned right behind them. Even if he was "only" good enough to be listed in the top ten of Yankees by any legitimate historical statisticians that would be damn good company.

Btw, I mentioned Olbermann 's admission that he thought Derek should have won an MVP. Olberman did not mention all of his career stats that match up against the "greats" if they didn't go with his rant. Again, the main ones he mentions are stats predominantly associated with power/home run hitters, no shit that he doesn't lead in any of those, it wasn't his job. I would argue that his nostalgic black and white tunnel vision is skewing his opinion of the accomplishments of current Yankees or probably any player in today's game as compared to those of yore. Yeah, he threw in some obligatory compliments, but if this isn't specifically singling out Jeter where was his rant about the "tour" and gift giving to Mariano and Chipper? Why mention "greats" like Gehrig in one sentence and Mussina (a Yankee for 8 seasons) in another? It just comes across as a personal vendetta against Jeter for some reason, maybe he didn't grant Olbermann an inteview.

Also, he does talk about career accomplishments, not just single season ones. And Jeter just doesn't stack up as well against the greats. Olberman agrees that Jeter was a great player but, at the same time so was a guy like Paul Konerko and we're hearing absolutely nothing about his final season.

(Olberman doesn't mention Konerko, that was my opinion added)

Poor Paulie unfortunately is just the victim of having his last season the same as Jeter's, he's also a White Sox most people even big baseball fans don't pay much attention to the AL Central outside of the Tigers these days. It's been said on this forum in the past, outside of the Yanks, Red Sox or Dodgers there isn't as much media or fandom. Konerko is another favorite of mine, am hoping there will be some attention paid to him on the Rays broadcasts this weekend.

While we're at it, I will throw a few more stats out there, they are not by themselves an outstanding career, but I personally found them interesting, being a trivia geek.

Derek has 1,013 multi-hit games, 4th behind Pete Rose, Stan Musial and Hank Aaron. Derek has 200 hits just in the post season, granted he has had a lot of opportunities to hit in the post season. His 158 games, 200 hits, 111 runs, 32 doubles, 20 homers, 18 stolen bases and .308 BA., .374 on-base % and .838 OPS would be something that any player would be thrilled to have as part of their regular season line. Only five players have ever had that regular season and one of them was Jeter.

Derek batted over .300 with double-digits in home runs and steals in 11 seasons, how many other high average, speedy guys did that.......um.....nobody. Since the mid 1940's there have been 36 players that have played a minimum of 1,500 games at SS, the one with the highest on-base % is Derek Jeter with .377, among players during Jeter's career only Barry Larkin is close with .371.

Most people like consecutive hitting streaks, but don't pay much attention when numbers are a little out of sequence, but from July 21, 2006 to May 16, 2007 Jeter played in a 100 games, he got a hit in 92 of them, okay, so what? Well, a guy named Wee Willie Keeler hit 93 out of 100 in the 19th century, the only other guy to match Derek since then was Ichiro during a 100 game span in 2008-09.

I still hold the opinion that Keith's rant about the hype is more about his own anger that a Yankee had the audacity to pass a few of the "beloved" in some of their numbers in the 21st century. I imagine that there are many balking at the "hype" and praising Olbermann's stroll into "once upon a time" purely because of their hatred of the Yankees more than Derek being undeserving of all the attention. I am against all things......okay.....most things pinstripes myself, but I am not blinded by it so much that I can't give props to a player no matter what logo he brandishes. Besides, with Derek it is much more than the numbers and longevity, he has always presented himself as a pretty decent guy, ( a playboy maybe, but that is usually viewed as a positive by most men) that should be rewarded and given attention as well. Especially at a time when so many seem to get attention for all the wrong reasons. As you put it Leo..."it's disproportionate to how great he really was in his career" .....only because he's being compared to the likes of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth................nobody's Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth! Like I have said they were completely different types of players, you can't even compare Lou to Babe because if you do, Lou doesn't look as great either AND he didn't spend fours years pitching full time. In my view the closest to Babe is Hank and Hank didn't pitch either. Olbermann should have been comparing Jeter to those working under the same circumstances that Derek has in the past 20 seasons or even the past 30 that have played as many seasons and I mean those that didn't "enhance" and see how they stack up, oh but that wouldn't fit his blow hard agenda.

I don't think his last game at Yankee Stadium could've been written any better. When it's Derek's time to head to the "Field of Dreams", I envision Babe handing him a beer, Lou will toss his #2 "ghost jersey" to him, Mantle will slap him on the back with a "welcome kid" and Joe DiMaggio will ignore him...he supposedly was a grumpy SOB.

[Witlon]

Vance holds serve, now to hope for Trevor Cahill pretending to be a Major League pitcher!

[Tobywan]

Konerko is another favorite of mine, am hoping there will be some attention paid to him on the Rays broadcasts this weekend.

I have Rays on the brain..............that should have been ROYALS broadcast, love MLB TV free weekends!

[Witlon]

love MLB TV free weekends!

I hate them.

I pay for the service year-round, why should the cheapsses that don't get anything for free?

[Tobywan]

They do them to try to seduce someone like me to get the paid service....which I am seriously considering for next season.

[Witlon]

Ugh, come on DBags. PRETEND TO BE A MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM!

(I'd also like to note that Trevor Cahill can go fuck hisself.)

[Mach]

I hate them.

I pay for the service year-round, why should the cheapsses that don't get anything for free?

because you can't spell cheapasses correctly

[Kingdom]

Chi Passes?

[Kingdom]

This seems fun: Joe Girardi criticized New York Yankees in pregame tirade before Derek Jeter's Yankee Stadium finale - ESPN New York

[Providence A's]

It seems nobody wanted/wants the AL Wild Card lol. KC/OAK/SEA all have played like crap lately. I honestly, don't expect any of them to do much.

Game 162 possible results:

A's win = A's Wild Card 2
or
M's loss = A's Wild Card 2
or
A's loss and M's win = Game 163 in Seattle at 1PM Pacific (from what I read)

Why the fuck 1PM? Yea, the A's should have, or still should, take care of business...but for the sake of argument, let's say it goes to 163. The A's play at Texas 2PM Central (12PM Pacific). Assuming it ends around 5PM Central and then waiting to see M's win (6PM central / 4PM Pacific). They then have to fly to Seattle, get short sleep, and then play at 1PM Pacific...while the M's just go home and sleep in their own beds. How is that fair? And a lot of people calling in sick to go to the game in Seattle, too. Why can't it be at 5PM Pacific?

I'm not making any excuses for the A's either. They've played like shit and don't really even deserve to be in the playoffs. I fully expect them to get bounced one way or another. I just don't see how that scenario is fair.

It would be Lester vs. Walker supposedly.

[Witlon]

Fucking Cardinals couldn't win last night so we could save Cole for the Wild Card game.

Either way, more playoff baseball in Pittsburgh in October!

[Porter]

Walker is the best available if the Rangers and Mariners won.

[Porter]

It seems nobody wanted/wants the AL Wild Card lol. KC/OAK/SEA all have played like crap lately. I honestly, don't expect any of them to do much.

Game 162 possible results:

A's win = A's Wild Card 2
or
M's loss = A's Wild Card 2
or
A's loss and M's win = Game 163 in Seattle at 1PM Pacific (from what I read)

Why the fuck 1PM? Yea, the A's should have, or still should, take care of business...but for the sake of argument, let's say it goes to 163. The A's play at Texas 2PM Central (12PM Pacific). Assuming it ends around 5PM Central and then waiting to see M's win (6PM central / 4PM Pacific). They then have to fly to Seattle, get short sleep, and then play at 1PM Pacific...while the M's just go home and sleep in their own beds. How is that fair? And a lot of people calling in sick to go to the game in Seattle, too. Why can't it be at 5PM Pacific?

I'm not making any excuses for the A's either. They've played like shit and don't really even deserve to be in the playoffs. I fully expect them to get bounced one way or another. I just don't see how that scenario is fair.

It would be Lester vs. Walker supposedly.

The A's put themselves there by blowing a 10 game lead. They have no room to complain about this game being in Seattle in the afternoon. It's not like they are going a long way to get to the damn game.

[Providence A's]

Enjoy playing golf in the off-season before the A's this season M's. I'm sure the A's will join them in a few days, but still. Felix who? Sonny Gray with the CGSHO.