The
Thom Brennaman Award
Major
League Baseball Biggest Douche of the Year
The
Nominees
Automatic
Annual Nominees
Thom Brennaman
(Play-by-Play Announcer of Untimed All-Douche Soccer Game in Hell/Captain of
the All-Douche Team/President of the Nepotistic Society of Douches/Lord of
North Douchia/King of West and South Douchia/Emperor of the Greater Douchery
Area/And Endless Other Titles Relating to Him Being the Supreme Master of All Things
Douchy)
Bud Selig (MLB
Commissioner/Liar/Douche)
Scott Boras
(Agent/Sleaze/Manipulator/Plague)
Joe West (Bad
Umpire/Country Western Musician/Old and Stubborn/Loudmouth/Fat Ass)
Milton Bradley (Former
Player/Nut Case/All-Time Standard Setter for MLB Player Douchery)
Nyjer Morgan
(CF-Milwaukee/Nut Case/Current Standard Setter for MLB Player Douchery)
Josh Beckett
(SP-Boston/Los Angeles/Poster Child of Spoiled, White, American Baseball Player
Douchedom)
Class
of 2012 Newly Elected Automatic Annual Nominees
Tim McClelland (Bad
Umpire/Torturously Slow/Hideous Stache Now Awkwardly Shaven)
Steve Lyons (Former
Player/Career .642OPS/Intentionally Pulled Pants Down/Jerk Announcer)
Steve Garvey (Former
Player/Perhaps Most Overrated Ever/Sleazy/Scummy/Charlatan)
Luke Scott (DH-Tampa
Bay/Loud Mouth Racist/Knuckle Dragger/Ignorant Redneck)
Office
of Major League Baseball Nominees
Bud Selig (MLB
Commissioner/Liar/Douche) Bud is an automatic annual nominee and he was a good
candidate to win biggest douche this year. Selig wanted to expand. No, not the
use of instant replay (remember, Acting Commissioner Selig thinks the human
element of the game is extremely important). He wanted to expand the postseason
again, despite the fact that it drags on too long anyway, often lasting into
November.
It would be difficult
for the Bummer to expand the postseason because he would seemingly have to
double the number of playoff teams in each league from 4 to 8. That would make
the MLB playoffs just like the NBA and NHL playoffs, but it would be difficult
to make it work for baseball.
Due to the nature of
baseball and the season during which it is played, MLB doesn’t have the liberty
of simply extending the playoffs another month the way that the other sports
could. Playoff baseball is sometimes played in cold weather, but it simply won’t
work in frigid conditions or even in snowy weather. Adding another full round
of the playoffs (with 8 series) would push the postseason well into November,
and you can’t have a format that will likely include games being played in the midwest
and northeast during mid-November. You really don’t have the option of starting
the regular season a month earlier either, as we often see cold weather effecting
games in early April. Outside of playing the first month of the season at spring
training locations, starting March 1st isn’t going to work either.
But even if there was a
way around the weather issues it still wouldn’t work very well to have NBA/NHL
style playoffs in MLB. In the NBA, seeding is important because home court
advantage is important. Homefield advantage isn’t anywhere near as important in
baseball. But the main reason that having 16 teams make the playoffs in the NBA
works okay is that it doesn’t lead to a lot of the top regular season teams
going down early. By and large, the best NBA teams survive the first round (and
usually the second round as well). There’s no reason to think the same thing
would be true in baseball. We see 100-win teams lose to 85-win teams now; there
would be a greater chance of chaos if 100-win teams had to play 2 rounds
against middling teams just to get to the LCS.
For the NHL, the
16-team playoff format seems to work, but for different reasons than it does in
the NBA. Home ice isn’t a major advantage and seeding really isn’t either. But
the NHL’s regular season is just not that important and it doesn’t seem to
matter that #1 seeds go down in the first round all the time. This is because
the Stanley Cup playoffs essentially is hockey season. You look at the current
situation. It’s the first week of January and the NHL is still in the midst of
a work-stoppage. The majority of the season has been canceled, and yet if the
sides came to an agreement now it almost wouldn’t matter what had been missed.
As long as there’s enough time for 8 teams in each conference to distinguish
themselves, their can still be an NHL season because the playoffs are all that
matter.
This is obviously not
the case for MLB. The World Series and October baseball are very important, but
MLB is a regular season sport. The stories of individual teams; the records;
the awards; the pennant races: this is what Baseball thrives on. If you put 16
teams in the playoffs it wouldn’t destroy all of that, but it would all but end
the drama of the pennant races and the importance of winning a division.
So what about going to
the NFL model and having 6 teams make it from each league? Giving the best
teams a “bye” for the first round wouldn’t really work well in baseball because
time off does not necessarily help a team and it often hurts a team. Thus, a scenario
in which only 2 playoff teams were added to each league seemed as out of the
question as adding 4 playoff teams to each league.
If Dub Giles wanted to
expand the postseason the answer was right there in front of him. Simply make
the LDS round a best of 7 series instead of a best of 5. This change was long
overdue anyway, and it seemed like evening out the 3 current rounds of the
postseason should be a prerequisite to adding any additional teams.
It is folly, however,
to apply things such as common sense and logic whenever one is attempting to
predict the actions of one Allan Huber Selig. The Bum decided to make the
postseason even more of a crapshoot than it already was by adding a 2nd
wild card team for each league and having the 2 wild card teams—regardless of
record—play a 1-game playoff with the winner advancing to the LDS.
That an individual who
professes to be a lifelong baseball fan would even suggest such a thing as a
1-game playoff between two teams that don’t have identical records is mind
blowing. It is all the more stunning in that Selig came up with his scheme
shortly after one of the most exciting final days of the season in the history
of Major League Baseball, a day which would have contained zero drama if it had
taken place under the 2 wildcard team format.
Selig knew the owners
would be on board because it would surely be a hot ticket and well watched game
each season since it would basically be creating one of the more exciting
stages in baseball through artificial means. Selig was also able to dangle concessions
that he knew would yield the union’s approval of the new format, even though
any player looking at the situation objectively could see that it was a gimmick
that would only make baseball’s regular season less meaningful and its
postseason more irrelevant.
However, instead of
merely getting the new format approved and starting with the new system in
2013, Selig rushed the proposal through, complete with special 2012-only
conditions in order to squeeze in the extra game. Thus, instead of a 2-2-1
format, this year’s LDS would be played under a 3-2 format, with the team
controlling home field advantage getting the first 3 games but not a potential
winner-take-all game 5.
Keep in mind this is
the same man who has insisted for years that home field advantage for the World
Series simply cannot be determined by regular season record because they have
to know in advance which league will host which games for scheduling and TV
purposes.
Selig had done it
again. And the Bummer wasn’t finished. Ol’ Bud’s contract was supposed to
expire this year and he was supposed to finally leave the game alone and
retire. But Giles Dub had different plans. He decided to stay on 2 more years,
extending his contract through 2014, by which time he’ll be 80 years old. Will
that be the end? Who knows.
I’d say it’s
possible—perhaps even likely—that Mr. Selig is one of the last of a breed of
Romanian Vampires, and if that’s the case, we could be looking at one or two
hundred additional Bud years.
Current
Player Nominees
Josh Beckett (SP-Boston/Los
Angeles/Poster Child of Spoiled, White, American Baseball Player Douchedom) You
can always count on Joshua to build a good case for biggest douche. He’s an
automatic annual nominee and once again he had a shot at the thing this year.
In 2011, Beckett and
the Red Sox were looking good late into the summer, but then Beckett apparently
let things slide a bit, packing on some pounds, and finishing the season
allowing 6 runs to the Orioles in each of his final 2 starts. Beckett helped
the Red Sox complete one of the biggest collapses in the history of Major
League Baseball, as they held a 9-game lead in the WC standings in September
but somehow managed to miss the playoffs.
Beckett was reported to
be the ring leader of a clique that would drink beer, eat fried chicken, and
play video games in the clubhouse during games when they weren’t pitching.
Beckett of course didn’t even bother to respond to the allegations because he
didn’t care.
Despite the humiliating
collapse that resulted in manager Terry Francona getting thrown under the bus,
Beckett didn’t appear any more motivated in 2012. With $17 million per year
coming his way for 3 more seasons, Joshua was not really worried about it. He
allowed 7 homers and posted a 4.45 ERA through his first 5 starts and then
complained of a sore lat.
The team decided that
he would be held out of his next start. He did not pitch for 10 days, though he
did play several rounds of golf during that time. When he finally did pitch
again he allowed 7 runs in less than 3 innings. He would miss time due to an
injury again in June, this time going 18 days between starts.
Through August 19th,
Beckett had a 5.23 ERA in 21 starts and the Sox were 7-14 with him on the
mound. At that point the Sox finally decided to be rid of Joshua, shipping him
off to the Dodgers. Once in LA, Beckett promptly figured out how to pitch
again, posting a 2.93 ERA in his 7 starts with LAD. But you get the point. The
guy’s one of the all-time douches.
Logan Morrison
(LF-Miami) Morrison is something like the Chad Johnson of baseball, only not as
good at his sport. He’s a constant tweeter, and most of his tweets are just
what you’d expect from a middle-20’s, white, good looking pro baseball player.
In other words, it’s immature douchery.
“LoMo” continued to run
his mouth on the Twit Box in 2012, despite having a terrible season that ended
late in the summer due to injury. Morrison posted a .707 OPS in 93 games for
the sorry-ass Marlins, while playing some of the worst left field defense you
will ever see.
To begin the year,
Morrison wanted to change his number to #5 in order to honor his late father
who died in 2010 and who reportedly advised his son to model himself after
George Brett. The problem was that no Marlins player had ever worn #5. You see,
the #5 was retired in honor of the franchise’s founding president and chief
operating officer, Carl Barger, who died of an aneurism in 1992 before the team
had ever played a game. Barger had never played in the Bigs, but his favorite
player was Joe DiMaggio.
The Marlins decided to
allow Morrison to wear the #5 jersey, thus undoing the tremendous tribute that
the franchise had dedicated in memory of Barger on the day they played their
first ever game back in 1993. It was wrong of the Marlins to allow Morrison to
wear #5 but mistakes are no surprise with Jeffrey Loria.
Anyway, it’s also not
surprising that Morrison would be unmoved by the story of Barger, a guy who
loved the game but never played it (at least at the major league level). When
people criticize LoBlow for his performance on and off the field, he often
dismisses their opinion by pointing out that they never played the game.
Morrison, as far as I
know, has never given birth to a child or raised one, yet that hasn’t stopped
him from commenting on young mothers. In late July, Morrison snapped a photo of
a woman breast feeding an infant and posted the pic on Twitter along with this
comment: “Hey @Nordstrom nothing makes me want to spend $$ like seeing women
breastfeeding in your store…” Yep. He’s that kinda guy.
Josh Hamilton
(LF-Texas) Another repeat nominee, Hamilton recently signed an enormous deal
with the Angels, for whom he’ll play in 2013. But for 2012, he’s nominated
again for the same sort of immature and diva-like behavior as last year. He’s
one of the more whiny, sulky, complainy, melodramatic stars in the game.
It’s always somebody
else’s fault with Josh. When he gets hurt it’s his 3rd base coach’s
fault. When he sucks during day games it’s because of some eye condition nobody
has ever heard of. When his team loses, it’s because “God” planned it that way
(in fact, he sometimes tells Josh in advance).
This year Hamilton started
off the season about as hot as a player can be. You knew he would cool off
eventually, but through the first two months of the year he put up “MVP during
the PED’s era” type numbers. For real. Through May 30th, Hamilton
played in 47 games and had 21 homers and 57 RBI, while batting
.368/.420/.764/1.184. On the 8th of May Hamilton legitimately had
one of the greatest single game offensive performances in the history of
baseball. During an 11-3 win over the Orioles, Hamilton went 5 for 5 with 4
homers, a double, and 8 runs batted in.
Again, we all knew he
would cool off, but the cooling off period was more like an ice age. Over his
next 45 games, Hamilton hit just .188/.279/.370/.649 with 7 homers and 26 RBI. Hamilton’s
disposition and behavior began to reflect his dismal play in the field. The
media had fun speculating and acting “concerned” that Josh might be struggling
with some old demons.
Of course, Hamilton fed
that fire by making cryptic statements about being “disobedient.” Hamilton
expressed regret that he couldn’t really tell the whole story. Not surprisingly
this led to further speculation. A week later Hamilton decided to clarify his
comments, not because he wanted to, but because the ridiculous speculation by
the media forced him to do it (or at least, that’s what he said). He then
announced that his obedience problem was all about another failed attempt to
quit chewing tobacco. He was struggling with discipline off the field and this
supposedly was causing him to be undisciplined at the plate.
He more or less said
God was unhappy with him for not being able to quit dip and that’s why he was
chasing more pitches than anyone on the planet. He ended his scolding of the
media by citing two bible verses; not actually quoting them, just listing the
actual verses by chapter and number, as if inviting us to check it out for
ourselves and find out what all of this obedience to the lord shit was all
about.
Interestingly enough,
Hamilton stated that he had decided to again try and quit chew (cold turkey,
mind you) one night in June and the next day he went oh-for and struck out 4
times at home. There were only 2 such games for Hamilton in June; it was either
the 23rd or the 27th. If it was the 23rd, his
numbers for the month to that point were 13 for 63 (.206) with 1 homer, 7 BB,
and 22 K. If it was the 27th, his numbers for the month to that
point were 16 for 80 (.200) with 3 homers, 9 BB, and 29 K. So regardless of the
day, he was already in his slump when he quit chew.
For whatever reason, Hamilton’s
rebound began the day he made those patronizing and bizarre remarks (August 2nd).
Over his next 44 games, Hamilton hit .294/.380/.626/1.005 with 14 homers and 40
RBI. However, Hamilton and the Rangers did not finish the season strong. Over
the final 9 games, Hamilton managed to hit just .256 in 39 PA despite a .455
BAbip. He had no homers, no walks, 4 RBI, 17 K, and a .615 OPS over that
stretch.
Meanwhile, the Rangers
went 2-7, blew a division they had seemingly wrapped up long ago, and then lost
in the silly 1-game playoff. The Rangers lost to the Orioles at home, 5-1 in
that game, with Hamilton going 0-4 with 2 K, 1 GDP, and a bouncer back to the
mound.
The issue of Hamilton
quitting dip during the season came up again during the offseason. A bitterly
disappointed Nolan Ryan made an honest, if probably unwise statement that Josh
could perhaps have picked a better time to try quitting chew. Not surprisingly,
the media jumped all over Ryan, who is usually lionized by the press. But while
Ryan’s comments seemed to be a fairly obvious public relations slip, clearly
the result of emotion, in my opinion he actually had a point.
In reality, waiting
from June to November probably wouldn’t have killed Hamilton any earlier. Now
of course I could be wrong. Maybe those few months would have been the
difference between getting cancer and not getting it. But there are several
related issues.
First off, he didn’t
have to go from dipping every day to chewing oiled toothpicks. He could have used
the strongest level of nicotine patch, chewed nicotine gum, and substituted
with regular gum, seeds, Skittles, and yes, even oiled toothpicks. He might
still have been affected by the change, but it would have been dramatically
different. I’m addicted to cigarettes and the idea of quitting cold turkey,
particularly when you are used to using the product during your job (or in
Josh’s case, your job/sport), seems damn near impossible to me.
Also consider this: the
odds of Hamilton succeeding would never be less than in the middle of the
baseball season. If he quit in the offseason he wouldn’t have to figure out how
to play the game without dip. It wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t concentrate or
sleep. No one would be focusing on him. Look, the guy could conceivably check
into a rehab facility or go up into the mountains for 60 days if he wanted to.
Then when it came time to return to the game he would have been past much of
the physical difficulties and he wouldn’t be trying to break the daily habit on
the fly. It wouldn’t be easy to remain off the dip during baseball, but it
would be much easier than attempting to do it mid-year.
Finally, you have to
look at the fact that Hamilton failed. He didn’t quit. He’d tried to quit
during the previous season and failed. He’d tried to quit during spring
training and failed. He had almost no chance of succeeding in June. And he
didn’t succeed. So again, he would have been better off waiting to quit until
November, or at the very least waiting until November to cutoff nicotine all-together.
And the larger point is
that while people want to make it a sacred right of every individual to do
whatever the fuck they want at any point, especially if it concerns doing
something for their health, it really doesn’t work that way all of the time. If
quitting tobacco was even a somewhat minor factor in Hamilton’s slump, his
on-a-whim, “God told me to do it,” decision to go cold turkey was (dare I say)
selfish. And there are literally dozens of ways he could have done what he did
in a better way. And this is all assuming that attempting to quit chew was even
a minor factor in his slump, which is more than debatable.
Everyone loves
Hamilton’s comeback story. And it is really neat. But I have to say: he’s just
kind of a douche. Yes, it’s wonderful that he saved himself in time to not only
live but to actually fulfill his promise as a player. But outside of that, he’s
just kind of a douche.
Albert and Deidre Pujols
(1B-Anaheim/Wife) Man. Talk about guys who are just nowhere near as pleasant
and seemingly happy as you would think they would be. Albert Pujols is
universally accepted as the greatest player of his era and one of the greatest
of all-time. Unlike many other players who have never tested positive for PED’s
or been linked to any cases or been found on any lists, Pujols is virtually
never accused or even mentioned as a player who may possibly have used PED’s.
He’s the highest paid player in the game. He’s a two-time world champion. He
lives in southern California. He’s good looking. He’s healthy. And yet…he’s
bitter.
It really is hard to
understand. You can say that his “pride” or “ego” is what “makes him great” but
that’s at least 50% bullshit. Yes, great athletes are often helped in their
sport by certain traits that wouldn’t usually help an individual in society.
But with Albert it seems to be more about simply being a bitter, angry fellow.
There was no reason for
Albert to approach the St. Louis negotiations with suspicion or even a desire
to be courted. The Cardinals groomed him. He helped them win 2 world titles,
but he didn’t do it himself. He played in front of the best fans in baseball,
hands down. He played for the best manager. He played for a very good and smart
organization; a historically great organization. He played in a great baseball
town, perhaps the best there is. And the Cardinals always let Albert be Albert.
Sure, there’s little about Albert’s game that could be picked on, but nobody
ever demanded that Albert be treated like the other guys on the 25-man roster.
And remember, it was
Albert who shutdown contract negotiations prior to the start of the 2011
season. He subsequently suffered an injury that might have derailed some
players, but being the machine that he is, he came back later in the year to
help the Cards win another title. But when the Cards came back with a 5-year
offer for $26 million a year, Pujols was “offended.” There was also talk from
his camp that they were offended by the 7-year, $120 million deal given to Matt
Holliday. This is strange since Pujols publicly challenged the organization to
show a commitment to winning, and at the time, the Holliday signing was seen by
many to be a way of showing Pujols the money.
He always said that
there couldn’t be a better place to play than St. Louis. He always said that a
few million per year more wouldn’t make a difference. He always said it was all
about winning. But how could the Cardinals—not a mid-market or small market
franchise but also not one of the cash cows on the coasts—be committed to
winning if all of their money was tied up in a guy who would be in his 40’s by
the time a 10-year deal was over?
The Cardinals gave
Albert reasonable offers and then responded to other bids. That’s how any
rational business deal works. Then the Angels swooped in and offered Albert a
deal that couldn’t possibly make any sense in baseball terms (a 39 to 42 year
old slugger is simply not going to be one of the best players in the game, yet
Pujols will be paid like one during those years) and could only make sense
financially if you have more guaranteed money than you know what to do with
(see the Yanks and Sox over the last decade, as well as the newly funded TV
deal franchises in Los Angeles and Dallas).
The Angels offered $254
million over 10 years, with no deferred money, and a 10-year “personal services
deal” following the contract. The Cards managed to offer $210 million over 10
years, with $30 million deferred. Deferred money makes no difference to an
individual with as much wealth as Pujols. It will come eventually; it helps the
club build a better team in the short run. The personal services deal is a hood
ornament. You think the Cards wouldn’t offer Albert a place in the franchise
after his career ended? But to Albert it was all about stroking that ego.
Making him feel “wanted.”
The ties with the
Latino community issue is a red herring. There are plenty of persons of
Hispanic descent in St. Louis and you don’t need to be close to a large Latino
population to help Hispanic people through charities or whatever else.
So the affection of an
owner essentially playing with monopoly money was worth more than the Cardinals
organization and the St. Louis fan base? Suddenly it wasn’t all about winning.
Albert refused to say it was all about money, despite the fact that the only
tangible advantage to Anaheim’s deal was the extra $44 mill (which is a ton of
money, but the $44 million difference between $1 million and $45 million is not
the same as the $44 million difference between $210 million and $254 million,
especially to an individual who has already made hundreds of millions). Now it
was about feeling “wanted,” which is actually worse than being all about the
money.
But it got worse, as Pujols
and his “team” went on the offensive after Pujols signed the deal to go to L.A.
They spun everything to make it look like the Cards front office didn’t want
Albert and had gone out of their way to offend him. They said Albert never
wanted to leave but was basically forced to. At his press conference—and yes,
he actually said this—Pujols claimed that it was all about where God wanted him
to go: “I’m being obedient. I didn’t want to go to a place God didn’t want me
to go to.” You know, that might be one of the single worst things I’ve ever
heard someone say. It’s just awful. God didn’t want him to go to St. Louis?
Why? Because they offered him less money? Because their $210 million deal was
insulting?
But even worse than
Albert was his wife Deidre. Mrs. Pujols claimed that the city of St. Louis had
been “deceived” by the Cardinals owners and that they never would have left if
the “offer that people have seen on television had been given to us as a
guarantee.” The problem here is that Pujols’ camp began the negotiating process
by asking for 10 years, $275 million, so the idea that Pujols wasn’t looking to
get the absolute richest deal possible doesn’t hold water. Nor does anyone
believe that the Cards’ final 10-year, $210 million offer was anything less
than a “guarantee.”
Worst of all, Mrs.
Pujols ended her commentary with a statement that ranks among the most
delusional ever uttered by celebrity wives: “It’s just like God to put us on a
team called the Angels.” If I attempted to breakdown just how mindblowingly
awful a statement that is, it would probably take an entire day.
Pujols would make it
clear soon after his arrival in La La Land that paying him $254 million did not
mean the Angels could market him how they pleased. When “El Hombre” billboards
began popping up around town, Pujols angrily demanded that they be removed. He
stated that he still had great respect for Stan “The Man” Musial and therefore
he did not want to be referred to as “El Hombre.” Right. Albert respected
Musial so much that he chose not to follow in Musial’s footsteps because Arte
Moreno sucked up to him.
There was one final
“Albert and Deidre” moment that annoyed me in 2012, even though I’m sure 99.9999%
of the world would disagree with me. On Saturday, September 15th,
the Angels and Pujols (and Deidre) were in Kansas City to play the Royals.
Following a loss on Saturday, Deidre and Albert went to a hospital in KC where
Deidre gave birth to a healthy baby girl, their 5th child. Albert
played on Sunday and the Angels were off on Monday. The rest of the team then
returned home to face division leading Texas on Tuesday night.
But Albert decided to
drive Deidre and the new baby to their St. Louis home, thus missing Tuesday
night’s game. Remember, this was their 5th child. The baby was born
early but was completely healthy. And Albert had been there for the birth, he
was there on Sunday night, and he was there all day Monday. He could have had a
caravan of limousines escort Deidre and the entire family from Kansas City to
St. Louis. And this is their home. They are travelling to the family’s home;
they aren’t in a strange land.
Of course Pujols
received 100% support from the organization, his teammates and anyone else who
dared offer an opinion. But in the first year of a $254 million contract,
Pujols established career worst numbers across the board. And going into
Tuesday night, the Angels were 7.5 back of Texas in the division and 3 games
behind the Orioles for the final WC spot with 15 games to go. In other words,
they had a shot, but every game was crucial. I think he should have been there.
That’s all.
Yunel Escobar
(SS-Toronto) As many of you imaginary readers know, I am not a fan of this
frosted tipped douche. As a matter of fact, he is my least favorite former Brave
ever. He is a classless, immature, lazy, ungrateful douche. He’s not someone
you ever want to play with or who you would ever want to play for your team.
This year Escobar
managed to turn a lot of non-Braves fans off as well. On Saturday, September 15th
(just hours before Albert and Deidre would enter the hospital back in the
states) Escobar decided to write something on his fake eye shadow (usually a
good sign that you’re dealing with a douche to begin with), something he has
done regularly as a member of the Blue Jays (that shit didn’t fly when he
played for Mr. Cox). On this particular day, Mr. Escobar decided to display the
phrase “Tu ere maricon” in his fake eye black during a game against the Boston
Red Sox. Not surprisingly, the slogan was noticed, and it was widely reported
in the days ahead that the phrase translates as “You are a faggot.”
My manager is Latino
and much of her family still resides in Mexico. She knew nothing of the
incident and so I took the opportunity to see if the translation was accurate.
When I asked her what that phrase meant she said it meant “you’re a faggot.” So
nothing was lost in translation here.
When it was announced that
Mr. Escobar would be suspended for 3 games and it was time to face the media,
Escobar said he was shocked that it created a stir and blamed the
misunderstanding on cultural differences. He insisted that it was “a word
without meaning” and not directed at anyone. Mr. Escobar said it was just a
word used amongst Latinos: “For us, it didn’t have the significance to the way
it’s being interpreted right now.” He added that it was a word, “used often
within teams.” Just to make sure people understood that it was okay, Escobar
explained that the guy who paints his house is gay and so is his hairdresser
and they were not offended by the phrase.
Not that it needs
explaining, but let’s discuss why the incident led to Escobar being nominated
for biggest douche (aside from the fact that he’ll probably end up being an
automatic annual nominee at some point in the future). I’ll be honest: if
Escobar had been overheard using the phrase by a media member and it had become
public, that on its own wouldn’t have been worthy of nomination (except for the
fact that, again, he’s pretty much an automatic nominee). The reason for this
is that it would be hypocritical for me (and I would estimate 99% of MLB
players) to condemn someone for using the words “fag” or “gay” or “homo” or “fairy”
as a pejorative word about non-homosexuals.
If you think that those
words are off limits regardless of context or setting, I respect that, but
again, I cannot join in any stonings for such sins. But Escobar went out of his
way to make the statement in public. That’s incredibly stupid and worthy of
nomination. He compounded his douchery by trying to act as if it was a cultural
difference rather than just apologizing and saying it was not meant to be a
slur against gays.
But for me, the “gay
friends” excuse is always the worst. You don’t have to have friends who are gay
in order to not be against gay people. And Escobar listed a guy who paints his
house and someone who does his hair as his two gay friends. Again, he may well
be telling the truth, but with a statement like that he was just asking for
people to rip into him.
Melky Cabrera (LF-San Francisco)
You may not be surprised to find the Melk Man listed here, but it’s probably
not for the reasons you suspect. Cabrera is actually not listed here for
testing positive for PED’s and being suspended for 50 games in the middle of
the season. He’s not here for at first claiming that it was an accident. Nor is
he listed here for getting caught creating a fake website that supposedly
advertised the fake product he planned to blame for his positive test.
He’s on here for
showboating and taunting the Braves and the Atlanta crowd during SF’s trip to
Turner Field this season. Melky has no reason to be mad at the Braves. They traded
for him; gave him all the playing time in the world; and then cut ties with
him. During his stay in Atlanta, Cabrera was fat and simply not very good at
all at the plate or in the field. The Braves and their fans have some pretty
good reasons to not like Cabrera, but he doesn’t have a thing to be bitter
about towards them. And so in the end, if somebody was going to go down (and go
down hard), I wasn’t too upset that it was the Melk Man.
Manager
Nominees
Fredi Gonzalez (Manager-Atlanta)
Following the Braves loss to the Cardinals in the stupid 1-game playoff—during
which fans threw debris onto the field in protest of an awful call by the
umpires—Gonzalez said he was “disappointed” in the fans and said that their
actions were “uncalled for.” I am a Braves fan. I was there. And this one is
personal, so I’m going to address Mr. Gonzalez directly.
Look here, man. I’ve
spent more of my life following this team than you’ve spent sleeping. For about
98% of that time, I’ve felt like I was one of only a hundred or so people in
the state of Georgia who actually cared. I’ve lived every disappointment this
team has experienced over the last 25 years. Plenty of fan bases experience
pain from losing, but when a fan base or a city shares in it together it
becomes part of the fabric of that community. My experience has been mostly
alone. My experience has been anger, disappointment, sadness, and the sense
that nobody else around me shared my emotions or even had any idea what I was
upset about. There was a time when the people of this community allowed
themselves to get wrapped up in a thing like winning a baseball game. But that
was many years ago and that time was short lived. I’ve been waiting 20 years to
see this fan base act like they cared.
You say you were disappointed
in the fans? Huh. I’d never been prouder of them. If it matters, I didn’t throw
anything, but the burst of emotion, the public display of anger brought a smile
to my face. And let me just tell you this. You’ve been leading the team for 2
years. In your first season the team suffered one of the worst collapses in the
history of the game. It was exactly the sort of thing Mr. Cox never, ever
allowed to happen. In your second season the team lost a stupid 1-game playoff
at home, ending another season in disaster.
It was, by the way, the
12th time since 1996 that the team made it to the playoffs and did
not win a 2nd ring. You say you’re disappointed in me? The most
energetic crowd I’ve ever seen at Turner Field shows up and brings it from the
first pitch to the final out and you say you’re disappointed in them? Well,
we’re not exactly thrilled with you.
You got an easy job
here. Compared to New York, the concept of “media scrutiny” doesn’t even exist
in Atlanta. This community is too concerned with hospitality and manners to
ever express their feelings the way that fans in Philly do. You don’t even have
to deal with bosses who demand excellence, as your bosses are just trying not
to lose any money in the deal. It doesn’t get much easier than being the
manager of the Atlanta Braves. But you got a long way to go to be 5% of Mr.
Cox.
And on behalf of all of
the fans who care enough to do something as absurd as throwing things onto the
field when the league and the umpires go out of their way to screw us in our
ass, I suggest that you just keep your mouth shut the fuck up when it comes to
this fan base and this community. You just do your job and stay quiet. You do
something good and then you can talk. Til then: just be quiet.
Bobby Valentine
(Manager-Boston) Okay, so Bobby V is nominated for...well, I mean what didn’t
he do wrong in his one year running the show in Boston? I expected him to have
a hard time. I hoped he’d have an awful time. But I could never have dreamed it
would go as badly as it did.
In fact, Valentine’s
one year in Boston was such a dumpster fire it would actually be hard for me to
do it justice with a short recap here. Instead, please see Alex Speier’s
terrific Bobby V in Boston timeline here: http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/alex-speier/2012/10/04/year-chaos-bobby-valentine-timeline.
Front
Office Nominees
Jeffrey Loria
(Owner-Marlins) Well, whataya know. Loria finds himself back in the running for
a TBBDOTY award again this year. He spent all of that money trying to buy some
wins after the city bought him a new stadium. The team bombed just as many
artificially built squads have done in the past.
But Loria’s no dummy
when it comes to making sure he sucks every penny out of every dollar he can
get his greedy hands on. For what has to be the 4th or 5th
time in the team’s 20-year history, the Marlins held a fire sale after the
season.
Actually, Loria really
began selling off assets during the 2nd half of the season. But he
made the big moves earlier this offseason, sending a slew of quality players to
the Blue Jays for little in return other than prospects who may or may not turn
out to be Major Leaguers.
As mentioned earlier,
Loria also unretired the #5 jersey that had been dedicated to the team’s first
president so that Logan Morrison could have it. This guy is a snake. A good
business man I suppose, but a snake.
John Henry, Tom Werner,
Larry Lucchino (Owners-Red Sox) The Sox owners must make the list this season
due to their role in allowing this great franchise to turn into an ugly
combination of the worst parts of the Yankees, Jets, Lakers, and Cowboys. It’s
kind of remarkable that this ownership group has become unpopular amongst the diehard
members of the fan base. And unpopular is probably an understatement.
Consider, New England
Sports Ventures purchased the club in 2002, and the Red Sox won their first
World Series title in 86 years in 2004. They then won another title just 3
years later in 2007. Here we are in 2012 (or actually 2013) and many of the
most passionate Boston Red Sox fans see Henry, Werner, and Lucchino not as
saviors, but as corruptors. And those fans have a point.
Now, it’s not entirely
ownership’s fault that the clubhouse went from “Cowboy Up” to “My Super Sweet
Sixteen” but they haven’t really done much to stop it. The John Henry crew didn’t
shy away from “expanding the brand.” The scene at Fenway and the experience of
being a Red Sox fan in New England has certainly changed. The last 3 or 4 years
have seen the rise of pink hats, of “Sweet Caroline” being played each and
every night regardless of score, and of the sellout streak continuing publicly despite
having obviously come to an end in reality. You might say that they had every
right to try and get as much money out of this cash cow as possible. But they didn’t
have to.
Last year’s collapse was
sort of a rude awakening, and once everybody was awake, the ugliness of the
situation began to emerge. It got uglier during the offseason. The Bobby
Valentine hire has to rank up there with the most ill-advised moves any franchise
has made in recent memory. Who knows if the Sox have hit rock bottom yet.
There are indications
that Red Sox ownership has its eyes and resources elsewhere—namely, European
Soccer. This has angered some of those same passionate Red Sox fans who haven’t
appreciated the commercialization of their franchise, but it might not be the
worst thing in the world if Henry and his boys sell the Sox to someone new. It
might be best for Boston and Baseball.
Media
Nominees
Tim McCarver (Former
MLB Catcher/Longtime Color Analyst) The guy is a likely candidate any year and
will almost certainly become an annual automatic candidate at some point. This
year he’s nominated for just one of the many idiotic comments he makes on a
daily basis.
During the postseason,
McCarver talked in heroic terms of former big league pitcher Bill “Spaceman”
Lee, who continues to play competitive baseball in some form or another, well
into his sixties.
Joe Buck then asked
McCarver to describe his feelings when he sees Roger Clemens pitching in the
minor leagues. McCarver responded “sadness.”
Oh sob. Oh cry. Oh
boo-hoo. Boo-hoo. Will the good ol’ boys from baseball’s golden era ever have
their poor broken hearts mended? Or will they continue to moralize, grandstand,
and romanticize about their own lives while condemning the lives of the men who
came after them until the day they rot and lie stinking in the Earth?
Former
Player Nominees
Reginald Martinez
Jackson (Former MLB Outfielder/Hall-of-Famer) Reggie usually doesn’t bother me.
But every once and a while he comes out with a statement or comment that makes
you shake your head and wonder “what exactly did he think the reaction would
be?”
This year Mr. October
came out of nowhere with a page full of uncool and unknowledgeable comments,
all springing from an interview he did with SI in July which he seemingly
forgot was going to be published.
One of the major
headlines was Jackson’s commentary on Alex Rodriguez. Jackson’s take—that
A-Rod’s numbers are tainted—is not one that I share, but I think we can safely
assume that it’s a statement many (if not most) people would at the very least
not find controversial. What did seem controversial is that he would actually
make that statement; in an interview with Sports Illustrated; while being
employed by the Yankees as a special advisor; and after prefacing his comments
by stating that A-Rod was “a very good friend.” I mean, I’m not gonna make that
sort of statement about one of my friends off
the record, and I certainly wouldn’t say it to Sports Illustrated.
This was also during
the middle of the season. It was just weird. It was hard to imagine that
Jackson didn’t understand that this was going to get a reaction from the media
and the public, and therefore become an issue.
Jackson went on to say
that he didn’t think any players that used steroids should be allowed in the
Hall-of-Fame. Understand, he wasn’t saying that he didn’t think those players
“would” be allowed in the HOF; he said he didn’t think that they “should” be
in. And he’s not a commentator or a voter or a fan; he’s a member of the HOF.
That’s just not cool in my opinion.
I know Jackson’s not
the only former player or HOF member to make that sort of statement, but I
haven’t liked any of those statements by other players either. He went on to
say that if any of those players were elected to the HOF he expected some
members to boycott. In fact, he said, “If any of those guys get in, no Hall of
Famer will attend.” So in that statement he was basically saying he wouldn’t
attend.
Now, I’m sorry, but I
find it impossible to believe that no living member of the HOF would attend
Mark McGwire’s HOF induction. Actually, some guys, such as Mike Schmidt, would
basically have to do a 180 on previous statements in order for that to happen. But
just the idea that Jackson was saying an appropriate response to Roger Clemens
or Barry Bonds getting elected to the HOF would be a total boycott is pretty
douchey.
Strangely, when asked
about Andy Pettitte, Jackson seemed to think he was a special case. He said
with Andy it might be different because he admitted that he “got involved for a
while” but he is “so universally respected in the game.” That’s interesting for
many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that there had to be many,
many guys who didn’t or don’t respect Mr. October.
This also suggests that
Jackson is voicing something that seems obvious to those of us who don’t
condemn PED guys: personality and how well liked a player is greatly impacts
the level of criticism and vilification they receive for using PED’s. It’s also
intriguing that Jackson seems to be saying that PED use is not an
all-or-nothing issue. In other words, someone who is thought to have “dabbled”
in PED’s might be seen as okay, despite the fact that they committed what is
reputedly an obviously immoral act.
Of course the other
interesting point is that Jackson seems to feel that Pettitte’s election to the
HOF will hinge on whether or not he is pardoned for his PED’s use. The idea
that Andy Pettitte might not be elected regardless of his PED’s use doesn’t
seem to have occurred to Jackson, or at least there’s no sign of it in the
portion of the interview that was published.
But if Jackson’s
comments had been restricted to whether or not PED’s users should be in the HOF
it wouldn’t have been as big of a foul up. It would still have been enough to
land Jackson on this list and make his frequent visits to the NYY clubhouse
awkward, but he wouldn’t have been as strong a candidate for BDOTY. It was
Jackson’s comments on his fellow HOF brethren that took this from a “not sure I
would have said that and I disagree” thing to a “dude, how could you say that
and you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about” thing.
I would think that most
hall-of-famers would simply decline to answer a question regarding what current
members shouldn’t be in the hall, even in an off-the-record situation. But
Jackson didn’t shy away at all. He named names. Several names. He did this
knowing that the article would be printed and knowing that he’ll be seeing
these guys at the HOF every time he goes for an induction ceremony or other
occasion.
Well, he’ll be seeing
some of those guys. He actually won’t ever have to encounter the first two
players he mentioned as not being Hall worthy in his eyes: “I didn’t see Kirby
Puckett as a Hall of Famer. I didn’t see Gary Carter as a Hall of Famer.” Oh.
I mean, the first two
guys he mentions are dead. And not only dead, recently dead, and dead “before
their time.” It’s not like he said, “I didn’t see Joe Gordon as a Hall of
Famer.” Among BBWA inductees, you have to go back to Willie Stargell to find
the next guy who has died since being elected. Stargell was elected in 1988 and
died in 1991. Puckett was elected in 2001 and died in 2006 at the age of 45.
His baseball career and his life ended tragically and both his retirement and
death occurred fairly recently. Carter was elected in 2003 and he died in February.
Last February. He was 57 and died of cancer. That was 5 months before the
interview was published.
But Jackson would get
around to calling out some guys who he’d stand a better chance of seeing again
in person on this planet: “I didn’t see Don Sutton as a Hall of Famer. I didn’t
see Phil Niekro as a Hall of Famer.” Jackson also stated that as much as he
liked Jim Rice, he’s “not so sure he’s a Hall of Famer.” Reggie didn’t think
Bert Blyleven should have gotten in either, stating that “Blyleven wasn’t even
the dominant pitcher of his era; Jack Morris was.”
So this about wrapped
up RJ’s most controversial comments of the piece. Man, where to begin? I guess
I’ll start by saying that once again, it would appear that Jackson almost
didn’t understand that (a) this interview would be published and (b) the
comments would get some attention. A part of him must have known both of these
things, which also means that a part of him had to be okay with the idea that
he was going to have to see both the living hall of famers who he knocked, and
the friends of the dead hall of famers that he rejected.
I think the most
egregious aspect of the whole interview was the level of unawareness. There’s
also the egotistical way of thinking that would allow him to make such uncouth
statements. But I think we should also discuss whether Jackson’s comments—apart
from being lame—we’re also incorrect. It’s hard to nail down a definition of
what a Hall of Famer is exactly, but Jackson seemed to single out certain
players as not worthy, while not mentioning others who he presumably feels are
worthy.
Let’s go in order,
starting with Puckett. When dealing with Puckett, it must be remembered that
his career ending suddenly due to a central retinal vein occlusion in one eye.
In 1995 at the age of 35, Puckett posted an .894 OPS. Then he woke up one day
in March of 1996, a week before the start of the season, and had no vision in
one eye. He never played again. When dealing with someone who had his career
cut short, you kind of have to go on a case by case basis. Clearly, you have to
draw the line somewhere, but 12 full seasons is plenty.
And when you look at
the cases of a Puckett or a Lou Gehrig, it isn’t a situation where a guy’s body
broke down earlier than some others, it’s a fluke medical condition and
shouldn’t be seen as different from a
player getting injured or dying in an accident. So Puckett’s total numbers
aren’t going to rank near the top, but if you look at his play over that
12-year stretch, it’s certainly impressive. And he was well on his way to some
important milestones for hall of fame voters, such as 3000 hits.
In his 12 years,
Puckett won 2 WS, 1 batting title, 6 Gold Gloves, 6 Silver Slugger Awards, and
was a 10-time All-Star. Some of those things are affected by popularity, and
Puckett was certainly one of the most popular players of his time, but you
don’t win all of those awards just for being well-liked. He had a .318 lifetime
batting average.
Finally, Puckett was
elected on the first ballot. Again, popularity plays a role, and we could also
speculate that voters felt bad about his career being cut short. The whole
“first ballot” thing is silly anyway. Still, the very fact that he was elected
on his first ballot is a testament to the notion that those who watched him
play most certainly saw him as a HOF during his time. Nobody’s mind had to be
changed over the years.
I will say that I was
surprised that Puckett was elected so quickly, not because I didn’t think he
was worthy, but because so many great players had not gotten in on the first
ballot. I did also have some concerns that voters might punish him for not having
some of the totals that have traditionally been valued such as 3000 hits.
Puckett also had a relatively low number of homers for his era. But I certainly
thought Puckett was worthy.
For me, Gary Carter’s
election was a bit of a shock. I was a fan during Carter’s last few years, and
I knew of his role on the 1986 Mets, but I had never known him as a super star.
Part of this was due to the fact that he played much of his career in Montreal
during the late 70’s. While I’m familiar with the best of the best from every
era in baseball history, I know considerably more about 80’s baseball than any
previous decade, as that’s when I became a fan,
and I know more about the 90’s, 00’s, and 10’s than the 80’s because I
was a fanatic during those decades.
My point is that there
are guys like Carter--who came up in the 70’s, and played most of his career in
French Canada for a team that rarely made the playoffs--who I didn’t realize
were as good during their prime as they really were. When I thought of the
great catchers of all-time, I went Yogi, Bench, Fisk and then the players of my
day (Ivan Rodriguez, Piazza, Posada). I also knew that Roy Campanella was one
of the all-time greats who had his career cut short. I had never thought of
Carter like that, but after Carter got elected and I read what some of the best
baseball minds said about him I realized that he was thought to be the game’s
best catcher for a number of years.
Of course, the other
reason I downgraded Carter was that he played in the era just before the
offensive explosion, and his numbers just weren’t on the same level as the guys
in my day. And catcher offensive numbers are always weird because they often
don’t look great compared with the best offensive players, but compared to the
average catcher they are fantastic.
Actually, one other
thing I’d like to say about Carter speaks to that issue. In an article
suggesting that hall of fame voters are slow to elect catchers and harder on
catchers in general than other players, the great Bill James used the fact that
it took Carter 6 years to be elected to make his point. In other words, James
thought he should have been elected much sooner. That’s pretty much good enough
for me to say that Reggie is off on that one.
By the way, I also
wasn’t a big fan of Gary Carter the person, so that probably influenced how I
thought of him as a player. Finally, just for the record, Carter was an 11 time
All-Star, won 3 GG, and 5 SS.
Naming Don Sutton
wasn’t as surprising, first off because he hadn’t recently died, and also
because it took him longer than most 300 game winners to get in. And he has
been cited by baseball writers as being a fringe guy. However, in my opinion,
Sutton is absolutely worthy. He was very good for a very long time. That, in my
mind, is enough to get a guy into the hall. For some, a guy has to have a
period of unquestioned excellence, but I don’t feel that way because I think
consistency and longevity are important.
Either way, Sutton won
324 games and ranks 7th all-time in innings pitched and strikeouts.
He was a 4-time AS, although he never won a Cy Young. He finished in the top 10
in his league in ERA 8 times; in WHIP 14 times; in IP 10 times; in K’s 13
times; and in WARP 4 times. He led the NL in ERA in 1980 and led the NL in WHIP
4 times.
If Jackson was going to
name names at all, it wasn’t a surprise to hear Niekro’s name. Knucksie won 318
games, yet he also needed 5 years to get in. Niekro led the NL in ERA in 1967;
he led the league in IP 4 times; he led the NL in K’s in 1977; and he led the
league in WAR in 1978. Twice he led the league in WARP. He finished in the top
10 of his league in ERA 4 times; in WHIP 5 times; in IP 11 times; in K’s 7
times; and in WARP 12 times. He was a 5-time AS and won 5 GG. He is 4th
all-time in IP and 11th in K’s.
To me, Niekro is certainly a hall of
famer, and I think he was unfairly downgraded by some for things like walks
(which don’t matter if you strike guys out and don’t give runs) and losses
(which a guy who goes deep into every start for a usually bad team is going to
compile no matter what).
Jim Rice is another guy
that some writers have looked at as a cut below the hall of fame. It took Rice
the full 15 years to make it; he barely made it over 75%; and he was below 30%
on his first ballot. However, I think Rice’s personality hurt him with the
voters, as did the offensive explosion that occurred immediately after his
career ended. More sophisticated baseball people have pointed to the fact that
he was one-dimensional, poor defensively, played in a great hitter’s park, and
really had only a few peak years.
But I don’t really see
what the fuss is about. He ended his career with a .298/.352/.502/.854 line,
382 homers, and 1423 RBI before the PED’s era. Those aren’t Reggie Jackson
numbers, but the hall has never been restricted to merely the top 50 players of
all-time. It just has never been that. Rice is close enough for me.
Finally, Jackson
mentioned Blyleven. What interests me most about Blyleven is that there was a
time where he didn’t appear to have any chance of getting into the HOF.
Blyleven needed 14 years to make it and in his 2nd year on the
ballot he got just 14.1%. I mean that’s pretty amazing.
The other interesting
thing is that Blyleven seemed to be one of the guys that the more intellectual
writers actually pushed for. Some of the criticisms of Blyleven were actually
silly things such as his relatively weak winning percentage (which is almost
meaningless), the fact that he didn’t win 300 games (used to matter more), and
the fact that he led the league in homers allowed at the age of 35 and 36 (who
cares?).
He led his league in
WARP twice and WAR once. He finished in the top 10 in the league in WHIP 11
times and in ERA 10 times. He is 5th all-time in K’s. He also led
his league in CG once and in shutouts 3 times. Blyleven is definitely worthy.
But the best part of
what Jackson said about Blyleven was that he wasn’t the dominant pitcher of his
era and that Jack Morris was. To begin with, being the “dominant” pitcher or
player at your position in your era is most certainly not a requirement for the
HOF and it never has been. If that were a requirement, the hall would be a lot
smaller.
Next, you could make
the case that Blyleven and Morris really didn’t share the same era. Yes, their
careers overlapped, but Blyleven pitched from 1970 to 1992, while Morris
pitched from 1977 to 1994, so Blyleven had been in the league 7 years before
Morris made his first appearance. Jackson seems to look at the 80’s as
Blyleven’s era, but he pitched every season of both the 70’s and 80’s.
Now on to Morris, who
for some reason is remembered by both fans and players alike as being this
dominant ace pitcher, but he simply wasn’t, at least not “during his era” and
he wasn’t really even that on a yearly basis. I believe the stat that sticks in
a lot of minds is that Morris was the “winningest pitcher of the 80’s.” But for
one thing, decades are really just nice organizers and separators. The “decade”
from 1978 to 1988 has no less significance than the “decade of the 80’s.” So
while it’s neat to separate centuries into decades, it doesn’t really mean
anything.
Furthermore, as most
baseball fans have come to accept, pitching W-L records are just not very good
stats. They are fun to look at and interesting in some ways, and because of the
history of the stat they still do have some meaning, but as far as determining
how good or bad a pitcher was during a particular year or during their career
the win-loss records are not very useful.
The facts are that
Morris never finished 1st or 2nd in Cy Young voting. Not
that Cy Young awards and 2nd place finishes are required for the
HOF, but if you are trying to establish that a guy was “the dominant pitcher of
his era,” when you come across the fact that he was never voted as even the 2nd
best pitcher of the AL in any season your claim is almost DOA. If a guy is
obviously good enough to be considered the dominant guy, he’s going to contend
for the Cy Young in at least a few years. For example, from 1986 to 1992,
during which point Morris was certainly still at the top of his game, Roger
Clemens won 3 Cy Youngs and finished 2nd another year.
What’s more, Morris
never finished in the top 4 in the league in ERA or in the top 3 in the league
in WHIP. It seems virtually impossible that a guy could be considered “the guy”
of a certain era despite never leading his league in ERA even once (or ever finishing
in the top 4!). Morris also failed to rank in the top 4 in his league in WARP
in any season. Jack Morris was a very good pitcher for a long time and he had
some truly special moments in the postseason. If Morris is elected to the HOF I
won’t throw the fit that a lot of writers will, but he was not the dominant
pitcher of any era. And he’s really not close to as good as Blyleven.
In conclusion, what we
have here with Reggie is an example of his ego and his mouth being stronger
than his level of awareness. And we also have yet another example of one of the
best players of his time not really having any idea what he is talking about,
even when it comes to the very era that he played in.
The
Finalists and the Award Winner
Third Place: Albert and
Deidre Pujols (1B-Anaheim/Wife)
Runner-up: Josh
Hamilton (LF-Texas)
Winner: Bobby Valentine
(Manager-Boston)
Comments: Well this
thing was almost pre-ordained. It had to be Bobby V. Seriously, if we did odds
on who 2012’s BDOTY winner would be, Valentine would have to have been one of
the favorites.
Nyjer Morgan’s 2-year
run comes to an end. To be fair to T. Plush, if he hadn’t been relegated to the
bench this season he may well have done something obnoxious enough to make a
run at a 3-peat.
60
Memories, Moments, Stories, and Scenes from the 2012 MLB Season (No Particular
Order)
1. Marlins load up
2. Angels load on
3. Dodgers buy in
4. O’s magical luck
5. Pirates stir hope
and then fade (again)
6. Trout vs. Cabrera
7. Mo Rivera goes down
8. Clemens comes back
but not all the way
9. No hitters and
perfectos galore
10. Strasburg shutdown
11. The playoffs gain a
gimmick
12. Braun escapes
13. Melky busted
14. No luck for the
Phils
15. A-Pu struggles
16. The Dodgers take
Boston’s baggage
17. No peace in Boston
18. Hamilton gets
hotter than hot
19. A’s out of nowhere
20. Ozzie being Ozzie
21. Marlins quit
22. White Sox fade
23. Yankees slump
24. The drama of the
final weekend
25. A’s stun the
Rangers
26. O’s magic continues
27. A’s won’t die
28. Yanks finally put O’s
to bed
29. Tigers finally
silence A’s
30. A-Rod back to the
bad ol’ days
31. Ibanez
32. Jeter goes down
33. Chipper says goodbye
34. Yankees die slow
and silent death
35. Infield fly
36. Nats melt
37. Cards pound out
another near-death comeback
38. Giants stun Reds
39. Giants finally put
Cards away
40. Giants win again
41. Melky concedes
42. The great 1st
round
43. The awful ALCS
44. The sleepy sweep in
the WS
45. Bobby V and Youk
46. Tu ere maricon
47. Cliff Lee’s bizarre
season
48. Hamilton’s
obedience
49. Hamilton’s mega
slump
50. Adam Greenberg and
Moonlight Graham
51. Mets get their
no-hitter (with a little help)
52. LA’s deal doesn’t
deliver the goods
53. Ichiro reborn in
the Bronx
54. Pettitte returns
55. Kerry Wood retires...in
May
56. Melky misses
October, but his Mid-Summer Classic heroics still payoff
57. Verlander blows up
in the ASG and the WS
58. Trout, Harper, Yu,
and Yoenis
59. RA Dickey
60. Cabrera’s Triple
Crown
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