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Thursday, July 24, 2003
how to philosophize with a hammer
tom verducci of si is a typical idiot sports columnist. i don't know why i read his column, but i did, so now i have to smash it to tiny pieces.
whatever he starts off with some stuff about how barry bonds is an asshole. what else is new?
then there are some letters regarding the hall of fame:
I know they still have plenty of years left, but what do you think of the Hall of Fame chances for the following players: Gary Sheffield, Edgar Martinez and Juan Gonzalez?
--Derrick S., Casper, Wyo.
Tough calls, all of them. I can't say any of the three is a lock right now, so their candidacies are still in doubt. Sheffield has a good chance if he gets to 500 home runs, which means he would need to have a few more years like the one he's currently having. Martinez is a borderline candidate. He's hurt by being a DH and by starting his big-league career at a later age than most players, which, combined with injuries, have held down his overall career numbers. Gonzalez should get to 500 home runs, which has been a magic number for enshrinement.
the bbwaa probably thinks the order of greatness is this: gonzo sheff martinez. actually, they got it backwards. edmart has had one great season after another, and deserves to be the first dh in the hall of fame. harold baines sure as hell don't. gary has been great for a long time, but he hasn't been noticed because of injuries and pitcher's parks. he's the borderline one. and juan gone, despite the cool nickname, has been one of the most overrated players of his generation. he didn't deserve either of the mvp's he won. he played in a hitter's park and was an out machine. but those are the players the writers love.
the 500-hr club is not a magic number anymore. so many active players will reach it that it will lose its meaning.
here's the other one:
Do you see similarities in the careers of Don Mattingly, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas? All three had brilliant starts, but then limped along as mediocre players for the second half of their careers. Donnie Baseball probably won't end up in Cooperstown. Do you think Thomas and Griffey might not end up there, either?
-- Stuart Lutz, Jersey City, N.J.
There are similarities among the three, but Griffey and Thomas had more "Hall of Fame" seasons than Mattingly before they got hurt. I still think Griffey and Thomas have a real good shot at Cooperstown. Mattingly never did recover his power or that great torque in his swing. There's no reason Thomas and Griffey should be diminished like that. They can come back with big seasons.
he's mostly correct here, but he stops short of saying anything. thomas and griffey are already in the hall. and mattingly is just another overrated yankee. and frank---not can---is coming back with a good season.
the next letter is about tom glavine. why did tom go to the mets? didn't he know they suck? look, first of all, baseball players don't think about who sucks. teams change all the time. sometimes they suck and sometimes they're good. he went to the mets because the mets paid him. the braves weren't going to, so he had to leave.
instead of reporting the truth, verducci tries to be a psychologist, which is laughable. glavine felt more comfortable around the old players, he says. glavine wants to make the hall. glavine blah blah blah, blah blah blah. some of these things may be true, but they're not the reason he moved. the reason he moved was he needed a job. this is not an uncommon event in people's lives. when you need a job, you look at your offers, and you decide where you want to live. i'd rather live in new york than philadelphia, too.
then there are some other letters that are either vacuously correct or noncommittal. why do people read this crap? is there nothing better? there's definitely better stuff. maybe they're too lazy to find it. or maybe they think the si or the espn.com next to the name makes them important.
i'm gonna shut up now.
note to nietzsche fans: you may think the twilight of the idols reference is incorrect, with the "tiny pieces" comment. think again.
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