Comments on: Pinch hitting: John Ettinger

By: roundbaout

roundbaout — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:41:23 +0000

Maris and greenies advantage? Please, come on.
Maris’ biggest advantage is he batted ahead of Mickey Mantle (he of 54 HRs and one of the top players of all time). Pitchers took their chance with Maris, who was an excellent player at bat, in the field and on the bases.

By: Joe S formerliy of Brooklyn

Joe S formerliy of Brooklyn — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:04:28 +0000

I apologize for adding this, which has nothing to do with the bit about Hank Aaron:

One of the things that baseball had when I was young (5 decades ago, plus)

– and when my dad (who is dead) was young, in the 1930s

– and still has, to some extent, for a smaller portion of the population —

– is that baseball players are Admired By Kids.

Many baseball players look something like other citizens. They are black and white and Hispanic (tell me how many Hispanics are in the Super Bowl). They are even Oriental (Wang and Ichiro and Godzilla!).

They are not huge, like football’s linemen. They don’t hit other people, generally speaking, to make their living (they hit baseballs to do it, or they specialize in making other players miss).

They aren’t, for the most part, Canadian (like hockey players). Other than CC Sabathia, most Yankees are not tall enough to play basketball. Perhaps The Big Unit was tall enough to play basketball, but I guarantee — he’d miss all of his foul shots in the clutch!!!

- – - – -

Kids can identify with baseball players. I would think that’s a good thing, and a thing that MLB would like to encourage and, maybe, keep. It is, of course, the reason you see so much of Derek Jeter (I live in the D.C. area, not NYC metro, and we still see Derek a lot down here). They promote Jeter heavily because, thus far, he hasn’t acted like a complete and utter schmuck, he didn’t throw a broken bat at Mike Piazza, Varitek didn’t intimidate Derek at the plate, and — whaever the guy’s sex life is or isn’t, you don’t get to read about it!

- – - – -

So there’s an issue with Steroids and the other performance-enhancing drugs beyond Maris and Ruth and Hank Aaron.

Kids deserve to think that CHEATERS LOSE. If they don’t lose at the moment they cheat, they should be crushed at the end — no Hall of Fame for the cheaters seems reasonable (not punishment for them, but what’s proper for the rest of us).

The issue is The Right Thing.

Saying “well, the played the games and the records were set” is not right. Humans were born with a sense of right and wrong; you already knew it wasn’t right before I typed this. Making an argument like “they played the games and didn’t suspend the players” is a Lawyer’s argument.

Good luckk with that.

- – - – -

That’s reason enough to take Sosa, Giambi, McGwire, Clemens, A-Rod, and Bonds, and put them on a boat. If there’s room, fill up any empty spaces with Lawyers.

Sail the boat off into the middle of the Atlantic — and then drop a nuke on it.

By: Joe S formerliy of Brooklyn

Joe S formerliy of Brooklyn — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:40:26 +0000

I apologize for changing the subject, but the remarkable thing (to me) is that Hank Aaron’s name doesn’t appear on either of the lists —

– even after you scrub from the single-season HR list the drug-using SOBs . . . who ought to be Executed, not enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

When you think about Aaron hitting all those dingers, and the fact that he’s not on the single-season list, you realize that what he provided was Consistent Excellence.

And: Isn’t that what baseball is really all about?

By: Don Capone

Don Capone — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:29:50 +0000

Well, Maris is still the A.L. leader for a single season. Just wanted to point that out.

By: Tony C

Tony C — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:31:33 +0000

The most interesting and telling statistic in this whole mess is the length of time that Ruth’s and Maris’ records stood. Even with all the so-called advantages Maris’ contemporaries had, Ruth’s record stood for 34 years. In the ensuing years with even more supposed advantages, Maris’ total stood for 37 seasons. Once steroids became rampant, Maris’ record fell 6 times in 4 seasons. Steroids clearly created the greatest enhancement power wise in the history of the game. Greenies, alcohol, and even Flintstone chew-ables, obviously weren’t remotely as effective as steroids.
My point is: if players after Ruth and before McGwire/Sosa/ Bonds had so many purported advantages, why did it take 34 and 37 years respectively to break the single season HR mark? Maybe the report of these advantages was greatly exaggerated?

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:44:08 +0000

It’s Foxx. As his nickname stated, Double X.

Horace Clarke. With an e at the end.

Skowron.

Just saying.

By: Leah

Leah — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:36:04 +0000

“John has always been a Yankees fan, counting Phil Hughes as his favorite player, ‘”since the day he was drafted.’”

Me too!!

By: GreenBeret7

GreenBeret7 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:13:23 +0000

ortforshort
February 7th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
It’s interesting that Maris’ record is now considered so sacred when, at the time, it was the first record to get an asterisk. There were eight additional games and, more importantly, it was the first ever expansion year and offense exploded that year due to the watered down pitching staffs. In baseball, every statistic that you can name cannot be compared generation to generation straight on. For example, before 1947 there were no black players thus watering down the competition considerably. Before 1920, you could throw a spitball and balls were kept in games becoming dark, hard, misshapen rocks (they even retrieved foul balls from the stands). That all changed when ***Ben Chapman*** got killed by one of these monstrosities and new balls were routinely placed into games. Anyway, there are so many variables that unless you want to do a protracted study on any comparison of stats between generations, you’re better off taking the numbers at face value and leaving it at that.

————————————————————

The name was ***Ray Chapman***

By: YYankee.

YYankee. — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:12:06 +0000

awesome post!!! well done.

By: dont-forget-where-you-came-from cheese mac

dont-forget-where-you-came-from cheese mac — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:05:53 +0000

I don’t see how the level of infraction is relatively low. Indeed, in light of this supposed “custom and practice” turning of a blind eye, maybe it is much more rampant than we ever knew.

I see no difference. It all boils down to players trying to get an edge. First it was spitters and corked bats, now its PED’s. Maybe it seems worse because “oooh Drugs!”, but really there is no difference.

I think the fact that spitters and corked bats get a pass is some old timey, whimsical romanticization of the game perpetuated by out of touch reporters who look back fondly on “the good old days.” As someone earlier said, cheating is cheating. Its just a matter of what you are willing to personally overlook, for whatever reason.