Blame The Superstar Syndrome
by James Kannengieser on Apr 30, 2010 6:00 AM EDT
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I was in the building for last Thursday's Mets-Cubs game and experienced the early season booing of David Wright. The ignorant howls of the fanbase's dregs were audible during recent teevee broadcasts so it wasn't a totally unexpected phenomenon. Regardless, it was a firsthand reminder of the "blame the superstar syndrome" that has plagued Mets fans, the mainstream media and even the Mets front office in recent years. It's not exclusive to the Mets, but given the disappointments of the last few seasons, and the presence of legit superstars on the roster, there probably isn't a more drastic example of the syndrome anywhere else in MLB.
Conflating team performance with individual performance seems to be one root of the problem. When a team has success, its stars are unreasonably glorified. Witness the deification of Derek Jeter or the suggestion that Andy Pettitte (but not Bert Blyleven) is a Hall of Famer. Conversely, when a team fails, the stars seem to unfairly bear the brunt of the vitriol from fans. The Phillies-Mets dichotomy is a perfect illustration. Met fans know the storyline by heart now -- the Philles' core has been no better than the Mets core, yet Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are a bunch of gritty winners while Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are choke artists with no testicular fortitude.
In the specific case of Wright, another problem is that most fans don't realize just how awesome he was before 2009. Team-wide failure diminished individual triumph. He was a 7-8 win player on multiple occasions but fan perception was probably more like 5-6 given the circumstances. Had the Mets won the World Series in any of those seasons, he would probably be perceived as a 9-10 win player. When Wright's performance dropped off last year to the three win range, it probably felt more like 1-2 wins for a lot of fans. Met fans were spoiled by the Wright of '05-'08. Hall of Fame caliber performance was taken for granted.
This syndrome is fostered by media bigshots like Bill Simmons, who created an incredibly flawed meme, "Ewing Theory" (Ewing won a national title at Georgetown, how does this theory make any sense?) which fosters the "blame the superstar" mentality. The New York based press is notorious for this behavior as well. Kevin Kernan and Mike Lupica are two noteworthy trolls Beltran haters. There are dozens of similar examples but I have neither the time nor motivation to link them.
Recent comments by Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti displayed that it's not just fans and talk radio blockheads who play the superstar blame game. The Dodgers aren't playing very well, so Colletti took to the airwaves and called out Matt Kemp, otherwise known as the Dodgers' best player. Kemp was undoubtedly annoyed, and his agent Dave Stewart had some harsh words for the man who gave bloated Andruw Jones a fat $36 million contract and traded solid prospect Josh Bell for middle reliever George Sherrill. Colletti messed up big-time with his comments about Kemp and doesn't seem to be remorseful (check out Memories of Kevin Malone for a good take on the situation). The whole thing reminded me of Omar Minaya's "edge" comments about Wright and Reyes last season. For anyone who's forgotten, here is what he said:
There is a smile on David Wright's face, a smile on Jose Reyes's face. But there is not an edge to them.
It's not on par with booing or Colletti's invective, but it's something. Wright and Reyes don't complain about Omar's failure to surround them with complementary players; Omar shouldn't make asinine statements about the goldmine he inherited on the left side of the infield. Rob Neyer recently relayed a Bill James-ism that "lousy organizations tend to blame their best players when things aren't going well." The Mets and Dodgers aren't exactly the Royals or Astros, but I would classify them as lousy organizations. Contrast Colletti and Omar with Theo Epstein defending Jacoby Ellsbury's defense or Brian Cashman never publicly saying Jeter's defense was subpar. Bill James's line rings true.
This post is sort of all over the place and not as eloquent as originally hoped. And I suspect most reading this probably feel the same way about the human garbage who boo the best position player in Mets history. It's just something that needed to be expressed. There's no real message here, outside of the obvious concept that fans, and general managers, shouldn't crap on their team's laudable players.
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Wright also has the problem of being a generalist...
I was reminded of another Bill James quote while reading this piece: “Specialists and players who do two or three things well are overrated; players who do several things well are underrated.”
Because of his wide-ranging skillset, Wright may always be somewhat underrated.
by sjohnson125 on Apr 30, 2010 7:08 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
this is a good point
hence why Ryan Howard is generally regarded by Phillies fans as better than Chase Utley
2009 Did Not Happen
This MIGHT be true...
But only because I think most baseball fans, generally, think Ryan Howard is better. And that’s because most baseball fans are are casual fans who look at HR/RBI, W/ERA/SV, etc. I don’t think there’s anything endemic to Philadelphia.
And Chase Utley is hugely, hugely popular among Phillies fans, albeit somewhat taken for granted.
As to the main point of the article: I give you Donovan McNabb
http://www.thegoodphight.com
yea, sorry
I didn’t mean to imply that it was just Phillies fans who thought that way – I was just using that as an example. You’re right though, most baseball fans in general think Howard is better.
The only fanbase in baseball that goes against the grain for this is the Yankees and their worship of St. Derek the Jeter. I mean, he’s not spectacular at anything, but he’s above average to very good at pretty much everything (maybe even defense now). Of course, they also think Teix is better than ARod, so who knows.
And agreed completely re: McNabb.
2009 Did Not Happen
not offended
The only thing that gets me about the attention and accolades Utley gets is that it’s too much of the “Oh, he’s such a gritty gamer! He plays the right way!” variety (“grissiony” if you will) and not enough of the “OMFG his peer is Albert Pujols” type.
McNabb was beloved for his first five or so seasons here (notwithstanding “THEY BOOED HIM AT THE DRAFT” which was really just 30 tards rounded up by our tard sportstalk station 610 WIP and bussed to NYC). The fulcrum point for him was obviously the Super Bowl. It’s debatable whether McNabb was the team’s best player for his entire run in Philly (Dawkins and Westbrook have claims), but as the QB he was obviously the subject of that scrutiny. Add in that he’s a pretty affable, laid back guy and not SUPER INTENSE LIKE PETE ROSE and it was bound to end badly absent a Championship.
Maybe not even then. Hell, Cole Hamels almost single-handedly won this team a World Series and he’s getting pillored now.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
For me the Cole Hamels thing was exclusively because of those strange adds he made haha.
In lobby campaign for Chris Carter.
That's part of the reason Pujols gets underrated
also because he didn’t suck when he came up. When high profile rookies come up and struggle and then take off they seem to get more media attention for it than rookies who are otherworldly right off the bat and stay at that same level the rest of their careers.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
great albert
Is Pujols really that underrated? I mean, isn’t he widely acknowledged as the best player in the game?
http://www.thegoodphight.com
meh
I think most people acknowledge him as great but among MSM and places like ESPN they seem to give him 1/4th of the attention they give to Howard/Jeter etc, they’re like yeah we know Pujols is good but he’s boring lets talk about Howards bombs or Jeter’s clutchosity instead.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
Being
Manny is the absolute worst w/r/t this. I’m still convinced half of the FOX Sports execs tried to commit suicide in 2008 when “Manny vs. Red Sox” World Series didn’t pan out.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
Fans are fickle, they say what have you done for me lately. Wright should never be booed, he has played mostly above average abll for us, even when in this slump most consider him one of the top 3B in the game. The guy needs encouragement, not booing.
believe me if he signed with another team after his contract was up Mets fan would hate it, we all want David to be a lifetime Mets.
It reminds me of Dan Marino in Miami. I lived down there the last few years he played. The fans booed him, and really tore into him on local radio. Mostly calling for him to retire. These fickle fans then changed their tune when Dan retired. For the next few years all they said was they wish they had dan, the next QBs couldn’t win either. Now they praised Dan, too bad they didn’t appreciate him during the end of his career
David is far from the end of his career, rather in his prime, maybe even still in the beginning of his career. Lets support him, root for him, and encourage him when he is down.
Booing DW is really disgusting.
But I have no problem with Omar’s quote. The way I understand his remark is the following: “Jose and David are great players, but we need them to step up a bit to be better leaders of this team.” And, I have no issues with this. Omar made the remark at a time when there were examples of lack of focus by the team: not hustling out of the gate, not sliding at home, lazy at bats, sloppy defense. David and Jose both seem to be genuinely nice guys but given their superior talents and paychecks, it should be part of their job description to call out their teammates on these occasions. Of course, it would help if Omar actually surrounded them by more competent players, but that’s another story.
actually it isn't part of their job description to call out their teammates
that is the job of the manager and it should almost always be done behind closed doors.
you're right that it should primarily be Manuel's job
but I’m afraid Omar dropped the ball there. However, I’m convinced successful teams have players that serve this role too. (While acknowledging that most of my knowledge of this issue comes from hockey and soccer, which are admittedly different sports.)
I agree
Typically, on this site and among many fans, issues of leadership and team dynamics are ignored or (more typically) lampooned. The voiced justification is that “we can’t quantify them, so why talk about them?” or something similar, but that doesn’t explain, for example, the criticism of Colletti or Minaya. Instead, the manifest attitude/position is that “leadership doesn’t matter,” the playing style of one player cannot affect the hitting of another, etc., etc., etc. This evolves into jokes about “grission,” etc., to the extent that whenever a player is lauded for playing hard, out come the jokes, wisecracks, puns, and Eckstein references.
I think that’s taking it too far, to put it mildly. Setting aside booing of Wright (idiotic), if someone like Omar suggests that his “core” players lack “an edge,” should we scoff at that because it’s difficult to argue the point? No. It’s no more “baseless” than arguing as to whether one “prefers” xFIP or tRA or any of these other “metrics.” The fact is, there’s dark matter out there — the team element. Players know this. Heck, anyone who has ever played a sport or participated in any cooperative human endeavor knows this. Most of the most orthodox stat-ascetics know this too, but the compartmentalize baseball. There are distractions. There is motivation. There is pressure. There is leadership. There is “an edge.”
by tmu on Apr 30, 2010 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
We should scoff at it because Omar should keep that stuff behind closed doors
It has nothing to do with mocking intangibles or grission or what have you. It’s criticizing a GM who said something stupid. Omar embarrassed his two best players by putting it out in the open. If he really believes it’s a problem he should go talk to them in private instead of running his mouth off in the press.
by James Kannengieser on Apr 30, 2010 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree, but. . .
. . . though it’s more the case in football, and I’m not saying it happened here, but sometimes you have to get players’ attention, a la Parcells/Terry Glenn. We may think of our beloved “core” as fresh-faced smileys, but they may not be.
Then the manager should do it not the gm
to me the gm is too high up to be calling out players if anything he should be a neutral mediator. It’s the kind of thing that could cause problems between the player and the whole organization. How would we feel if Wright/Reyes were so offended by the comments they wanted nothing else to do with the organization and walked after they’re contracts were up.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
Really?
If you were a player, who had signed a ridiculously team friendly deal to allow yourself to stay with the team, in both cases deals for well past when they would have been be FA eligible, well below market value for your skills to put them in the best position to build around you, and had had to put up with ridiculous criticism and lack of appreciation from most of the media/fan base, on top of incompetent management and team building around you, you wouldn’t be pissed off at the gm who built a roster full of holes calling you out after you’d been so loyal? If the gm/organization/fanbase isn’t being loyal to you after you gave them an extreme hometown discount why should you continue to be loyal to them.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
I'd be pissed
I wouldn’t storm out of town unless it was a pattern of conduct or I had independent reasons to want to leave.
let's say they were 24-26 when this happened (I don't know exactly)
Now we have the booing of Wright and the overall media and large portions of the fan-base labeling Reyes as someone they should have traded when he still had “value”. That’s two instances before they’ve turned 30. Who’s to say there won’t be another slap in the face before there contracts run out? If/when they re-sign, they probably won’t be lifetime contracts. What if the pattern continues? That’s what I think people are trying to say here.
Jesus wants to be like Ryan Miller when he grows up.
I don't think the reaction here to the Omar "edge" comments
fell into the larger lampooning of intangibles that sometimes go on. I saw Omar’s comments more as the grasping at straws of a terrible GM trying to deflect criticism for his horrible roster construction. Not only should that be behind closed doors as James said, but I don’t even think Omar believes it. Now, obviously I know little to nothing of the Mets’ team dynamic, but my default response is that Omar is full of shit and trying to lay blame elsewhere.
Omar says these things
because he is ill-equipped to understand and articulate the actual shortcomings of his own decision-making process.
by JohnPeterson on Apr 30, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
as opposed to a bunch of guys
commenting on a blog?
Not trying to be combative, here, but let’s have some perspective.
by tmu on Apr 30, 2010 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
so your perspective is ?
that the fact that the Mets “lacked edge” may have contributed to their poor play at time or all of last year as opposed to a terrible bullpen, injuries, lack of depth in the roster etc. ? Alex Cora with or without an edge is not going to help a team win games. David Wright and Reyes do even if they lack edge.
This is credentialism, not a sensible argument
A bunch of guys on a bunch of blogs are often right about things that paid baseball executives are wrong about, especially paid baseball executives who have repeatedly demonstrated their profound ignorance of statistical metrics with real predictive value. The idea that Omar is somehow automatically a good GM because he got hired is ridiculous.
okay, so if "leadership" is such a big deal...
…then it should be easy for you to point to one example of a situation where leadership and edge accomplished something that can’t be explained in any other way. If you can make a cogent empirical argument for it — something that doesn’t reek of fantasy or seem like one possible story among a million others, but has compelling evidence on its side — then go ahead and do so, and even the most anti-psychological stat nerd will be convinced. The problem is that you can’t do so — all the psychobabble can ever do amounts to a non-empirical story that suits the biases of the storyteller, so in the end the “leadership” argument always seems to reduce to these unfalsifiable claims: it’s really some ineffable mystical quality that you know when you see it from your armchair, even if you can’t provide any actual evidence for it.
Instead, the manifest attitude/position is that "leadership doesn’t matter," the playing style of one player cannot affect the hitting of another
Again, show me an example where this has happened. You’re making an empirical claim here — if one player can affect another’s hitting, that ought to be easy enough to measure and disentangle from other causal factors — and (to my knowledge) no one has ever shown it to be true. If it is, show some convincing evidence for it rather than just asserting it as fact.
by anonymous on Apr 30, 2010 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
I'm not a booer
but I don’t think think it’s the horrible crime against humanity that some people do. I’ve always felt there’s a difference between the “I hate you and if I have too many beers and see you face to face I’ll probably say something inappropriate about your mother” booing that Oliver Perez gets and the “I’m disappointed and frustrated because I was hoping for better from you in this situation” stuff that David (for the most part). It doesn’t mean everyone doing it sees him as a complete failure or the team’s main problem.
I don’t buy the “I paid for my tickets so can therefore do whatever I want” argument, but I just don’t think the act is inherently disgusting. Sure, the player might feel bad, but if that’s wrong on a moral level then opposing players shouldn’t get booed either. Maybe a booer is somehow hurting the team by booing and causing the player to press, but that’s an assumption that can’t be measured (like grission) and I think fans should be able to make that decision on their own without being told how stupid they are.
Sorry
That was a bit snarky, but your comment did seem a bit Cerrone-ish.
In all seriousness, why even boo out of frustration? If you’re disappointed but not angry with someone, do you verbally berate them? Of course not. And when players on the other team get booed, they expect it. They know it’s not a personal thing – it simply has to do with the uniform they are wearing. In fact, it’s almost a sign of respect, because generally it ain’t the other team’s scrubs getting booed. But when your own fans boo you, that has got to hurt.
I actually am Cerrone
Part of my point was that when (some) people boo Wright it’s not a personal thing. And saying that opposing players should take it as a sign of respect is just rationalization. I’m sure some fans who boo Wright would rationalize it by saying they’re trying to spur him on to to better.
You're not Cerrone
Cerrone would read more like…
Well…I feel the fans paid for the tickets, and should be allowed to express themselves…but I can;t understand them booing a great player…but Wright has disappointed a lot, and I feel that it can’t be like people say…like just a bunch of random events…sometimes…perception is reality. I feel…therefore I am…
Nothing can get by him; especially in a small room: Mike Francessa
by GenJackRipper on Apr 30, 2010 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Maybe he was going for an "I'm Spartacus" moment
I don’t think it’s a rationalization to say that elite players on the road would almost appreciate booing. Maybe I watch too much wrestling, but it’s almost like a heel getting booed – he knows he is doing his job well. Of course these guys are human beings and I’m sure feel differently about it, but I have to imagine that they have a completely different reaction to being booed at home than being booed on the road. Personally speaking, I would take the former much more personally.
And
I don’t verbally berate people I’m disappointed with but I don’t cheer and yell for people I’m happy with. You can’t really transpose real life setting to the ball park, there are other dynamics at play You might not understand why people boo, but it’s not a reason to start making assumptions about what type of person and fan they are.
Manning had this problem until he won then it vanished,
My advice to Wright, via the word of Jake Taylor, “Well then I guess there’s only one thing left to do. Win the whole fucking thing.”
by Sokojoe on Apr 30, 2010 9:52 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs
+1
"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
-Adam Savage
by blueandorange4life on Apr 30, 2010 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Well Manning had an actual problem
it wasn’t just unclutch he just couldn’t read a 3-4 defense to save his life.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
Also, Joey Porter owned his soul.
Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb
by Thomas Wachtel on Apr 30, 2010 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions
yeah but that was pretty much because of the 3-4 defense
everytime they were knocked out it was by a 3-4 team, their biggest losses in the regular season were generally to 3-4 teams. Even in the season they went 14-0, their closest game, and ugliest offensive output was against the Cowboys, who ran a 3-4, their loss came to the chargers, who ran a 3-4, and they were knocked out of the play-offs by the steelers, who ran a 3-4. Saying he was unclutch was stupid but the criticism in general wasn’t unfounded there was an actual deficiency, maybe not in just him but in their whole offensive coaching staff, in being able to read and decipher 3-4 defenses.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
It's tough to say,
I mean it’s not just that these are 3-4 but these teams were also elite defenses overall. Still, Peyton played pretty well when they were knocked out by the Steelers throwing 57.9%, 290, 1TD and 0 Int. Samething regarding the Colts loses to the Chargers in 07 and 08, Peyton played very well. I believe the unclutch started with his horrible 02 performance against the Jets in the playoffs (4-3, Tampa 2) which then was followed by two of the greatest playoff performances in 03 but a horrible game against the stated Pats. The next year against the Pats Peyton played meh but more importantly the Pats had a great gameplan that saw them have the ball for 38 minutes to the Colts 22 minutes. I think I would have to do more research to definitly have it in my mind that it was the 3-4 scheme.
Yeah but there were plenty of 4-3 elite defenses they faced
and he raped them other than the 02 jets which was also what his first play-off appearance? And by 07 there was a lot more tape available for the 3-4, once the steelers won the superbowl there was massive press coverage on the 3-4 and dick lebeau and the zone blitz schemes, because at that point like 4 out of the last 6 superbowl winners had won using a 3-4 defense and there was suddenly a massive switch to it among the NFL. That’s why the no 3-4 defense is nearly as effective today as the Pats and Steelers were in the early part of the decade the huge amount of media coverage and number of teams switching led to a huge increase in the number of film available. (Pretty much every year Lebeau invents new blitz schemes and by mid season they stop working now, for that same reason the Pats have switched back to a 4-3 and the Steelers will likely be switching to either a hybrid of a 3-3-5.) Before that the only film was from like 4 different teams, all whom used wildly different variations of it. So for a for a film junkie like Manning how can you pick apart a defense and pick up blitzes against a defense there’s little to no film on. And really in 05 the cowboys weren’t really an elite defense they didn’t become elite until Wade Phillips took over and installed his variation of the 3-4 as opposed to Parcell’s more vanilla version. And I imagine 4 interceptions had a big part in the huge different in possession time. And I’m not trying to be rude but I imagine most people who watched the play-off game in 05 wouldn’t say Manning play anything close to well unless they didn’t watch till the 4th quarter. Almost all of his passing yards tds came in the 4th quarter and I believe their offense had as many yards and first downs in the 4th quarter as they had in the first 3 quarters combined. He also didn’t exactly play well in 07 or 08, he maybe played well compared to a league average qb but compared to his normal offensive output there was a major drop off.
And there has actually been a lot of writing on Manning’s/the colts struggles against the 3-4’s, even now they still struggle against 3-4 variations.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
I really dont have a great reply
so consider this a place holder comment to let you know I read and respect your well written comment. I’m still skeptical that the reason he lost those games were because it was 3-4 teams as opposed to a combination predominantly consisting of the defensive personal as well as shortcomings on his own team separate from him but thanks for giving me another view point to consider.
Yeah just for the record I don't mean it's entirely manning himself
I mean it’s a combination of him, being a film junkie, having little to no film to watch and the way the colts offense itself is structured.
I wonder if Carl Everett believes Jamie Moyer exists.
I know this disease by its other name:
Being An Ignorant Asshole Syndrome
I think from now on whenever people near me boo Wright
I’ll just ask them if they would have booed Tom Seaver when he had a bad game.
Maybe not directly
But it’s still saying “team x plays better without superstar a”, which is close enough for me.
by James Kannengieser on Apr 30, 2010 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
The Ewing Theory is actually
about a team playing to their full potential without the superstar when before, they were relying on him to carry them. It’s not really supposed to be an indictment on the superstar who’s injured/suspended/in jail. It’s sort of what you said it was, but with more nuance that I think makes it irrelevant in this conversation.
Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb
by Thomas Wachtel on Apr 30, 2010 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions
I will start by saying,
I don’t boo anybody, ever, I just don’t get, don’t see the point, don’t want to give myself a sore throat heckling a grown man. That said, for about 2 weeks Wright was consistently putting together AB’s that were almost as bad as possible. He was able to stay afloat by drawing lots and lots of walks, which is fine, but I do understand the fans frustration. He looked just horrible. I think people remember David of 2006 and 2007 driving balls into RCF, like the other day, producing doubles at a massive rate, driving the ball out of the ball park to all fields. It does seem like now he strikes out at a much higher rate, he tries to pull every pitch over the LF fence, and while the numbers are there, the consistent good at bats every night aren’t there. I understand the frustration of the fans, but I am not a fan of booing any player, let alone the 27 year old home grown kid who is your franchise player. I do think Wright needs to hit better though, and I do feel the frustration of the booing fans. I just wish they would find a more productive way of venting.
"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring; besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."
- CRASH DAVIS
My feeling has always been...
If you’re going to boo David Wright, you might as well just pack it in and give up being a Met fan. I mean, have you been around here long? I’m only old enough to have been a Met fan since about the end of the 94 strike, and in that time I’ve seen a lot more crap than good. David Wright is one of the very few bring spots we’ve had in a sea of 90+ loss seasons, disasterous trades, horrendous FA signings that have set the team back years, historic collapses, perennial underachievement on both personal and team levels, and incompetence from ownership to GM’s to managers to the coaching staff to the medical staff to basically 98% of people who have received a paycheck from the NY Mets.
David Wright is the one thing this franchise has had going for it…HOW COULD YOU EVER BOO HIM?!?!? I know all about the power outage and the disconcerting rise in strikeouts. But this is a guy who was good enough to post four straight seasons of .300ba/.900ops from 2005-08 (with Pujols being the only other qualified hitter in the bigs to also do so over that span), and those where Wright’s first 4 full seasons! The man is going to get the benefit of the doubt from me for a looong time.
by AF86 on Apr 30, 2010 12:55 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
If you boo Wright, you deserve a kick in the ass.
That’s how it is, case closed.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Apr 30, 2010 1:09 PM EDT reply actions
I think if you boo Wright
there’s probably something wrong in your life and you’re putting a little too much importance on baseball. He’s the best position player the franchise has ever produced. The best hitters in the game fail almost 7 out of every 10 at bats. If you don’t understand that going in, there’s no hope for you anyway.
Nitpicky,
but the best hitters don’t fail 70 percent of the time. I always hated that expression, because if you are only reaching base at a 30 percent clip, then you pretty much suck.
"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring; besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."
- CRASH DAVIS
yeah, that cliche needs to be updated based on better metrics
It’s obviously a remnant from the days of batting-average-centrism.
See that's why I said "at bats"
and not plate appearances. Not to be nitpicky, but I knew that already, thanks.
"And I suspect most reading this probably feel the same way about the human garbage who boo the best position player in Mets history."
Some of the human garbage was in the game threads. It sucked. I booed them.
Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb
Bill Simmons didn't invent the Ewing Theory
One of his readers, Dave Cirilli, did
Aaron King is still my homeboy... iffy mechanics and all
McFAQ for all you newcomers out there.
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