Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

Hall of famer before cheating, not a hall of fame after cheating, IMO.

 

No love for Ted Williams? I mean, as a baseball player.

 

Yeah, that body armor has a lot to do with me not respecting his output. Between the 'roids and taking a huge chunk of the strike zone out of play, I have a hard time not seeing his numbers as tainted.

 

I was waiting for Roby to weigh in on that one!

 

Watching the killer b’s get knocked out of the playoffs, Bonds and Bonilla, was always fun as a Reds fan.

Ichiro and Gwynn were far and away the best hitters I have seen live. I agree with those saying the roids and armor takes away from Bonds’ legacy.

 

A friend of mine lives in Bellingham, Washington, and he told me one of the greatest things he ever saw in sports was, while he was at a Mariners game sitting in the 2nd or 3rd row behind third base, he saw an opposing baserunner try to go from first to third on a single hit at Ichiro. What struck him was the throw: the ball never got more than 7 feet off the ground and hit the 3rd baseman's glove perfectly. The baserunner had just about started his headfirst slide when the 3rd baseman caught the ball.

When you're a kid and you have to throw the ball a long way, you put a lot of height on it. Ichiro, needless to say, didn't need to do that.

 

You guys type too fast for me. I can understand no one mentioned "The Splendid Splinter" or even "Jolting Joe" as they were gone before most of you were whelped. I was always awed just watching Thumper's routine in the batter's box. Belted one outta the park on his very last at bat!

 

If I remember correctly Rocky Colavito had that kind of arm in right field. In a pinch he was brought in as a pitcher and was quite effective.

 

Roberto Clemente was the same way. It got to the point that no one ever attempted to go first-to-third on a sharply hit single to right.

And one of the good things they did in Boston was to name the Ted Williams tunnel when he was still alive. I'm not sure it if he had already passed when they named the Joe DiMaggio highway in New York.

 

Greg Maddux once had an awesome Tony Gwynn quote

 

If I were a voter, I’d vote in the guys who were going to make the Hall without steroids like Bonds and A Rod. I’d leave out the Rafael Palmeiros. Clemens would be a tough call because right before the ‘roids he was kinda mediocre and looked like his career might not make the length necessary.

 

He won 2 MVPs before the steroids, and came in 2nd another time.

 

Guys, the point of hitting isn’t to make contact, it’s to score runs. Even before the steroids Bonds was better at it than those guys.

 

The point of hitting is to not make an out.

 

The people whose jobs and money are on the line disagree.

It’s like saying the point of soccer is to pass the ball well. The point is to score goals.

 

So a guy that bats .300 but only hits a few out every year has no place in MLB?

 

He was head and shoulders above his contemporaries...

 

These two Midwestern-y announcers on friggin ludes for one of the greatest throws you'll ever see courtesy of Vlad Guerrero