MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

We are going down a Nathan Peternan rabbit hole here.

 

Griffey's a weird one.

 

lol and you don't disagree with the theory.

(And the first one wasn't his fault.)

 

3 excellent plays and then the TE botched a gimme.

 

Not with this one though. There’s no logic behind Mantle being worse with a healthy knee.

 

The game's greatest strength - its history, and the ability to compare players pretty equitably across more than hundred years - is also its greatest weakness. Current players are overwhelmed in the national imagination by long dead legends.

It's easy to miss what's happening right in front of you if you're constantly comparing early- or mid-career contemporary players to the roster of the '27 Yankees or the Gashouse Gang or the Seattle Pilots.

But as these threads demonstrate that's also a huge part of baseball's appeal.

 

It’s just a weird thing to say. This is not like a pitcher getting TJ. This is a serious knee injury.

 

no better history in sports then baseball history.

 

Yes. Because it has been exhaustively documented for many more years than the NFL, NBA or NHL.

Being able to draw parallels between Pie Traynor and Nolan Arenado is, and always will be, a good thing.

Of course, when you figure in closers, set-up men, coast-to-coast travel and the fact that 90-mph fastballs were the exception rather than the norm not that long ago, offensive feats aren't exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.

Middle relievers are a very big thing. Starters just don't face lineups a third time anymore. Come the sixth inning, hitters are facing a fresh arm. Consider, that's where you get these All-Star pitchers that many of us haven't heard of before -- because they're relatively anonymous middle relievers having nutso seasons.

 

But you lose something in the transition
During the 1987 AL East race, two old war horses, Jack Morris and Mike Flanagan, hooked up as the Tigers played the Blue Jays
Neither one had their best stuff but both pitched their ass off, Flanagan through eight and Morris through 10
It was 2-2 when both left and Juan Fucking Beniquez won it with a two-run double in the 12th
You don’t see games like that anymore

 

Because those guys would have likely been knocked around if they go that long these days.

 

That's why I couldn't have gone into broadcasting after decades in print. It became only natural say Juan Fucking Beniquez, or Albert Pu-JOL-ees. Kurt Fucking Bevacqua.