Why does the Triple Crown seem underhyped?

Wow, are you ever way off on this one, Rick.

This isn't some guy who watched the game on TV his whole life. He covered it for 30 years. That's a bit more access and knowledge than the "average American male." Anybody with a clue would take his baseball knowledge of yours in a heartbeat.

 

I'm not sure I buy the sabremetric argument on this one... There's a reason why this hasn't been done since 1967. It's an amazing accomplishment.

I'm sure a seamhead could come up with three categories where it would be more impressive than leading in HR, RBI and BA, but that shouldn't take away from his accomplishment.

I hate to say it, but I think race is definitely a factor. It's not so much that he's Hispanic, but it's that he's from a different country. It doesn't help that he plays in Detroit, but I think if Ryan Braun was doing this, I think it would be a huge deal. I think if Josh Hamilton was doing this, it would be a huge deal. I don't know if his DUI and wife-beating issues are a big factor, but I'm sure they don't help either.

And obviously, if he played for Boston or one of the NY, Chicago or LA teams it would be a bigger deal. I think it might also be a bigger deal if he was playing in a "baseball city" like St. Louis or Cincinnati.

 

He also has a Hall of Fame vote. Just laughable that anyone would question has understanding of the game.

 

He isn't interviewed very much. Whether that's because he really doesn't speak English well or he's using it as an excuse, that would be more for Tigers beat writers and other media types to comment.

But I think the Tigers have been hiding him because they know he's really a pretty bad guy. He was in Miami, too.

 

This is just complete bullshit. I am not saying for one second that he doesn't know baseball but having covered the game for 30 years does not make you an expert if yopu are willing to bury your head in the sand and not evolve. Bill Conlin and Murray Chass hve covered the game forever, are you will to call them experts? This is the same bullshit writers complain about when athletes play the you haven't played the game card.

 

I think it has a bit to do with the GM bailout. How can you respect a state or it's baseball team when they are on public assistance.

 

Instead of getting angry about it, you could just cite it as an Appeal To Authority fallacy.

 

I believe the argument against this line of thinking is that because some of the greatest players ever never accomplished the feat, it means that winning the triple crown is more of a coincidence than anything else.

You have to be really good to win the triple crown, but it also takes a season where the batting champion doesn't hit .380 and the home run title doesn't take 74 bombs to win it.

 

Turns out that Mickey Mantle was a bad guy in some eyes but few knew it at the time or it was more accepted.

 

I don't know. People question Murray Chass all the time these days, too, much of it deservedly. He was one of the greatest baseball writers ever but time passed him by. There's no reason Casty, who might be 10 years older than me, shouldn't understand that batting average relative to other stats no longer carries the same weight it did 10-15 years ago.

 

Willie Mays never won an RBI title.

 

Won't neccesarily argue with that, although if it is Pujols (Bigger name, bigger market) or Prince Fielder (Bigger name, not as big a douche, much more charismatic) I don't think it's as underhyped. If it's Jetes it is the biggest story in sports.