If Jorge gets passed over again, we riot

I can't think of Cinncinati's Big Red Machine without reliving how they raped and pillaged my Yankees - and by extension, me. They won six division titles, four pennants and two World Series. Today, they have three members of the Hall of Fame - Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez - and one who will get in as soon as he dies: Pete Rose. Four players. Great team. No argument here.

So let's compare that magnificent dynasty to the Yankees of 1996-2004 - Torre's Yankees: Nine division titles, six pennants, four World Series - and all with an extra round of playoffs, making their achievements even greater. Do simple math. They should send at least four, maybe five or six players to Cooperstown.

They will have Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. (OK, Roger Clemens after he dies, but his career spanned Boston and Toronto.) Greatest team in modern history, by far... and only two in the Hall.

Fifty years from now, our great-grandchildren will see those four World Championships and conclude they must have won themselves, because behind the pillars of hypocrisy known as Baseball's Hall of Fame, there will be no plaques for Bernie, Paulie, Tino, Knobby, Andy, El Duque, Coney, David Wells and - apparently - now we're told, Georgie. Jorge Posada is on the verge of being bypassed for the final time and dropped from the ballot.

Well, we shouldn't be surprised. We know the deal. It's why Roger Maris isn't in, why Clete Boyer isn't in, why Mel Stottlemyre isn't in, why Ron Guidry isn't in, why Sparky Lyle isn't in, why Thurman Munson isn't in... why the Yankees were right to open their own de facto Cooperstown in deep center field: Yankee greats get screwed at the end because they played in a "media capital" where fame is given too freely, and thus, when lifetime awards are divvied out, the voters anoint themselves arbiters of justice, rather than mere observers of the game. Everybody knows the Yankees get too much attention. Therefore, Minnesota sportswriters fought tooth and nail for Kirby Puckett. Their New York counterparts never lifted a latte for Bernie.

So deal with it, folks: Jorge won't make Cooperstown.

Here's another comparison. Surely, the Redsock '17 Hall of Fame Superteam of Destiny (TM) will win this year's World Series, giving Boston two rings in five years. (Also, three fifth places.) Like Torre's Yankees, they'll also have two Hall of Famers: Dustin Pedroia and Big Papi. (Wait... three, counting Andrew Benintendi!) 

One of these days, we just won't care. That time cannot come soon enough.