Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Your All-Time Yankee Opponent 3B open thread...

We must choose between four Hall of Famers, three future Hall of Famers and a former Yankee who made a tradition out of killing us in October. 

Okay, who's backing whom... and why?

15 comments:

DickAllen said...



I have to go with Longoria. Hated seeing him with a bat in his hands.

As for Brett, every time I see his name I think 'pine tar' and I laugh. Billy stuck that bat up his ass.

Plus, he was a first class asshole, almost a schilling of a man, so fuck him.

Pie Tarr said...

Hoping you will post him going ballistic. Cannot watch that enough!

Parson Tom said...

I hated Brett, too, but he's the hands-down best on this list. He lost the battle but won the war in the Pine Tar game. He killed Gossage several times at key moments, and he was just really freaking good, a true Yankee killer.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Indeed, Parson. The Yankees actually got screwed in that game.

In the Friday night doubleheader the two teams played, the Royals ended up pitching Quisenberry for 5 1/3 innings. He was reportedly gassed, and unlikely to come into the Sunday game. Even if he had, he would've been plenty tired.

Instead, the Royals got to pitch him, fresh, for one inning in the "make-up" game.

Overall, I think it was only fair to overturn that call. But it's a very hard thing to interrupt a baseball game, then come back weeks later and pretend you're playing the same game.

You can bet that if it had gone the other way around, MLB would've found some way to let the call on the field stand.

Anonymous said...

IT SEEMED LIKE FOR THE LONGEST TIME...EVAN LONGORIA DESTROYED US.

IT SEEMED LIKE FOR THE LONGEST TIME...MANNY MACHADO DESTROYED US.

IT SEEMED LIKE FOR THE LONGEST TIME...PAUL MOLITOR DESTROYED US.

...BUT THE ONE GUY WHO MADE THE HAIR STAND UP IN THE BACK OF MY NECK THE MOST WAS...

GEORGE BRETT.

HE JUST NEVER LET UP ON US.

JUST A MULTITUDE OF CLUTCH HITS, EXTRA BASE HITS, AND HOME RUN POWER THAT MADE US ALL MISERABLE.

HE MAY HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST HITTER I'VE EVEN SEEN PLAY.

Anonymous said...

I was at the 1980 playoff game when Brett hit the home run off Gossage to put the Royals ahead. Even though I was sitting next to the hitters' background in the last row of the right field bleachers, it was so silent in the Stadium that I swear I could hear Brett's footsteps on the bases. Brett's the one for this poll.

ranger_lp said...

@Hoss, @Parson...about the Pine Tar game...it was strange that an umpire's call was overturned by the commissioner of baseball; up to then, the umpires I thought had the last say in judgement calls and those same judgement calls couldn't be reversed. Up to that date, that never happened in baseball history...Hoss please correct me if I'm off-base (pardon the pun) here...

HoraceClarke66 said...

I completely agree, ranger. I can never think of another incident of it.

And you know, rule was in the book. "You can't have more than x-amount of pine tar on the bat." A stupid rule, sure. But there it was. Suddenly, the rulebook doesn't matter?

And there's a good reason for giving the umpires that power, because it's impossible to go back to the exact same game situation.

We all KNOW that if it had been the other way around, the Yankees would not have got a do-over. Probably not the Mets, either.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I remember that 1980 playoff game all too well, Anon. The Yanks almost came back to win that, loading the bases an inning later. Rick Cerone hit a bullet—right at the shortstop, double-play.

Well, it wasn't our year, but in the idiotic Steinbrenner way, that playoff failure cost us Dick Howser, a wonderful manager.



HoraceClarke66 said...

I was also really annoyed by Goose Gossage's continuing duel with Brett.

Yeah, yeah, I know, that was Goose's mentality, you want a closer who fears nobody, etc. But there were 24 other guys on the team and a few million of us fans, and after awhile I never quite understood why he couldn't just plunk Brett on his backside and move on.

We don't get to see a World Series because you have something to prove?

Gossage was a helluva reliever, but he was never quite as good as he thought he was.

JM said...

This isn't an "all time" choice, it's just covering the past 50 or so years. Guys we can remember. And I'm too lazy to look up third basemen who played in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, but I suspect there may be guys we just don't know and certainly never saw in action.

That said, yes, Brett was a pain in the ass for us. However, Brooks Robinson was an amazing player. He played for 22 years--most of them as a full-time player who played every day--and as I recall, he routinely killed us with his defense, which was the gold standard in the AL for a long, long time.

Bonus: he wasn't a total asshole like Brett.

He should be strong contender, imo.

DickAllen said...



Is there any way we can compare Brett and Longoria vs. the Yankees?

Brett, by virtue of his residence in the Central didn't play the Yankees as often as Longoria.

Also, in the four playoff series with KC, he lost the first three (and hit very well in each) but won the fourth matchup while hitting 273 (all against the Yankees)

I'd like to see comparative statistics between the two but until then I'm sold on Longoria being more of an ongoing thorn in the Yankees ass.

Just for one small comparison, Longoria hit nearly as many home runs for his career as Brett in 3000 fewer at bats. It may not be worth much, but...

Though the only home run I can remember Longoria hitting was in the last game of the 2011 season that gave Tampa the wild card and booted Boston. That was one of the most exciting baseball nights of my life.

HoraceClarke66 said...

But again, JM, what is the criteria? All-time best gentlemen who played against us? Or the guys who really killed us? I'mm confused.

Brett and Longoria were somewhat above their usual game against us. Brooks Robinson was slight below, though he did hit a lot of home runs (34). But I don't know that he ever played a vital game against us after 1964.

Brett had his bad moments against us, too, such as a critical error in the 1977 playoffs. But basically, he destroyed us, especially when the chips were down.

In 4 ALCS and 17 games, Georgie was 24-67 against us (.358), with 16 runs scored, 3 doubles, 4 triples (!), 6 HR, 4 walks and only 2 strikeouts.

He's got my vote, the bastard.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I loved that game, too, Richie Allen—and switching back and forth to watching Boston blow a lead in Baltimore.

Then, of course, we went and blew that stupid series to Detroit...

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