I thought of titling this post, "In defense of death threats..." because - face it - in this age of super-money millionaires, how else are we scrawny, unhorsed and acned fans supposed to be heard?
Nothing beats posting a time-stamped photograph of a guy's kids, getting off the school bus yesterday, coupled with a shot of you, kneeling shirtless before your autographed poster of Charles Manson. Believe me: It sends a message: GET A HIT... NOW.
Unfortunately, due to smart-mouth lawyers and police restraining orders, I seldom threaten players with anything more than, say, an ICE raid, an order of more than 50 pizzas, or an open subscription to the Man-Boy Love Gazette. (Sometimes, I still recreate an old movie by hiding in the driveway, clanging bottles and shouting, "Warriors... come out and play-yay...!"_
But last night, something happened that might need to be addressed.
In the 2nd inning, shortly after he had homered, Anthony Volpe got nailed on the elbow by a purpose pitch from wretched Redsock starter Walker Buehler. The Yankees later removed Volpe from the game. We still don't know the extent of his injury. They're calling it a bruise, but that's what Cooperstown Cashman always says, I suspect, to buy time, if he must make a quick acquisition.
I am delighted to report that Boston CF Jarren Duran was later plunked twice, by Brent Headrick and Devin Williams. Coincidence, right?
Certainly, we all agree that revenge has no business in baseball.
Last night, after Buehler hit Volpe, the fans chanted "ASSHOLE... ASSHOLE... ASSHOLE..." If Volpe turns out to be seriously hurt - if his elbow is, say, fractured - well, chants are not enough.
The 2025 Redsocks are a hateful, nasty, glowering, buffoonish, malevolent bunch - terrorists and communists. They are five games below .500 and withering. They should pray for Volpe's health. In the meantime, I'm gathering bottles.
Spare a thought for blog favorite Refsnyder, a professional athlete cashing checks playing for the 2025 Red Sox.
ReplyDeleteBrigadoon. He always kills us.
ReplyDeleteIt’s always nerve racking when a Yankee gets injured. They always downplay it.
ReplyDeleteAnd it’s not because crashman might have to make a deal. It’s because they fear a drop in ticket sales if one of their “stars” can’t play.
Say, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this discussed during my tenure here, but do you consider Munson or Mattingly HOF worthy? It’s a yes from me on both.
ReplyDeleteNever saw Munson play. I say yes on Mattingly. He was discussed here. Not that long ago. I always said three years of greatness is enough to get a guy in the Hall, especially if injury caused the career to derail.
DeleteYes on both counts. They'd be in, if they weren't Yankees.
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DeleteAll of the above
DeleteThe bean balling has been going on since the last game of the Dodgers series. After they beat up Yamamoto, two Yankees got hit. Judge got hit twice in one game in the Guardians series, no? It's high time Yankee pitchers showed some fire in the belly. Really starting to get irritating. They'll keep on taking advantage unless your pitchers retaliate against their hitters. Then the hitters on the other teams go to their pitchers and threaten to beat them senseless if they don't get better control (because they don't like getting hit either). That's how it's policed.
ReplyDeleteMunson - Rookie of the year. 7x all star in nine years. Great WS against Cin.
ReplyDeleteMunson batted .308 with 100 RBIs in 1977, giving him three consecutive seasons batting .300 or better with 100 or more RBIs each year. He was the first catcher to accomplish the feat in three consecutive years since Yankee Hall of Famer Bill Dickey's four straight seasons from 1936-1939, matched only by Mike Piazza since (1996–2000). T
Yes.
Mattingly - Yes.
ReplyDeleteBecause who was better.
The odds for either of them seem very long, to me. Munson might have the better shot. Donnie, I dunno. Not enough years of greatness, perhaps. Though I'd be happy to see them both get in.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great debate for a rainy day!
ReplyDeleteSo, here is the problem with Thurman Munson: his OPS is lower than almost any catcher in the HOF—and according to baseball reference, there are only 20 receivers in the Hall, the lowest number of any position (I would have guessed third basemen, but never mind.).
Munson's OPS is only .756. Excluding the great Negro League catchers for whom we have limited data—Josh Gibson and Louis Santop, who were indeed great; Double-Duty Radcliffe and Biz Mackey should be in there, too—and I-Rod and Mike Piazza, who should be chucked out for cheating—the only HOF catcher with a lower OPS than Munson's is Ray "Cracker" Schalk, who is widely considered one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time and played partly in the deadball era.
(Rick Ferrell, who his all of 28 HRs lifetime, but whose OPS was bolstered by playing in an extreme hitting era, is also above Thurman, but that shouldn't count.)...
...So what else does our Thurman have to recommend him?
ReplyDeleteTeam leader (though his difficulty in accommodating Reggie didn't help anything); .357 hitter in 30 postseason games; rookie of the year (1970); MVP (1976).
His hitting stats were no doubt diminished by playing his entire career in an extremely bad park for right-handed hitters. But even that only goes so far. In away games, Munson hit 71 homers, as opposed to 42 at the Stadium.
But like so many outstanding hitters, Thurman made adjustments for where he was playing, so that his overall OPS was actually higher at home than on the road (.763-.750). Thus, had he played his whole career on the road, he would've finished with 142 homers and a .750 OPS. Not exactly HOF stuff.
Sure, one can argue that his career was cut short by his tragic plane crash, killing him at just 32. That prevented him from playing FWF (fuck well forever) like Carlton Fisk—and at their best, Munson was every bit the player Fisk was.
But...at 32, sadly, Thurman was already in clear decline. Hurt, playing fewer and fewer games behind the plate. When he died in August of 1979 he had all of 3 homers on the year, and had driven in 39 runs. In 1978, he hit all of 6, with 71 RBI—and 20 double-plays.
So what IS the best argument for Munson making the Hall?...
...Thurman Munson was a truly great, even underrated defensive catcher.
ReplyDeleteYes, he did lead all AL catchers in errors 3 times. But he also led in assists 3 times, in defensive DPs twice, and led the AL in fielding pct. in 1971, a year when he committed only a single error.
But where he really excelled was in gunning down baserunners—at a time when some teams, at least, ran much more often than they do today. He led the AL in caught-stealing pct. twice (including 61 pct. in 1971), and was above the league average in every year but one (1974, 34.5 to 38.0).
Even as he aged, and suffered all sorts of arm maladies, he was still an outstanding catcher at gunning guys down. In 1979, his CS pct. was 45.8, compared to the AL average of 35.7.
So that's the case for Thurman—a difficult one, to be sure.
A much better question: why the hell isn't Jorge Posada, lifetime a better hitter than I-Rod even WITH Rodriguez's juicing, in the Hall of Fame? Inquiring minds want to know!
Now, as to Donnie Baseball...
ReplyDeleteOne might as well ask why Pete Reiser isn't in the Hall (years of horrible injuries, and WW II). Or...looking at it from the other direction...Bobby Abreu.
The original Pistol Pete was incredible at "peak value." Abreu, on the other hand, got a lot of flak for being unwilling to run into walls in RF.
Reiser was essentially done by 27. Abreu played 18 seasons—and a projected, 162-game, average season for him was 61 extra-base hits, 19 homers, 91 RBI, 27 stolen bases, 291 BA, .870 OPS; 1 Gold Glove.
Don Mattingly? 62 extra-base hits, 20 homers, 100 RBI, .1 SB, 307 BA, .830 OPS, 8 Gold Gloves.
In other words, Mattingly was a better fielder than Abreu was (at a less important defensive position), hit, overall, with comparable power and for comparable average, and lacked Abreu's speed altogether.
The sad thing is, injuries just take their toll—sometimes very early. After the age of 26, Donnie Baseball never hit more than 23 homers again, and hit under 10 HRs four times. He drove in more than 100 runs just once in his last 8 seasons, and hit over .300 just 3 times in those same years. He retired at 34.
Things might have been different if the Yanks had made the playoffs a couple times in his prime—he batted .417, with 1 HR and 6 RBI, in his only postseason series—but they didn't.
It's nobody's fault, but like Pete Reiser, the fates were against him.
In case anyone is interested, here are links to in-depth discussions about the Hall of Fame cases for 15, 20, & 23.
ReplyDeletehttps://blogs.fangraphs.com/despite-early-demise-thurman-munson-is-hallworthy/
https://www.si.com/mlb/2016/12/16/jaws-2017-hall-of-fame-ballot-jorge-posada
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-contemporary-baseball-era-committee-candidate-don-mattingly/
Speaking sending threats to players, didn't you once send a box of ice cream sandwiches to an out of favor NY Yankee catching prospect? I think that was your
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