Ugh
Grift answers my Top Five players by making a strong case for Hank Aaron, and I'll get to that soon enough.
But in the comments he commits a grievous sin in naming Roger Clemens the 'greatest pitcher of his generation.' Seriously, I think I blacked out for a second.
Clemens? Really?
I didn't realize we were naming 'the greatest pitcher of his generation ... when pitching with a five-run lead and when nothing crucial or pivotal is hanging on this particular contest.' If that's the case, then sure. I'll vote for Roger Clemens any day.
(As an aside, I've added Sara to the blogroll solely based on her defense of Pedro Martinez.)
But in the comments he commits a grievous sin in naming Roger Clemens the 'greatest pitcher of his generation.' Seriously, I think I blacked out for a second.
Clemens? Really?
I didn't realize we were naming 'the greatest pitcher of his generation ... when pitching with a five-run lead and when nothing crucial or pivotal is hanging on this particular contest.' If that's the case, then sure. I'll vote for Roger Clemens any day.
(As an aside, I've added Sara to the blogroll solely based on her defense of Pedro Martinez.)
posted by Jmac at 10:10 PM
4 Comments:
Grift is a little selective in the statistics he uses.
Who would rank hitters without using batting average as a statistic? Williams is No. 7, Aaron is not in the top 100.
Also, look at statistics such as Bats/HR,(Williams, no. 11, Aaron, no. 33) on base percentage,(Williams, No. 1, Aaron,not in top 100) and slugging percentage (Williams, No. 2, Aaron No.26), and see who comes out on top. Ted Williams led the AL 12 seasons in on base percentage. Aaron never lead the NL.
Grift uses RBI's, but when you look at AB/RBI, Williams is no. 4, Aaron is 67. So Aaron has more RBI's but he was hacking a whole lot more too.
Aaron is no. 67 in strikeouts, Williams is not in the top 100.
Williams won the league batting title 6 times (before and after the Korean War), Aaron 1 time (same number as Julio Franco).
That's a pretty persuasive case to me right there.
But nothing is certain until we geek it up with the "sabermetrics" stats. What were the respective OPS for Hammerin' Henry and the Splendid Splinter? And how about fielding stats?
(Given the ratios you just cited, I have no doubt that Williams is going to come out with the better OPS, by the way).
The story is told that Ted Williams, once in spring training in Florida, emerged from the locker room after hearing the ball coming off the bat of a hitter taking BP. "Who is that?" he wondered.
Turned out it was Hank Aaron.
Williams was impressed by the SOUND of Aaron's bat.
In arguments such as these (Aaron v Williams or Mays, etc, Herschel v Bo, Marino v Elway, Adrienne Barbeau v Raquel Welch) my answer is simple: I'll take the one you don't want.
A couple of things. Get it? heh
stopthebs, I did note Williams lost his prime years and if you notice where I compared everyone against each other I factored average.
And yes, even though I hate the S.O.B. I think Clemens is definitely the dominant pitcher of our generation.
And the great thing about these arguments is how many different angles you can approach it.
It wouldn't be any fun if we ever actually agreed.
Post a Comment
<< Home