Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
I was upset to hear the news about Kirby Puckett yesterday. Man, 45 is just too young. I was 13-years old when he broke in with the Twins and remember him vividly as an energetic and enthusiastic player. In recent years, a darker, more disturbing side of Puckett was revealed, which underscores not only how human athletes are, but how different they can be from their public persona, and how difficult it is for many of them to adjust to life after the game. Puckett's post-baseball life was evidentally a struggle filled with pain. It got me to thinking, "What if a guy like Derek Jeter ended up in a similar fashion?" It's almost impossible to believe right now--and I say almost, because, really, there isn't much left to shock us these days--but anything can happen right?
Ultimately, I think that Puckett will be best remembered for what he did on the field. I hope the same can be said for the Yankee Captain, who was the subject of a puff piece by Don Amore this morning, but you never know:
"You're talking to a huge Jeter fan," said J.P. Ricciardi, GM of the Blue Jays. "If you throw out the numbers of everything he's done, he plays the game the right way. We tell our young players, `Watch the way Jeter plays and try to be like him.' He doesn't talk a lot of crap. He's the kind of guy, if he were playing in Yankee Stadium and there was nobody in the ballpark, he would still play hard."
Joe Dimaggio never understoood or appreciated the reference Simon and Garfunkel made to him in "Mrs. Robinson." It's okay that he didn't get it, because so many other people did recognize that Dimaggio stood for something, a sensibility, a period of time. Jeter is someone who could wind up in a song like that one day too, don't you think?
It's when we compare ourselves to our peers, or our sports heros that we had growing up that we feel old. At least that's how it works for me. I ask myself, how will it feel for me when my heros (Bird, Mattingly, Jeter, Phil Simms) move on to the 'next game' ??? Tough.
As a communicator (at least with the media), he is as bland and dry as a sheet of matzoh, and as cold and distant as Neptune. (DiMaggio'esque?)
But the best thing you can say about Jeets in this regard is that he is smart enough to never say anything stupid.
Certainly, a great poet like Paul Simon could be inspired to work the words Derek and Jeter into a song. But the DiMaggio reference in "Mrs. Robinson" was a sentimental riff on the innocence that was lost in the 1950's.
Jeter's not a folk hero. He's hip hop.
Ask a cleric how to be like Derek, and he'll tell ya "Feed the meter like Jeter, yo."
As an aside, it's funny to think that Rap/Hip Hop was considered a fad for much of the 1980s. To date, rap records have been around for the better part of thirty years, which, as the jazz critic Gary Giddens pointed out last year, is longer than swing music was around for as an active idiom.
So much for a fad.
however, since the acquisition of alex rodriguez, i have come to genuinely like jeter by comparison. dead serious--that's how i wound up respecting jeter; the comparison with a-rod. you may hate it, call me names, etc., and go ahead, but it's true.
Before ARod came to the Yanks, I remember seeing a shirt @ Fenway that read, "Jeter has AIDS". Hard to imagine that THEY hate ARod more after reading those words. I still haven't seen a shirt that says, "ARod has EBOLA", "ARod has the bird flu", "ARod has the plague", "ARod is Bin Laden". I still think they loathe Jeter, but ARod is a great punching bag for the time being so he has assumed the "usual position" for Boston fans and their hatred.
And once you've watched him for a while, you realize it's just the way he happens to move and carry himself, and there's nothing to read into it. And you watch him more and more, and you notice that he never, ever dogs it, that he never, ever, talks smack, and that he really represents all the good connotations of calling someone "professional." And while he adorns more anti-yankee t-shirts up here than any other Yankee (save Clemens, perhaps) almost all Sox fans I know will, when pressed, admit admiration for Mr. Jeter.
A-Rod? I really can't figure him out. He seems so plastic at times. And yet I remember an article from the Globe some time back about how he'd been in Boston with the Rangers, and ended up over at Harvard watching baseball practice and talking with the players, asking about the area, and how it was to attend Harvard and play baseball, etc, etc, and he came across as really genuine, curious, and personable. So who knows what the reality is? As long as he keeps putting up A-Rod-ish numbers, I suppose I don't need to care.
R&B can also be dirty and raw, funky and nasty. Sheffield is James Brown, Rick James, P-Funk and Prince.
Pay attention to their at-bat music. Jeter comes up to "Golddigger," Sheff to "Shaft."
This must have been late-spring and Jeter was still a nobody. But this old guy kept on yelling "hey hot dog" to Jeter everytime he came to the plate. We thought it was amusing so we borrowed the guy's nickname and referred to the new shortstop as "Hot Dog" for the rest of '96.
That's exactly what he seemed like in his first year with the Yanks. Cocksure, smooth and a little arrogant.
If we only knew then what we know now!
BTW, I see a lot of Jeter (circa 1996) in Cano Hopefully Robbie tunrs out more Derek then Soriano.
I'm watching the Venezuela/Dominica Republic game. The fans are going crazy in the stands with every swing and every pitch. I haven't seen a game with this much excitement outside the World Series.
i realize that this makes sense from most ppl's perspective, but i can tell you no one in boston remembers that, or thinks about it when they judge a-rod. i think there was bitterness when it first happened, but i for one didn't blame a-rod for that necessarily. i didn't hate him at the time, either.
my hatred for a-rod developed as i saw him play, and got more familiar with him as a celebrity / personality. it was probably unfortunate for him all this happened while he wore pinstripes--i'm not going to be disingenuous about whether or not i would feel the same way if he had ended up in a red sox uniform. i'm a staunch defender of curt schilling, after all. but just as i might feel differently about a-rod under different circumstances, i think most yankees fans would feel differently about schilling, too.
however, though being in pinstripes might have predisposed me to dislike a-rod, i can say at this point, especially after the 2004 season, that my disdain for a-rod is genuine, even if it originally stems from bias. the guy just rubs me the wrong way--i think the slap play really sealed it for me. that was the moment i was glad he wasn't on my team, for real. a-rod now symbolizes the yankees, the "how the mighty have fallen" yankees. i guess our hatred has gone from being tinged with envy to being imbued with scorn--and along the way a-rod has replaced jeter as the symbol for that.
when a-rod showed up, with the way he acted...i don't think i had ever really been able to say "this is why i hate derek jeter..." like i said above, for me personally, hating jeter was almost nothing personal--he represented the yankees; i hated the yankees, the end. but when a-rod came along, i thought to myself, okay, now there's a real asshole, and jeter's stock went up. the play jeter made when he dove into the stands on july 1, 2004 also changed things for me, much like the slap play with a-rod, but in the opposite direction.
i have also developed sympathy for jeter as the yankees have had tough postseasons recently--it makes me kind of sad to see him out there trying to rally the troops when they end up falling short. it seems he's a holdover from a different era, stuck someplace he almost doesn't belong. this isn't to say i'm becoming a yankee fan--far from it. it just sometimes makes me sort of sad on a personal level to see jeter trying to be a leader when it clearly isn't going to work. jeter was the only yankee who didn't deflate in 2004's game 7, for example. he seemed to be the only player who believed the yankees could still pull it out last season toward the end of the division series. it is kind of touching and sad to watch. and i guess i can sympathize with what seems to be happening to him within the team--the yankees have signed another shortstop in a-rod and now another leadoff hitter in johnny damon. i have wondered how he must feel about that; it seems sometimes like the vultures may be circling him.
am i ever going to love jeter? NFW. but i don't hate him irrationally like i used to.
sorry for the long post.
When I saw the Domo and Venz rosters I was stoked. It really is too bad they focused on having it now - the WBC competes for attention, and players (obviously), with the Spring games. On it's own it could be awesome. Here's hoping the next time it's the first week of November - first the World Series, then the WORLD Series - I couldn't imagine a better two weeks of baseball (esp. if the players left out of the MLB playoffs play for their countries with a playoff type intensity - here's hoping!)
As for Jeter - I still can't believe he beat out Tony Fernandez in Spring Training. If TF was out playing in the WBC, could that have happened?
Now, about Boston fans and Rodriguez. There is no real reason for the hatred. If you really grill a Boston fan about it, the only thing they come up with is "he is phony" and "he slapped the ball". And that brawl in which he overreacted, followed by an over-the-top reaction from Jason Varitek.
All of these are just on the surface. Deep inside, Boston fans know that they had the opportunity to have the best player in the game play for them, who was willing to take a paycut for being there. That did not materialize because Boston management thought they could brashly ignore the MLBPA, or chide them to submission, just like they try to do in contract negotiations with their own ballplayers. And consequently, Alex Rodriguez became a Yankee. Overnight, the same Kevin Millar who gushed at the prospect of having A-Rod as a teammate changed tune, and it seemed like the whole of Boston has changed tune. That same bitterness still carries over to this day, the underlying story to justify it keeps changing. Nothing more to it.
http://tinyurl.com/r8c4l
Check out this paragraph, F-EN WOW:
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The authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, describe in sometimes day-to-day, drug-by-drug detail how often and how deeply Bonds engaged in the persistent doping. For instance, the authors write that by 2001, when Bonds broke Mark McGwire's single-season home-run record (70) by belting 73, Bonds was using two designer steroids referred to as the Cream and the Clear, as well as insulin, human growth hormone, testosterone decanoate (a fast-acting steroid known as Mexican beans) and trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle.
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BTW Beth, good post...very articulate.
Dare I say that in this rapper/ballplayer game, ARod is JayZ (likely without the early retirement). He's still in the early stages, so he's getting criticized for his character, and there've been allegations that he's only in it for the money, but in ten years, with a little distance, the seemingly indifferent flow will come to be seen as a stylistic choice through which he could best ply his trade, and we'll ALL realize, just before it's too late, that we were watching the best ever, and he and we will acknowledge and make peace with the fact that, yes, part of it was only for the money, but enough of it was honest.
You beat me to it. It is a great read. The only thing I'm thinking: How many more guys responded the exact same way to the McGwire/Sosa "race"?
And as we continue to read stories like this for the next ten years (at least), why is the testing still so flawed that it's never possible to find evidence of HGH? If they at least got blood, the possibility would be open for a future test. F'ers...
Even Giambi, who I really rooted for last year - what if he's just moved to HGH? We really can't be sure...F'ers...
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Through 1998, for instance, when he turned 34, Bonds averaged one home run every 16.1 at bats. Since then -- what the authors identify as the start of his doping regimen -- Bonds has hit home runs nearly twice as frequently (one every 8.5 at bats).
Not only did the growth hormone keep him fresh, but after complaining in 1999 about difficulty tracking pitches, he noticed it improved his eyesight as well.
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That's insane, I can't think of a better advertisement for HGH. That (HGH) sounds like the fountain of youth good ole Ponce was looking for.
Aw man, don't be ruining Quest for me. (note: Sox fan here)
// one day, Hip Hop will be sentimental //
It already is (for me). Man, what happened to the Golden Age of rap, when MCs could actually flow? At least J5, PUTS, Asimov, etc. are carrying the torch...
// Flaherty retired today //
Sounds like the knuckleball finished off John...pass the big glove to Josh Bard!
And you're right about A-Rod. When we look back his numbers, esp. the power ones, that could be what saves the integrity of the record book. Hopefully he "wipes out" Bonds "just so we don't have to talk about him any more". Now, who can be sure that Pujols isn't a fan of HGH? Dammit, where's the outrage?
As for Pujols, I don't know if there are any allegations about drug use. The question more is whether he is as young as he says he is.
I can't believe Flaherty retired. I was really looking forward to him eating up at-bats playing every few days for the Sox. Seems only fair since he killed us for a year.
You stop at Simon and Funkle with JoeyD. How about Papa? Check out Cramer's book. JoeyD shared the key table at Toots Shor's (he called him Ernie) with the writer. (193) They went to the fights together. (241) "I would like to fish with the great DiMaggio. I hear his father was a fisherman." He was in the book, man, the book.
Jete be the captain. Janks have not had many of them. Great honor. He ain't worried about who be playing around him, except to the extent that they can catch, throw, field, and hit in the clutch.
One of the most secure guys I have ever seen.
Nice job, Beth.
"Did not ya know that the dog was top dollar the five foot assassin knockin' fleas off his collar" --Tribe
Of course I understand that there's a difference between Tribe and DeLa, and 2Pac and Ice Cube. But I'm simplifying and talking in broad strokes. There's an effortless insouciance that Jeter possesses that I don't see as hip-hop-esque.
Your point that R&B can also be rough and funky tends to back up my point I think.
Finally, and most importantly, Kanye West blows.
Regarding 29, Fernandez' injury just hastened the inevitable. Jeter would have been our starting shortstop eventually.
But Aaron Boone's injury got us A-Rod. If Boone were healthy, we would have had a CRAPPY 3rd basemen and Boston still probably would have gotten A-Rod. Imagine A-Rod playing at Fenway??? The numbers he would have put with the Wall there??? It boggles the mind.
I would have to put Boone's injury at the top of Yankee Happy Coincidence List -- above the injury that gave Lou Gehrig the starting job. Gehrig's replacement of Wally Pip was also inevitable like Jeter's eventual succession of Tony F.
I'm way more interested in this conversation than how chubby Escalona is. :)
A-Rod is more like Nas. The talent is there, no doubt about it, but the all encompassing adoration isn't.
Sheff might be more like (pre-MTV, Speed Stick, How High) Method Man. A little more menacing, darker, been around awhile but still able to turn and knock one out of the park before you could blink.
Until he stops acting like a rook, Cano is Little Brother, just cuz of their name.
Chacon can be 2003 Sean Paul. Had one hot summer, and we're all hoping he can do it again.
I think of Mo as Buju (Til Shiloh era) because he just makes you feel good, but if you prefer the low key sick lyricist comparison, Mo= Mos Def.
Now if we could get the rest of the bullpen to be J5 we'd be in good shape.
http://www.prohiphop.com/2006/03/more_krsone_aud.html
KRS-one makes such claims as:
""If 50 Cent and G-Unit was here, and they said "I am hip hop," half of y'all wouldn't have a fucking thing to say to them because they'd put a gun to your back. Now you got somebody like KRS, who's been philosophizing about hip hop from day one -- I get this kind of disrespect?"
and
"You can't go to college and then say you're hip hop. That don't fly. ... You better be a b-boy, an emcee, a graffiti writer, a DJ or a beatboxer and you can call yourself hip hop. Other than that you're writing about hip hop. You ain't hip hop. You better master these elements before you start critiquing them. How you going to critique something you ain't even doing?"
Audio available too.
On a side note, Paul Simon is not a poet. He is a songwriter. An excellent lyricist, to be sure. But that's not a poet. As someone who has done both (and, I'm told, done at least one of them well), writing poems and writing words that work in cooperation with music are vastly different activities.
No one knows me from anywhere as anyone who deserves to have an educated opinion on such topics, but Run DMC, Public Enemy, Tribe, Fellowship, Roots concerts, as well as the early 90's living on 23rd between Hoover and Fig in L.A. at least give me some very small platform from which to speak. I'm a little old, however, as you can also see.
Brand Nubian!
I'm down on the WBC, but not on that D.R. lineup. Holy crap if that ain't a murderer's row.
Listened to LaSorda. What a jerk. No comparison between the olympics and this exhibition. They ain't playing for me or the country. They didn't train for this or make the team due to their comitment or talent. Its a PR stunt all the way around. Proud. I'll be proud and happy when it be over.
It is a heck of a lot better than Spring Training.
You're not kidding...and that's without Manny and Vlad!
Jesus, could you be just a little more delusional? Thank god we didn't get arod. If we had it would have felt like we had bought a ws victory.
Look, if you don't think there are plenty of reasons to hate arod, you're drinking the koolaid. It's not only boston fans, there are fans all over the league who dislike the guy. And if didn't play for the yankees, you would too.
Until the "best player in the game" leads you to a championship, your opinion simply doesn't hold water. It's not about having the best player on your team, it's about ws victories. The yankees know this, apparently you missed that day of class.
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