ESPN: Untold tales of Cal Ripken Jr., the Iron Man who saved baseball
https://www.espn.com...n-man-saved-mlb
Posted 07 April 2020 - 07:49 PM
ESPN: Untold tales of Cal Ripken Jr., the Iron Man who saved baseball
https://www.espn.com...n-man-saved-mlb
Posted 07 April 2020 - 08:07 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 06:23 AM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 06:57 AM
I have been going through a lot of baseball memorabilia lately, including my vast Ripken collection.
So many great memories of that night. Pretty fitting that the game came on last night after I was going through everything.
Still my favorite night ever for sports.
Went to both of those games and it was a magical atmosphere I remember getting home around 2 AM after the record setter. I had to be in Richmond at 9 AM the next day. Wow did work suck that day.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:32 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:37 PM
Congrats to Cal, but I think the consecutive games played record is the least sexy record in sports. 2131 has to be the most boring game ever televised. There's a twenty minute break where he takes a victory lap around the field. Yawn
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:43 PM
Ban this man.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:47 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:48 PM
Heartless
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:52 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:54 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 01:54 PM
I’m with Snyder. He had 1 historically great year, 2 excellent ones and a bunch of mediocrity. Underrated defensively, but overrated in every other aspect.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 02:02 PM
I’m with Snyder. He had 1 historically great year, 2 excellent ones and a bunch of mediocrity. Underrated defensively, but overrated in every other aspect.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 02:15 PM
I think Cal belongs in the HOF. He won two MVPs and was arguably the best all around shortstop of his generation. While I am not going to fault the man for playing every day, I don't find the record that exciting. Further, the game was in September between two also rans in an otherwise meaningless game. But hey, not too many guys named Russ in Baltimore that dont adore Cal. Nice to know that someone who shares my cool ass name has something else in common with me!
I like your name, too.
My opinion on Cal really comes down to 2 things: 1) He was an offensively average for half of his career, and 2) My lack of confidence that defensive value is accounted for accurately, especially historically. A lot of his value is defensive and a lot of that is positional. How much better was he than an average defensive shortstop or a replacement level defensive shortstop? Better, no doubt but +36 or so dWAR over his career? I don't know, but I doubt it.
That's not to say he wasn't a great player and a Hall of Famer. He is, but he's not inner circle.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 02:31 PM
I think Cal gets a lot of credit for redefining the shortstop position. Before Cal, it was primarily a defensive position. He was a steady shortstop who had some pop. Before Cal came along, you had a few guys who were good offensive shortstops, but they were moved. ( Banks and Yount come to mind.) You are also correct that Cal gets a lot of credit for his positioning. That's a knock on his range. He did have one of the best throwing arms I have ever seen on a shortstop. He threw extremely well from a variety of angles. That's not easy and it takes a lot of ability to do that.I like your name, too.
My opinion on Cal really comes down to 2 things: 1) He was an offensively average for half of his career, and 2) My lack of confidence that defensive value is accounted for accurately, especially historically. A lot of his value is defensive and a lot of that is positional. How much better was he than an average defensive shortstop or a replacement level defensive shortstop? Better, no doubt but +36 or so dWAR over his career? I don't know, but I doubt it.
That's not to say he wasn't a great player and a Hall of Famer. He is, but he's not inner circle.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 02:32 PM
I like your name, too.
My opinion on Cal really comes down to 2 things: 1) He was an offensively average for half of his career, and 2) My lack of confidence that defensive value is accounted for accurately, especially historically. A lot of his value is defensive and a lot of that is positional. How much better was he than an average defensive shortstop or a replacement level defensive shortstop? Better, no doubt but +36 or so dWAR over his career? I don't know, but I doubt it.
That's not to say he wasn't a great player and a Hall of Famer. He is, but he's not inner circle.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 02:40 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 03:19 PM
Good post. Cal was obviously great, but I share the skepticism regarding his defense being as valuable as dWAR has it.
As for his offense, his bat was obviously inferior to most Hall of Famers without context of position. You do have to consider his position, though, which of course made him a standout offensive player for the first half of his career.
I will say though that while I do think you have to compare players offensive game to their peers within their era and position, Cal gets an extra, perhaps not totally warranted boost when doing that simply because plenty of teams were willing to minimize offense so much at shortstop.
Posted 08 April 2020 - 03:20 PM
Posted 08 April 2020 - 03:23 PM
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