Lose-Lose

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Overhyped One.

[G-Fafif]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: The overhyped one will one day break the hearts of every Mets fan. How many votes do you suppose Jeter's gonna get his first year of HOF eligibility? He'll garner a greater percentage of the vote than Tom Terrific did, even though Jeter's not worthy of carrying Tom's jockstrap.

Bigger pool of voters whenever TOHO is on the ballot, so we're likely safe (unless he benefits from "at last -- someone unsullied by steroid or scandal, let's get self-righteous!").

Edited April 18, 2012 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: The overhyped one will one day break the hearts of every Mets fan. How many votes do you suppose Jeter's gonna get his first year of HOF eligibility? He'll garner a greater percentage of the vote than Tom Terrific did, even though Jeter's not worthy of carrying Tom's jockstrap. I've somehow used part of my life to fret over the same possibility but decided it's probably not going to happen as by then there'll be enough contrarian stat types voting who will find enough lacking in his candidacy. It was hard enough getting 98.84% to agree on something so motherlovingly obvious as Tom more than twenty years ago. Bigger pool of voters whenever TOHO is on the ballot, so we're likely safe (unless he benefits from "at last -- someone unsullied by steroid or scandal, let's get self-righteous!"). On the plus side, at least he won't be playing anymore. Can you imagine the witch hunt that'll develop over that National Crisis when Bob Klapisch uses every ounce of his clout to flush out those who dared to omit TOHO from the ballot?

Y'know what? Now that you mention Soft Rain Scribe, the 98.84% might be more in danger from the closer than the shortstop.

[MFS62]

Thanks guys.
Missed it.

Later

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I've always liked the nickname Cap'n Intangibles when referring to the over-hyped one.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I should mention that the "first-ballot percentage leadership" is about as stupid a distinction as can be claimed, and I wouldn't care a whit less about Seaver, or any more for any other guy, who'd achieve it.

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I should mention that the "first-ballot percentage leadership" is about as stupid a distinction as can be claimed, and I wouldn't care a whit less about Seaver, or any more for any other guy, who'd achieve it.

The second it no longer belongs to Seaver, it becomes irrelevant.

[Edgy MD]

Here's an argument.

[list:2ba3rot0]Whereas...
...Tom Seaver has had a remarkable career, as a ballplayer and as a public figure.

Whereas...
... the main flaw one might find in Tom Seaver's remarkable career is his careful and conservative manipulation of his public image.

Whereas...
... the result of that careful curation has been to leave us with an unimpeachably admirabable, yet frighteningly sterile, detached, flat, and sanitized version of himself.

Whereas...
... while the latter half of that result has been disappointing to us up close, we are his base, and nonetheless stay loyal.

Whereas...
... the former half of that result has been rewarded with a broad respect beyond the base.

Whereas...
... that respect can be best represented by Seaver having garnered the highest percentage of votes ever for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association.

Therefore...
... I can think of no more appropriate person to take that honor from Seaver than Derek Jeter, whose career has been notable for the sort of shamelessly cynical image manipulation --- aided and abetted by an influential batch of media surrogates --- that would (I dearly hope) make Seaver blush.[/list:u:2ba3rot0]

A ballplayer should be made not of marble, but of flesh. And a flesh-and-blood man such as Seaver should leave a handful of enemies behind, even if he carries a message of unity. Baseball isn't so pure and perfect as all of that. Not nearly.

[seawolf17]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: I've always liked the nickname Cap'n Intangibles when referring to the over-hyped one.

I exclusively refer to him as such.

No way he beats Seaver's percentage; I bet there's just enough pushback from the younger folks to keep him in the high 80s/low 90s at best.