Monday, November 02, 2009
Mister November
I so wish I was watching baseball right now. On the other side of the planet, Game Four of the World Series is taking place but as I write this, I'm stuck sitting in the smallest school in Osaka. I've never wanted a portable television more than I do right now.
Sure, there's the internet, and I have used that to check in with the game from time to time. Last I checked the score was tied at 4 in the eighth. Not bad news but not great news either. I've only got one more chance to see a game live this week and that will be Game 5 on Tuesday (Japan time). If the Yankees win today*, I could potentially see them clinch it tomorrow. Otherwise, no matter who wins it I'll be missing out as Games 6 and 7 will take place before the weekend starts. Sigh.
Beyond the Series itself, one bit of news leaped off the screen and jabbed me in the eye: Derek Jeter won an award. Specifically, the Hank Aaron Award which "recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each League." Apparently fans have a say in choosing the recipient, so I guess that's bound to screw up the system, but even Yankee fans should be scratching their heads at this news, perhaps even hanging their heads in embarrassment.
Take a look at that announcement again. There's a brief synopsis of the winners' achievements this year. For Albert Pujols (the NL winner) they note his league-leading on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and home run total. That's good! For Jeter, the strongest thing they can offer is passing Lou Gehrig in career hits. That's not bad but it's completely irrelevant.
Jeter led the league in absolutely nothing this year, other than playing games at shortstop for the New York Yankees which isn't really an offensive category. He had a lot of hits and a decent batting average, but his home runs and RBI totals were remarkably low. Indeed, looking at this list of past Hank Aaron Award winners, his low numbers are second only to...Derek Jeter in 2006.
As professional comedy writer/angry sports fan Ken Tremendous said this morning, Jeter is perhaps the fifth-best hitter on his own team to say nothing of the entire American League. Without even looking it up I'm going to guess that Joe Mauer of the Twins had an outstanding year at the plate (ok, I later looked it up) but since he suffers the dual handicap of (A) playing in Minnesota and (B) not being named Derek Jeter, I guess none of the fans that voted had ever heard of him.
I'm not trying to knock on Jeter as a player; I am a fan of the Yankees and of him personally. When he does good things, I get a giddy feeling that has no rational explanation. There's just something fun about watching him succeed despite having years of success under his belt. It's like rooting for an underdog who is actually comfortably sitting on top of the world.
But why the hell do baseball writers and fans insist on handing him trophy after trophy? I know awards are subjective and sometimes they are not earned but simply received because people feel like it was "his time" or some nonsense. It's like when Martin Scorsese won his first Best Director Oscar for The Departed when he should have won it at least twice before for far better films.
This is Derek Fucking Jeter we're talking about. He's fantastically wealthy and handsome and he plays on the most popular team in the world. He's rolling in acclaim and probably has entire closets full of first-place ribbons and the like. Can't we just stop fawning over him and actually award players who deserve such accolades? Can't we give Joe Mauer a headline in November instead of a guy who's already in the midst of winning a World Series for the fifth fucking time?
*Note: The Yankees did win before I got home and uploaded this post onto the internet, but that still doesn't explain why Derek Jeter won another award. Boo...but yay!
Sure, there's the internet, and I have used that to check in with the game from time to time. Last I checked the score was tied at 4 in the eighth. Not bad news but not great news either. I've only got one more chance to see a game live this week and that will be Game 5 on Tuesday (Japan time). If the Yankees win today*, I could potentially see them clinch it tomorrow. Otherwise, no matter who wins it I'll be missing out as Games 6 and 7 will take place before the weekend starts. Sigh.
Beyond the Series itself, one bit of news leaped off the screen and jabbed me in the eye: Derek Jeter won an award. Specifically, the Hank Aaron Award which "recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each League." Apparently fans have a say in choosing the recipient, so I guess that's bound to screw up the system, but even Yankee fans should be scratching their heads at this news, perhaps even hanging their heads in embarrassment.
Take a look at that announcement again. There's a brief synopsis of the winners' achievements this year. For Albert Pujols (the NL winner) they note his league-leading on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and home run total. That's good! For Jeter, the strongest thing they can offer is passing Lou Gehrig in career hits. That's not bad but it's completely irrelevant.
Jeter led the league in absolutely nothing this year, other than playing games at shortstop for the New York Yankees which isn't really an offensive category. He had a lot of hits and a decent batting average, but his home runs and RBI totals were remarkably low. Indeed, looking at this list of past Hank Aaron Award winners, his low numbers are second only to...Derek Jeter in 2006.
As professional comedy writer/angry sports fan Ken Tremendous said this morning, Jeter is perhaps the fifth-best hitter on his own team to say nothing of the entire American League. Without even looking it up I'm going to guess that Joe Mauer of the Twins had an outstanding year at the plate (ok, I later looked it up) but since he suffers the dual handicap of (A) playing in Minnesota and (B) not being named Derek Jeter, I guess none of the fans that voted had ever heard of him.
I'm not trying to knock on Jeter as a player; I am a fan of the Yankees and of him personally. When he does good things, I get a giddy feeling that has no rational explanation. There's just something fun about watching him succeed despite having years of success under his belt. It's like rooting for an underdog who is actually comfortably sitting on top of the world.
But why the hell do baseball writers and fans insist on handing him trophy after trophy? I know awards are subjective and sometimes they are not earned but simply received because people feel like it was "his time" or some nonsense. It's like when Martin Scorsese won his first Best Director Oscar for The Departed when he should have won it at least twice before for far better films.
This is Derek Fucking Jeter we're talking about. He's fantastically wealthy and handsome and he plays on the most popular team in the world. He's rolling in acclaim and probably has entire closets full of first-place ribbons and the like. Can't we just stop fawning over him and actually award players who deserve such accolades? Can't we give Joe Mauer a headline in November instead of a guy who's already in the midst of winning a World Series for the fifth fucking time?
*Note: The Yankees did win before I got home and uploaded this post onto the internet, but that still doesn't explain why Derek Jeter won another award. Boo...but yay!
Labels: baseball, frustration, predicting the future, Yankees
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