Olbermann was always a good on-air personality, but this essay cemented what I always suspected -- he was an even better writer. I used several of Olbermann's old ESPN.sportszone.com essays in the freshman writing classes I was teaching at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the time to demonstrate one point or another, but never this particular one because I didn't believe the standard 18-year-old engineering major would "get" the power of "The Ninth Man."
To truly appreciate this essay, you have to be a baseball fan -- that's "fan" in the linguistic sense, as in "just short for fanatic" -- and you must have a feel for the history of the game and the power of baseball relationships across time. The readers of Batter's Box will understand "The Ninth Man" -- and after all these years, may also understand why, in retrospect, I now believe Olbermann didn't even take the concept far enough. But we'll do so here.
Among baseball's many commonly used terms are things like "Staff Ace", "Solid #3 starter", and "Back of the rotation guy". But as with many baseball terms, these can mean very different things to different people. As the Blue Jays look ahead to 2005, few would question Roy Halladay as a legitimate Staff Ace. But is Ted Lilly a Solid #3? Josh Towers is certainly not a front of the rotation starter, but is he a liability or an asset at the back?
Some notable failed recollections:
Sounds like it's time for the another edition of "Ask Spike," as the new Jay hurler stopped by Batter's Box for an interview and to take questions back in mid-November, and he returns now to do so again.
It seems remarkable, but only four men in the history of the game have been named "Robin" -- and if Ventura ever enters the Hall of Fame (unlikely, but obviously at least worth discussing, or we wouldn't be here) that means three of the four Robins will be enshrined in Cooperstown. Ventura would join Robin Roberts and Robin Yount in The Hall, leaving former Cubs/A's/Rockies/Reds outfielder Robin Jennings wondering just what the hell happened.
But no, even with two current Hall of Famers, there's no "Rockin' Robin" team to be built. So do we go with the 21 guys with the initials "RV" for an "All-Big-Rig" team? Uh, no. How about guys like Ventura who share a name with a famous highway? Unlikely at best. But wait ... read through that Mike Green Hall Watch piece again. See the comparison of Ventura to Ron Cey? An idea takes flight ...
Robin Ventura is a 6 time Gold-Glove winning third baseman and a fine hitter. That normally isn't enough for the Hall, and it probably won't do for Ventura, but I thought that it would be fun to recap his career and remember some other fine third basemen who are just outside the Hall. Ventura hit .243/.337/.362 in 152 ABs for the Dodgers in 2004 at age 36. His career does seem to be winding down.
The Blue Jays will be selecting 6th in the 2005 Draft next summer. Some of the top candidates the Jays may select were discussed previously.
Previously, Mike Moffatt looked at the history of the 6th pick in the draft going back until 1965.
While the Jays will be selecting 6th in the draft I wanted to take a broader look at the players selected in previous drafts. So I went back, using The Baseball Cube as a resource, and looked at the players drafted from pick 6 through pick 15 from the ten drafts in the 90s.