I'm all in on the numerology based rankings and I'm not going to argue anyone's ranking throughout this process (I just want Take 3 to actually finish), but I will defend to the death hard pretzels and pizza bagels.
You said Dimaggio was 20-25 points higher in the rankings. After your rankings are done, maybe you could just provide a list of where everybody fell within the rankings? So Dimaggio would be listed at 34 or wherever he fell, etc. I would love to see what the rankings spit out. If that would be quick and easy for you, I'm guessing others would appreciate it as well. Thanks for taking the time to write all these!
It's funny that the numbering thing flew right past me until Dimaggio, and even then not until I started reading the comments. I have enjoyed the whole series, and unlike many commenters, I have felt most people were in at least the neighborhood where they belonged. (Although reading the comments, I think there is an active Sandy Koufax cult. I make bets with myself each day on how long it will take for someone to complain about that day's player being above Koufax.)
Dimaggio was the first guy where I said to myself "Wow, that seems a bit low" Now that you mention you moved him the most, I will retroactively suggest he could easily be moved to 41 (The year he had the streak and won an MVP) and at least be closer to where he belongs. Not complaining (I love the series) just a suggestion.
"... the rankings had him probably 20 or 25 spots higher and I didn’t move anyone else quite that much."
If Joe had moved him 5 spots so that he landed at 56, fine. But 20-25? Just seems ... off. And I've been defending the rank order to my friends ever since this wonderful series ever since it started, but can't defend this one.
Yeah, I'm in the mild disappointment group. My entire Joe experience has been, in part, a journey into advanced stats (well, mostly WAR) and this has been the culmination—every night after I read the story, I have been poring over the Baseball Reference page for each player to confirm, yes, Joe is right, the conventional wisdom about where this player stands is wrong. And now this. I guess the round numbers for stars is ok. But I want to know where Joe DiMaggio actually ranks under the Joe-Tom Tango system!
Joe: I was scanning channels on Sirius and came in at the tail end of this - apparently Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen did a whole concert together on 10-16-2008?!?!? “Born To Run” was playing, and Billy actually took a verse. I said “Billy, I love you, but you can’t sing Bruce’s iconic song! You don’t sing this, he won’t sing “Piano Man,” everybody’s fine with it.” But the concert didn’t end at “Born To Run.” What could possibly follow such an iconic song, you ask. Well, obviously they finished with....”The River Of Dreams”???????????? How is THAT your closing song?!?!?!?!?! And they threw in a portion of The Beatles “Hard Day’s Night” halfway through, before going back into the “classic” title track of Billy’s last studio album. Seriously, you actually made Bruce Springsteen sing some of that terrible song? The whole thing boggled my mind, I need to hear the rest of this concert to try and make sense of it all.
So the book version will have all 100 articles, plus an introduction where you explain the "ranking" system, and lots and lots more photos.... Where can I pre-order it? (grin)
I've been struggling for the right words to describe how I feel about today's reveal. What I've come up with is "mild disappointment".
The articles are absolutely terrific. The arguments about the rankings are wildly entertaining. Ranking the players, and writing the articles is a monumental task. If you compile it into a book I'll probably buy it - in a physical copy which I almost never do.
But I've concluded I'd much rather either see an unranked list, or a list that ranked the players in relative strength - what you felt the order was, subjective opinions and all. Instead I've left to wonder if you rank player X a few slots higher than Y, did you really think X was a little better than Y, or is it a result of matching players to prime numbers and whatnot.
I wish I didn't feel this way, but I do. It colors my enjoyment of the series. This won't stop me from looking forward to reading about a new player each morning. Or arguing about the rankings. Or taunting those who don't know about Rod Carew's mad hits.
I sympathize. But the player movements are not that much except for DiMaggio, probably. And I do believe that a movement of a few places really is meaningless :). #66 and #69, who's better, you may as well flip a coin. If you really know, you know something about differentiating impossible-to-differentiate things you should share with the world. :)
If we knew rest of list NOW we could help w some content research. 😉
I'm all in on the numerology based rankings and I'm not going to argue anyone's ranking throughout this process (I just want Take 3 to actually finish), but I will defend to the death hard pretzels and pizza bagels.
Call me gullible, but I'm feeling good about Take 3 finishing!
You said Dimaggio was 20-25 points higher in the rankings. After your rankings are done, maybe you could just provide a list of where everybody fell within the rankings? So Dimaggio would be listed at 34 or wherever he fell, etc. I would love to see what the rankings spit out. If that would be quick and easy for you, I'm guessing others would appreciate it as well. Thanks for taking the time to write all these!
Yes, that would be nice.
So, this must mean George Brett will be 55
“That John Denver’s full of sh*t, man.”
It's funny that the numbering thing flew right past me until Dimaggio, and even then not until I started reading the comments. I have enjoyed the whole series, and unlike many commenters, I have felt most people were in at least the neighborhood where they belonged. (Although reading the comments, I think there is an active Sandy Koufax cult. I make bets with myself each day on how long it will take for someone to complain about that day's player being above Koufax.)
Dimaggio was the first guy where I said to myself "Wow, that seems a bit low" Now that you mention you moved him the most, I will retroactively suggest he could easily be moved to 41 (The year he had the streak and won an MVP) and at least be closer to where he belongs. Not complaining (I love the series) just a suggestion.
Confess also to be slightly disappointed by this:
"... the rankings had him probably 20 or 25 spots higher and I didn’t move anyone else quite that much."
If Joe had moved him 5 spots so that he landed at 56, fine. But 20-25? Just seems ... off. And I've been defending the rank order to my friends ever since this wonderful series ever since it started, but can't defend this one.
Yeah, I'm in the mild disappointment group. My entire Joe experience has been, in part, a journey into advanced stats (well, mostly WAR) and this has been the culmination—every night after I read the story, I have been poring over the Baseball Reference page for each player to confirm, yes, Joe is right, the conventional wisdom about where this player stands is wrong. And now this. I guess the round numbers for stars is ok. But I want to know where Joe DiMaggio actually ranks under the Joe-Tom Tango system!
well, the numbering thing... that's fantastic. The list is even better now.
Joe: I was scanning channels on Sirius and came in at the tail end of this - apparently Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen did a whole concert together on 10-16-2008?!?!? “Born To Run” was playing, and Billy actually took a verse. I said “Billy, I love you, but you can’t sing Bruce’s iconic song! You don’t sing this, he won’t sing “Piano Man,” everybody’s fine with it.” But the concert didn’t end at “Born To Run.” What could possibly follow such an iconic song, you ask. Well, obviously they finished with....”The River Of Dreams”???????????? How is THAT your closing song?!?!?!?!?! And they threw in a portion of The Beatles “Hard Day’s Night” halfway through, before going back into the “classic” title track of Billy’s last studio album. Seriously, you actually made Bruce Springsteen sing some of that terrible song? The whole thing boggled my mind, I need to hear the rest of this concert to try and make sense of it all.
Phil Niekro always did seem to me like the pitching embodiment of five consecutive prime numbers.
Joe, now that I’ve read about your numbering system, I love the Baseball 100 even more! DiMaggio at 56 was perfect.
I’m a long time Poscast listener and this is the first I’ve ever heard Mike’s son’s real name.
I hope you can use your sportswriting powers to give Elizabeth a chance to meet Mahomes.
So the book version will have all 100 articles, plus an introduction where you explain the "ranking" system, and lots and lots more photos.... Where can I pre-order it? (grin)
The book may as well be spiral-bound so people can re-order however they want
I've been struggling for the right words to describe how I feel about today's reveal. What I've come up with is "mild disappointment".
The articles are absolutely terrific. The arguments about the rankings are wildly entertaining. Ranking the players, and writing the articles is a monumental task. If you compile it into a book I'll probably buy it - in a physical copy which I almost never do.
But I've concluded I'd much rather either see an unranked list, or a list that ranked the players in relative strength - what you felt the order was, subjective opinions and all. Instead I've left to wonder if you rank player X a few slots higher than Y, did you really think X was a little better than Y, or is it a result of matching players to prime numbers and whatnot.
I wish I didn't feel this way, but I do. It colors my enjoyment of the series. This won't stop me from looking forward to reading about a new player each morning. Or arguing about the rankings. Or taunting those who don't know about Rod Carew's mad hits.
I sympathize. But the player movements are not that much except for DiMaggio, probably. And I do believe that a movement of a few places really is meaningless :). #66 and #69, who's better, you may as well flip a coin. If you really know, you know something about differentiating impossible-to-differentiate things you should share with the world. :)
It’s a basket of 100. No need turn them into Russian dolls; they won’t fit.
Matrix wrinkle or are there two cats?
Just ignore the numbers if it bothers you that much. What a strange thing to dwell on.
Just ignore my feedback to Joe if it bothers you that much. What a strange thing to comment on.