Describing the Steinbrenner-Era Yankees as "Veruca Salt in pinstripes" is one of the single most apt, and evocative metaphors in the English language.
Yes, I freaking know Steinbrenner the Lesser is still a Steinbrenner but literally every single one of you knows what "Steinbrenner-Era Yankees" means, and don't you even try to claim otherwise.
When you absolutely hate 3 of the 4 teams left, you become a temporary Phillies fan. The perils of being a Dodgers fan - rooting for someone else deep in the playoffs more often than not....
So after last night I was looking at Harpers BR page and I noticed something was still happening with his career. He has won two MVP awards. Other than those two years he has no-top 10 MVP finishes, and only two years with a vote (12th, and 30th in his ROY year). I wanted to see if there was anyone else quite like him so I looked at the ratio of MVP shares to MVP wins. Only 4 players in MLB history have more Wins than Shares. Harper is at 1.06 (1.88 vs 2 Wins).
The next two don't apply. Robin Yount is similar at 1.11 (1.8 vs 2 Wins), but Yount had 5 other Top-20 finishes, so he was more valued by the voters than Harper (while also being a bit underrated). Roy Campenella 1.19 (2.52 vs 3 Wins) is completely different, as he had MVP votes in 7 or his 10 seasons.
Then there is Roger Maris. The clear outlier at 1.43 (1.4 vs 2 Wins)! Two MVP wins, and only one other MVP vote (1% share in '64). Even more extreme an outlier than Harper, although at least his career shape makes more sense, as his MVP years were back-to-back.
So Harper is not entirely alone in his peaks and valleys career, but he's in a very small community. Except for one thing. He's unique in being the only player in MLB history to have more MVP wins than MVP shares....whose name doesn't start with Ro!
As a Mariners fan for 40 years and a Tigers fan for over 60 years; I’m rooting for the NL to win the World Series since the Yankees and Astros have been spoiling my hopes and dreams for years.
I like the energy of both the Phillies and Padres; great players and fun offenses. Next year, I’m hoping the Mariners take the next step.
I think you might want to take a little bit of a break from hating the yankees quite so actively, Joe. Like, sure, hate them, but going this far out of your way to hate them - suggesting that the reason they're not playing good baseball right now is because they didn't sign the oft-injured player who puts his foot in his mouth occasionally, strikes out a lot, and plays the same position as their best player rather than, you know, the random chance you discussed encouraged everyone to embrace, I dunno, yesterday? Is a bit much.
Are you not a sports fan? Is there really no team that you have an irrational hatred for? To me, that's what it's all about. I'm a lifelong Cardinal fan. I love the idea that there are people out there that hate the Cardinals with every fiber of their being. Being from St. Louis, not surprisingly my sport hatred is the NE Patriots. I spent the 2001 Super Bowl in the Superdome surrounded by Patriot fans. I came away from that game hating them with the burning fire of a thousand suns. To me, that what makes sports great.
You know how some people who didn't grow up with a team root for individual teams, not franchises? Like the "70's Steelers" or something? Or they just rIoot for "good stories?" suppose I'm kinda like that with who I dislike, too.
I can't claim to much care for many of these particular Astros, but the cheating stuff also seems overblown and it's hard to hate all of them. I "hated" the Red Sox and the Cleveland team in the 90s when I was a kid, but these teams have little to do with those teams.
I get enjoyment from enjoying sports, not being miserable. I dunno.
I worry you misunderstand me - the agony of defeat, as it were, is obviously part and parcel of sports. As it the cathartic "hate" a person should feel as part of a healthy set of emotions.
What I don't care for is the active, ongoing, self-imposed misery that needless hatred brings. Hating adult people who play sports for a living, adult fans I don't know, or some abstract "ideal" such as "the Yankees" is like the old adage about swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die. It just brings me no joy.
"We loathed the Yankees, so many of us did, not only because of how good they were but also because when they came to your town they were not just there to beat up your team, they were also scouting your best player to take away from you when the time was right."
Joe will never write this complaint about my team. Count yourself lucky.
Sorry, but I don't revel in other people disliking when I enjoy things. I'm happy when other people enjoy things, too. What fun would baseball be if it were just me, celebrating meaningless wins by myself?
Yankees are paying the price of their business model. Signing the latest FAs to big $$$, long term contracts leaves them with creaky, aging players with contracts too big to move or eat. And we are seeing it play out on national TV.
Lifelong Yankee fan here. Says something about the quality of Joe's writing that he's one of my favorite writers in the world, even though he revels so much my favorite team's failures, and so obviously and enthusiastically hates the team so much.
(Agree 100% with this post about Harper, by the way.)
And, as a Red Sox fan who has witnessed plenty of painful baseball memories at the hands of the YANKEES, it's especially sweet that with them down 0-3 in the ALCS, they will be reminded once again that the only MLB team to come back from that deficit is the 2004 BOSTON RED SOX.
Rob, can you even IMAGINE George's reaction had this happened when he was still in his prime? First he would have strangled Cashman on the spot, followed by putting the entire team on waivers. I'm no Red Sox fan, but that was one SWEET moment.
I was crushed when the Yankees traded for Stanton, because I knew that immediately closed the door on Harper ever coming. The road not taken...
Probably as I felt with the Red Sox signing Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts walking away
Describing the Steinbrenner-Era Yankees as "Veruca Salt in pinstripes" is one of the single most apt, and evocative metaphors in the English language.
Yes, I freaking know Steinbrenner the Lesser is still a Steinbrenner but literally every single one of you knows what "Steinbrenner-Era Yankees" means, and don't you even try to claim otherwise.
When you absolutely hate 3 of the 4 teams left, you become a temporary Phillies fan. The perils of being a Dodgers fan - rooting for someone else deep in the playoffs more often than not....
Posnanski: "I feel sorry for you."
Yankees: "I don't think about you at all."
So after last night I was looking at Harpers BR page and I noticed something was still happening with his career. He has won two MVP awards. Other than those two years he has no-top 10 MVP finishes, and only two years with a vote (12th, and 30th in his ROY year). I wanted to see if there was anyone else quite like him so I looked at the ratio of MVP shares to MVP wins. Only 4 players in MLB history have more Wins than Shares. Harper is at 1.06 (1.88 vs 2 Wins).
The next two don't apply. Robin Yount is similar at 1.11 (1.8 vs 2 Wins), but Yount had 5 other Top-20 finishes, so he was more valued by the voters than Harper (while also being a bit underrated). Roy Campenella 1.19 (2.52 vs 3 Wins) is completely different, as he had MVP votes in 7 or his 10 seasons.
Then there is Roger Maris. The clear outlier at 1.43 (1.4 vs 2 Wins)! Two MVP wins, and only one other MVP vote (1% share in '64). Even more extreme an outlier than Harper, although at least his career shape makes more sense, as his MVP years were back-to-back.
So Harper is not entirely alone in his peaks and valleys career, but he's in a very small community. Except for one thing. He's unique in being the only player in MLB history to have more MVP wins than MVP shares....whose name doesn't start with Ro!
I love this.
Including any/all debate about whether even the most favorable traffic conditions could produce a 93 drive from Citizens Bank to the Bronx...
93 minutes down I-95 LMAO
108 miles. Apparently Joe drives fast and in very early morning hours. But yeah, a two hour trip with normal traffic.
As a Mariners fan for 40 years and a Tigers fan for over 60 years; I’m rooting for the NL to win the World Series since the Yankees and Astros have been spoiling my hopes and dreams for years.
I like the energy of both the Phillies and Padres; great players and fun offenses. Next year, I’m hoping the Mariners take the next step.
I think you might want to take a little bit of a break from hating the yankees quite so actively, Joe. Like, sure, hate them, but going this far out of your way to hate them - suggesting that the reason they're not playing good baseball right now is because they didn't sign the oft-injured player who puts his foot in his mouth occasionally, strikes out a lot, and plays the same position as their best player rather than, you know, the random chance you discussed encouraged everyone to embrace, I dunno, yesterday? Is a bit much.
Are you not a sports fan? Is there really no team that you have an irrational hatred for? To me, that's what it's all about. I'm a lifelong Cardinal fan. I love the idea that there are people out there that hate the Cardinals with every fiber of their being. Being from St. Louis, not surprisingly my sport hatred is the NE Patriots. I spent the 2001 Super Bowl in the Superdome surrounded by Patriot fans. I came away from that game hating them with the burning fire of a thousand suns. To me, that what makes sports great.
Nice Diane Chambers reference.
Oh, the way I feel about the Cowboys (and Yankees)? Why yes!
Not really, no.
You know how some people who didn't grow up with a team root for individual teams, not franchises? Like the "70's Steelers" or something? Or they just rIoot for "good stories?" suppose I'm kinda like that with who I dislike, too.
I can't claim to much care for many of these particular Astros, but the cheating stuff also seems overblown and it's hard to hate all of them. I "hated" the Red Sox and the Cleveland team in the 90s when I was a kid, but these teams have little to do with those teams.
I get enjoyment from enjoying sports, not being miserable. I dunno.
Part of me understands that, but for me, the misery is part of what make the joy so special.
EXACTLY!
I worry you misunderstand me - the agony of defeat, as it were, is obviously part and parcel of sports. As it the cathartic "hate" a person should feel as part of a healthy set of emotions.
What I don't care for is the active, ongoing, self-imposed misery that needless hatred brings. Hating adult people who play sports for a living, adult fans I don't know, or some abstract "ideal" such as "the Yankees" is like the old adage about swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die. It just brings me no joy.
"We loathed the Yankees, so many of us did, not only because of how good they were but also because when they came to your town they were not just there to beat up your team, they were also scouting your best player to take away from you when the time was right."
Joe will never write this complaint about my team. Count yourself lucky.
Sorry, but I don't revel in other people disliking when I enjoy things. I'm happy when other people enjoy things, too. What fun would baseball be if it were just me, celebrating meaningless wins by myself?
Hopefully it's you, celebrating awesome wins with all of your fellow fans
https://youtu.be/CcNo07Xp8aQ
Yankees are paying the price of their business model. Signing the latest FAs to big $$$, long term contracts leaves them with creaky, aging players with contracts too big to move or eat. And we are seeing it play out on national TV.
Who? This team has relatively few players that fit that description.
Lifelong Yankee fan here. Says something about the quality of Joe's writing that he's one of my favorite writers in the world, even though he revels so much my favorite team's failures, and so obviously and enthusiastically hates the team so much.
(Agree 100% with this post about Harper, by the way.)
Disagree on biggest limitation. That would be Cashman, or whoever convinced Hal to live down to be, as you said, lower case “Yankees”.
I’m glad Bryce isn’t a Yankee because I can enjoy his ability and success without misgivings.
What a line! “Bryce Harper was smashing doubles like they were plates at a Greek wedding”
Andy Gee from the Devil Dogs?
And, as a Red Sox fan who has witnessed plenty of painful baseball memories at the hands of the YANKEES, it's especially sweet that with them down 0-3 in the ALCS, they will be reminded once again that the only MLB team to come back from that deficit is the 2004 BOSTON RED SOX.
Rob, can you even IMAGINE George's reaction had this happened when he was still in his prime? First he would have strangled Cashman on the spot, followed by putting the entire team on waivers. I'm no Red Sox fan, but that was one SWEET moment.