Ok, everybody's all, "did you see Ellsbury steal home last night, that was so cool." The guys on Sunday Night Baseball were drooling over it so much you would think they wanted to blow the guy. Sure, it doesn't happen that often, and yeah, there's more of a coolness factor to it than, say, a bloop single to right, but let's put this in perspective and take a little of the wow-factor out of it.
Into the annals of history we go...
Back in the old days, the pitchers must have been super shitty, or Ty Cobb was the BOSS, I mean, THE BOSS. Ty Cobb stole home base 54 times in his career. There are 7 other major leaguers who stole home over 20 times in their careers. This kinda makes me scratch my head because I think to myself, how could this have happened?? The only thing I can come up with is that Jacoby Ellsbury just isn't that fast, I mean, he's fast compared to other current baseball players, but guys like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb and George Burns must have been Flash Gordon fast.
It just doesn't happen much anymore, which also makes me scratch my head, I would think that today's players would be faster than those of yesteryear, maybe there is some 3rd factor I'm not seeing. I'm rambling now, suffice to say...yeah, Ellsbury did something cool, but let's be honest, it wasn't THAT special, not nearly as special as three players hitting for the cycle in ONE WEEK two weeks ago. And in terms of history, Ellsbury won't even crack the top 50 home-plate stealers of all time. In other words, in five days no one will remember this,...unless ESPN keeps playing the highlight.
In 2007 (I believe), Aaron Hill stole home off Andy Pettitte in Toronto. I don't recall, BUT PERHAPS I AM WRONG, ESPN making such a gigantic, lets-talk-about-it-every-half-inning, fucking deal out of it.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I didn't know until last night that Jon Miller used to be a Red Sox announcer. It was a revelation to me, like finding the missing link in the evolutionary chain or something. "Of coooooourse you were, it all makes sense now..."
I heard that too (about Miller), he was their announcer for 2 years I believe, I'd love to hear the whole story there. Sounds like it 'wasn't a good fit.'
ReplyDeleteYou're right, in 2007 Hill stole home off of Pettite, similar situation. Last year, Torii Hunter stole home. It's not unheard of like a perfect game or anything. It's been done plenty of times and happened more in the past, I mean hell, a handful of guys have stolen home twice in one game.
what about benny "the jet" rodriguez? dude must be in the top five all time.
ReplyDelete@domedog...most def. dude had wheels.
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