I've spent entirely too much time today defending Mike Piazza and Adam Dunn on the Flushing University message boards (enjoy the insanity here and here). After re-directing countless shallow arguments which seem to revolve almost entirely around the over-reliance on RBIs as a measure of offensive production, I found myself defending Piazza's reluctance to move to first base toward the end of his Mets' career. I may decide to cobble together an entire post on this topic from the arguments I made today, but this final thought put so much into perspective for me.
To this day Derek Jeter refuses to move away from shortstop - a position he can no longer play effectively - even though he is an obvious detriment to his team defensively. Yankees fans and the mainstream media still worship him.
Mike Piazza refused to move to first base - a position he knew he couldn't play effectively - because he would've been an obvious detriment to his team defensively. Some Mets fans chastise him for it.
I don't know which group is more oblivious to reality.
2 comments:
Jeter-worship knows no bounds. To put it bluntly, he refused to change postions for a player superior to him in every way, including defense.
To stay on the theme, today I'm still hearing some Yankee fans ripping on A-Rod after todays 4-2 loss to the Twins. Imagine, the guy hits the game winning HR in the 12th last night, but since he popped out in the 8th with 2 on he sucks and he has to go. This idiot contingent of Yankee fans drives me fucking nuts.
Good God, reading that thread on Piazza gave me a headache. I give you credit, you fought the good fight. Thankfully, "fans" such as those are in the minority as witnessed by the sellout crowds and the thunderous ovations and curtain calls given to a VISITING player at Shea when Mike returned. Most of us realize what we were privileged to have.
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