A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).
These players (without steroids) batted against the best available pitchers during the time that preceded MLB's expansion to 24 teams in 1969. Thus, double and triple A pitchers made it to the major leagues after 1969. The following 10 players played all or most of their careers in the Golden Age of Baseball: 1946-1969.
Aaron, Henry (1954-1976) Banks, Ernie (1953-1971) Clemente, Roberto 1955-1972) DiMaggio, Joe (1936-1942, 1946-1951) Kaline, Al (1953-1974) Mantle, Mickey (1951-1968) Mays, Willie (1951-1952, 1954-1973) Musial, Stan (1941-1944, 1946-1963) Snyder, Duke (1947-1964) Williams, Ted (1939-1942, 1946-1960)
One can only imagine what these players would have accomplished against today's pitchers and with today's advanced technology and conditioning drills.
"...[T]oday's players have lost all concept of history. Their collective mission is greed. Nothing else means much of anything to them. As a group, there's no discernible social conscience among them; certainly no sense of self-sacrifice, which is what Jackie Robinson's legacy is based on. It's a sick feeling, and one of the reasons I've been moving further and further away from the game.
"The players today think that they're making $10 million a year because they have talent and people want to give them money. They have no clue what Jackie went through on their behalf, or Larry Doby or Monte Irvin or Don Newcombe, or even, to a lesser extent, the players of my generation. People wonder where the heroes have gone. Where there is no conscience, there are no heroes.
"The saddest thing about all of this is that baseball was once the standard for our country. Jackie Robinson helped blaze the trail for the civil rights movement that followed. The group that succeeded Jackie -- my contemporaries -- did the same sort of work in the segregated minor leagues of the South. Baseball publicly pressed the issue of integration; in a symbolic way, it was our civil rights laboratory.
"It is tragic to me that baseball has fallen so far behind basketball and even football in terms of racial leadership. People question whether baseball is still the national pastime, and I have to wonder, too. It is certainly not the national standard it once was.
"The upside of this is that baseball, and baseball only, has Jackie Robinson..." (Henry Aaron, NY Times, 1997).
10 Greatest Hitters of All Time (alphabetically):
ReplyDeleteAaron, Henry
Cobb, Ty
DiMaggio, Joe
Gehrig, Lou
Mantle, Mickey
Mays, Willie
Musial, Stan
Ruth, Babe
Williams, Ted
Yastrzemski, Carl
10 More Great Hitters of All Time (alphabetically)
ReplyDeleteBanks, Ernie
Carew, Rod
Clemente, Roberto
Griffey Jr., Ken
Hornsby, Rogers
Jackson, Joe
Kaline, Al
Robinson, Jackie
Snyder, Duke
Thomas, Frank
And Let's Not Forget These 10 Great Hitters (alphabetically)
ReplyDeleteBench, Johnny
Boggs, Wade
Brett, George
Gwynn, Tony
Mathews, Eddie
McCovey, Willie
Ott, Mel
Piazza, Mike
Robinson, Frank
Rose, Pete
My Picks and Why:
ReplyDeleteThese players (without steroids) batted against the best available pitchers during the time that preceded MLB's expansion to 24 teams in 1969. Thus, double and triple A pitchers made it to the major leagues after 1969. The following 10 players played all or most of their careers in the Golden Age of Baseball: 1946-1969.
Aaron, Henry (1954-1976)
Banks, Ernie (1953-1971)
Clemente, Roberto 1955-1972)
DiMaggio, Joe (1936-1942, 1946-1951)
Kaline, Al (1953-1974)
Mantle, Mickey (1951-1968)
Mays, Willie (1951-1952, 1954-1973)
Musial, Stan (1941-1944, 1946-1963)
Snyder, Duke (1947-1964)
Williams, Ted (1939-1942, 1946-1960)
One can only imagine what these players would have accomplished against today's pitchers and with today's advanced technology and conditioning drills.
"...[T]oday's players have lost all concept of history. Their collective mission is greed. Nothing else means much of anything to them. As a group, there's no discernible social conscience among them; certainly no sense of self-sacrifice, which is what Jackie Robinson's legacy is based on. It's a sick feeling, and one of the reasons I've been moving further and further away from the game.
ReplyDelete"The players today think that they're making $10 million a year because they have talent and people want to give them money. They have no clue what Jackie went through on their behalf, or Larry Doby or Monte Irvin or Don Newcombe, or even, to a lesser extent, the players of my generation. People wonder where the heroes have gone. Where there is no conscience, there are no heroes.
"The saddest thing about all of this is that baseball was once the standard for our country. Jackie Robinson helped blaze the trail for the civil rights movement that followed. The group that succeeded Jackie -- my contemporaries -- did the same sort of work in the segregated minor leagues of the South. Baseball publicly pressed the issue of integration; in a symbolic way, it was our civil rights laboratory.
"It is tragic to me that baseball has fallen so far behind basketball and even football in terms of racial leadership. People question whether baseball is still the national pastime, and I have to wonder, too. It is certainly not the national standard it once was.
"The upside of this is that baseball, and baseball only, has Jackie Robinson..." (Henry Aaron, NY Times, 1997).