MLB (with help from DHL) has a new television commercial about voting for the greatest all-time player for each team. It's hilarious! (But it helps to know a bit about baseball history.) You can watch it on their website.
For Baseball Fans
- Thread starter nsxtasy
- Start date
Thanks, Ken. That was funny. The names for a few of the teams were almost as funny. They had to dig deep for a few.
I originally posted this because I found the commercial so funny.
However, I read the article below in today's Chicago Tribune and totally agree with it that some of the players left off (not Sosa) are a ridiculous travesty.
Mike Downey
Relax, latest MLB gimmick just that
Published July 24, 2006
Quite a bit of fuss is being kicked up over another of those cute stunts Major League Baseball loves to come up with. This time it's a "Hometown Heroes" promotion in which five players from each franchise are put forth as those who best represent that team's history.
MLB credited the commish, Bud Selig, with being particularly excited about "the healthy debate it will provoke."
Bud must be tickled pink, then, that here in Chicago a great debate has begun over a gentleman whose name you may recall, Sammy Sosa, and how he could have been excluded from the Cubs' fab five.
Sosa himself expressed shock at being the odd man out from a group of Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo and Billy Williams, putting the question to the Tribune's Fred Mitchell, "This is supposed to be the five best players?"
A vote will be taken to find a "Hometown Hero" from each team. Criteria include "on-field performance, leadership qualities and character value," which, as you know, also is the Hall of Fame's holy trinity.
As so often is the case, something done in fun has resulted in howls of protest.
Oh, how could they have left off Sosa? Oh, how could you want that so-and-so? Oh, if the Reds can have that crook Pete Rose on their list and the Tigers that bigot Ty Cobb and the Giants that fathead Barry Bonds, how can you justify the Cubs not having Sosa?
To which I offer two words:
Lighten up.
This thing is trivial beyond words, and before it turns into a full-blown argument over whether Sosa is a blight on the earth or a martyr on the order of Joan of Arc, let me give you a small idea of how meaningless this "Hometown Heroes" business is.
A list of those not nominated includes:
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Lou Boudreau, Jim Bunning, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Carl Hubbell, Walter Johnson, Eddie Mathews, Christy Mathewson, Dave Parker, George Sisler, Pie Traynor and Paul Waner.
A list of those who are nominated includes:
Jim Abbott, Jay Bell, Dante Bichette, Jim Gantner, Rusty Greer, Pat Hentgen, Aubrey Huff, Brian Schneider, Todd Stottlemyre, Mark Teixeira and Dontrelle Willis.
Let's begin with this. I do not know who Brian Schneider is.
Nothing personal. He could be the third coming of Mr. Ruth and Mr. Aaron, for all I know. But the fact is, I love baseball, and somebody named Schneider has been nominated as one of his team's five all-time greats, yet I do not even know which position this ballplayer plays.
OK, off to the record book I go. Ah, here he is. Brian Schneider, a catcher for the Washington Nationals, I see.
His awesome lifetime hit total to date: 441.
Exactly how far does this guy's career date back, the early 21st Century? He is one of the five all-timers nominated by the Nationals, who used to be the Montreal Expos. Yes, this means that organization nominated him over Andre Dawson and Vladimir Guerrero.
Also nominated: Greer (1,166 hits), Huff (805) and Teixeira (588).
Not nominated: Foxx (2,646 hits, 534 home runs), Hornsby (2,930 hits, lifetime average of .358) and Sisler (2,812 hits, lifetime .340).
Pitchers nominated: Abbott (87 wins), Hentgen (131), Stottlemyre (138) and Willis (52).
Pitchers not nominated: Johnson (417 wins, second best of all time), Alexander and Mathewson (373 each, tied for third best).
A quarrel, therefore, over Sosa's status as one of the five best Cubs comes as a direct result of a preposterously unscientific poll that validates absolutely nothing. It is a popularity contest, nothing more. Anybody who takes it seriously is making a mountain out of a mound.
Feel free to sway the outcome yourself simply by doing what "American Idol" viewers do, or what White Sox fans do whenever they want a particular favorite to win a contest—vote as often as you can.
Sox followers have been known to stuff a ballot box, which helped Scott Podsednik and A.J. Pierzynski make the last two All-Star squads. If mischievous Cubs fans feel like it, they can mobilize and write in Sosa's name on tens of thousands of "Hometown Heroes" ballots.
Luke Appling, Harold Baines, Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso and Frank Thomas are the Sox's nominees. The team's best player of all time, "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, was not nominated. Rose was nominated by the Cincinnati Reds even though he, unlike Jackson, was convicted of a crime.
What a bunch of nonsense.
A dynasty like the New York Yankees has to settle on five guys. But then the Tampa Bay Devil Rays also get five. Finding the five great Devil Rays of all time is like finding the five great film masterpieces of Steven Seagal.
A charter Hall of Fame member such as pitcher "Big Train" Johnson gets stiffed partly because the Washington Senators no longer have a team. A lot of us can't even remember if the Senators are now the Texas Rangers or the Minnesota Twins.
So don't read anything of importance into this "Hometown Heroes" thing, please, because it doesn't mean a thing. Vote for anybody you like.
As for me, I'll cast votes for my favorite baseball stars of all time. Probably the same three as yours: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Brian Schneider.
[email protected]
However, I read the article below in today's Chicago Tribune and totally agree with it that some of the players left off (not Sosa) are a ridiculous travesty.
Relax, latest MLB gimmick just that
Published July 24, 2006
Quite a bit of fuss is being kicked up over another of those cute stunts Major League Baseball loves to come up with. This time it's a "Hometown Heroes" promotion in which five players from each franchise are put forth as those who best represent that team's history.
MLB credited the commish, Bud Selig, with being particularly excited about "the healthy debate it will provoke."
Bud must be tickled pink, then, that here in Chicago a great debate has begun over a gentleman whose name you may recall, Sammy Sosa, and how he could have been excluded from the Cubs' fab five.
Sosa himself expressed shock at being the odd man out from a group of Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo and Billy Williams, putting the question to the Tribune's Fred Mitchell, "This is supposed to be the five best players?"
A vote will be taken to find a "Hometown Hero" from each team. Criteria include "on-field performance, leadership qualities and character value," which, as you know, also is the Hall of Fame's holy trinity.
As so often is the case, something done in fun has resulted in howls of protest.
Oh, how could they have left off Sosa? Oh, how could you want that so-and-so? Oh, if the Reds can have that crook Pete Rose on their list and the Tigers that bigot Ty Cobb and the Giants that fathead Barry Bonds, how can you justify the Cubs not having Sosa?
To which I offer two words:
Lighten up.
This thing is trivial beyond words, and before it turns into a full-blown argument over whether Sosa is a blight on the earth or a martyr on the order of Joan of Arc, let me give you a small idea of how meaningless this "Hometown Heroes" business is.
A list of those not nominated includes:
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Lou Boudreau, Jim Bunning, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Carl Hubbell, Walter Johnson, Eddie Mathews, Christy Mathewson, Dave Parker, George Sisler, Pie Traynor and Paul Waner.
A list of those who are nominated includes:
Jim Abbott, Jay Bell, Dante Bichette, Jim Gantner, Rusty Greer, Pat Hentgen, Aubrey Huff, Brian Schneider, Todd Stottlemyre, Mark Teixeira and Dontrelle Willis.
Let's begin with this. I do not know who Brian Schneider is.
Nothing personal. He could be the third coming of Mr. Ruth and Mr. Aaron, for all I know. But the fact is, I love baseball, and somebody named Schneider has been nominated as one of his team's five all-time greats, yet I do not even know which position this ballplayer plays.
OK, off to the record book I go. Ah, here he is. Brian Schneider, a catcher for the Washington Nationals, I see.
His awesome lifetime hit total to date: 441.
Exactly how far does this guy's career date back, the early 21st Century? He is one of the five all-timers nominated by the Nationals, who used to be the Montreal Expos. Yes, this means that organization nominated him over Andre Dawson and Vladimir Guerrero.
Also nominated: Greer (1,166 hits), Huff (805) and Teixeira (588).
Not nominated: Foxx (2,646 hits, 534 home runs), Hornsby (2,930 hits, lifetime average of .358) and Sisler (2,812 hits, lifetime .340).
Pitchers nominated: Abbott (87 wins), Hentgen (131), Stottlemyre (138) and Willis (52).
Pitchers not nominated: Johnson (417 wins, second best of all time), Alexander and Mathewson (373 each, tied for third best).
A quarrel, therefore, over Sosa's status as one of the five best Cubs comes as a direct result of a preposterously unscientific poll that validates absolutely nothing. It is a popularity contest, nothing more. Anybody who takes it seriously is making a mountain out of a mound.
Feel free to sway the outcome yourself simply by doing what "American Idol" viewers do, or what White Sox fans do whenever they want a particular favorite to win a contest—vote as often as you can.
Sox followers have been known to stuff a ballot box, which helped Scott Podsednik and A.J. Pierzynski make the last two All-Star squads. If mischievous Cubs fans feel like it, they can mobilize and write in Sosa's name on tens of thousands of "Hometown Heroes" ballots.
Luke Appling, Harold Baines, Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso and Frank Thomas are the Sox's nominees. The team's best player of all time, "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, was not nominated. Rose was nominated by the Cincinnati Reds even though he, unlike Jackson, was convicted of a crime.
What a bunch of nonsense.
A dynasty like the New York Yankees has to settle on five guys. But then the Tampa Bay Devil Rays also get five. Finding the five great Devil Rays of all time is like finding the five great film masterpieces of Steven Seagal.
A charter Hall of Fame member such as pitcher "Big Train" Johnson gets stiffed partly because the Washington Senators no longer have a team. A lot of us can't even remember if the Senators are now the Texas Rangers or the Minnesota Twins.
So don't read anything of importance into this "Hometown Heroes" thing, please, because it doesn't mean a thing. Vote for anybody you like.
As for me, I'll cast votes for my favorite baseball stars of all time. Probably the same three as yours: Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Brian Schneider.
[email protected]
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