A Sober Viewpoint- Derek Jeter, Ron Santo and Respect

Last week, New York Yankees all star infielder Derek Jeter passed Yankee, and baseball legend Lou Gehrig to become the all time base hits leader in New York Yankees history. Although Yankees fans and hardcore baseball fans are probably the only ones that will really care, this particular achievement can serve as an object lesson in respect, and the lengths to which some people in sports will sometimes go to not give great athletes their due, for whatever reasons.

On Friday night, September 11th (the 8th anniversary of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks, by the way), Jeter got his 2,722nd base hit, supassing Gehrig as the all time hits leader of the New York Yankees. Apparent detractors of Jeter’s accomplishment quickly and eagerly pointed out that Jeter as a whole is nowhere near the caliber player that Gehrig was. Thank them for pointing out the painfully obvious- there probably aren’t 20 players in all of baseball history that rate with Gehrig (who accumulated over 2,700 hits, 493 home runs and a lifetime batting average well over .300 during a 15 year career in which he played 2,130 straight games, earning him the nickname “Iron Horse”). MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann pointed out that if Gehrig’s career had not been cut short by the disease that eventually killed him and now bears him name, Gehrig wold certainly have ended up with even more staggering career numbers. Gee Keith, really? Such comments assume, among other things, that Gehrig wouldn’t have had his career cut short some other way- like via injury, or simply ending it himself the way Jim Brown ended his football career at its peak.

Then, there are those that, while conceding Jeter’s surpassing of Gehrig in anything is quite an achievement, still cite that Jeter has not (yet) reached the hallowed 3,000 hit mark that many consider the standard by which we judge the true offensive greatness of baseball’s all time greats. Never mind that some of the game’s greatest players- Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Joe DiMaggio- fell short of 3,000 career hits….and that’s just the Yankee players in the Hall of Fame. In getting his 2,722nd base hit, Derek Jeter ascended to no. 53 on the all time base hits list.

What exactly does that mean? Quite frankly, it means that the still relatively young (35) Jeter has outhit all but 52 other players in the recorded history of a game that has been played professionally for nearly 135 years, and been played by tens of thousands of men at the professional level. At his current hitting pace, Jeter will have ascended into the top 50 all time by the end of this current baseball season. And, barring career ending injury or incident, there is every reason to believe that Jeter will surpass that 3,000 hit milestone within another few years.

Derek Jeter, however, is no larger than life romantic figure, like Gehrig and other legends of the game. Jeter doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of pitchers and hit monstrously long home runs the way Ruth, Mantle and Reggie Jackson did. He doesn’t make incredible defensive plays the way Brooks Robinson and Ozzie Smith did. He doesn’t steal bases at will the way Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson did. Unlike Gehrig and Cal Ripken, Jeter has actually missed some games during his career. Jeter is simply a very reliable and productive top notch player with matinee idol looks. Though clearly a great player, he isn’t exactly the stuff of which baseball legends are made. So it seems to come down to a matter of respect….or rather, the lack of it for what Jeter has achieved. Would Jeter make it to the Hall of Fame if he stopped playing today? Probably- he is, after all, an all star player with the most storied franchise in the game’s history. But what if Jeter weren’t a Yankee? What if he didn’t play for a World Series champion? Would his accomplishments to date be enough?

Quite probably not, when you consider the many players with better personal stats than Jeter currently has that have yet to be enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame, or that might never get in. Players that didn’t play for the Yankees, or some other mythicized east coast ball club, or didn’t play for a World Series champion. When you consider some of the individuals still not in the Hall of Fame, it begins to beg the question; just what criteria do sports writers (who comprise most of the individuals that vote players into the Hall of Fame) consider for enshrinement into the hall? Do they consider any criteria at all, other than their own gut feelings, childhood memories or recollections of some outstanding single incident or incident(s)?

Former Los Angeles Dodgers great Steve Garvey didn’t just play for a World Series champion, he was their Most Valuable Player, as well as the record holder for consecutive games played in baseball’s National League (Gehrig and Cal Ripken played in the American League), not to mention one of the highest fielding percentages at his position (first base) in the game’s history. If being the National League’s “Iron Man” doesn’t merit Hall of Fame enshrinement, what then does? Is it that Garvey fell short of 3,000 hits by a few hundred himself? Or he wasn’t a 400-500 home run hitter? Or was it something more personal- he didn’t make the right impression on Hall of Fame voters- sports writers, or was the center of too much scandal in his personal and/or post game life? What then of Andre Dawson- a prolific power switch hitter with nearly 2,800 career hits and nearly 440 home runs? Considering that every single hitter ahead of Dawson on the all time list is already in the Hall (with the sole exceptions of steroid suspects Barry Bonds and Rafael Palmeiro, and Craig Biggio, who only just retired), shouldn’t Dawson have already been voted in, despite having played for such doormats as Montreal, Florida and the Chicago Cubs? Dawson did actually win league MVP as a Chicago Cub- what more is needed to earn membership in the Hall? There are many others like Garvey and Dawson who are clearly not getting their due respect (Bert Blyleven, Gil Hodges, Harold Baines, etc., etc.), but as a lifelong Chicago baseball fan, my thoughts inevitably end up on baseball’s poster boy for Hall of Fame disrespect, Ron Santo.

The very debate over what makes a player deserving of Hall of Fame enshrinement began (and continues to this day) with Santo, the all star third baseman of the Chicago Cubs during the 1960s, and current radio color commentator for today’s Cubs.  Even though Santo is among my personal favorite ballplayers, you don’t have to be biased to see why his absence from the Hall is not only a personal disrespect to Santo, but a diminishment of the credibility of the Hall itself. Most of the people with genuine knowledge of the game have already lobbied for his inclusion. Many of them have even painstakingly outlined Santo’s career achievements, compared them to existing Hall of Famers, particularly the 13 (that’s right, just 13) third basemen in the Hall. Apparently, the career stats that Ron Santo compiled as a whole make him (statistically) the 7th best overall third baseman in baseball history.

Now, let’s absord that for a moment while I recall an earlier line in this blog. In a game that has been played professionally for nearly 135 years, and been played by tens of thousands of men at the professional level, Ron Santo is, statistically, one of the 10 best at his position in the game’s recorded history. Now, if that doesn’t sound impressive enough for those so called baseball fans that label Santo’s career accomplishments not impressive enough for the Hall, maybe my own comparison might jar some sense into whatever these people use for brains. Since Santo’s detractors are always knocking his offensive career production, let’s compare his production in the 3 main offensive categories to some fellow players that are already in the Hall of Fame:

Santo has 2,254 career base hits. This places him 145th on the all time list, ahead of Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Bench, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell, Gary Carter, Harmon Killebrew, Duke Snider, Yogi Berra and Pee Wee Reese.

Santo has 342 career home runs. This places him 81st on the all time list, well ahead of Hall of Famers Kirby Puckett, George Brett, Gary Carter, Rogers Hornsby, Ryne Sandberg, Brooks Robinson, Robin Yount, Roberto Clemente, Hank Greenberg and Joe Morgan.

Santo has 1,331 career RBIs (runs batted in). This places him 84th on the all time list, ahead of Hall of Famers Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Roberto Clemente, Paul Molitor, Hank Greenburg, George Sisler, Tony Gwynn, Joe Morgan, Rickey Henderson and Kirby Puckett.

There are actually many more Hall of Famers that Santo’s numbers surpass in addition to the ones mentioned above, but I have chosen these particular players because of the seemingly endless reverence that so many sports writers have for them. Sports writers nearly wet their pants when they speak of Brooks Robinson, Bench and Schmidt. They deify Clemente (rightly, in my opinion), Hornsby and DiMaggio, and they attribute the kind of nearly surreal expertise to Gwynn and Morgan that the lay scientific community attributes to Steven Hawking. 

Santo has outproduced all of these players- particularly Clemente, Morgan, Puckett and Greenburg, whom he outproduced in 2 of the 3 main offensive categrories, and Gary Carter, whom Santo outproduced in all 3 main offensive categories (in fairness to Clemente, his sudden death cut short by at least a few years a career that I believe would have eventually resulted in his far outdistancing Santo in RBIs, but not home runs).

So after digesting the many different analyses of Santo’s production over his relatively short (15 seasons) career, the circumstances under which he played (with diabetes), the records he set for third basemen (27, including the National League home run record for his position until Mike Schmidt passed him), the question is no longer whether or not Santo belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame. The question isn’t even why Santo has not been given the recognition due him for his career achievements with induction in the Hall. The question becomes…why is induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame left to men that clearly have demonstrated no real respect for the very position of third base, let alone one of its greatest players, and apparently make their decisions based on something other than empirical evidence?

The fact that there are only 13 third basemen (3 of them from the old Negro leagues) in the Hall of Fame is itself a serious disrespect of the very position. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but in a game that has been played professionally for nearly 135 years, and been played by tens of thousands of men at the professional level, sports writers have seen fit to honor only 13 third basemen with induction into the Hall of Fame? And what about Ken Boyer, that other great third baseman from the 60s that actually did win an MVP award? Where is the respect for his career? 

Apparently, playing third base is not nearly as difficult as being an outfielder. When former Boston Red Sox slugger and outfielder Jim Rice’s induction into the Hall of Fame was being lobbied for- notably, by a number of east coast based sports writers- I saw very little hard statistical evidence being presented on his behalf. What I did read and hear alot of was some of these very same east coast writers waxing nostolgic about Rice’s power, how intimidating he was at the plate and his leadership qualities on the storied Boston Red Sox. Rice only had 382 career home runs (just 40 more than Santo’s 342 career total), he had no gold glove awards for his position (Santo had 5) and 8 all star appearances (Santo had 9). So what really distinguished Rice, the fact that he won an MVP award? That he actually played in the postseason (Santo didn’t)? That he played for more winning teams?

Rice was a big, powerful looking man at the plate. Maybe he captured the imagination of alot of sports writers who like players like that, especially if they’re sporting a uniform with a mythicized – and winning- franchise like Boston. Santo and Jeter? Just regular guys that happen to be among the best ever at what they do, not mighty Casey types. Jeter is still playing, and he is a Yankee, so he has plenty of time to silence his detractors come Hall of Fame voting time for him, and he no doubt will silence them. Santo is not so fortunate. Since his very position has gotten little or no respect throughout the Hall’s history, and he is one of the most famous players for a franchise known for  futility instead of wins or titles, Santo’s chances of entering the Hall of Fame are slim, at best.

As a real fan of the game, and in particular, players that consistently execute their role in the game at the highest level over a long period of time, what saddens me is the realization that being among the best doesn’t guarantee entry into baseball’s Hall of Fame, so truly deserving players will continue to be slighted by people that shouldn’t have the power to decide such things in the first place. And baseball’s Hall of Fame suffers mightily, as it not only doesn’t house all of the true all time greats in its sport, it houses some whose worthiness is questionable. Its very credibility now shadowed by such quesions, the Hall stands, persistently incomplete.

A Sober Viewpoint- Pro Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts

I have watched, and been a fan of, professional wrestling since I was a child. I always enjoyed the variety of characters that seemed like caricatures in a scripted distillation of everyday life: the buzz cut bully, the nazi, the bleach blonde narcissist, the crazy arab, the suave and acrobatic Englishman- or Frenchman, the fiendish oriental martial artist, the hulking norwegian or polish strongman, the noble indian, the villainous cowboy, etc., etc. It always seemed to me like comic books coming to life, but with slightly more human- and therefore slightly more believable- superhero figures. Every weekend morning, I would glue myself in front of the television to watch the stars of the AWA (the dominant wrestling promotion in the midwest at the time): Dick the Bruiser, The Crusher, Nick Bockwinkle, The Blackjacks, Baron Von Raschke, Bobby Hennan, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan and (future governor of Minnesota) Jesse “The Body” Ventura. It was, for me, as close to pure fun as I felt television could provide at the time.

However, as a form of sport, pro wrestling always bore the stigma of  phoniness. Non fans would ridicule what they saw as obviously phony fighting, not even believing the blood flow or real life injuries sustained by the wrestlers on a fairly regular basis. As I got older and learned that pro wrestling had, in fact, been staged since the 1940s, I remained fascinated by the very culture of it, the way many people are fascinated with the circus. Pro Wrestling is, in a way, akin to the circus, especially since it no longer pretends to be real, and the many documentaries and programs about this form of entertainment have made it only more interesting to me. But I never stopped feeling strongly that these were very tough, very athletic men and women to do what they do. Not only has that not changed, but I feel that professional wrestlers are probably among the toughest individuals, period. While the matches are staged, the injuries these performers sustain, and the way they go on with the show often while suffering such things as broken bones, torn muscles and genuine gashes has always amazed me. In some ways, staging a fight can be as risky as actually engaging in one.

So it has always puzzled me that detractors of pro wrestling would think wrestlers are not legitimate tough guys or athletes, just because they stage their violence with choreographed moves and pre determined outcomes. After all, many pro wrestlers were collegiate or world class wrestling champions before turning pro- (state and collegiate champion) Jim “Baron Von” Raschke, (collegiate champion) Brock Lesnar,  or (1996 Olympic Gold Medalist) Kurt Angle, to name a few. Suggesting that pro wrestlers are not legitimately tough or athletic just because they stage their contests is almost like saying that martial arts film stars aren’t really martial arts experts because they are acting. How do you think Bruce Lee would have reacted if you said something like that to him?

This negative perception has only intensified with the emergence of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as a legitimate sport. MMA stars exude an aura of toughness that make many of them seem invincibile, even though they are often knocking each other out or submitting each other in mere minutes. And because MMA fighters have far fewer restrictions on what they can do than collegiate wrestlers, pro boxers and even kick boxers, they are often presumed to be the toughest men in the world. Their fights are absolutely legitimate, so the injuries they sustain during such fights are obviously real.

Which brings me to the aforementioned Mr. Lesnar. I first heard of 2000 NCAA wrestling champion Lesnar several years ago, when he was introduced to fans of pro wrestling’s WWE- World Wrestling Entertainment as “the next big thing.” Over the next several months, Lesnar was built up into a major WWE star,  ”defeating” some of of the biggest stars in pro wrestling history en route to becoming the youngest WWE heavyweight champion ever to that point. Then Lesnar abruptly left pro wrestling altogether for an ill fated attempt at pro football, before returning to pro wrestling in Japan.

When Lesnar embarked on a MMA career, alot of people, including yours truly, thought he was making a big mistake, and setting himself up for some embarassment. After all, his wrestling achievements, while impressive, were only at the collegiate level, and he had spent the past several years acting out fights, not actually engaging in them (MMA legend Ken Shamrock, by contrast, fought legitimately throughout his career, pausing only briefly to dabble in pro wrestling). How could Lesnar compete with the likes of seasoned mixed martial arts champions like Chuck Liddell, Randy Coutures or Frank Mir? How would his large frame (6’3″ close to 270 lbs) not be a liability for him against smaller, quicker people more skilled in martial arts?

What I, and apparently most of the MMA fan base failed to recognize, was that Lesnar’s pro wrestling tough guy persona may have been acted out, but it was by no means phony. The same drive that helped Lesnar to win the NCAA wrestling championship, helped him become a star in pro wrestling’s WWE, and earned him tryouts with the Minnesota Vikings pro football team has also underscored his meteoric rise to the top of the MMA ranks. After losing to Frank Mir via submission in just his second outing, Lesnar focused training on improving his brazilian jiu jitsu skills, sharpening his wrestling skills and utilizing his superior size, strength and power to overwhelm his opponent.

Lesnar’s focus paid off handsomely only a few fights later when he knocked out living legend Randy Couture out for the MMA heavyweight title. Even though Couture, at age 45, was well past his prime, the victory showed MMA fans that this former professional wrestler was no phony when it came to real fighting, and there would be more to come.

Of course there were still die hard wrestling detractors that cited Couture’s advanced age and diminished skills. Much of those slights were put to rest, however in Lesnar’s latest match a few weeks ago- his rematch against Frank Mir, the man that submitted Lesnar in his second MMA match. Lesnar won that match handily- against a man who is not past his fighting prime- by doing the very things he focused his MMA training on. Lesnar even displayed some of the bad guy gamesmanship that characterized him as a villian during his WWE days, an unfortunate residue from that career.

Lesnar is not the only former pro wrestler to make a splash in the real fighting of MMA. Bobby Lashley, another star from the WWE wrestling promotion, has gone undefeated in his first few matches, including a convincing win over 6’5″ 300 lb. Bob Sapp. Lashley and Lesnar, though still young in MMA, are the biggest news in that sport right now. And both have served notice to the entire MMA world that they are only going to get better. 

And what does this say for pro wrestling? Is it possible that the real toughest men in the world are, in fact, they guys that usually play at it? Pro wrestling as a whole may in fact get a significant boost of credibility as a result of this, a small twist of irony for a form of entertainment that spent so many years yearning for credibility then so many years disregarding it.

I’ve always suspected that many professional wrestling stars would more than hold their own against anyone in a real contest. The quick success of Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley not only serves to validate my suspicions, it may even give new weight to the claims of pro wrestlers that have always contended they are the equal of any other athlete. Fans of pro wrestling can enjoy their favorite stars and wrestling programs even more, comfortable in the knowledge that these guys probably really are as tough as they pretend to be. And detractors of pro wrestling have to eat a little crow, and (perhaps begrudgingly) give pro wrestlers the respect that they so casually denied them in the past. If Lesnar and Lashley continue to improve as MMA fighters at the rate they have been, they could end up making the rest of the MMA competition look like the phonies.