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In 1975, Joe Morgan hit .327 with 17 home runs and 94 RBIs. Those traditional statistics may not seem impressive, but Morgan’s season ranks as one of the best in the game’s history.

As we begin voting Monday on the greatest individual season of all time, consider Morgan's value that season:

• He drew 132 walks, giving him a league-leading .466 on-base percentage (the highest figure, by the way, in either league between Mickey Mantle in 1962 and Wade Boggs in 1988).
• Because of his ability to get on base, he created a lot of runs --about 145, 17 more than the No. 2 hitter in the league, Greg Luzinski. But he created his runs in an efficient manner. He used up 354 outs; Luzinski, by comparison, used up 443 outs. So Morgan created more runs while using up 89 fewer outs.
• He stole 67 bases in 77 attempts. Factor in his speed, and he was one of the best baserunners in the league.
• He was an outstanding defensive second baseman, not only winning a Gold Glove but also ranking as the third-best overall defensive player in the National League in 1975, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
• He did all this in an era when second basemen usually produced little at the plate. In 1975, National League second basemen hit a collective .267/.330/.353 (BA/OBP/SLG) -- with just 80 home runs. Morgan hit nearly one quarter of all home runs by National League second basemen. In 2011 terms, that would be akin to a second baseman hitting close to 50 home runs.
• The Reds won 108 games, Morgan was the near-unanimous MVP winner, and he even drove in the winning run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series.

Add it up, and you end up with a player who was the best hitter in the league and one of the best defenders and baserunners in his league, and he did so while towering over other players at his position and playing on a championship team.

The wins above replacement statistic attempts to capture all this. In 1975, Morgan’s Baseball-Reference WAR was 12.0, the best of his career and easily the best in the National League. During his 1972 to 1976 peak, Morgan rated as the best player in the NL four times, at least acording to Baseball-Reference.



In 1975, Morgan was a full five wins better than Mike Schmidt, an astonishing total. Only 12 times since 1901 has a player recorded a bWAR of at least 4.5 wins higher than the No. 2 position player in his league:

1921 AL: Babe Ruth (14.0) over Ty Cobb/Tris Speaker (6.6)
1924 AL: Babe Ruth (11.9) over Harry Heilmann (6.2)
1956 AL: Mickey Mantle (12.9) over Yogi Berra (7.3)
2002 NL: Barry Bonds (12.2) over Jim Edmonds (7.2)
1975 NL: Joe Morgan (12.0) over Mike Schmidt (7.0)
1924 NL: Rogers Hornsby (13.0) over Frankie Frisch (8.0)
1967 AL: Carl Yastrzemski (12.2) over Al Kaline (7.3)
1946 AL: Ted Williams (11.8) over Johnny Pesky (6.9)
1923 AL: Babe Ruth (14.7) over Harry Heilmann (9.8)
1926 AL: Babe Ruth (12.0) over Goose Goslin (7.2)
1922 NL: Rogers Hornsby (10.7) over Dave Bancroft (5.9)
1948 NL: Stan Musial (11.5) over Johnny Mize (6.9)

For what it’s worth, only three of those 12 seasons ended in a World Series title -- Morgan, Mantle and Ruth in 1923.

So maybe Joe Morgan didn’t hit 73 home runs or drive in 191 runs or bat .400. But his 1975 season ranks as sleeper candidate for greatest individual season of all time.

* * * *

It wasn’t easy picking the 32 best seasons. I had two rules: Only one season per player, so we’d end up with a bracket of 32 different players; and I considered only seasons since 1901 (sorry, Ross Barnes fans).

It was important to get a diverse list of eras as well as positions. I did put a little more emphasis on more recent decades; basically, the quality of the game has improved over time, thus making it more difficult to post seasons with huge WAR totals like Ruth put up. Here is the breakdown by decade:

1900s -- 1
1910s -- 3
1920s -- 3
1930s -- 2
1940s -- 4
1950s -- 3
1960s -- 2
1970s -- 3
1980s -- 3
1990s -- 4
2000s -- 4

And by position:

C -- 2; Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza.
1B -- 3; Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Rod Carew.
2B -- 4; Eddie Collins, Rogers Hornsby, Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan.
3B -- 2; George Brett, Mike Schmidt.
SS -- 5; Honus Wagner, Ernie Banks, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez.
LF -- 6; Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Rickey Henderson, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols. (Ruth played left field in 1921, and Pujols primarily played left in 2003.)
CF – 8; Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Hack Wilson, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. (Musial started at all three outfield positions in 1948 but played the most in center.)
RF -- 2; Hank Aaron, Sammy Sosa.

So there are our 32 players. I didn’t necessarily pick each player’s highest WAR season. In some cases, a player’s iconic season -- like Ted Williams’ .406 year or Hank Aaron’s 1957 MVP campaign -- was selected. In some instances, maybe a player had other things in his favor that would help him to potentially fare better in the voting, like a big RBI total. Certainly, WAR is a good baseline to use because it helps us adjust for differences in eras, but it shouldn’t be the only factor in determining the better season between two players. Was what Williams accomplished in 1941 more impressive than what Morgan accomplished in 1975? Is Yount being the best hitter in his league while playing shortstop more impressive than what Babe Ruth did in 1921 against an inferior brand of pitching? Maybe you prefer the all-around brilliance of Mays or DiMaggio over the pure hitting dominance of Rogers Hornsby or Lou Gehrig.

Which seasons just missed the cut? There were seven players who had a bWAR season of at least 10.0 who didn’t make the bracket -- Lou Boudreau, Jason Giambi, Ron Santo, Adrian Beltre, Home Run Baker, Norm Cash and Matt Kemp. Sorry, guys. (Just noticed there are three third basemen there; too late now to change the final 32, unfortunately.)

So get to the bracket and start voting. We’ll do one round per day this week, culminating in the final matchup on Friday.

Let the debates begin.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

The genesis for this article came out of all the recent Hall of Fame discussions. A lot of arguments were along the lines of “Tim Raines was one of the best players in baseball in the mid-'80s,” or “You know, Don Mattingly was the best in the game there for a few years,” or perhaps “Barry Larkin was as good an all-around player as anybody at his peak.”

None of those statements are necessarily incorrect. But are they good Hall of Fame arguments? How many players can you claim were “one of the best in the game” over a period of years? So here’s what I did. I went back to 1969 and looked at each five-year span to determine the five best players in baseball, based on cumulative Baseball-Reference wins against replacement over those five years. (For the purposes of this piece, I looked just at position players.)

So here we go, with the usual caveats about WAR. You’ll see a lot of the same players and you’ll see a lot of Mike Schmidt and Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols in the top spot. But while the best player may not change all that often, it’s interesting to see who pops in some of the top five slots.

1969-1973: Sal Bando (33.6), Joe Morgan (32.7), Reggie Jackson (32.2), Johnny Bench (30.4), Pete Rose (30.1)

Our first entry and we already get a big surprise: Sal Bando, the best player in baseball? It may seem odd now, but Bando was one of the most respected players in the game at the time and finished second, third and fourth in MVP votes in 1971, 1973 and 1974. He hit for power, drew walks and played a solid third base, putting up big numbers for the era in the Oakland Coliseum, a place where batting averages and fly balls often went to die.

1970-1974: Joe Morgan (37.6), Johnny Bench (31.9), Sal Bando (30.0), Reggie Jackson (29.2), Pete Rose (28.8)

No change in the top five, although Morgan takes a big leap ahead of the others, replacing a more mundane 1969 with a monster 1973. You’re going to see a lot of Morgan here, as his 1972-76 run was one of the greatest five-year stretches in baseball history.

1971-1975: Joe Morgan (46.2), Reggie Jackson (33.3), Johnny Bench (31.9), Pete Rose (29.6), Willie Stargell (29.5)

Some believe Rose was a compiler, a good player who merely played forever. That’s not accurate; while he was never the best player in the game -- although he did win the 1973 MVP Award -- he was clearly one of the best for a period of years. This peak coincides with his years in the outfield; his value started declining once he moved to third base in 1975, where it’s fair to say he wasn’t exactly Brooks Robinson.

1972-1976: Joe Morgan (51.0), Rod Carew (33.2), Cesar Cedeno (32.5), Johnny Bench (32.1), Bobby Grich (32.0)

Absolutely phenomenal: Morgan was nearly 18 wins better than the No. 2 player over this five-year span. I don’t know if any player has ever dominated the game to the extent Morgan did over this stretch (that’s another article). Cedeno was a marvelous talent, a power/speed center fielder who hit .298 while averaging 21 home runs and 55 steals per season over these five years. The Astros moved the fences back in 1977 (10 feet at the foul lines, 12 feet in the power alleys), hurting Cedeno’s power. He injured his knee in 1978 and then broke his ankle in the 1980 playoffs, sapping his speed and effectively ending his years as a productive player.

(Read full post)

To go with our Willie Mays package today, SportsNation worked up a list ranker with 30 of the greatest players of all time. Don't agree with me that Willie Mays was the greatest ever? Then Click here to vote yourself.

Here's my quick list without spending too much time thinking about it:

1. Willie Mays: He could hit, hit for power, run the bases and field with the best we've ever seen. Could have won as many as 10-11 MVP Awards.
2. Barry Bonds: If he had played center field instead of left, I'd consider him for No. 1.
3. Babe Ruth: I'd like to see him hitting 95-mph fastballs on a regular basis.
4. Hank Aaron: A testament to longevity, consistency, durability and greatness.
5. Stan Musial: Won three MVPs and finished second four other times.
6. Ted Williams: Maybe the greatest hitter of all time, but I give Musial the slight all-around edge.
7. Albert Pujols: Barring injury, he's this good.
8. Roger Clemens: We don't know what he did and if it helped. But we know what he did on the field. Greatest pitcher of all time.
9. Mike Schmidt: Dominated the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s. Eight-time home run champ and one of best fielding third basemen ever.
10. Walter Johnson: Could have dominated in any era.

11. Honus Wagner: Won batting titles, ran the bases and hit for power in the dead-ball era.
12. Lou Gehrig: Only strike against him is he didn't play a premium defensive position.
13. Alex Rodriguez: You can't deny the numbers.
14. Lefty Grove: The most underrated great pitcher of all time. Won nine ERA titles.
15. Mickey Mantle: If only he had stayed healthy.
16. Ty Cobb: Would love to go back in time and bring him back to 2011.
17. Josh Gibson: They say he hit 'em longer than the Babe.
18. Joe Morgan: The most underrated great position player of all time. Did everything well.
19. Rickey Henderson: The object is to score runs and nobody has scored more than Rickey.
20. Greg Maddux: 355 wins, fourth-most starts, more pitches painting black than anyone.

21. Cal Ripken: Overrated as a hitter, underrated as a fielder.
22. Tom Seaver: Mets fans still can't believe they traded him.
23. Pedro Martinez: At his peak, the best ever. Four pitches that made batters cry.
24. Frank Robinson: And to think he was only third-best NL outfielder of the early '60s.
25. Johnny Bench: Knees gave out, but those first 12 seasons were amazing.
26. Satchel Paige: Was he even the best Negro Leagues pitcher?
27. Rogers Hornsby: No denying his hitting numbers. Too low? Maybe so.
28. Pete Alexander: Won 94 games over one three-year span, impressive even for the time.
29. Cy Young: Yes, you can say I'm disrespecting the 19th century.
30. Sandy Koufax: A little bit of a product of his time and a huge home/road splits, plus short career for this list.

Follow David on Twitter: @dschoenfield. Follow the SweetSpot blog: @espn_sweet_spot.

Yes, we're tying the imminent announcement that Derrick Rose will win the NBA MVP Award to baseball ... because we can tie anything to baseball. (Just wait for the post when I hypothesize that Thomas Jefferson would have made a great sabermetrician.)

OK, here we go: At 22 years, 191 days, Rose will become the youngest NBA MVP ever, edging out Wes Unseld at 23 years, 9 days. Now, the fact that Wes Unseld once won an MVP Award (as a rookie, no less) is another story. So, who are baseball's youngest MVP winners? Here are those who won at 23 or younger:

Vida Blue, 1971 A's: Turned 22 on July 28.
Johnny Bench, 1970 Reds: Didn't turn 23 until Dec. 7.
Stan Musial, 1943 Cardinals: Didn't turn 23 until Nov. 21.
Cal Ripken, 1983 Orioles: Turned 23 on Aug. 24.
Willie Mays, 1954 Giants: Turned 23 on May 6.
Jeff Burroughs, 1974 Rangers: Turned 23 on March 7.
Fred Lynn, 1975 Red Sox: Turned 23 on Feb. 3.

Several players have won an MVP at 24, including Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, Denny McLain, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig.

Not on the above list: Ty Cobb, because there wasn't an MVP Award for much of his career. He arguably was the AL's best player in 1907, when he was 20 years old.

Dwight Gooden remains the youngest to win a Cy Young Award, just 20 years old when he won in 1985.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter at @dschoenfield. Follow the SweetSpot blog at @espn_sweet_spot.

Major League Baseball released its list of the 20 best-selling jerseys from the past season. Derek Jeter ranked No. 1 ahead of Joe Mauer and Roy Halladay, mildly surprising since you’d think most Yankee fans would own a Jeter jersey by now.

Anyway, it got me curious. Which jerseys would have been the top-sellers of all time? You know, if replica uniforms had actually been sold back in the old days and merchandise sales tracked and the old ballparks with wooden grandstands had official team stores.

1. Babe Ruth: He wasn’t just big in New York, but one of the most famous Americans of his time, along with Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone and Jamie Moyer.

2. Stan Musial: I think you’d be hard-pressed to find an athlete more beloved in his hometown than Musial. Played for the Cardinals for 22 classy seasons.

3. Roberto Clemente: Popular in Pittsburgh, but as one of the first Latino stars in the game, his reach would have extended across the nation.

4. Willie Mays: Maybe the greatest ballplayer of all time. When I was in second grade, my teacher gave me an old, wrinkled poster of Mays that I kept hanging in my bedroom for years. I would have loved a jersey.

5. Mickey Mantle: More popular than DiMaggio? I think so.

6. George Brett: He was Royals baseball for 21 seasons. Cool, clutch and every kid, teenager and adult in a 500-mile radius wanted to be him.

7. Jackie Robinson: My father-in-law grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and he’s told me there’s nothing he’s seen like Robinson dancing on the bases, trying to rattle the opposing pitcher.

8. Christy Mathewson: In a time when ballplayers were considered ruffians and hooligans, Mathewson was a college-educated star for the New York Giants and the most admired and respected player in the game.

9. Cal Ripken: More than Jeter, I think his appeal spread outside his home city.

10. Carl Yastrzemski: Yes, ahead of Ted Williams, who notoriously feuded with Red Sox fans during his playing days. Yaz carried the Sox to the 1967 pennant, one of the greatest individual seasons ever, and then played 16 more seasons in Fenway.

Disagree? Let’s hear your thoughts below.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter at @dschoenfield. Follow the SweetSpot blog at @espn_sweet_spot.

Give Joe Girardi credit: With his suggestion that Derek Jeter may no longer serve as the Yankees' full-time leadoff hitter, he's making a public acknowledgment that Jeter is no longer a star hitter. Now he should make the next move, which is to acknowledge that Jeter doesn't belong in the No. 2 slot in the order.

Jeter entered the 2010 season with a career batting average of .317. He started off fine, hitting .330 with four home runs in April, but then his bat turned colder than a home opener in Greenland. He hit .242 from June through August and an empty .287 in September. He finished with a .270 average, 22 points below his previous worst season, and his .710 OPS was 61 points below his previous low. Jeter was effective against left-handers (.321 AVG/.393 OBP/.483 SLG) but helpless against right-handers (.246/.315/.317) and on the road (.246/.317/.317).

Jeter turned 36 during the season. Since 1960, 125 major leaguers qualified for the batting title (502 plate appearances) during their age 36 season. Only five suffered a bigger drop from their career average than Jeter’s 47-point tumble. Only four suffered a bigger drop from their career adjusted OPS (OPS+).

Following somewhat contentious negotiations, Jeter re-signed with the Yankees for three years and $51 million. The organization publicly raised questions about his age and diminishing range in the field. The Yankees are no doubt aware that no team has won a World Series with a 37-year-old shortstop since the Dodgers in 1955 with Pee Wee Reese. Many fans and analysts have asserted that Brett Gardner, with his higher on-base percentage and better base stealing abilities, should hit leadoff, with Jeter moved lower in the order … and they don’t mean second.

Yes, the eyes of the baseball world are always on Derek Jeter. But as he approaches his 3,000th career hit, he’ll face more scrutiny than ever. Jeter has been tweaking his swing during spring training, working with hitting coach Kevin Long to fix the stride on his front foot, which too often was moving toward the plate instead of the pitcher. Jeter says all this has been overanalyzed, and that making adjustments is something he’s done throughout his career.

You may not be a Yankees fan, but I’m guessing all this means you’re paying attention to Derek Jeter in 2011.

The big question, of course: What the heck is he going to do? Most of the projection systems predict a small bounce back from his .270/.340/.370 line:

Pecota: .282/.348/.386
ZiPS: .280/.347/.393
Bill James: .295/.365/.410
Marcel: .283/.350/.397

I wanted to go one step further, however. With the help of Baseball-Reference.com, I checked all 125 of those post-1960 age 36 regulars. Here are the 20 who suffered the largest drops in OPS+ at 36 from their career total through 35, and how they fared at 37. (We used OPS+ since it factors in changes in ballparks or offensive eras and the player’s overall hitting production, not just his batting average.)



Here’s the bad news for Jeter and Yankees fans: Of the 19 other players on the list, eight of them played their final season at 37, two retired and three played as a regular for the final time. I’m not saying Jeter will hit the wall like a lot of these guys did, but I believe it’s a strong indicator that 2010 was the beginning of the decline and not just a bad season that can be fixed by tweaking a batting stance.

The most similar players on the list are Biggio, Ripken and Tejada, middle infielders with excellent durability. We don’t know how Tejada will do, but Biggio and Ripken provided about the same level of production at 37 as 36 (although Ripken had moved to third base and Biggio to the outfield).

I predict a similar result for Jeter -- a 2011 that matches his 2010. The evidence seems clear that his bat speed has slowed. His ground-ball percentage was up nearly 9 percent from 2009; he swung at pitches out of the strike zone more than ever (a potential sign of somebody trying to “cheat” on fastballs); his production on fastballs also declined from previous years.

Can he play better? Sure, Willie Mays was one of the best hitters in the league at 37. Fred McGriff rebounded with a strong season. But nobody should be expecting another .300, 200-hit season from the Yankees captain. This is a Hall of Famer on the wrong side of the aging curve. The Yankees should consider sitting Jeter 20-25 games and, if they want to maximize their run scoring, move him to eighth or ninth in the lineup, especially against right-handers.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter at @dschoenfield. Follow the SweetSpot blog at @espn_sweet_spot.

As a resident of the Baltimore-Washington metro area, I’ve heard a lot of chatter regarding the Orioles’ winter trades and free-agent signings from fans and sports radio talking heads alike. For the most part, the tone has been positive and hopeful. To be perfectly honest, after 13 straight losing seasons, any sense of optimism is exciting. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the fans’ expectations are a tad too high as a result of these improvements. Are they setting themselves up for disappointment? Let’s take a look at their four big offseason acquisitions to see what kind of improvements we can expect to see over the upcoming season.

First Base – Derrek Lee

Last season, first base was a big problem for the Orioles. Garrett Atkins was nothing short of a train wreck, and the immediate replacements that followed in Jake Fox and Rhynes Hughes weren’t any better. Even Ty Wiggington, the de facto starter who hit 22 home runs, was a near-replacement level player last year, producing 0.3 fWAR. All-in-all, the production (or lack thereof) the O’s received from their first basemen was about a win below the replacement level.

Even though Lee had a down season in 2010, there are encouraging signs he could rebound this season. He plays solid defense at first, draws walks, works counts and should hit about 20 home runs. There’s absolutely no doubt that Lee is a big upgrade. Still, considering his age and recent performance history, we shouldn’t expect more than a 2-3 WAR season. Considering the monster spring training showing by Fox, perhaps Fox could see more time here if Lee is hurt or struggles.

Third Base – Mark Reynolds

In terms of Oriole problem areas, their third base situation was nearly as dire as the one at first base. Last season, the Orioles gave the majority of playing time to Miguel Tejada and Josh Bell, and in return they received -0.5 WAR in value. Something tells me that this isn’t what the front office envisioned when the season started.

To remedy this issue, the Orioles traded for Reynolds, the former Arizona third baseman. Despite coming off a difficult season in which he hit a measly .198, Reynolds still managed to provide the Diamondbacks with 2.4 WAR in value, primarily on the strength of his power, durability and defensive contributions. While Reynolds isn’t the defensive player that UZR made him appear to be last season, he’ll likely make up for the lost value in terms of improved offensive production. Reynolds’ paltry 13.3 percent line drive rate is likely to rebound given that his career average exceeds that rate by 4 percent. With an improved line drive rate, his batting average and OBP will improve in kind. A 2.5-3.0 WAR season is not out of the question.

Shortstop – J.J. Hardy

From 1983 to 2007, the Oriole shortstop situation was about as stable as any position in baseball with Cal Ripken, Mike Bordick and Tejada all holding down the fort for extended periods of time. In the three years since Tejada’s departure, Juan Castro, Alex Cintron, Freddie Bynum, Brandon Fehey, Luis Hernandez, Cesar Izturiz, Robert Andino and Julio Lugo have all been given their share of playing time. Yikes! Talk about replacement-level production.

Like Lee and Reynolds, Hardy is coming off of a down year. The good news is that even if he reproduced his 2010 season, he’d still provide about a 2.0-2.5 WAR improvement over last year’s crew. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hardy’s performance rebound this season. Last year, he played half of his games at Target Field, which was the most unfriendly ballpark in which to hit home runs. With Camden Yards being a home run neutral park, Hardy should see more of his long fly balls leave the yard. If he does, his improved offense, along with his above average defense, should provide about 3.0-3.5 WAR in value to the Orioles this season.

Designated Hitter – Vladmir Guerrero

Despite my objections to the Orioles increasing their offer to Vlad from $2 million to $8 million without a real competing offer on the table, his signing makes sense from a “good will” perspective. While he’s not the same player he was five years ago, he generates considerable excitement; especially with regards to the Orioles fan base. Still, I feel I should temper expectations. He’s old, can’t play defense (as we saw in the 2010 postseason), and his offensive skills are eroding, though he still commands a great deal of respect within the locker room. Furthermore, his signing shifted the defensively challenged Luke Scott from DH to left field, thus weakening the team at that position. Despite all the hoopla surrounding Vlad’s arrival, he projects to provide about 2.0 WAR in value. While that’s admirable production, it neither outpaces Scott’s 2010 production, nor improves the team in a measurable way. His addition appears to be purely cosmetic.

Even with the improvements the Orioles made during the offseason, it’s probably only enough to take them from 66 to 76 wins. While that’s an admirable accomplishment, I have to wonder if it was worthwhile to invest in short-term stop gaps, especially when the Orioles lack talented young prospects to fill behind those veterans. Really, if the Orioles are going to make any marked improvements, it will need to be on the backs of their young starters. At this point, outside of Brian Matusz, none of their young arms have shown they’re ready to take that next big step forward this year. That could change, but until they do, the Orioles will probably remain in the back of the AL East pack.

Chip Buck walks the tight rope of the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry by contributing to both Fire Brand of the American League, a blog about the Boston Red Sox, and It’s About the Money Stupid, a blog about the New York Yankees. IIATMS can also be found on Facebook here and you can follow on Twitter here.

Yet another friend -- and yes, I really do have three friends (if just barely) -- writes:

Cal Ripken once said that he told base runners to stay on the bag, when an Oriole teammate was planning a hidden ball trick. Junior said that even if a hidden ball trick was successful, in the long term it would come back to hurt a team somehow.

Same with the bogus bruise. It just creates an ugly model of behavior. Would Jeter have faked it if a guy was throwing a perfect game?

Huh. That's definitely not where I would draw the line. Did Ripken never try to slow down a baserunner by acting as if a ball had been caught? Shoot, the Twins might have won the 1991 World Series because Greg Gagne did that. It just seems to me that trying to fool other players is a natural part of the game. Isn't the occasional misdirection an integral part of almost every sport or game?

I think what's different about the ol' hidden-ball trick is that it's so terribly embarrassing. Ripken, a consummate professional, may have dreaded embarrassment more than anything, perhaps to the point that he refused to participate, even passively, in the utter embarrassment of another player.

But the distinction I would make is between deceiving another player and deceiving an official representative of the sport -- for instance, an umpire. If there are rules, there must be an authority to enforce and interpret them. And if you allow (let alone encourage) players to blatantly deceive umpires, you're threatening the fundamental integrity of the game.

Which is why the next time Jeter pulls this little trick, there should be a book to throw at him. I'm thinking a three-game suspension would be an excellent start.

(Granted, we might find that Ripken loved to pull the ol' hidden-ball trick, in which case most everything above is moot.)

UPDATE: Ripken was asked about the situation during a SportsNation chat:

Tim (Boston): Cal, during the Derek Jeter debate last week, about him not really getting hit by a pitch, I heard Tim Kurkjian on ESPN say that what Jeter did is something that you would have done....so, I want to ask, is that something you would have done?

Cal Ripken (2:38 PM): Yes, I would have done it, except for bringing the trainer out and the whole act of it all. I have had calls go for and against me. I've hit balls off my foot and the ump said it didn't go off my foot. I've had balls hit close to my foot and told to go to first. I would have just taken my base and run to first.

Today's links are mostly chocolate, with some of those little sprinkles on top ...

• Via Batter's Box, a lovely introduction to Alex Anthopolous.

• After reading this, I'm inspired to go to the nearest card shop and relive some fond memories.

• At some point soon, Baseball-Reference.com will add (some) Negro Leagues statistics, derived from research compiled by Scott Simkus and Gary Ashwill. This might be a good time to mention that the National Baseball Hall of Fame has now been keeping their own research under lock and key for three or four years now. Nice job, Hallers! You've been beaten to the publication punch by a couple of guys who did it just for the love of the thing.

• Look out, Homer Bailey: Tom Verducci's Effect has you in its sights.

• On Opening Day in 1914, the Boston Braves wore swastikas on the caps. Seriously. Thanks to some serious (baseball) detective work, Here's the whole story.

• Yeah, we never tire of complaining about the Hall of Fame. But Jason Whitlock is right: the Football Hall of Fame is a lot worse.

• Well, it's unanimous: the Rangers are going to win the American League West! And the Cardinals are a lock in the NL Central. Anyway, that's what it says here (bonus: finding out CHONE stands for, after the fact).

• Oh, if only the Johnny Damon of this winter could have jumped in a time machine and talked to the Johnny Damon of 2007.

• Dept. of Corrections, Part 1: In this post about the Mets' first-base candidates, I failed to mention Fernando Tatis (I have a lame excuse that I won't bore you with). But Tatis has indeed returned to the Mets, and ideally he'll platoon at first base with the winner of the Murphy/Jacobs Derby. My (provisional) apologies to Omar Minaya.

• Dept. of Corrections, Part 2: In this post about playing the All-Star Game in Cooperstown, I suggested that the Village couldn't handle the crowds. But of course that's preposterous. As Deputy Mayor Jeff Katz graciously reminds me, in 2007 Cooperstown accommodated 80,000 visitors for Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn's induction into the Hall.