Humans evolve.

"Not surprisingly, new Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino was asked about Babe Ruth in his first interview since signing with his hometown club on January 13."

Not surprisingly, people are stupid.


"That comment, along with the one in which Ottavino claimed Ruth would be a .140 hitter with eight homers a season as a present-day player, led to a lot of angry comments from fans on social media."

People are stupid, exhibit B.


Most agree that Babe Ruth was the best baseball player of all time and certainly the most important.

It was also almost 100 years ago.

Like all others, Ruth's superiority is in comparison to his peers.

Jesse Owens ran the 100-meter dash in 10.3 seconds, rattling Hitler in 1936. In 2019, that time is probably good enough to make varsity in most high schools.

Ottavino wasn't disrespecting Babe Ruth ... and so what if he was, anyway?


"On Friday, a day after the three-year, $27-million contract that Ottavino signed on Jan. 13 became official with a passed physical, the Brooklyn native admitted that he probably shouldn’t have taken a shot at Ruth while hammering home his point about how much baseball has changed over the last century."

It sure has.

HOF Voting

Andruw Jones: 10 gold gloves, 62.8 WAR, 7.5% HOF votes.

Omar Vizquel: 11 gold gloves, 45.6 WAR, 42.8% HOF votes.

Jones also had 10 playoff HRs (vs. 0) and a 150-point higher playoff OPS.

Vizquel stole many more bases and that's the only notable way in which the guy getting 42.8% of the votes was superior to the guy getting 7.5% of the votes.

"Lost in all the Internet outrage" ... which was self-inflicted ...

Schilling is a borderline HOF candidate.

"One of the few truly divisive candidates for enshrinement who were never associated with performance-enhancing drugs, Schilling’s Hall hopes have not been helped by his somewhat frequent online indiscretions."

That is a very odd thing to say.

For better or for worse, about half the baseball HOF candidates end up being "divisive."

Al Oliver is divisive. Tim Raines is divisive. Keith Hernandez is divisive. Jeff Kent is divisive.

The list of divisive candidates is almost endless.

 

Baseball fans like to gaze at their navels and think about these things. 

Kevin Brown had five fewer wins than Schillilng and one fewer bloody sock than Schilling ... and Brown only got 2% of the HOF votes.

Maybe Brown could have gotten more attention if he had put on a MAGA cap and blogged?

 

"A right-leaning political firebrand whose failed video-game company cost Rhode Island taxpayers millions, Schilling has created headlines in his post-playing days by gleefully sharing specious xenophobic, transphobic and conspiratorial memes."

I personally think Schilling belongs in the HOF, but it's close.

I think most of the hesitance is based on his numbers and not on his character.

Hard to look into the future, of course.

I generally agree.

The retorts don't make sense.

Spoiled Yankee fans are thinking too hard and nitpicking. I'm not even sure why so many fans spend so much time playing GM and trying to efficiently spend the Steinbrenners' money.

I wouldn't say the Yankees will "regret" doing anything. The Yankees might win three World Series in a row.

But, unless there's a better player out there they're saving up for, why not sign Machado or Harper?

Makes sense to me.

I don't think Machado will play SS with the Yankees.

This is an article with good information that the average fan can't get.

Sonny Gray is a True Yankee and irreplaceable.