Not the first guy I think of when I think of ex-Yankee sluggers ...

When Canseco confessed in his book, admittedly for self-serving purposes, just about everyone dismissed him and ganged up on him.

But, over time, he was proven right.

I find the most cowardly HOF arguments are fixated on the particulars of drug test results, official suspensions, official MLB rules vs., I dunno, the laws of the USA.

With every other dimension, a voter is supposed to review the facts and use their judgment.

Ortiz used PEDs. I feel very comfortable saying that, and I don't have to prove it 100%. I am using my judgment and common sense.

Several players already in the HOF used PEDs.

So the hypocrisy is that the writers use the character clause when it suits them. It seems to the rest of us, that they're making their decisions based on popularity or a quid pro quo payback.

Manny Ramirez crossed a threshold that Ortiz didn't cross? OK, if that fiction gets you through the night.

I mean, if you really want to reject a player due to his character, I'll gladly reject Omar Vizquel ... yet he still got 24% of the votes.

Hinske with your best shot.

 Mike Aldrete was unavailable for comment.

Yes doubting.

"There's no doubting that Rodriguez is very intelligent and is one of the most accomplished players in MLB history, but there are quite a few people not fond of him personally. Details on how 'a Manningcast-type broadcast' with Rodriguez would work appear to be slim right now, but ESPN would seemingly have to pair the 14-time All-Star with one of their most universally liked personalities for such an arrangement to be successful."

I have never really seen evidence that he is intelligent. 

He's ...  magnetic? Charismatic?

But not intelligent.

It's quantum journalism.

It's never true, it's always true.

It is not an exaggeration to state that Mike Lupica anticipates the Mets taking over the headlines from the Yankees every single season:

"Nobody would ever call the Yankees bums, lovable or otherwise. They have one winning season after another, back to the middle of the 1990s, an historic and remarkable run. But their fans know that winning seasons aren’t supposed to be the coin of the realm on the north side of 161st St. any more than they were on the other side of 161st St., where the Yankees won 26 of the 27 World Series.

Yankee fans liked it better over there, the home for most of the good ghosts that Derek Jeter liked to talk about.

Now it’s as if the Yankees have ghosted the Series."

Huh? Coin of the realm? Ghosted the Series? Is he saying Yankee fans dislike the new Stadium? I like the new Stadium.

"And it’s even worse than that right now, especially in light of the way the Yankees started doing business, on and off the field, once George Steinbrenner got to town, and became the first real modern sports owner, throwing money around and making more noise than a brass band.

It is the other team in New York, the Mets, who now have become the biggest baseball spender around, even bigger in the moment than the Dodgers. It is the Mets who made the biggest offseason noise before the sport shut down because of the current labor dispute, signing free agent Max Scherzer to a record-setting contract, and then hiring the best free agent manager out there, Buck Showalter, one of the most popular managers that the Yankees ever had."

I know Lupica's the lead Showalter Guy. Lupica can gloat about this one. Like I said before, it's almost as if Lupica willed the Showalter hire into existence.

But I honestly had no idea Buck Showalter was one of the most popular managers the Yankees ever had.

With the fans? Or do you mean, like, with inside baseball personnel?

Because Showalter made his bones after his four seasons with the Yankees ... which ended 27 years ago.

"(If you don’t believe that, go see if you can find the video of the ovation Showalter got at the old Stadium before Game 1 of the Yankees’ division series against Junior Griffey and the Mariners in 1995)"

Ummm ... still don't believe it ... and, no, I am not going to look up a video.

I know for damned sure the Yankees fans were excited to be back in the playoffs. 

It was a good time.

The bullpen catcher got a standing ovation.

Go find the video of the fans going crazy when Ruben Sierra hit a home run ... and then tell me you've concluded that Ruben Sierra is one of the most popular Yankee outfielders ever. They were chanting "Ru-Ben, Ru-Ben, Ru-Ben."

Off the top of my head: Casey Stengel, Joe Torre, Billy Martin ... and then a few old-timers like McCarthy and Huggins.

So "three decades ago, Showalter's short tenure with the Yankees has probably made him one of the Top Six or Top Seven most popular Yankee managers, based mostly on a re-evaluation of his talents after the 1995 season."

"But from the end of the ‘21 season until now, something quite, well, amazin’ has happened:

It is the Yankees who have felt like the Other Team in town."

Maybe this is even true. 

But you say this every single year.

Even if you are eventually correct, you don't get credit.

Scherzer and Showalter can't be the reason the Mets take over New York. The Mets have already taken over New York many tames, according to Lupica: Lindor, Betances, Granderson, Afonso, etc.