By now, you probably know that Andre Dawson was the only player elected in the Hall of Fame this year, per Wednesday’s voting. For now, we’ll ignore the fact that he has the lowest OBP (and by a lot) of any HOF outfielder. And we’ll ignore that Tim Raines only received 30% (!?!?!) of the vote. Why will we ignore the voting results? Because it’s time to play Real Quote/Fake Quote with this week’s guest, Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman.
Heyman wrote this article today explaining why he didn’t vote for certain players. And obviously, it’s a bit idiotic. But, before you read it, we’d like you to identify which of the following quotes he actually wrote in the article, and which ones he didn’t. All of the quotes are so absurd, you’re going to have a hard time figuring out which is Real, and which is Fake.
So here we go…
“And I do recall it’s called the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Numbers.”
“…Which is why next year I’ll be voting for Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan, and the guys from Color Me Badd. A lot of these stat nerds are too young to remember just how often ‘I Wanna Sex You Up’ came on the radio. I experienced their whole career.”
“I consider impact more than stats.”
Getting on base frequently is stat, but urinating on each player of the opposing team is real impact.
But I am in the group that believes a player’s career goes beyond the numbers, and that there is value in watching a player’s career as it is unfolding.
Allowing the voters to watch a player develop from the time he is a fetus will greatly increase their Hall of Fame chances.
So can you tell what Heyman actually said and what he didn’t?
28 Comments
Kevin S. January 6, 2010 21:26
I’m going to paraphrase these, since I’m too lazy to do research, but can you tell which… er, sentiment is real and which isn’t?
“I’ve been harassed and abused on Twitter for my HOF ballot.”
“Keith Law is an idiot for not putting Chris Carpenter on his NL Cy Young ballot.”
…
Shotgun_Sam January 6, 2010 21:27
Bo Jackson continues to win the Heisman Trophy every year, he is always gracious enough to defer to the current runner up. That is a true story.
vinny-b January 6, 2010 23:06
Andre Dawson should be in the Hall of Fame. Which part of 5-tool player/dominant in his time, don’t you understand?
the ballot needed to be as follows:
Dawson
Lee Smith
Raines
and maybe Blyleven as well
Charlie January 6, 2010 23:07
How about this one:
“So finally, I am starting to see the light on Raines.”
What has changed? Either Raines’s stats are getting better, or Heyman is admitting that he is slowly becoming less of an idiot.
Kevin S. January 7, 2010 00:10
“Which part of 5-tool player… don’t you understand?”
Well, even ignoring that the idea of the “five-tool” guy ignores some important aspects of how players contribute to winning games, Dawson didn’t fit the bill. Career BA of .279, only cracked .300 in five of twenty-one seasons, career high of .310. He didn’t really have the “hit for average” tool. He also lost the fielding and baserunning tools halfway through his career. Yeah, it sucks that his knees went bad, but we can’t “what-if” him to a healthy body in his 30s. So, it’s more like a four-tool player for half of his career, then a two-tool player for the other half (including the least important tool, throwing). And again, it’s not like he supplemented that with any type of patience whatsoever. Look, I can understand the sentiment that the Hawk did so many things well that help teams win games, we can overlook his proclivity for making outs. I’m not sure I agree with that, but he did have enough positives going for him that I won’t get my panties in a twist over his election. But let’s please not make him into something he wasn’t.
james January 7, 2010 00:58
Heyman’s the worst awful actually lupicas worse but still bad
bartonbickle January 7, 2010 02:08
“I look at numbers, too, and while my numbers may be slightly more simplistic than WHIP, WAR or VORP…”
More simplistic than WHIP. he looks at stats that are more simplistic than Walks + Hits/Innings Pitched. That forumula is too complicated.
bartonbickle January 7, 2010 02:09
Guys like Heyman and Buster Olney shouldn’t be given any platform to state their opinions. They’re very good at reporting facts and absolutely terrible at translating these facts.
sprayahen January 7, 2010 04:54
In all fairness, I’d like to speculate that Jon Heyman is also really good at touching Scott Boras in his nether regions until contract negotiation info comes out.
Peter Gammons January 7, 2010 04:58
I voted for Jim Rice again!
Butcher January 7, 2010 08:01
I can’t believe I just read this article. Who cares. The HOF has been a joke for about 10 years now. I stopped caring about it long ago.
Mike K January 7, 2010 08:24
I can actually understand his sentiment, but I wouldn’t apply it to Andre Dawson. How about Roberto Alomar? Did you ever watch him for the Jays and O’s and not think you were watching the best 2B of the 90′s? I hated the guy, but damn he was great.
bad romance January 7, 2010 08:26
Ga ga ooo la la. Jon Heyman sucks ass.
massapequa parking January 7, 2010 10:17
I vote for “Butcher.” For quite a while players have been getting in because other (lesser) players are in. How do we explain this to the children? ["Daddy, why are Joe Morgan and Jim Rice in the Hall of Fame?"] Hall of Really Good Players (in which we include the degerate racist but bar the door to prevent the degenerate gambler). Drug users (other than steroids) welcome. It’s bad.
Kevin S. January 7, 2010 10:55
Joe Morgan is in the Hall of Fame because he’s a top-three second baseman, ever. The irony of his ill-conceived attacks on any form of statistical analysis is that Joe Morgan the Player is a sabermetrician’s wet dream.
Frank Tanana January 7, 2010 11:10
Real
Fake
Real
Fake
Real
Fake
What do I win?
Roger B January 7, 2010 13:49
Certainly Heyman and Olney should be allowed to express their opinions. Opinions are like testicles. Nearly everyone has a pair. Or something like that.
sosonj January 8, 2010 15:13
Logic of the Hey-maniacs: Dawson had over 400 hrs and 300 stolen bases and so did Bonds and Mays so Dawson is as good as Bonds and Mays.
Dawson belongs in the foyer of fame, home of the better than average.
Heyman belongs in the Gammons garage of butt bussing media pawns who offer no insight; pseudo-psychological palaver.
Heyman is a terd January 8, 2010 16:14
Heyman sucks. Two other points not convinced Dawson is a HOF’er and why would new metrics that rate players of the 2000′s even been considered to elect players of a previous era or generation? I personally couldn’t care what Don Mattingly’s OPS was, I saw him play and he was on the best 1st basemen I have ever seen HOF or not. Doesn’t the eye test mean anything anymore or is everyone so wrapped up in numbers now a days that the games don’t matter?
Irabu's Son January 8, 2010 17:59
Hey listen.. if Candy Cummings is a Hall of Famer…
Irabu's Son January 8, 2010 18:13
Just read the whole article.
a.) I like a lot of things he said.
b.) Overall, he may be mentally challenged.
c.) All of the above.
I circled C. But I do love that he voted for Mattingly.
JoeThunder January 10, 2010 12:31
Candy Cummings invented the curve ball and was a star pitcher in the 19th century. That’s why he’s a hall of famer. Andre Dawson just so happen to play in a generation of baseball where the teams and players were just a tad bit watered down. Look at WS played prior to 1961 when the AL expanded. Some of those series played featured 7 to 12 future hall of famers. During Dawson’s days and up to today you might see 3 to 5 if you’re lucky. This year we were graced w/ Jeter, Mo, and yes even A-Rod. I think he does get in one day just not 1st ballot. If Jim Rice gets in than Dawson has to get in. Dawson hit more HR’s, played in Montreal for Christ’s sake, and won 8 NL gold gloves. Needless to say that the 8 gold gloves is 8 more than Rice ever won. Don’t knock the man for playing while baseball began to deteriorate. The man won NL MVP on a last place team getting paid basically peanuts b/c of collusion. He deserved better.
JoeThunder January 10, 2010 12:32
Oh, and the real Peter Gammons stinks.
GSB January 11, 2010 10:23
Niether Rice or Dawson is HOF’er.
Irabu's Son January 11, 2010 17:27
GSB, I’m not sure if you heard, but they both are Hall of Famers.
(unfortunately)
jerry mumphrey January 17, 2010 10:20
Heyman (Boras) at it again…
Heyman: giants and braves have offers to damon
giants/braves: no we don’t
Heyman: tigers negotiating with damon
tigers: no we aren’t
Heyman is such a spin machine for Boras…makes me want to puke…
Leonore Vannover January 21, 2011 12:27
surfing on vimeo.com is better than watching shit on myvideo.de
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