Hello Fans,
Many of you know of a long time sportswriter and now t.v. broadcaster by the name of John Bayless. Well, that’s his real first name, you know of him as Skip. He has a long career and wrote on subjects such as Steve Garvey’s hey day as a Dodger, etc. and was a columnist for years in the San Jose Mercury News. Currently he is on what is practically his own show on ESPN, called First Take. On the show, he gets to rant and rave on anything in the sports world, which is usually focused specifically on the NFL or the NBA regardless of the time of year or what great performance may have occurred the previous night in another league. And there usually isn’t too much ‘homework’ being done in terms of stats analysis or even weighing what is actually newsworthy. However, there is a ton of drama inducing statements based on loose observations and strong opinions which make for so-called good t.v.
So-called good t.v. is where I have a problem. I’m not into the drama and arguing and wrist-clenching person while you wait for someone else to finish a rant. That’s just me. I also don’t care for the ‘wondering’ aloud on a national broadcast when it smears not just baseball, but one of it’s largest ambassadors of the game. I’m referring to Bayless inferring that Derek Jeter must be on the ole HGH to be having the so-called ‘comeback’ season he is enjoying on his show on August 23rd. He also wondered how ‘dirty’ the game still is. No investigating, no ‘sources’, no research was done at all by John. He just throws it out there and lets it fly. Why? Because he’s in it for the notoriety alone. I’ve watched his show plenty of times the last couple of years as a flex work schedule allows one to tune in mid-day during the week. Well, not anymore. Here’s why.
Instead of addressing what IS happening in MLB, he has to go out of the way and be the only guy in NYC to question Jeter. I agree nobody gets a free pass, but a guy like him just doesn’t get publicly scorned for random or no reasons. Besides, when John does actually get around to talking baseball, how about commenting on the pennant races or comparing young Buc Andrew McCutchen to a young Roberto Clemente if you dare. I know why he doesn’t. It’s because it requires doing some homework and actually knowing a subject well whereas anyone can opine on the NFL in August at the last second when they’re still playing freeze tag six days of the week after the starters sit on the sidelines next to the coolers on the seventh in a pre-season ‘game’. Watching these types of rants makes me feel brainless after watching Bayless.
Here’s what I found to combat John’s wonderment (thanks to Baseball-Reference.com). You may or may not remember, but Jeter had back and mechanical swing problems in ’10 as he hit .270, which for the record, doens’t even suggest that a legend is on the same map as the Mendoza Line. In ’11, he was healthier and had a better swing to end up at .297. Nice. On 8/23/12, he led the league in hits and had was hitting at a .324 clip. Today, he still has the most hits in MLB and is at .323. I thought he’d finish closer to .310 as the stretch run can be difficult. We’ll see. Either way, it’s impressive. If John had actually showed up for work prepared, he would not have had to ‘wonder’ about the statistical anomaly that he thinks 2012 appears to be for a 38 year-old shortstop. Instead, he skipped his homework and right over the fact that 2010 was the long, lost anomaly. Two years late, John. No excuses. Incomplete is your score.
History teaches us valuable lessons, especially in MLB, thanks to the many stories passed on. Jeter is a playing legend, so we’ll compare him as such. Example 1: Teddy Ballgame hit .254 at age 40 in 103 games (the ONLY year he didn’t hit .315+) and then finished his career at age 41 with a .316 average in 113 games. Similarly, ’10 was the only year to date that Jeter DIDN’T hit .291+ other than his 15 game debut stint in ’95 in which he hit .254. THAT’S why they PLAY the games on the field. It’s NOT a programmable video game complete with DVR capabilities. AND even legends are human and some variation will be revealed.
In addition, I have no problem defending Jeter with a comparison to Williams. He’s in that kind of company now, (and just last night tied Willie Mays for 10th all-time in hits)albeit they couldn’t be different hitters, but iconic ones at that. The only people who said Jeter was losing it a couple of years ago were critics of the sport in general (and John is no advocate of) and people who were tired of the Yanks running the post-season tourney the last 15 years. To a small extent, I can include myself as one of those people on the latter end. Hey, who doesn’t like to be on the early side of making a call as to when a guys is starting to show his age, especially if he’s NOT on your favorite team? Ha. At least I was THINKING. John just wonders. And, I didn’t blast that from atop the highest church tower in the nation that is sports broadcasting while having no information and only pure speculation to support it. Know the game. Learn the game. Love the game. Like a SPORTS reporter should.
I haven’t watched John at all since. I used to tune in just for the fun of it. Not anymore. I’m not contributing to the work-free ratings party. This type of banter is annoying in my opinion. You shouldn’t just randomly smear a guy like Jeter at the end of the season to fulfill an obligation to be ‘talking baseball’. And don’t throw in the rest of the sport for good measure just because you can. Nobody does it to football or hoops, so why do it to just baseball? That’s weak. Nobody smeared the MLB icons of the distant past nor did they question the likes of Griffey Jr. and Jim Thome and Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman and Cal Jr. and Tony Gwynn. John, please skip your baseball ‘coverage’ from now on. It’s insulting to anyone with a passion for the national pastime, not to mention ambassadors like Der-ek Je-ter.
Later Fans.