No you don't, not in baseball. One guy in a 9 man lineup cannot single-handedly elevate a bad team to being a champion. Baseball just isn't like that

Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ted Williams
Ty Cobb
Tony Gwynn
Ernie Banks
Carl Yastrzemski
Rod Carew
Harmon Killebrew
Ichiro
etc

Never won a world series. Hell, Willie Mayes only won one.

Just because the Yankees had stacked lineups full of HOFers every year for decades doesn't give their individual players a leg-up on their value as individual players.

Baseball is probably the only sport where one player cannot just take over and turn a team around. One player only bats 4-5 times a game. He doesn't pitch, and the ball doesn't get hit to him but a few times a game on average. One player just does not and cannot affect the outcome of a game like a quarterback can in football or a basketball player can. That's why the "how many championships does he have" is rarely discussed with baseball players' greatness because it's largely irrelevant

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by Broski

Member since Jun 2011

71273 posts

Posted on 2/19/24 at 1:03 pm to lsufball19

quote:
Baseball is probably the only sport where one player cannot just take over and turn a team around. One player only bats 4-5 times a game. He doesn't pitch, and the ball doesn't get hit to him but a few times a game on average. One player just does not and cannot affect the outcome of a game like a quarterback can in football or a basketball player can. That's why the "how many championships does he have" is rarely discussed with baseball players' greatness because it's largely irrelevant

While I agree with your overarching point, a pitcher can 100% take over a game. But that's the only position that can and then they can't pitch again for another 4 games.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by Liberator

Ephesians 6:10-16

Member since Jul 2020

8749 posts

Posted on 2/19/24 at 1:11 pm to lsufball19

quote:
One guy in a 9 man lineup cannot single-handedly elevate a bad team to being a champion. Baseball just isn't like that

True.

BUT...can one main cog elevate a slightly above-average team to go all the way?

(I'd submit that M. Mantle did exactly that on a few occasions. IMO their '50 teams were not quite "stacked" -- those they did have Berra and some "above-average-good" player who played over their head when it counted.)

In single years, maybe Yaz did it (1967, lost to the Cards -- whose one main cog, Bob Gibson single-handedly won the Cards 2 Championships -- '64 and '67 -- on teams that were just..."good" enough.

1 ...

Report Post

More Sports - Replies to Post

Return To Board

Page 1

Return To Board