Dumbest point in a baseball article

[MartyJazz]

Mike Vaccaro in today's New York Post is writing about Yankee problems after only 7 games into the season when he then makes the following point and I quote:

"Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera have never missed the postseason, which is remarkable, and even more astonishing if you think that Mickey Mantle missed October six times in 18 years as a Yankee, Joe DiMaggio three times in 13 years, Lou Gehrig seven times in 17 years and Babe Ruth eight times in 15 years."

All those previous Yankees never had a post season that included anything other than the World Series. Playoffs, which by definition are in the postseason, were nonexistent back then. Had they existed, Mantle, Dimaggio, Gehrig and Ruth would have appeared in the postseason a greater number of times. I cannot understand why a sports writer puts stuff like that down and doesn't even bother to qualify his statements.

[minew]

Accuracy and precision are not the hallmarks of any Murdoch oracle.

[GregK]

And all of this assumes that anyone outside of NY really cares whether or not any Yankee gets to play in the playoffs. I will celebrate when they finally don't qualify for the playoffs!

[Sundog]

And all of this assumes that anyone outside of NY really cares whether or not any Yankee gets to play in the playoffs.

Exactly, a bunch of self important BS. Sells papers in NYC though!

[Dan Gould]

The issue actually makes me wonder:

In those seasons that the Yankee legends didn't make the playoffs, how far out of first place were they? I would say that if it were five games or less, then probably even under the old East/West division system, the Yanks "make" the play-offs. But if there were seasons where the team finished 10+ out of first place ...

[Jim Dye]

During the Yankees Sox game on ESPN2 tonight, Rick Sutcliff repeated almost verbatim the point Vaccaro made in the Post article. Chris Berman was quick to jump on him and take your side, Martin! B-)

[JSngry]

Ain't too many folks these days what can be bothered with the ol' historical perspective bizness. It's a 20th century concept.

[PHILLYQ]

There are TWO incredibly dumb things at work here, the playoff/World Series(Side note- who holds the record for 'post-season' HRs? Dave Justice!!! Mantle hit 18 WS HRs.) merging, and that there's something wrong after 7 games. Should we have also buried the Mets when they started 0-5? Fer cryin' out loud, they play 162 games. You can't reasonably judge after 7 games.

[Dan Gould]

Side note- who holds the record for 'post-season' HRs? Dave Justice!!! Mantle hit 18 WS HRs.

Try again.

Its Bernie Williams with 22.

Justice had 14.

[BERIGAN]

I hear this crap most post seasons on TV. Sometimes, someone will make the point that the records were originally set by players who only played in the W.S.

[MartyJazz]

The issue actually makes me wonder:

In those seasons that the Yankee legends didn't make the playoffs, how far out of first place were they? I would say that if it were five games or less, then probably even under the old East/West division system, the Yanks "make" the play-offs. But if there were seasons where the team finished 10+ out of first place ...

Well, of course you're correct. But how would you like to win 103 games in a 154 game season as the Yanks did in 1954, only to finish in 2nd place to the Cleveland Indians (who won an incredible 111 games that year) and not qualify for a postseason? That's one year Mantle didn't play in the postseason. The point is that without going into a baseball encyclopedia, I would bet that considering the history of Yankee success, there most probably were years that all four Hall of Famers mentioned in the article did not play in the postseason simply because there was not a playoff system in place during their eras.

And please, I completely understand hatred of the Yankees. I have felt that way in the past about the Boston Celtics, the Green Bay Packers and the Montreal Canadiens, all of whom dominated their respective sports for significant lengths of time in the past, but it's irrelevant to the point I'm making.

[MartyJazz]

During the Yankees Sox game on ESPN2 tonight, Rick Sutcliff repeated almost verbatim the point Vaccaro made in the Post article. Chris Berman was quick to jump on him and take your side, Martin! B-)

Yeah, I heard that and thought that Sutcliffe too had read the article in the Post and had not bothered to really think about it. Berman, by profession, is more prone to put facts into context.