Great perspective on Ichiro

[dmp]

No asterisks needed for Ichiro

Hits are hits. Other comparisons to Sisler are simply subjective

By Sheldon Ocker


MINNEAPOLIS - Ichiro Suzuki is about to run the risk of landing in asterisk hell for breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old record of amassing 257 hits in a single season.

I doubt commissioner Bud Selig will allow himself to become embroiled in an asterisk dispute because the current schedule lasts 162 games, eight more than when Sisler set the mark.

Nevertheless, fans and talk show hosts will leap on the disparity between lengths of seasons to revive the asterisk issue that finally died an overdue death in 1991, when commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the asterisk removed from Roger Maris' 61-home run standard.

Though he was trying to undo a misguided decision by a predecessor, Vincent inadvertently perpetuated the idea that an asterisk had been appended to Maris' record. It never had happened.

In July 1961, when both Maris and Mickey Mantle were threatening to erase Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers, commissioner Ford Frick held a news conference on the matter.

``There will have to be a distinctive mark in the records'' to indicate that Ruth's record was accomplished in a 154-game schedule rather than 162, he said.

According to a Wall Street Journal article earlier this year, Frick was a personal friend of Ruth's and a self-appointed keeper of the Babe legend.

The commissioner was aided and abetted by powerful New York Daily News columnist Dick Young, who suggested to Frick that he distinguish Maris' feat with an asterisk, thus keeping Ruth's record intact.

But there was a problem: Baseball didn't have an official record book. Several companies published volumes containing the sport's nearly infinite list of records, though The Sporting News' tome was the most widely used.

As the Wall Street Journal story pointed out, Frick had no authority to add asterisks to records, particularly in light of the fact that Major League Baseball was not the keeper of those records in print. Consequently, no asterisk was ever placed next to Maris' name.

Frick acknowledged as much in his 1973 autobiography. Nevertheless, once the idea of an asterisk was disseminated, the public picked up on the idea, giving it the aura of truth.

We seem to be stuck with the asterisk concept as an acceptable means of qualifying records, even though its most famous application -- the effort to discredit Maris -- has been revealed as myth.

That brings us to Ichiro. Should we be talking about the asterisk as a way to separate one record from another, to keep the flame burning on behalf of one man's accomplishment because his deed was achieved within a slightly different time frame?

For starters, comparing the performances of players more than eight decades removed from one another is no easy task. In fact, it's virtually impossible to make a rational judgment on whether Sisler's record is more or less worthy than Ichiro's.

Sisler, whose plaque hangs in the Hall of Fame, had a marvelous season in 1920. In addition to amassing 257 hits, he batted .407, had career highs in RBI (122) and home runs (19), recorded 49 doubles, 18 triples and compiled an on-base percentage of .449.

With three games left after Thursday's action, Ichiro (who will play a maximum of 161) had 256 hits, a .371 batting average and a .415 on-base percentage.

He will play, at most, in 4.5 percent more games than Sisler (who appeared in all 154). The strict constructionists will say he should produce 12 more hits than Sisler (actually, 11.565, which would be really tough) to match the old record.

But number of games played isn't the only element that separates Sisler's era from Ichiro's. Sisler achieved his record at a time when pure contact hitting was the ideal. Players didn't swing from the heels; strikeouts not only were regarded as negative, they were an embarrassment.

Compare that with the current philosophy of most players, who would kill to hit a few more home runs. And why not? Home runs are the currency of the realm. Owners pay for home runs, not singles.

Obviously, playing more games can mean a greater chance of fatigue as well as opportunity. The season starts at least two weeks earlier than in 1920. Weather conditions frequently are detrimental to hitters in April and May.

There are more night games now. Players travel from coast to coast. Trains with Pullman cars no longer carry teams from place to place in leisurely fashion. Nutritional and training techniques have altered the landscape for hitters, but also for pitchers.

Do hitters have more difficulty with sliders and splits, or were pitchers who delivered spitballs a greater menace to players wielding bats?

How about the differences in the strike zone, the quality of the bats, the liveliness of the baseballs, the comfort level of the uniforms? Does it help or hinder current hitters to make millions? What effect does the glare of the ESPN spotlight have on performance?

There's only one answer to all of these questions? We don't know. We can't know. The only constant that spans the 84 years between George Sisler's great season and Ichiro Suzuki's is the math.

One is still one. Two-hundred-fifty-seven is exactly the same number now as it was in 1920. An asterisk only confuses the issue.

 

[janeeng]

= Sorry, I couldn't refuse!!!!!!!! :tng:

 

[dmp]

= Sorry, I couldn't refuse!!!!!!!! :tng:

post whore.

 

[janeeng]

post whore.

Hey, I could have posted a big ol fatty for ya, clothed, mind you - but chose to express my feelings on your topic!!!!!!
:happy2:

 

[dmp]

Hey, I could have posted a big ol fatty for ya, clothed, mind you - but chose to express my feelings on your topic!!!!!!
:happy2:

Right - a post whore is someone who replies to a thread they have no interest in...with something like

"Yeah!"

or

"I agree."


or when somebody asks a question they reply with "I don't know".






:wave:

 

[janeeng]

Right - a post whore is someone who replies to a thread they have no interest in...with something like

"Yeah!"

or

"I agree."


or when somebody asks a question they reply with "I don't know".






:wave:

blah blah blah!!!!!!!! but in doing so, it sure gets a reply back though doesn't it? :scratch:

 

[dmp]

blah blah blah!!!!!!!! but in doing so, it sure gets a reply back though doesn't it? :scratch:

That's cuz I'm a post whore too.

 

[dmp]

That's cuz I'm a post whore too.

yeah - I agree!!

 

[dmp]

yeah - I agree!!

I'm not sure how I feel.

 

[dmp]

I'm not sure how I feel.

 

[janeeng]

You sometimes have me worried! :spank3: a good whack is needed!

 

[dmp]

a good wank is needed!

:wank:

 

[5stringJeff]

You want a guy who needs an asterisk by his name in the record books?

Barry Bonds.*