The Hall changed the rule to allow them, not the player, to select the cap logo, for whatever reason they see fit - how d’ya like that timing, huh? Strictly coincidental, of course. I prefer Bill Simmons’ suggestion that he go in with a dollar sign on his cap.
OK, four-hour games aren’t quite the “norm”, but they’re too common for mention anymore. The game in question lasted 3.5, for instance.
Just a comment about “die-hard Yankee fans”, to let them off the hook a little. I remember the Mariners bringing in twice as many fans for Funny Nose Glasses Night as they had the day before for Gaylord Perry’s 300th.
Rawja is gonna get his too, of course - but he deserves to do it someplace like Tampa Bay, in front of their usual crowd of a couple dozen retirees who wandered in thinking it was the bingo hall, not anyplace that has real fans that understand its significance.
Die hard Yankee fan (chortle, chortle). So in 40 years (from 1963-2002) you’ve only rooted for World Series champs 6 times. Yeah, you’ve suffered. Poor baby.
I’ll see your Clarke, Bahnsen, Peterson and Tresh and raise you Charlie Spikes, Horace Speed, Larvell Blanks, Duane Kuiper, Sid Monge, Victor Cruz and Jose Mesa in the 9th inning of the 7th game vs. Florida. Long suffering, indeed.
Well, it sort of was. The decision has more to do with Wade Boggs than Roger Clemens. Remember when Boggs said he wants to go in with a Devil Rays cap? HoF said, OK, that’s enough of that and took the decision out of players’ hands.
Of course, the decision was never in the players’ hands; the HoF had just never had any good reason to oppose their decision. There had never been a case similar to Boggs’s weird decision before - you didn’t have Ty Cobb asking to go in as an Athletic, for instance. There were a few funny ones - Yogi Berra, for instance, has no cap logo on his plaque at all, at his own request.
'Twas Boggs who changed it; his desire to go in as a D-Ray, or more likely the possibility that he had auctioned it off to Tampa Bay, was the impetus for the HoF to re-assert their right to pick the cap. There was also the ugly rumour that Dave winfield went in as a Padre as part of a deal between him and the Padres.
In the case of Carter, I think they might have gone a little far; while I appreciate that Carter had his best years in Montreal, and I like an Expo being there, it’s not like he just played out the string in New York; he played there for several fine seasons and won the World Series there. Personally, I would have preferred an Expo logo, but I don’t think his request was unreasonable (though he apparently wasn’t THAT upset about it anyway.)
In the cae of Clemens, again, if he really WANTS induction as a Yankee, his case is not without merit. It’s not like he just latched on there for one year; he’s got five seasons in New York under his belt and may get a sixth, along with a Cy Young Award and two World Series rings. Clearly, the HoF isn’t trying to stop this sort of preference - it’s the Boggs travesty they’re trying to avoid.
Until 1994, I was a diehard baseball fan. But the length of the games has made it hard for me to even follow the postseason anymore. It wasn’t that long ago that baseball games were 2.5 hours, +/- .5 hours; it wasn’t that remarkable for a pitcher’s duel to finish in about 2 hours. Now a game that ends in less than 3 is ‘fast’. Sheesh. And Snxxxxzzzzzzz.
Few suffer as much as Indians fans. I tip my cap to ya. (Or Cubs fans. Or Phillies fans, really; in their first 100 years, they played in four World Series, winning one, and when they weren’t in the postseason, they were awful.)
But you know, there was a recent stretch in which the Yankees were pretty bad - 1982-1995. Nowhere near as bad as Cle/Phi/Chc or other teams, but still pretty bad. Also, with Steinbrenner running things, not winning means getting new players every other week to find ones that’ll make the grade. So the Yankees fans not only saw some crappy teams in that span, they saw different crappy players all the time, crapping up the whole crappy game.
Actually IIRC they were discussing the time of today’s games on Saturday’s Fox’ Mets v Braves broadcast and they indicated that the majority of games were under 3 hours. I think actually around 2.5.
Of course they also stated that it doesn’t include any games managed by Tony Larusso .
Perhaps not… but there are DEFINITELY embittered, pathetic, whining Red Sox fans.
Next?
Clemens has been a great pitcher (though I doubt he would have had anywhere near the success he’s had in recent years had he stayed with the Red Sox).
It was, however, very satisfying to see that after he staged his big event in Yankee Stadium (inviting enough guests to fill several zip codes, hauling out the Special Commemorative Glove, confidently assuming he was going to stick it to the team that dumped him), he was not only beaten, he was clobbered.
Whatever else happens this season, that’s the best reward for baseball hubris that we’re likely to see.
Enjoy beating Detroit for number 300, Roger.
No! I refuse to believe that!
I’m afraid it’s true.
The hilarious thing is, Red Sox fans don’t even have the common sense of Cub fans. Year in and year out, Cub fans KNOW their team is going to stink, they fully EXPECT every promising start to fizzle out, and they just don’t care! They go to Wrigley Field on a summer afternoon because it’s FUN! If the Cubbies win, great. If not, hey, they had a few beers and a few laughs, and they worked on their tans! And when Cub fans remember past collapses (like “El Foldo” in 1969), they do it with a laugh.
Red Sox fans can’t do that. They remember and agonize over every defeat, every mishap (from Bucky Dent’s homer to Bill Buckner’s error to the trading of Babe Ruth) as if
It would be nice if Red Sox fans could be like Cub fans. It would be so much better for their blood pressure and peace of mind if they could smile and say, “Yeah, we’re losers, we’ve always been losers, but so what? We went to Fenway, had a hot dog or two, and we had a good time.” Instead, they go into apoplexy.
And even the most tepid Yankee fan finds it mighty entertaining!
Don’t care. In other news, the Curse is real.
Come on. I’m a Red Sox fan. You think denying the voice of reason is new for me?
Yeah, well, going to Fenway isn’t any fun. Have you been there? It’s tiny, cramped, dark, dirty, and far too expensive. And we love it.
Yes, we do remember every aspect of every game played by our beloved Sox ever. It was 5 minutes ago for me, whatever and whenever it was. I cherish the memory of guys like Carl Yastremski (who I idolized as a child) and Ted Williams (even though he retired decades before I was born and was a complete jerk). Cooperstown isn’t far from here, and I make regular pilgrammages to count the inductees wearing the big red “B.” I am a Red Sox fan.
Every Red Sox loss is a cosmic miscarriage of justice. I am a Red Sox fan.
To address your weak-assed post further:
Yankee “fans” show up and cheer when their team wins the title. The Red Sox sell out every game. When the Yankees are in a horrific slump (like right now), the House That Ruth Built is empty. Fenway is always at maximum capacity, and it’s a dump. I am a Red Sox fan, and I love to go to games at the dump.
Clemens is a total bastard who rode out his last (huge) contract with the Sox and acted like he was mystified when they didn’t want to pay him millions more to do the same kind of nothing. He could, however, get back into shape and play well elsewhere. I’m a Red Sox fan, and I hope his right arm falls off tomorrow.
George Steinbrenner did the same thing that Pete Rose did, but Rose is out and Steinbrenner is still here. The corrupted filth that is the Yankees organization continues to contaminate the greatest sport on earth, and everybody just shrugs. I intended to do the “fan” thing in every point, but I can’t put my team’s name in the same paragraph that holds the name “Steinbrenner.”
The Yankees are evil, and must be destroyed.
The Cubs are perrenialy pathetic, but it would be cool to to see a Sox/Cubs Series. I believe that’s how black holes are formed.
The Sox are in first place.
White Lightning is correct. We will continue to go to Fenway. It’s baseball. It’s Red Sox baseball. It matters to us.
You just keep kinda-sorta keeping up by reading the box scores and watching the highlight reels on the eleven o’clock news.
I am a Red Sox fan, and a baseball fan.
You are an annual wagon-jumper.
You kidding me? I loved Fenway when I was there! Of course, I got the tickets for free and they were about 10 rows behind the first base dugout. Maybe that helped. 
Wrigley bleachers are still the most kickass place to watch a game though. If you can remember it by the 7th.
Face it, Neurotik, Fenway is a dump.
I love going there too, but it’s still a dump.
NY Yankees attendence to date (2003): 1,027,067 Average per game: 38,039
Boston Red Sox attendence to date(2003): 873,145 Average per game: 32,338
The Yankees would sell out every game, and then some, if Yankee Stadium seated less than 34,000, like Fenway.
It’s because you aren’t sitting in the right section. Try sitting in the section that you got with free tickets and with someone else buying beer. You might find it less of a dump then.
The Red Sox would still sell out every game if Fenway could seat as many people as Yankee Stadium can.
Given the relative capacities, Yankee attendance sucks.
I also hate that team name. There are no true Yankees in new York City. We’re all up here.
I think the FUN! attitude may have something to do with the fact that the Cubs have been so wretched that they haven’t even been to a World Series in what, 58 years? Red Sox fans have gotten a markedly higher caliber of teams to root for over the years, and even some actual pennant winners.
Red Sox games are enjoyable, but I think there are fewer fans (compared to denizens of Wrigley) who go to Fenway just to slurp beer, throw home run balls from the opposition back on the field, and sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. Quite a few more, I think, actually care about baseball.
Say, helluva pitching staff those Rangers have again this year, huh?