Now Who Do I have To Complain About? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 12:35 PM

I miss Nomahhhhh....now I gotta find someone else to moan about!

Lets see.....who do I not like on the Red Sox????

I guess I will have to put Mr Francona under the microscope next!

There we go.....lets have a good close look at him for a while!

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 12:55 PM

he's been #1 on my hit list since may!

Bigcat · 08-03-2004, 05:05 PM

Lets see.
Tito Francoma is a place to start.
Jason Varitck he cant hit his weight, he has a slow bat not a clutch hitter, way over rated?
Trot Nixon another stiff, I think he was hurt and jumped on the contract the team offerd, looks like he packed on 25 pounds?
Pitchers.
Derrick Lowe he gets rattled to easy.
Timlin and Embree can't hold a lead, you can almost tell what is going to happen when they come in, I am supprised Shilling has not called them out?
Theo...humm?

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 05:09 PM

Wait a minute Bigcat....gotta get out a few more microscopes!

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 05:26 PM

thersa francona hasn't a clue or a "feel" for the game ie: how to handle a starting picther. he strictly goes by a script and has no feel for the pulse of a game. ask him what hunch means and he'll tell you about some guy in a tower. i think he's directly responsible for more than a few losses. i think his case is almost indefenesable....

28inches · 08-03-2004, 05:26 PM

Don't worry...Stump will give you plenty to moan about.

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 05:29 PM

28"- where you hearing all this stump crap? you wouldn't tease suffering sox fans now would you?

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 05:32 PM

Tease us or do you mean torment us???

We need Stump Merril here like we need another first baseman!

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 05:34 PM

T-O-R-M-E-N-T!!!!

Bigcat · 08-03-2004, 05:58 PM

I think we as Red Sox fans over rate the players all the time?

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 06:30 PM

i think we as red sox fans embrace players who give a damn, give an all out effort, and have a desire to win at all costs(far and few in between these days). schill seems to be the only player who realizes this.(and maybe varitek). best fans in the world!! we give a shete!!

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 06:52 PM

Remember Yaz??? Now there was a player who was dedicated to trying desperately to win a championship!

Good old #8...he was truely a great ballplayer.

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 07:15 PM

BF, you old enough to remember '67? #8 drove the sox to pennant!

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 07:30 PM

I was 3 years old but don't be fooled by that fact.....growing up I was the biggest Yaz fan on the planet, read everything I could find about him and collected all the Yaz memorabilia I could find! Even got one of his baseball cards autographed at spring training one year. Went to his last opening day and his last 3 games against Cleveland (including Yaz Day....sat in the front row batters circle on the visitors side) got to high five #8 on his way circling the field, also got a fantastic photo of him doing so. (Also got on that Yaz video that I think Stop and Shop put out w/Channel 38) Went to the Hall Of Fame to see him enshrined with Johnny Bench, Red Schoendist, Al Barelick and Harry Carey! I would put my knowledge of Yaz up against anyone who was fortunate enough to have seen him play from the beginning! A shame there are no more players like that....he was truely great, and I will go to my grave argueing with anyone who says otherwise!

By the way.....I am a student of the history of the game, particularly the days of the 50's and 60's.....boy I wish I had seen baseball in those decades!

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 07:34 PM

Did you know Yaz popped up to end the 1978 playoff game against the Yankees and also popped up in his last at-bat? I found that somewhat a strange coincedence!

Also, if you ever go into a sports bar in Weymouth called Main Street, at the end of the bar on the wall is a black and white photo that I took of Yaz in his last season. I gave it to the owner of the bar, he is a good friend of mine. No big deal but it is great to walk in there and have a cold one once in awhile and look at the picture and remember some great days from my youth. I really used to love the game of baseball.

afterhours · 08-03-2004, 07:54 PM

WOW!! HIGH FIVED #8

i was in grade school then and he was THE MAN! not sure of the year, but do you remember the hr against the angels, over 500'.

Mike P · 08-03-2004, 08:00 PM

Did you know that Yaz is also in the Long Island Sports HOF? Born and raised in (I think) East Hampton.

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 08:27 PM

Yep! His family farmed potatoes there.

He had a tryout with the Yankees too....right on the field with the big boys! Mantle, Berra, Skowron, Richardson, Boyer, Maris, Ford......shall I go on? That was before the Sox got ahold of him.

I am not tellin' MikeP anything he doesn't know......he "is" from Lawn Guyland!

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 08:39 PM

MikeP....I must admit that I am a closet Yankee fan! I have read many books about the dynasty days of the 50's and early 60's.....what great days those must have been to be a boy who loved baseball.....even better if you lived in Yankeeland!

28inches · 08-03-2004, 08:48 PM

The '60 Yankees were my first team. You're right, what a time to be a kid in NYC, 1960-1967 or so. Then things fell apart for the Yankees, and society went through a bunch of changes also. War, riots, assasinations, drugs....great time to grow up.

Hey, I wouldn't tease long suffering Sox fans. I know how it feels. We haven't won a Series since 2000. NY sports radios and the tabloids are all covering the Stump to Boston story. Gammons brought it up again Sunday nite on espn.

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 08:52 PM

You better be tuggin' my leg 28....cause if'n that happens.....I am going to jump ship and take my long awaited sworn oath to be a Yankee fan!

Or shoot myself....one or the other!

The M & M Boys......doesn't get much better than that!

28....you think Maris belongs in the Hall Of Fame??? I do! played 11 seasons, two MVP awards 275 career homers, and a great glove? I think a case could be made!

BigFish · 08-03-2004, 09:01 PM

12 seasons, 1,325 hits, 275 homers, .260 career batting average, back to back MVP awards.....played some great right field for some winning teams! And also owned a Bud franchise! How American is that!

The Dad Fisherman · 08-04-2004, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BigFish
Did you know Yaz popped up to end the 1978 playoff game against the Yankees and also popped up in his last at-bat? I found that somewhat a strange coincedence!

.

He also popped up to end the '75 world series and I think he also did it in the '67 World Series too

I loved Yaz too growing up but he wasn't exactly what I would call a Clutch hitter either.

BigFish · 08-04-2004, 08:27 AM

Not a clutch hitter???? Give me one example of another player....anyone, who put together a more clutch hitting season than he had in 1967!

He may have popped up to end that 78' playoff game but he also hit a homerun in it! Also has a great batting average in each of the playoff and World Series that he appeared in!

OK.....your turn again!

28inches · 08-04-2004, 10:00 AM

BF: those were good times, 3 catchers with more than 20 homers.. remember who they were? And I do think Rajah belongs in the Hall. He was no slouch when he went to St. Louis, either. If he was more outgoing, he would have been a shoe-in, but he was a quiet, shy, reserved guy so the press didn't care for him. Whitey Ford, Mantle, Yogi, etc made better copy. And many in the public didn't want to see Babe's record fall. Same thing happened to Aaron but that was attributed to racism.

Stump is definitely coming, the only question is when...supposed to be the next road trip. You'll look great in pinstripes!

The Dad Fisherman · 08-04-2004, 10:04 AM

Don't get me wrong, My mother was 1/2 polish so Yaz was like a god in my house growing up.

but wouldn't you agree that the ultimate clutch hitter is the one that brings home the world series. Isn't that the mark of greatness? winning a championship.

Its why we think Montana is better than Marino. Marino was a better QB, Stat Wise, but he never brought home the big one. Will Patrick Ewing ever be mentioned among the Greatest centers to play the Game...NO...Why? He never won the big one.

Take Bill Buckner in '86. He had a phenomanal year that year for us and was one of the main reasons we went to the world series.......Do people here like him? NO because of ONE bad play....that was actually a bad managerial decision. and most people forget the fact that they blew a 2 run lead prior to that.

Do I think Yaz is a Great Red Sox Player...Absolutely, He played his ass off for us. But name the last Red Sox Great that brought home the big one for us?

Just think if one of those Pop-ups was a double...we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

BigFish · 08-04-2004, 10:41 AM

The last Red Sox great that brought one home for us was Babe Ruth!

TDF....you don't think Ted Williams, Ernie Banks among other ballplayers who never won a championship should be remembered as "great" players?

28....Berra, Elston Howard and.....was it Johnny Blanchard???? Tell me I am right cause' Blanchard feels right!

The Dad Fisherman · 08-04-2004, 11:05 AM

No I agree....They're all great players and they belong in the hall of fame but unfortunately in this day and age they're judged by rings and not by character and performance.

I also think that Free agency has completely destroyed the magic that was baseball when I was growing up.

There is no such thing as a home team hero anymore....like Yaz. If your kid loves a player on the Sox you're almost guaranteed he'll be gone w/in 6 years.

Tony Gwynn was the last of his kind. A guy that remained true to a team and not a dollar. You can't question ANY man's Loyalty that would spend his career in San Diego.

Oh yeah Its Blanchard.......

28inches · 08-04-2004, 11:08 AM

Very good,BF. It was Johnny Blanchard. The three of them would play left field and first base also, depending on the situation. You don't see much of that now. Piazza pouted for a year because the Mets wanted him to move to first.

BigFish · 08-04-2004, 12:15 PM

Players today are a bunch of cry-babies! That was quite a 1961 Yankees team boy! Some of those Dodger.....Brooklyn in the 50's and some of the LA teams in the mid 60's were pretty well stacked also!