.406 and the Wussiness That Has Followed

[DOUGHBOYS]

There is something sticking in my craw. Look, I don't even know where or what my craw is, exactly, so let me get out this rant and I'll feel much better.
The wussification of America just gets worse and worse. We're supposed to be the best country in the world.
With the best people in the world. Americans are not afraid to 'go for it' to do whatever is necessary to obtain our goals.
And, we even like to do it with an 'IN YOUR FACE' attitude.

So let me give you a backdrop to a story that makes us proud and then fast forward to modern times, where wussification reigns supreme.......

1941 Was one of the best baseball years ever. Joe DiMaggio's hit streak and the constant, "Did he get one today?" overrode and kept America's minds off what Hitler was doing to Europe.
We were only months away from Pearl Harbor happening.
Still, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams garnered as many headlines as Hitler and Roosevelt.

While DiMaggio captured the imagination of people across the country with the hitting streak, Williams kept hitting.
He reached the last day of the season hitting .3996
The record books would round up for Williams and give him the magical .400
All he had to do was sit out the doublehader on the last day of the season.
You know the story.
Williams questioned whether it should even be counted as a .400 season were a player to avoid playing.
He played.
He went six for eight in the doubleheader and finished with that magical .406 batting average.

I loved it when Americans were fair minded and wussification was a bad thing that happened to other countries.
Now, we are wussified.
There is nobody in 75 years that has really challenged Ted Williams.
Sure, there were rumblings from George Brett, Rod Carew, and Tony Gwynn. But each of those reveled in Williams achievment after falling short.

On a far smaller scale is a batting championship. There have been 150 batting champions counting each league since Williams hit .406
Batting Champions come and go.
Still, a batting championship means enough to individuals and clubs nowadays to bring out the best in their wussiness.
Remember when Jose Reyes bunted for a base hit, then the Mets pulled him so he could get his batting championship?
And this week, DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies sat out the last four of five of his games so he can win the 'batting championship.
He did this knowing that Daniel Murphy was hurt and couldn't improve.
WUSSINESS!
Murphy pinch hit yesterday. If he'd of gotten a hit, he would win the batting title.
Unfortunately, he lined out.
I know that the record books will simply list fellas like Reyes and LeMahieu as batting champions.
Still, I'll remember HOW they got in those record books.
And appreciate Ted Williams even more.

[Bronx Yankees]

Totally agree. Was disappointed to see DJ. LeMahieu sit multiple games to win the batting title with Daniel Murphy hurt. When I saw Murphy was pinch-hitting on Sunday, it seemed more to try to take back the batting title than anything else. If he was too hurt to play the last week, or even the last game, should he have been pinch-hitting? If he was OK to pinch-hit, why not play the whole game? If he was in the starting lineup, would LeMahieu have played on Sunday? When Murphy was pinch-hitting, did the Rockies have someone monitoring so that LeMahieu could then enter the game if Murphy got a hit? Can you back into a batting title? Incredible season by both guys, but, yes, they weren't exactly pulling out all stops at the very end, were they? Funny, you don't really see this in the Cy Young race. Both Scherzer and Hendricks took the ball on Sunday, although neither wound up pitching very well. Guess the difference is that the Cy Young is subjective and voters would not look terribly kindly on pitchers skipping turns down the stretch simply to avoid a possible bad outing.

Mike

[TOXIC ASSETS]

Good write-up Dan. A story that all fans of the game should know.
Ted always did things his way, never followed the group. For that, along with his baseball skills, he's always been a favorite of mine. Leigh Montville's biography of Ted was very good, if you haven't read it yet - ask the wife for the book for Christmas.

[marknym]

There is something sticking in my craw. Look, I don't even know where or what my craw is, exactly, so let me get out this rant and I'll feel much better.
The wussification of America just gets worse and worse. We're supposed to be the best country in the world.
With the best people in the world. Americans are not afraid to 'go for it' to do whatever is necessary to obtain our goals.
And, we even like to do it with an 'IN YOUR FACE' attitude.

So let me give you a backdrop to a story that makes us proud and then fast forward to modern times, where wussification reigns supreme.......

1941 Was one of the best baseball years ever. Joe DiMaggio's hit streak and the constant, "Did he get one today?" overrode and kept America's minds off what Hitler was doing to Europe.
We were only months away from Pearl Harbor happening.
Still, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams garnered as many headlines as Hitler and Roosevelt.

While DiMaggio captured the imagination of people across the country with the hitting streak, Williams kept hitting.
He reached the last day of the season hitting .3996
The record books would round up for Williams and give him the magical .400
All he had to do was sit out the doublehader on the last day of the season.
You know the story.
Williams questioned whether it should even be counted as a .400 season were a player to avoid playing.
He played.
He went six for eight in the doubleheader and finished with that magical .406 batting average.

I loved it when Americans were fair minded and wussification was a bad thing that happened to other countries.
Now, we are wussified.
There is nobody in 75 years that has really challenged Ted Williams.
Sure, there were rumblings from George Brett, Rod Carew, and Tony Gwynn. But each of those reveled in Williams achievment after falling short.

On a far smaller scale is a batting championship. There have been 150 batting champions counting each league since Williams hit .406
Batting Champions come and go.
Still, a batting championship means enough to individuals and clubs nowadays to bring out the best in their wussiness.
Remember when Jose Reyes bunted for a base hit, then the Mets pulled him so he could get his batting championship?
And this week, DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies sat out the last four of five of his games so he can win the 'batting championship.
He did this knowing that Daniel Murphy was hurt and couldn't improve.
WUSSINESS!
Murphy pinch hit yesterday. If he'd of gotten a hit, he would win the batting title.
Unfortunately, he lined out.
I know that the record books will simply list fellas like Reyes and LeMahieu as batting champions.
Still, I'll remember HOW they got in those record books.
And appreciate Ted Williams even more.

I'm a little late on this one, and I appear to have the benefit of some hindsight... but I was saying on the last day of the season to anyone who cared that Daniel Murphy was just as guilty of being a "wuss"... particularly if he ended up being "ready" for Game 1 of the NLDS. It's not admirable to sit games out, but I really don't have a problem with LaMahieu doing it in light of Murphy's extended break. Was Murphy hurt, or just little worn down, and resting up for the postseason with Washington having a comfortable division lead? He seemed just fine once the playoffs started. Is sitting out somehow more noble when your team is headed to the playoffs? His BA title would have been just as tainted in my eyes, if not the media's.