Quote:
Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
"Retire the number" does not equal "elect to Hall of Fame." Since the fellow is beloved by the fans (that is, by you) for being an over-achiever, and since he was a great defensive player (7 GG's), and since (in your imagination) he was the spark plug and clubhouse leader behind those World Series titles, you retire his number. If you don't, you are going to keep wishing that you had.
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Says the Yankee fan, whose players will soon be wearing triple digit numbers due to all the numbers they have retired.
You know I'm just goofin' on you and have a ton of respect for you right?
Personally Obechkin, I'm tired of watching defense be completely ignored when it comes to honours like this. When we're watching baseball games as fans, we all recognize how important little things like defense, baserunning, and the proper fundamentals that govern both are. Then, when it comes time to select all-stars, MVPs, and honours such as retired numbers and the HoF, all that goes out the window in favour of the pretty offensive numbers.
I could get into a rant about how unfair it is that great fielding/noodle bat players at the keystone and occasionally the catching positions get welcomed into the Hall with relative ease, while players at other positions, who are spectacular defenders in their own right, and are much better hitters than the noodle bat guys, have the door slammed in their faces, but I'll spare you the misery.
We all value the guy with a tremendous all around game over the one dimensional slugger. There are a few cases where a guy's bat is so spectacular that it overcomes his deficiencies elsewhere, but it's more the exception than the rule. The market has even started to value the all around players in today's game much more, but the HoF has been extremely slow to catch up and it bothers me to no end. Not gonna name names here because the post would get too long, but I find the lack of support for some of these guys insulting.
There, I've said my piece. If you think this guy deserves the honour, he should get the honour. It is a very low batting average, but batting average is not everything. What were his OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, and wRC+ like? If he was anything close to a 100 OPS+/wRC+, he absolutely deserves it with those defensive chops. 85-90 might be good enough too. You're the owner/GM. A lot of guys get these honours for more than what they do on the field. In a game like OOTP, it's hard to figure out a guy's off the field contributions, but if you feel that combining those with his stats deserves the honour, give it to him.
