OK, so as usual I'm not exactly on top of things. Oh well.
First of all, I was very excited that yesterday my favorite Cub of all-time was finally recognized as one of the best players of all-time. Dawson, Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, and (believe it or not) Shawon Dunston are the reason that I am the Cubs fan I am today. Congrats to the Hawk!
Random thought; as I was walking around in the cold earlier this week for some reason I started thinking about futuristic movies (there is actually a train of thought that led to this, but I'll spare you). I realized that I have never seen a movie set in a "happy" future where it was cold. Anytime it is cold in the future, it's always as part of a desolate world where the Earth has become a barren wasteland or somehow uninhabitable for humans. Now the opposite isn't true; just because it's warm in the future doesn't mean it's happy (e.g. Waterworld and Mad Max). It's as if to have a happy future, we have to solve winter. So help me out here movie buffs: can anyone think of a movie where a happy future still had cold in it?
Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year's. I don't know about you, but it didn't really feel like the end of a decade to me. It might just be that the end of the last decade was such a big deal that everything else pales in comparison, but even though I was young I recall the change from the 80s to the 90s being a far bigger deal. Personally, I think the culprit is that it never really had a good name. Saying goodbye to "the aughts" just doesn't have the ring of the 80s or 90s.
8 comments:
Did you just come out as pro-global-warming so as to ensure a higher probability of futuristic bliss?
I haven't paid attention to the coverage, which hat will Dawson wear? Expos, right?
I love your second paragraph. Now that's some fun thinkin' there.
In Back to the Future II I think it was fall (or at least chilly--they were wearing scarves and sleeveless coats)... does that count?
Weir - The Hall is still deciding what hat he'll wear. On balance, Expos is probably the right call but since you can at least make an argument for the Cubs you have to wonder if the fact that the Expos are now defunct will make the difference. Fun fact: Gary Carter is currently the only Hall of Famer who went in as an Expo. If Dawson ends up going in as a Cub, he'll forever be the only one.
Becky - No, I'm not counting that. Some people are wearing jackets but other people aren't, so it's not clear that it's definitely cold (probably mid-50s). It IS fall though. Which reminds me; according to that movie I've only got 5 more years to wait before the Cubs win the World Series! Man, I remember watching that and thinking "we'd better win it before that!", Now I'd be ecstatic if I knew I'd only have to wait that long.
Also remember that in Back to the Future II we only ever SAW the BAD future.
The good future only existed after Marty fixed the past, and we never got to see that future. It might have been glorious. And seeing as the future we saw only kind of sucked, it makes sense that only half the people would be cold.
I say the theory still holds up.
And being a totally impartial outsider I don't see how any reasonable argument for the cubs hat.
(Ouch, look att that k/bb ratio and OBP.)
Stat argument for Expos - Rookie of the Year, 6 of his 8 Gold Gloves, 4 of his 5 Silver Slugger awards
Stat arguments for Cubs - Marginally higher BA, higher slugging, 5 of his 8 All-Star Appearances, 1987 MVP
Ultimately it probably comes down to how much weight you put on the MVP year. I think almost unquestionably if he has just an average year (for him, which would have still been a very good year) he doesn't get into the Hall. The fact that he got the MVP for a last place team (something I can all but guarantee will NEVER happen again) and also during the year of the legendary blank contract just adds to the mystique. So you can make the argument that 1987 made him a Hall of Famer and since he was a Cub then that's what he should go in as.
Again, though, I think Expos is the right call based purely on stats. But given their defunct status, who do you think is there talking to the Hall lobbying on behalf of the Expos?
I'm with you on the MVP year being the thing that ultimately punched his ticket, but personally I can't put that in front of 70 percent of his stats coming in Canada.
Who makes the final call? I don't know enough about it.
(Also, he was 2nd in MVP voting twice in Montreal and looking at his stats, it was once probably based solely on his K/BB or OBP being so bad.)
Also, he stole 300 bases, almost all north of the border.
I don't have much other than stats to go by since I didn't watch much baseball before about 1990.
Despite the near life-sized poster of Dawson in an Expos uniform next to the dais, Hall president Jeff Idelson said no decision has been made.
"At the end of the day you want the logo to represent where this guy made his greatest impact," Idelson said. "He was impactful in Montreal. He was impactful in Chicago, and to a much lesser extent Boston and Florida, but it's more of a case sitting down and collectively make a decision."
So they're going to "sit down and collectively make a decision". Vague enough for you?
Pretty vague.
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