within the first 3 yrs of his pro career, ripken won a rookie of the year, a world series title and a league mvp. along with gold gloves, all star games mvps, a 3000 hit hitter and the streak.
jeter won 5 rings, a batting title, no mvps, a ws and allstar mvps(only won to do it in the same year) and 3 tainted gold gloves and is a 3000 hit hitter.
ripken was a solid fielder. jeter felt a lot of hot female celebrity asses. he couldn't throw me out and his spin move throw was bc he has the arm to do it. jimmy rollins does it better now at 32.
ripken's teams were great when he came into the league and then folded like a cheap lawn chair after that.
jeter was blessed with being on 5 ny yankee title teams, 2 runner up teams and tons of playoff teams. he was a huge part in their success with his hitting, fielding and herotics in late innings.
after 1985, the only thing ripken did was the streak and changed positions with a-rod for 2 innings in his last all -star game and hit a meatball for a HR. if jeter played on baltimore and ripken played in NY-the roles are reversed. could jeter be a 3000 hit hitter on baltimore? doubtful bc they stunk for years, but ripken still hit. ripken seemed to hit in his own teams down years as he played all the time. jeter has been hurt.
im not saying jeter was only a byproduct of the yankees success as he had a ton to do with it. but without it and those great players in the lineup and mo in the bullpen, i don't think he has the career he has and certainly not 5 rings.
bc the yankees were constantly winning and in the playoffs with 7 ws appearances, he constantly had chances to be the hero and get a key hit whereas ripken was on the golf course. neither was anyone's fault by luck and who drafted who. 7 ws appearances gave jeter the spotlight to shine, which he did ALOT. he took full advantage of the spotlight. ripken had the streak and that was it.
so both are hall of famers. who is better...due to the team and teams he played with jeter was more clutch and was a better player. however - if ripken had the chance to play with better teams, i feel that he would've had the highlight reel career that jeter had in october. ripken had more hrs and i think rbi, but jeter has the average and steals etc, so it's what you like at the plate. to me i like power-the mike schmidt type. but a wash here.
can't go wrong with either. give me jeter if i needed a hit. now in the field - stinky, but if you hit, don't worry about the field. haha. if ripken played with the 80's royals at ss with brett, or the twins in 87 or mets in 86 or athletics in their 3 yr ws run, ripken i feel would've thrived as those were good teams. instead he thrived on lame teams.
i used to hate jeter but have respected his game as he has done a ton for the yankees.
how about houston had the #1 pick that yr and took phil nevin over jeter. haha.
no one wanted jeter. the scout that found him told steinbrenner he had to take him and steinbrenner said that skinny kid will never amount to anything. the scout had video and a stop watch time of his speed from home to first speed etc. the scout begged steinbrenner to take him bc he was a once in a lifetime player. big george couldn't believe a 6'2 165 kid had this effect on the scout. well the scout won and the yankees took jeter. the astros took college superstar nevin. nevin crapped out. jeter is headed to cooperstown.
during the weekend of his 3000 hit, jeter had the scout and his wife on the field bf each game that weekend at yankee stadium. he was very thankful of all the scout did for him.
great post Catfish and pretty much said it all...as a Red Sox fan, I hate the Yankees but not every player, just the team if that makes sense.
I can respect Jeter's on field play and his abilities.
So let's do closers, how about the ones that pop to mind, Eckersley vs Fingers vs Gossage vs Wilhelm vs Sutter...these are the HOF closers right now (figure Hoffman, Rivera and a couple others will be in later)
I go with Eck, here you have a starter converted to closer who then seemed to just set the standard. You did not want to face him at all, well each of these guys was that way, but I just rooted for Eck whether he was on the Sox, the A's, etc. Fingers was a guy I loved to see come in games, that mustache (time to shave it off though Rollie) was almost intimidating in itself. I hated Gossage cause he shut down my Sox a lot, but he was great too. Sutter was a surprise HOFer to me, he was good but I don't think of him right away and I never saw Wilhem pitch that I can recall.
Well you have to consider that Eck was a starter for many years and converted to that closer role. Despite a few pitches, he was really the first guy to have such great success doing that. I didn't realize first ballot, maybe the choices weren't all that great that year? I would guessed 2nd or 3rd. It's closers after all.
I know today is only Thursday but dang, this week seems to be going by so slowly...ugh. I would really like to work 4 day work weeks at 10 hours per day although it would end up being more I know. Still, a 3 day weekend every week would be great.
had a 2 job interview 2 weeks ago today. still no freaking word back from these people! i don't get them at all. they wanted the job filled. had 3 interviews 2 weeks ago and not a single update or word yet about it. so frustrating.
