Yankees: Who's on first?
DeutscherGeist
Posts: 2,990 ✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
I was elated that John Olerud is on the Yankees. I have always been a Yankee fan, but I always admired and followed Olerud's career as well. Its great how this works out. Felt the same way about Brown and Sheffield. The players I like are on the team I like the most. Good deal.
Anyway, I could not help notice the similarities of Olerud and Mattingly. They are both effective defensive first baseman. Their numbers are similar and baseball reference says that Mattingly is Olerud's statistical twin. Olerud has a higher OBP, but Mattingly got a lot more walks in the latter part of his career, so they are remarkably equal. The Yankees are now as if Mattingly never left.
Granted, this has not been Olerud's best season, but with the Yanks, he has been an excellent fielder and an above average hitting first baseman. One could expect a higher average, but its still better than most. He provides stability to the line up and is a quiet leader. I have heard the criticism that the Yankees would not be good if they had held on to Mattingly and would have never won the WS. They use the fact that the Yankees won the WS just after Mattingly retired as justification that he was a liability. Well, there are so many variables that go into the transition from 1995 to 1996 that to accuse Mattingly of bringing the team down is a bit short sighted. Now you have a statistical clone of Mattingly in the line up. The Olerud of today is very much like the Mattingly of 1991-1995.
The Yankees are headed to the post season with Olerud at 1B. They will set a new franchise record for most consecutive 100 win seasons if they can win one more game with four left. Olerud has no outstanding numbers, granted, but his presence, his glove, his calming aura are not quantified anywhere, yet that is what brings the mystique to the Yankees. Ask any teammate on the Yankees and they will confirm that they like having Olerud around. It would be poetic justice to Mattingly bashers if Olerud and the Yankees win the WS. Not only will Mattingly also get the ring, but he would have new supporting arguments for his induction to the HOF.
This is just my take as a passionate fan.
Anyway, I could not help notice the similarities of Olerud and Mattingly. They are both effective defensive first baseman. Their numbers are similar and baseball reference says that Mattingly is Olerud's statistical twin. Olerud has a higher OBP, but Mattingly got a lot more walks in the latter part of his career, so they are remarkably equal. The Yankees are now as if Mattingly never left.
Granted, this has not been Olerud's best season, but with the Yanks, he has been an excellent fielder and an above average hitting first baseman. One could expect a higher average, but its still better than most. He provides stability to the line up and is a quiet leader. I have heard the criticism that the Yankees would not be good if they had held on to Mattingly and would have never won the WS. They use the fact that the Yankees won the WS just after Mattingly retired as justification that he was a liability. Well, there are so many variables that go into the transition from 1995 to 1996 that to accuse Mattingly of bringing the team down is a bit short sighted. Now you have a statistical clone of Mattingly in the line up. The Olerud of today is very much like the Mattingly of 1991-1995.
The Yankees are headed to the post season with Olerud at 1B. They will set a new franchise record for most consecutive 100 win seasons if they can win one more game with four left. Olerud has no outstanding numbers, granted, but his presence, his glove, his calming aura are not quantified anywhere, yet that is what brings the mystique to the Yankees. Ask any teammate on the Yankees and they will confirm that they like having Olerud around. It would be poetic justice to Mattingly bashers if Olerud and the Yankees win the WS. Not only will Mattingly also get the ring, but he would have new supporting arguments for his induction to the HOF.
This is just my take as a passionate fan.
"So many of our DREAMS at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we SUMMON THE WILL they soon become INEVITABLE "- Christopher Reeve
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
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Comments
I like your comparison of Mattingly to Olerud and while the 96 Yankees had a few significant changes the addition of Tino Martinez was huge. Tino, while providing the same defense as Mattingly hit 18 more homers and drove in almost 70 more runs. That is a huge difference. The 96 Yankees did not have a lot of power (for them) and it is highly doubtful they could have survived the season with Mattingly instead of Martinez bat.