Siawyn
u/Siawyn
Feed options
Hot
New
Top
View
Card
Compact
Through 2001 if you asked anyone they would have told you that he was an automatic HoF'er in waiting. He hit his 400th HR in 2002 and 500 seemed like a lock, with maybe even 600 in play. Plus he already had 2 MVPs.
Still ended up with a .902 OPS/132 OPS+ for his career.
What we didn't know was just how awful his defense was - he never was regarded as a good outfielder, but advanced stats absolutely murdered him there. Not knowing about the impact of defense was how he got those MVPs over players like Griffey Jr or ARod. Plus we didn't know just how important positional advantage mattered. Being a slugger at SS was incredibly more valuable than being one at in the corner outfield spots as they were a dime a dozen back then. Look at the 1996 MVP voting for example for the top 20 (yes it went that deep):
-
Juan Gonzalez: .314/.368/.643, 47 HR, 144 RBI. 3.8 WAR
-
Alex Rodriguez: .358/.414/.631, 36 HR, 123 RBI. 9.4 WAR
-
Albert Belle: .311/.410/.623, 48 HR, 140 RBI. 5.7 WAR
-
Ken Griffey Jr: .303/.392/.628, 49 HR, 140 RBI, 9.7 WAR
-
Mo Vaughn: .326/.420/.583, 44 HR, 143 RBI, 5.6 WAR
-
Rafael Palmeiro: .289/.381/.546, 39 HR, 142 RBI, 4.5 WAR
-
Mark McGwire: .312/.467/.730, 52 HR, 113 RBI, 6.4 WAR
-
Frank Thomas: .349/.459/.626, 40 HR, 134 RBI, 5.6 WAR
-
Brady Anderson: .297/.396/.637, 50 HR, 110 RBI, 6.9 WAR
-
Ivan Rodriguez: .300/.342/.473, 19 HR, 86 RBI, 6.1 WAR
-
Kenny Lofton: .317/.372/.446, 14 HR, 67 RBI, 5.5 WAR (75 SBs)
-
Mariano Rivera: Some RP you might have heard of, 5.0 WAR
-
Paul Molitor: .341/.390/.468, 9 HR, 113 RBI, 3.7 WAR
-
Andy Pettitte: 5.6 WAR
-
Jim Thome: .311/.450/.612, 38 HR, 116 RBI, 7.5 WAR. (7.5 WAR and he was 15th!)
-
Chuck Knoblauch: .341/.448/.517, 13 HR, 72 RBI, 8.7 WAR (45 SB, 14 triples, great defense)
-
Jay Buhner: .271/.369/.557, 44 HR, 138 RBI, 3.5 WAR
-
Bernie Williams: .305/.391/.535, 29 HR, 102 RBI, 4.0 WAR
-
John Wetteland: 2.4 WAR. (43 saves)
-
Roberto Alomar: .328/.411/.527, 22 HR, 94 RBI, 5.3 WAR (and 20th, lol)
The funny thing is only 3 of the top 10 ended up in the HoF. Drugs are a hell of a drug.
Anyhow the point of the list was to show just how that MVP with what we know today was pretty bad.
The 1998 one wasn't much better. He had 4.9 WAR which was 15th. Arod, Jeter, Garciaparra were 8.5, 7.5 & 7.1 respectively with Belle (now with the White Sox) at 7.1 as well.
But 2001 me would have put down money for Juan in the HoF, no questions asked. Those types of stats did exist to some degree, but mostly on rec.sports.baseball in the 1990s and then Baseball Prospectus which started in 1996 but really wasn't common knowledge outside of baseball nerds until Moneyball showed up of course.
For all of us in the East, I hope you've really enjoyed the very pleasant and temperate weather of the last 10 days or so.... because it is going to end rather decisively next week. 90s to Chicago by Sunday probably (Monday at the latest) and spreading east from then.
On the flip side, going to turn quite cool for the Pac NW.
This might not be the answer you are looking for, but I don't think form is too important overall. Your body tends to find the most efficient way of running and even with the elites you can see some that look different than others.
With that said, there's still some things around the sides that can help that maybe you've noticed. I noticed early on that I would ball my hands into fists when running, which was making my arms and shoulders tense on long runs. So on strides I practiced not doing that until I could just do it naturally. Drills are the same thing, I try to focus on knee drive, pushoff that kind of thing and it just will naturally flow into my normal running to some degree.
I don't look very graceful when running - I checked the TV coverage of Boston which had all the finishers on one camera and I look like I'm just lumbering along at a glacial pace - but I was running 6:30/mile pace there! But I'm tall and lanky, really long limbs.
I think you were too wound up at the start and primed to look for anything to go wrong... and you had a confirmation bias feedback episode. I don't look at my HR in any races (until after the fact) for that reason and I usually find that my HR is highest - outside of the final kick - in the first few miles. Lots of people around me and also standing in the corral it's warmer with all the people packed in.
Also, don't discount the weather. It was great weather for spectating. Not for marathoning. About 10 degrees cooler would have been ideal, but even 3-5 F cooler would have helped. Mostly though, the humidity staying high was the culprit here, which reduced the cooling efficiency. It disguises how it will impact you during the first 15-20 miles because the air temp itself still feels quite reasonable, but inside your body's thermostat is rising.
