#170 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday October 15)
Good morning,
NOAH AND HIS TIME
There are biblical characters of whom we are told quite a bit—Abraham, Moses, David, and many others. One guy who gets short shrift is Noah, most notably famous for building an ark into which he led two of each species of animal life, in order to survive after the great flood.
Noah only gets one weekly of the bible, which was the Torah portion of last week. It is one of my favorites for the ambiguity and mystery of this fellow. But one line stands out and speaks to our times:
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his age.”
Many interpretations note that the world at that time was so bad, that people were so evil, that Noah stood out among them in his age. After all, God was about to destroy the world as a result of the evils of man at that time. I’m guessing it didn’t take much to be considered righteous when measured against others at the time. The phrase suggests that in his time he was righteous and blameless but perhaps not when measured against other times.
As we consider the errors of otherwise laudable men and men for what they did in prior times, we should try to consider them in light of the times in which they lived. Measuring people of the eighteenth century through the lens of the twenty-first century is unfair. There is good reason to celebrate and study the works of Thomas Jefferson and others who had huge failings that would be justifiably be judged harshly in our times but who were “righteous” in their own.
GREATEST BALLPLAYER IN EACH YEAR
Baseball fans love comparing players in one era to those in another. They also enjoy debating who was “the greatest player” at a given time. Major League Baseball published an article last month proposing a slightly different metric. They propose considering the “greatest player,” measured annually. So they published their opinion year after year since the lowering of the mound in 1969. The rule is that the person dominated the game at the time. It’s not just a “best player” award in a given season; it’s possible there was an exemplary performance in a single year by an outlier, but they did not unseat the top dog.” In order to be pushed off of the position of greatest at the time, the next person must “beat the heavyweight contender” and not merely have a strong season.
1969-70, Bob Gibson
1971-75, Tom Seaver
1976-77, Joe Morgan
1978, Ron Guidry
1979-81, Mike Schmidt
1982, Rickey Henderson
1983-84, Cal Ripken, Jr.
1985, Dwight Gooden
1986-88, Roger Clemens
1989-91, Rickey Henderson
1992-93, Barry Bonds
1994-95, Greg Maddux
1996-97, Ken Griffey, Jr.
1998-99, Mark McGuire
2000, Pedro Martinez
2001-04, Barry Bonds
2005-06, Albert Pujols
2007, Alex Rodriguez
2008-11, Albert Pujols
2012-21, Mike Trout
The author says that, even though there may be an occasional break-out year (he cites Mookie Betts, even Fernando Tatis, Jr. or Shohei Ohtani) none of them have been consistent enough to “take” the belt from Trout. In essence, a consistent and outstanding performance by an enduring star must seize the “greatest player” belt.
There’s plenty of room for controversy here, I think. Any thoughts? For instance, how does Pete Rose not end up on this list in 1975? Or Randy Johnson? Or Vladimir Guerrero?
Have a great baseball playoffs!
Glenn
From the archives: