MARIANO RIVERA IS RIGHT--YANKS DON'T RESPECT HIM
DISRESPECT FOR MARIANO RIVERA BY YANKEE ORGANIZATION-- FOLLOWING IS MY 2nd LETTER TO YES NETWORK OFFICIALS (Sept. 11, 2006) REGARDING THIS LONG-STANDING OBVIOUS OUTRAGE.
- September 11, 2006
- Dear Mr. Freiman:
- The 3 issues are: 1) Pre and post game coverage, 2) What the Yankee fan wants or needs to see, and 3) A behind the scenes awareness that Mariano has never come close to winning any post season awards due to institutionalized bias; the votes are secret. The same people could easily deny him the HOF. If the YES Network chose to present Mo in the manner he deserves, they could be the lone voice in the wilderness (aside from SNY).
- There’s a constant media barrage deifying pitchers not named Mariano. There was a brief respite this year during the All Star break when Ozzie Guillen put Rivera in the news. Regarding Bob Lorenz, I’m glad he appreciates baseball, but much of what he says and how he says it on the air are directed by someone else, e.g. the length of time looking at a stat, what is said about it and in what tone. In the past year, I’ve chosen to take time to document in detail the efforts of mainstream baseball media to minimize Rivera including writers and contributors to ESPN.com, MLB.com, FoxSports.com, the largest baseball websites, and newspapers from around the country. The only outlet I’d logically hope to put his performance in correct context is the YES Network. Explicitly acknowledging the media bias might backfire, and has for the Yankees in the past when Hideki Matsui was overlooked. Mr. Steinbrenner’s unhappiness about this was reported in the press, and a writer who failed to vote for Hideki became an instant national celebrity and was delighted. Jon Miller said on the ESPN-TV game Sunday 9/10/06 that San Diego general manager Kevin Towers started a campaign last week to have Trevor named NL Cy Young. This isn’t the kind of thing I’m suggesting the YES Network or the Yankees do. It may even work in their case, but wouldn’t for the Yankees.
- The media’s goal is to put anyone they can in front of Mariano, and one of their picks is Trevor Hoffman (their long-time pal). His botching the All Star game sufficiently behind him, the campaigning for him is back in force, with recent articles on ESPN.com, Foxsports.com, and a 9/8 headline and article on MLB.com. Saturday 9/9, yet another on the ESPN.com page by one of their big writers, with headlines Hoffman should be in the Hall. He hasn’t done anything special, is still adamantly a 1 inning pitcher in a low pressure environment. Another site on 9/9 refers to the MLB article in a headline and puts forth the idea he should win the NL Cy Young. This is 4 front page headlines in about 10 days, plus probably the most widely read internet site. Even from this small sampling of what I’ve documented, you may see why I hope for fair portrayal from 1 media source, YES. The opposition is overwhelming, and most who recognize it just shake their head and say, what can you do? Well, not showing the total saves stat would be a start.
- As I mentioned earlier, in his 10 pennant winning seasons (possibly 11), Rivera has not come close to winning a Cy Young or MVP award (although he was 1999World Series MVP and 2003 ALCS MVP). Joel Sherman in the Sept. 1, 2006 NY Post, states, “Rivera deserves Cy Young and MVP but Will Not Win.” Last year, he was the clear statistical winner, #1 in the Bill James/Rob Neyer AL Cy Young predictor, but among award voters, he wasn’t even close. 6 of the 28 voters left him off their ballot entirely. Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal said, well, it was just another good year for him & he’s had so many good years, he’d “probably have to have 65 saves for anyone outside of New York” to notice. Ah, the total saves stat defense. (Mo saved or won 6 1-run games in September 2005, worked 3 days in a row twice in a 2 week period, 6 out of 8 days, allowing the team finally to tie with Boston, and become the technical winner of the AL pennant).
- Mike Lupica recently wrote that Rivera could be the “most important Yankee of all time.” In the Sept.1 Sherman column, he also says Mo should’ve won these awards in other years. He doesn’t delve into why he’s been rejected by voters, although he probably knows. Sherman is a present or past member of the HOF board, and knows what’s going on. The ‘elephant in the living room’ is long-standing institutionalized bias. Those looking for an excuse not to vote for Rivera (this concept was presented in SI), could in some cases use a total saves stat. And, the YES Network of all places should be including his 34 post season saves (from 111+ post season IP) in any ‘career saves’ stat, which was not done or spoken of when he got his 400th regular season save. I don’t mean passing mentions by announcers, I mean produced video highlights of great moments.
- On August 10, Rivera and Ron Villone both made great contributions to the game, but little was said about their efforts on the post game, focusing mainly on Randy Johnson. The reply might be the oft-used, “well, everyone knows Rivera is great,” and change the subject.
- Saturday 9/9 was another example of the problem on the post game show,around 7:30 PM after the 3-2 win at Baltimore. I looked very closely, YES showed Farnsworth’s last out, but LESS than 1 second of a person clapping on the sidelines (Mo), who’d just put his head down in the clip you chose. I was again stunned. Why not give a few seconds of the guy? YES didn’t even allow the viewer to see who was clapping. This isn’t MTV. If the YES network doesn’t think it’s important to give him time, that’ll be fine with the opposition.
- Incidentally, the Yankee radio people, John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, have seen every pitch Rivera has thrown (Suzyn may’ve missed a few while preparing her interviews in the 9th inning). They are exactly correct in their portrayals of Mariano, and include references to him at appropriate times.
- P.S. Those of us who are Yankee fans remember this about Johan Santana: in game 4 of the 2004 ALDS, he apparently took himself out of the game after 5 innings (Twins were leading 5-1). The game was finally won in 11 innings, 6-5 Yankees. Mariano Rivera was the winning pitcher.
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