Joe Jackson and Pete Rose Should Be HOFers Because...

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Just saw before I hit submit that Peter beat me to it. Add in walks for Rickey too.

Rickey (and Brock, and Wills) would use their raw speed and technique to turn singles into doubles (and maybe triples.) What Cobb did was more psychological - delayed steals, taking the unexpected extra base, sliding hard (clean, but hard,) and generally keeping the other team wound up tight, wondering what he would do next.

Henderson was a truly great player and play maker. His talent on the bases was speed and technique. You knew he was running. With Cobb, it was different - you never knew just what he would do next, or when, or how.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Rickey (and Brock, and Wills) would use their raw speed and technique to turn singles into doubles (and maybe triples.) What Cobb did was more psychological - delayed steals, taking the unexpected extra base, sliding hard (clean, but hard,) and generally keeping the other team wound up tight, wondering what he would do next.

Henderson was a truly great player and play maker. His talent on the bases was speed and technique. You knew he was running. With Cobb, it was different - you never knew just what he would do next, or when, or how.

I dunno, pitchers talk a lot about how disruptive Henderson was on base. I think the idea of all that effort to hold him, and the full knowledge that he was going anyway had to make things considerably easier for whoever was batting after him.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I dunno, pitchers talk a lot about how disruptive Henderson was on base. I think the idea of all that effort to hold him, and the full knowledge that he was going anyway had to make things considerably easier for whoever was batting after him.

I'm not diminishing Henderson one bit. Just saying, his style was different than Cobb's. For one thing, I'm sure Rickey had more raw speed.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Mark17

What Cobb did was more psychological - delayed steals, taking the unexpected extra base, sliding hard (clean, but hard,) and generally keeping the other team wound up tight, wondering what he would do next.

It's the gnats vs the bee sting theory. Bee sting hurts but gnats are consistently more distracting and annoying.