A World Series Guarantee: There Will Be A Hero — And A Goat
From SABR member David McDonald at the Ottawa Citizen on October 16, 2011:
The 107th edition of baseball’s modern World Series begins Wednesday.
At its conclusion, a committee of baseball insiders will glance at the stats and officially anoint a fall hero, who will be named Series MVP and presented with a car he wouldn’t be seen driving.
Last year — if anyone remembers — it was San Francisco Giants shortstop Edgar Renteria, a 35-year-old veteran on the downside of his career, who batted .412 with a couple of home runs in the Series.
Nice, but hardly the stuff of baseball legend.
What is the stuff of baseball legend are the characters chosen not after the fact by some backroom committee, but instantly and irrevocably on the field of play by fate itself.
Regardless of whatever else you’ve done — or will do — in the game, one timely play, one untimely strikeout, one good hop or one bonehead play in a World Series and you, too, can become a permanent part of baseball lore.
Read the full article here: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/World+Series+guarantee+There+will+hero+goat/5558275/story.html
Originally published: October 17, 2011. Last Updated: October 17, 2011.