Carlton Fisk – One Dee Ten Tee (1D10T)

First off, let me say this…I love Carlton Fisk.  He’s one of the great catchers of all time and always was a tough hardnosed player who expected a lot out of those who played with him (and against him).

He recently spouted off against Mark McGwire and then Barry Bonds, which as a Hall of Famer, he’s totally entitled to.

“But this is the point I want to make: When you talk about steroids and you talk about what it means to the game, the three greatest home run hitters of all time–Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, right? When they were 39 years old, how many home runs do you think they averaged? The three greatest home run hitters of all time averaged 18 home runs at age 39. Now, how many home runs did Barry Bonds hit when he was 39? He hit 73!”

“It’s not woolly.  Nobody gets woolly.  Women get weary.  They don’t get woolly.  Nobody’s got stress, they’re wearin’ a dress.  God damn I hate people that get the words wrong!”  — Crash Davis in Bull Durham.

Boy, did he get it wrong.

All baseball players and fans are stats nuts.  He didn’t even come close to getting it right.   Joe Posnarski has pointed analysis and I won’t steal his thunder.  Suffice it to say that those great home run hitters averaged more than 18 homers when they were 39 and Barry hit those 73 dingers when he was 36.

In addition to not getting the stats right, the problem I have with Fisk is that by calling out Big Mac Bonds, Clemens and other alleged and admitted steroid users, he calls attention to himself.  He says he’s clean and didn’t do steroids and is pointing out age and performance as evidence.  OK, then his stats are open to scrutiny.  Here are some interesting tidbits.

At the age of 39, Carlton Fisk caught an amazing 122 games.  That’s more games caught than when he was 26, 27, 31 and 32 when the Bosox let him go.  But wait, there’s more!  After catching only 74 and 90 games at the ages of 40 and 41, he went on to catch 116 and 106 games when he was 42 and 43.  Really?  Catching over 100 games in consecutive seasons in his early 40s?   Do you think those aging knees had any medicinal help?  Hmmm….

What about his batting?  Well, take a look again at his stats.  And look at the number of home runs he hit.  Let’s look at his career year in most home runs.  He hit 37 at the age of 37 in 1985, which is 11 more than his next highest total of 26.  Wow, significant jump when his numbers should be down and declining.  But wait, there’s more!  At the ripe old age of 39 (remember his Willie Mays, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron argument above), he hit 23 home runs, which mysteriously is more than the great Babe Ruth hit when he was 39.  At the ripe old catcher ages of 40, 42 and 43 when most catchers have been retired for at least ten years, Carlton hit 19, 18 and 18 dingers.  Do you think he had any extra medicinal help in the batting department.  Hmmm….

I am so sick of Fisk and others of his ilk (e.g., Fergy Jenkins, who was busted for illegal drugs as a player and suspended for a total of 2 weeks).   Yes, they’re in the Hall, they’re entitled to spout off now that no-one is going to kick them out (right, Ty?), but they are not squeaky clean either.

If a player played during the pharmaceutical era (1950s to present), as far as I’m concerned, they’re all suspects in illicit drug use, whether it’s steroids, amphetamines, cocaine, hashish or marijuana.  Pointing fingers at others does nothing but shine a light on themselves. Judge not, lest ye be judged.

My advice to them:  How ’bout grabbing a nice steaming cup of “Shut the F*** Up?”