Archives
6:36:00 PM EST
Hearing My Morning Jacket
Mustache Bet: Mattingly vs. Clark for the HOF
Will Clark is my favorite player of all time in any sport. This is what happens when you're a left-handed 12 year-old kid in love with baseball during the summer of '89; which is when the Thrill batted .333 during the regular season and .650 in the NLCS. I didn't have to look those numbers up and I'm certain they're right -- probably because I have over 300 of his baseball cards, including a rare Quaker Oats one depicting him in a logo-less hat and sporting a mustache (foreshadowing).
Anyway, this is Clark's first year on the Hall of Fame ballot, and, although there's no doubt in my mind that he is NOT a HOFer, I tried to place a friendly wager with my SBL co-host Lush last week. It started off like this ... If Clark gets more votes than Mattingly this year, Lush will have to sport a freaking mustache. If Mattingly gets more votes than Clark, I'll have to rock the 'stache. But this is where it gets complicated.
Lush says we must compare Clark's first-year-on-the-ballot votes with Mattingly's first-year votes to get an apples-to-apples comparison. Considering that Mattingly got 145 votes (or 28%) his first year and only 59 votes (11%) last year, this is certainly reasonable so the bet is Clark's first-year votes vs. Mattingly's first-year votes.
The second point of contention has to do with the 'stache itself. Lush came out the box pushing for a month of unfettered facial growth followed by a full week of glorious 'stache. I countered with a week of growth followed by a full business day of 'stache. I mean, we're not living in a frat house anymore. It was at this point that Lush called me a "pussbag" and we reached a stalemate that still stands.
Here's the deal. Lush is a single, severely post-college guy from Jersey who, according to my brother, spends money "on CVS Mega-Hold gel and the Abe Lincoln chin strap shaving kit." I'm a married man with a mortgage and a puppy who is oft-ridiculed in the halls of AOL for being "metro." (ed. note: I'm pretty sure all it takes tobe considered metro in this place is to shower often and not wear jean shorts.) To illustrate the point I'm driving at, look at these two pictures (Lush on the left, me on the right), and tell me who has more to lose from the bet of all bets: the mustache bet.
Now, I'll gladly take the bet with my man Lush, but only on the grow-it-one-week, sport-it-one-day terms. I will not back down from this, my friends, no matter how much Jamie-is-a-woman ridicule I'm forced to endure. I hope he takes it rather than leaves it, though, because, barring Yankee mystique, Clark is a better HOF candidate than Mattingly. Here's the breakdown:
Numbers:
.307 AVG - 222 HR - 1,099 RBI - .358 OBP - .471 SLG for Mattingly
.303 AVG - 284 HR - 1,285 RBI - .384 OBP - .497 SLG for Clark
Awards:
6 All Stars, 1 MVP, 3 times in the top-5 for MVP, 9 Gold Gloves for Mattingly
6 All Stars, 1 NLCS MVP, 4 times in the top-5 for MVP, 1 Gold Glove for Clark
The stats and awards are pretty much a push, but the amazing BaseballReference.com rates Clark a 41.9 on its HOF Standard vs. 34.1 for Mattingly (average HOFer ~ 50). So I got that going for me, which is nice.
Regardless, results are announced Jan. 10, so take the damn bet, Lush!
Bonus: We argued about this on-air last week. Hear the clip. Argument ensues near the end.
Update: Lush has accepted the bet and posted an extensive rebuttal to my commentary (see above).
Update: Many Go; Few Understand makes a strong case for Clark's HOF candidacy, and I thank him for it.
Written by dcsportsguy Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
Not to take sides here, but you are aware Mike Moore has more World Series RBIs than Will Clark, aren't you?
12/6/05 8:55 PM
- a tattoo
- loser drinks tequila in the street until they vomit through the fence onto the White House lawn
- loser dresses like a Vietcong and walks around that monument
- loser walks down the blackest street in DC in a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt while carrying a Hank Williams Jr-playing boombox
- loser has to sit in the lap of the Lincoln Memorial and sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in a faux baritone on a busy Saturday afternoon.