So they were talking about the best Right Field arms the other night on MLB, and Ichiro wasn't on there.
Nani?
Here's the more interesting point - if you asked this 7 years ago, when Ichiro was younger, everyone would have put his arm way up there - maybe even the best since Clemente. Now, on the list last night, there were active guys and guys who were long retired (including Mark Whitten). But Ichiro, at the twilight of his career... no, not there.
Well, how do we talk about Ichiro right now? Because right now - he's a... nice bench player to have. Maybe. Or are we talking about the guy who set the record for hits in a season because he could beat out anything? Are we talking about the guy in the video up above?
How, when we have the guy in front of us do we talk about them historically?
The other greatest example that I can think of concerning this sort of thing is Ken Griffey, Jr. After Griffey went to the Reds, injuries just decimated him - and I remember talking to folks in around 2008 who were younger than me and couldn't believe that I would argue that he was one of the greatest Outfielders of all time... in his youth, when he was healthy. In the moment, that just wasn't the reality, and if you were too young to remember, the moment was all you could see.
It's odd, because baseball is the sport of story, of narrative. And Ichiro had great stories in the 00's, and Griffey in the '90s, but when their decline came... meh.
I think the only person I've seen that is immune to this is Cap'n #$%^# Jeter.
Of course, in the past decade Big Papi has been more clutch in the post-season and has more rings.
Maybe they always love you in New York... unless they never liked you.
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