Hideki Matsui denied Rookie of the Year

[princeton]

Hideki Matsui today was runner up in voting for the AL Rookie of the Year.
Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa won the award.

Matsui runner up in Rookie of the Year voting

[yoMAMA]

Godzilla is gonna be mad.

Watch out, tokyo!

:D

[BeTheReds]

What?!?!?!

Rocco Baldelli was robbed!

[princeton]

Yea, I thought the race was between Rocco Baldelli and Matsui... I didn't really think Berroa had a chance... but seeing his numbers... I can see why he got a lot of votes.

I'm curious how many voters discounted Matsui because they don't really consider him a rookie.

[achtungbaby]

Did you guys hear that ESPN ran a headline -- "Berroa Nips Matsui"

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by achtungbaby

Did you guys hear that ESPN ran a headline -- "Berroa Nips Matsui"

Wow, that's actually kinda funny. Tho did they really do that? I'd think they would be afraid to run that kinda line, that is of course unless there was no intent behind it and nobody noticed it.

[achtungbaby]

Originally Posted by BeTheReds

Wow, that's actually kinda funny. Tho did they really do that? I'd think they would be afraid to run that kinda line, that is of course unless there was no intent behind it and nobody noticed it.

I dunno...I caught the conversation in passing on the Steve Hartman radio show...

[princeton]

Originally Posted by achtungbaby

I dunno...I caught the conversation in passing on the Steve Hartman radio show...

ON ESPN, the headline is "Berroa edges Matsui" .... was that a Joke on the show? Or did it really run and get changed?

What is the Steve Hartman radio show?

Anyone know?

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by princeton

ON ESPN, the headline is "Berroa edges Matsui" .... was that a Joke on the show? Or did it really run and get changed?

What is the Steve Hartman radio show?

Anyone know?

Those racist motherfuckers! It's so totally obvious that they can't look past Matsui's ethnicity so much to the point that they have to use the metaphors for ninja swords just to sell a news story. It is CLEAR that "edge" TOTALLY means the folded blade found on traditional Japanese swords like katanas and wakazashi, but racist ESPN couldn't look past that. What, just because he is Japanese means he carries a Ninja sword with him everywhere! RACISTS! RACISTS I TELL YOU! We must string up Peter Gammons and Dan Patrick NOW! :laugh:

[princeton]

Originally Posted by BeTheReds

Those racist motherfuckers! It's so totally obvious that they can't look past Matsui's ethnicity so much to the point that they have to use the metaphors for ninja swords just to sell a news story. It is CLEAR that "edge" TOTALLY means the folded blade found on traditional Japanese swords like katanas and wakazashi, but racist ESPN couldn't look past that. What, just because he is Japanese means he carries a Ninja sword with him everywhere! RACISTS! RACISTS I TELL YOU! We must string up Peter Gammons and Dan Patrick NOW! :laugh:

Damn right! That's why I posted it in the first place, super obvious! hahaha

[amietron]

"I guess I just looked too old for a rookie," Matsui said in a statement, going on to congratulate Berroa. "I think he deserves to win."--http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1658488

what a nice guy. such poise.

[Danny]

Totally ridiculous... this is his first year in the MLB, he is a rookie... bunch of bastards....

The ironic thing, the MLB rookie of the year is named after Jackie Robinson, who played in the Negro Leagues before getting into the MLB... the Negro Leagues had players on an equal playing level as the MLB, much like the Japanese league is now....

What really burns me and this is not even becuase he is Japanese, but in general, he did not even make the all rookie team... what a freaking joke....

[mrazntre]

I think their numbers were about the same right? But Matsui probably had more of an impact playing with thte Yanks... plus with his homers in the WS .. . . .. that should probably have given him the edge.

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by mrazntre

I think their numbers were about the same right? But Matsui probably had more of an impact playing with thte Yanks... plus with his homers in the WS .. . . .. that should probably have given him the edge.

The post season is supposed to not have any weight on the ROY voting.

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by Danny

The ironic thing, the MLB rookie of the year is named after Jackie Robinson, who played in the Negro Leagues before getting into the MLB... the Negro Leagues had players on an equal playing level as the MLB, much like the Japanese league is now....

I'd have to disagree on both statements. I don't have any statistics or anything, but I am more inclined to believe that MLB was much better than the Negro Leagues during segregation for many reasons. First, there is a much larger talent pool, being that at the time, blacks were only 10% of the nation's population. Next, like it or not, baseball is a very expensive sport to start at a young age and learn. Thus I would assume that more whites played baseball as kids in organized little leagues than did blacks at that time. If its racist to assume that most blacks were poor duing the Negro League era, then I'm racist.

Next, the Japanese League is NOT on par with MLB. That would be like saying that MLS is congruous with the Premier League. Notice that all the washed up or not quite good enough American players go to Japan, while the best Japanese players play in MLB. The best of the best in all countries play in MLB. Japan resticts foreigners to 2 per team. MLB lets each team sign whoever. Again, the sheer size of the talent pool for MLB (the world's population) vs the talent pool for Japan (Japan's population + 2/25ths of the rest of the world's population) suggests that MLB simply has much more to draw from.

This does not mean that Negro League teams and Japanese teams have not or will not ever defeat an MLB team, as both have happened before, but if they were to play seasons with each other, the MLB team would come out on top more times than not. I think even the Tigers or the Devil Rays would do well over in Japan.