Cal Ripken: "Beltre the best third baseman he's ever seen. Sorry Brooksie."

[JDubs]

Cal has become a media shill. Shame on him.

Gordo has turned on an Orioles legend based on one off-hand comment. Shame on him.

[Malike]

When you reread this thread, after the alcohol has worn off, I'm sure you will realize how foolish you are making yourself appear. Until then, spare yourself more embarrassment and leave it alone.

Well, there is a ton of Cal is entitled to his opinion in this thread, why isn't Billy Button entitled to his opinion of Scully? He is pretty well regarded as the best voice in baseball history, but if I said I prefer Jon Miller, that doesn't make me the devil.

[ccbird]

LOL at how personal some of you are taking this. It's one man's opinion and Cal is an astute baseball man. He didn't throw that out there to seem more unbiased or anything like that. He said it because he believes it. Geez. I never saw Brooks play other than highlight reel stuff. Not day in day out games. I've seen Beltre play more full games than Brooks so I can't make a valid comparison or argument for one over the other. I can say that IMO Beltre is the greatest defensive 3b of this generation.

[Mondo Trasho]

My mother once said she thought Brooks Robinson was overrated. Of course she also said Babe Ruth, Cal, and Sandy Koufax were overrated. Some people are just weird sometimes. Oh well. Life goes on.

[24fps]

Well, there is a ton of Cal is entitled to his opinion in this thread, why isn't Billy Button entitled to his opinion of Scully? He is pretty well regarded as the best voice in baseball history, but if I said I prefer Jon Miller, that doesn't make me the devil.

Preferring Jon Miller to Vin Scully is a much different thing than invalidating Scully's considerable contribution with the phrase "Besides, screw Vin Scully. Retire already". No one is contesting Billy Button's right to his opinion, we're simply responding to the quality of it.

[Billy Button]

Preferring Jon Miller to Vin Scully is a much different thing than invalidating Scully's considerable contribution with the phrase "Besides, screw Vin Scully. Retire already". No one is contesting Billy Button's right to his opinion, we're simply responding to the quality of it.

Okay. Here's how this contentiousness shall end. I will say someone must have had a humorectomy recently. And then you'll say, yeah, a sophomoric humorectomy or that's just not funny or something like that. Then I'll say nothing. And that will be that. Okie dokie?

[Billy Button]

Wink wink, nudge nudge. I think I have someone hooked on the line. Shhhhhh....

[24fps]

Q: What's the difference between a troll with a rod and reel and an inebriated mosquito?

A: Uuhhh...that's just not funny.

I look forward to the silence.

[survivedc]

Q: What's the difference between a troll with a rod and reel and an inebriated mosquito?

A: Uuhhh...that's just not funny.

I look forward to the silence.

You must spread some rep yada yada.

[Gurgi]

I thought he was perfectly impartial the whole game and him and Smoltz worked well together.

Smoltz is a tool. Just my opinion.

And about the Brooks thing. I think Ripken should of just said that Beltre was the best of his generation.

Because there is not much film on Brooks out there. There is less visual evidence.

But I expect Cal to get better at the tv role. Like Bordick got much better. Cal works hard at things, he will get this.

[tntoriole]

There is one thing that IS a fact and maybe Cal should have said this...."Beltre is a helluva lot better third baseman than I ever was." Brooks, on the other hand, was unmatched. In the years he was the best, most ALL of the games were not on TV. So if you were lucky enough to be one of the 6 or 7 thousand people that used to be about the usual crowd at Memorial Stadium, then you were the only ones who saw this wizard play night after night. I had season tickets from the time I was 9 years old in 1966 until I went away to college in 1974. I saw Brooks Robinson play hundreds of games that are not on ESPN, not on MLB.com, not on SportsCenter highlights the next day, not on the local regional networks that televise EVERY game. Cal was not there at all because his dad was away in the minor leagues and Cal never went to many games at Memorial Stadium and certainly many, many fewer games that Brooks played than I did. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

[russ snyder]

I was really surprised by Cal's Beltre comment. Beltre is a great defender, but Brooks is regarded by many as the greatest defensive third baseman of all time. Perhaps Ripken made the comment early in the broadcast so that he would not be perceived as a "homer" by a national TV audience. It was a regrettable comment made by an inexperienced broadcaster.

[elextrano8]

The reaction to this comment made me wonder, being too young to have seen Brooks play, so I checked out Baseball Reference to see how Brooks and Beltre stack up. Honestly, Beltre's numbers through his fifteen seasons have been remarkably comparable to Brooks equivalent years:

Beltre (ages 19-33): 2115 games, 8697 PA, 61.0 WAR, and 22.1 dWAR.

Brooks (same ages): 2034 games, 8421 PA, 55.9 WAR, and 26.5 dWAR.

Beltre will never have the legend that Brooks does, and it remains to see if he can keep up this production for another seven years. But it looks to me that this wasn't necessarily the blasphemy that some make it out to be.

[tntoriole]

The reaction to this comment made me wonder, being too young to have seen Brooks play, so I checked out Baseball Reference to see how Brooks and Beltre stack up. Honestly, Beltre's numbers through his fifteen seasons have been remarkably comparable to Brooks equivalent years:

Beltre (ages 19-33): 2115 games, 8697 PA, 61.0 WAR, and 22.1 dWAR.

Brooks (same ages): 2034 games, 8421 PA, 55.9 WAR, and 26.5 dWAR.

Beltre will never have the legend that Brooks does, and it remains to see if he can keep up this production for another seven years. But it looks to me that this wasn't necessarily the blasphemy that some make it out to be.

As someone who has seen many great third baseman play, including Clete Boyer, Mike Schmidt, etc. let me just say that Adrian Beltre is a fine third baseman, but, paraphrasing a vice presidential debate response years ago " I knew Brooks Robinson, and Adrian, you are no Brooks Robinson."

[elextrano8]

As someone who has seen many great third baseman play, including Clete Boyer, Mike Schmidt, etc. let me just say that Adrian Beltre is a fine third baseman, but, paraphrasing a vice presidential debate response years ago " I knew Brooks Robinson, and Adrian, you are no Brooks Robinson."

And what I posted supports the assertion that Brooks was better defensively than Beltre. And Brooks also kept it up for another seven seasons beyond the stats I posted. But maybe, just maybe, Cal's comment wasn't as blasphemous as so many make it out to be.