Maybe he thinks Bonds sucked too.

Nick probably knows this, but I bet there are graphs and charts showing that even the best hitters fall way off in terms of hitting stats on balls outside the strike zone.

Regarding this dismissal of Ted Williams based on his lack of championships, I recall watching an episode of "Sports Reporters" in the late '80s. Dick Schaap was interviewing a group of reporters who covered baseball in the '40s and '50s. I'm sorry, but I can't recall their names. One question that he asked was "Who was better, Dimaggio or Williams?" One of the men replied "You want to know the difference between Dimaggio and Williams? I'll tell you the difference. Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, Spud Chandler, Whitey Ford, Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat and Vic Raschi."

My point (and the sportswriter's) is that you can't judge a ballplayer's ability solely on championships. Williams was a great hitter, and if the Red Sox didn't have enough pitching to match the Yankees this shouldn't diminish his reputation.

DiMaggio also had Gehrig at the beginning, Berra at the end, and Dickey, Gordon, Keller, Henrich, Rizzuto, and others I am forgetting in between.

And, DiMaggio had the advantage of not having to face those pitchers. The only HOF pitcher the Red Sox had during DiMaggio's career was Lefty Grove, who was washed up by the time Williams debuted.

IDK man, Jordan needed Pippen to win,(and a better supporting cast) Barkley had great playoff numbers and never got one because he either didn't have the supporting cast or was unlucky enough to play that amazing Bulls team.

indeed, unless you are a real freak like Vlad Guerrero (who somehow kept good stats even with a high swing rate on balls out of the zone), a batter should attempt to swing at strikes and not at balls. Better contact, better quality of contact and, .....................wait for it...................... better launch angles and exit velocities!

There is a saying in the Dominican: you can't walk off the island. Young hitters there hate walking because it takes away from their ability to showcase their power, which they know is key to playing in America.

Right I did not mean to imply in basketball even the greatest players can do it alone. My only point and maybe I didn't make it well was that perhaps much more than in baseball great players do things in the flow of a game that may not be readily quantified. So, for example, we can't just look at Russell and say well his stats aren't that great so he must not have been that good.

I wish one of their keys was learning English. Haha.

I think it would be just as nice for American born players in Japan to learn Japanese.

If the number of World Series rings get you into the HOF the. Where is Frank Crosetti?

Or Phil Rizzuto? Oh wait...

I agree. That's called assimilation.