Where was Joe Morgan?

[OleMissCub]

The Hall of Famers missing from the All Star Game ceremony, most due to health.

 

1. Bobby Doerr

2. Monte Irvin

3. Stan Musial

4. George Kell

5. Red Schoendienst

6. Duke Snider-

7. Jim Bunning

8. Sandy Koufax

9. Tom Seaver

10. Joe Morgan

11. Nolan Ryan

12. Johnny Bench

13. Sparky Anderson

 

As soon as I noted that Morgan wasn't there, my initial thought was that Sandberg was there and he didn't want to be seen with him. Well, some other people are speculating that as well.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/38677-where-was-joe-morgan-at-the-all-star-game-no-one-seems-to-know

 

Forty-nine Hall of Famers took their positions in the field and were then joined by the starters of this year's game. Nine members of the 500 home run club were there, thirteen members of the 3,000 hit club were there. Joe Morgan was not.

 

Why? He was at the Home Run Derby the night before. He was even in the parade down sixth avenue THAT DAY!

 

Joe Morgan is on the board of directors of the Hall of Fame, so you would think he would be on the field with 49 of the greatest players to ever play the game. If you have ever seen an ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast you know that Joe never relinquishes the spotlight. He is always in his flashy suits and will tell more stories about himself than the players in the game.

 

So why would he not jump at an opportunity to show himself off? I have been researching this since Tuesday and I cannot find the answer. He was not doing a radio or TV broadcast, so that's not it. There were 49 Hall of Famers, not a nice round number like 50, so maybe there was some emergency and he was to be the 50th. Unlikely.

 

The story that I and most other people are going with is that it has to do with the presence of Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg, who retired in 1994 only to come back in 1996 and break Morgan's second baseman homerun record, has had his run-ins with Morgan before.

 

Morgan was suspiciously absent from Sandberg's Hall of Fame induction in 2005. There has long been rumors that Morgan has always been bitter that Sandberg un-retired to break his record.

 

At the parade that day:

 

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/461/joemorganinthe2008allstxl8.jpg

 

This definitely sounds like something that egotistical ass would do.

Edited July 18, 2008 by OleMissCub

[Mizzou]

Joe Morgan is what, in his 50's or 60's? If he's still bitter towards Ryno, he needs to stop acting like a baby and grow the hell up. What an embarrassment.

[sneakypower]

the Joe Morgan obsession is even weirder than the cards & whitesox obsessions

[bhogg]

Sandberg came out of retirement to play baseball and get one last hurrah with his new family. He didn't do it to simply break Joe Morgan's record.

 

Joe Morgan is a sack of crap.

[NCCubFan]

Perhaps I just overlooked him, but I don't remember Carlton Fisk being there either.

[Sammy Sofa]

the Joe Morgan obsession is even weirder than the cards & whitesox obsessions

 

Not realizing how awful he is is weirdest of all.

[OleMissCub]

For the third time, from Bill James' Baseball Abstract:

 

In April 2000, Major League Baseball aired a promotional spot in which Peter Gammons, pitching, struck out Harold Reynolds. Broadcasting on ESPN on April 19, Joe Morgan was frothing at the mouth about this commercial. "Harold Reynolds was a major league baseball player," Morgan said over and over. "Harold Reynolds was an all-star. Peter Gammons does not strike him out! It's just wrong, and I'm not going to keep quiet about it. It's wrong. Peter Gammons does not strike out Harold Reynolds."

 

Dear Joe:

Does the phrase "Get over yourself" mean anything to you? This is not to deny that you were a major league player, and even that you were a better player than Harold Reynolds, who I suppose must have been an All-Star sometime; what the hell, Dave Chalk made two All-Star games. This is not to deny that you were a brilliant player, Joe, but you are becoming a self-important little prick. Grow up, you little weenie. People make fun of one another; this is called friendship. This is life; only self-important twits take offense at that kind of thing. Jeez, man, get a life. Preferably not on television.

 

Your friend, Bill James.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Joe is the original grumpy old man

[CubsBears29]

Despite whatever the facts are as to why JM didn't do the "Legends" thing before the ASG the other night, I'm going to delude myself with the fantasy that he simply couldn't bring himself to stand beside Ryno because of his dislike for him.

 

Thus leaving me conclude that my dislike of Morgan as an impartial analyst can still hold strong and true.

[Clem Fandango]

Perhaps I just overlooked him, but I don't remember Carlton Fisk being there either.

 

That's because Sandberg kicked his dog

[OleMissCub]

Perhaps I just overlooked him, but I don't remember Carlton Fisk being there either.

 

No, you are right. Fisk wasn't there either. I don't blame Fisk and Yaz for not being there...lord knows what those "classy" Yanks fans would have had in store for them.

[Derwood]

If Ryne's presence kept Morgan off the field, we should all send him thank you cards and gift baskets

[Mugged By Fluffy]

I was wondering if someone was going to bring this topic up.

 

Joe probably didn't want to go because he'd have to stand next to Chase Utley too, who is also better than Joe was.

[fromthestretch]

I was wondering if someone was going to bring this topic up.

 

Joe probably didn't want to go because he'd have to stand next to Chase Utley too, who is also better than Joe was.

 

You won't hear me defend Joe Morgan much, but I've heard him speak very highly of Utley on multiple occasions. If he harbors any ill will towards Utley, he's done a good job hiding it.

[OleMissCub]

You won't hear me defend Joe Morgan much, but I've heard him speak very highly of Utley on multiple occasions. If he harbors any ill will towards Utley, he's done a good job hiding it.

 

He wouldn't have any reason to harbor ill will toward Utley because Utley won't break any of Morgan's records for 2nd baseman. Hell, I think the only record Morgan still has at that position is most walks. I'm pretty positive Eddie Collins has claim to all the "gritty" records like top BA, top OBP, most hits, most runs, most stolen bases, and I'm positive Hornsby is the leader in power stats like doubles, RBI, SLG, except for HR, which Kent has.

[rocket]

I was wondering if someone was going to bring this topic up.

 

Joe probably didn't want to go because he'd have to stand next to Chase Utley too, who is also better than Joe was.

 

come on, joe was better than ryne.

[haltz]

Biggio has the most runs scored and doubles. Hornsby leads in all the slash stats.

[Clem Fandango]

It'd be funny if Ryne Sandberg ends up hating Jeff Kent. And Then Jeff Kent will end up hating Chase Utley. And then the world will implode

[Derwood]

Biggio has the most runs scored and doubles. Hornsby leads in all the slash stats.

 

not all as a 2B though

[haltz]

Biggio has the most runs scored and doubles. Hornsby leads in all the slash stats.

 

not all as a 2B though

Eh, I'm not a big fan of looking at it that way, but whatever. Collins is probably the leader in runs in that case, but Biggio has more doubles as a 2B than he had in his career, and he's just 40-50 shy of Hornsby's total (no splits pre-1960ish I don't think), who played 700 games off 2B himself. Hornsby hit .378/.456/.629 from 1920-1931, so he's probably the leader there still.

 

OK, so apparently the leader in doubles hit while playing 2B, if that's what we care about here, is Charlie Gehringer.

[OleMissCub]

Biggio has the most runs scored and doubles. Hornsby leads in all the slash stats.

 

not all as a 2B though

 

This is true, although I suppose his overall stats should still qualify under the label "by a second baseman."

 

My top second basemen:

1) Eddie Collins

2) Rogers Hornsby

3) Nap Lajoie

4) Joe Morgan

5) Ryne Sandberg

6) Charlie Gehringer

7) Rod Carew

8) Robert Alomar

9) Jackie Robinson

10) Craig Biggio

 

My only real hesitation is putting Carew on the list because he played about 50 more games at first than at second during his career, but since he came up as a second baseman and played there for his first 10 years, I'd put him on the list.

[OleMissCub]

Hornsby hit .378/.456/.629 from 1920-1931, so he's probably the leader there still.

 

That's just crazy production.

 

Not to diminish Rajah any, but the 1920's should be viewed in much the same way as the 1990's are, insofar as the offensive stats being a touch inflated.

[snoodmonger]

The Hall of Famers missing from the All Star Game ceremony, most due to health.

 

 

 

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/461/joemorganinthe2008allstxl8.jpg.

 

 

Serious question: is that his daughter?

[OleMissCub]

The Hall of Famers missing from the All Star Game ceremony, most due to health.

 

 

 

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/461/joemorganinthe2008allstxl8.jpg.

 

 

Serious question: is that his daughter?

 

I'd bet that it is. They have a similar face.

[biittner77]

Why is it unlikely that he left because of an emergency? Much as I loathe Joe Morgan, I have trouble believing he blew this off just because Sandberg was there. Maybe they refused to name him king of the HOF or something.