Perspectives: Stars Sitting

by Paul Semendinger

October 29, 2024

***

Maybe Gerrit Cole is injured.

Maybe he was told by the medical staff not to push it.

And if that's the case, I understand and he is making the correct decision.

But otherwise...

***

A few weeks ago, I opined that I was disappointed in Aaron Judge for sitting out some games at the end of the season when he had opportunities to achieve some extremely notable season statistics. This was the second time in his career that Judge sat out games at the end of a season passing on the chance to achieve milestones and set records that were in his reach.

In 2022, Judge had an outside chance to win the Triple Crown. Rather than playing and fighting for the batting title, he sat.

In 2024, a host of notable statistical marks and achievements, some very rarely attained in all of baseball history, were within reach for Judge, and he sat again. He even sat before the Yankees had clinched home field advantage in the playoffs.

We were told that he was tired. It was said that he needed the rest to be at his best for the postseason. (How did that work out?)

I disagreed. I opined that there was a time when we celebrated the players that went out, put it all on the line, and went for it.

I opined that the story of sports is the story of players, stepping up, often against the odds, of playing - and achieving. This is what we celebrate in sports. But many people argued with me. "No way, you're so wrong. Judge has to sit."

Until Aaron Judge did this in 2022, I had rarely, if ever, heard fans of a team or a player make excuses for that player, especially a superstar, sitting down when the team still needed him and/or when, at the conclusion of a great season, he had the chance to reach some impressive notable milestones. Somehow it was argued that he was doing the right thing for the team.

In my long experience in researching and studying sports, when players sat, except for injury, it has always been derided. I cannot think of a sports story where the superstar staying on the bench was celebrated. Ever.

And yet, twice, Yankees fans, by the legion, have argued that Judge sitting was smart or noble. It was even argued that he was putting the team first. (How, by sitting in games with home field advantage on the line, he was putting the team first is something I still don't understand.)

Never (or very rarely) before have fans celebrated or supported the star player taking the easy way out. But they did, now twice, for Aaron Judge.

"It was a long season." "The home run chase wore him out." Time and again, the excuses were many.

***

When I was a principal, during the spring, ever year, I would read Casey At The Bat to the second graders in my school. I needed to explain much of that poem to them (a poem they really enjoyed as we went through line-by-line and the excitement built up).

One such passage that needed explanation was this one:

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,

And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;

I would have to explain the word "cake" to the students. I'd explain that people like cakes that are light or fluffy or soft. I explained that soft, in sports, often means "weak." In the poem, Jimmy Blake (the much despised) was considered a cake. He was soft. He wasn't a ballplayer. He wasn't a winner. He was weak. This is why the fans felt there was no chance of Casey getting to bat. No one celebrates a player who is weak.

We then compared that description to nicknames such as "The Iron Horse," "The Big Train," and "Hammerin' Hank" - words that denoted strength and power.

In sports, we celebrate players that demonstrate strength and power. At its core, that's what sports are all about - strength and power.

Sports are about playing the games. Sports are about stepping up.

This is especially true with the big game on the line.

***

In the first Rocky movie, Rocky got knocked down late in the fight. His trainer, Mickey, tells him, "Down down, stay down." But Rocky got up. That's the big moment in the movie.

Rocky got up!

***

One doesn't demonstrate strength nor power by sitting on the bench.

One celebrates strength and power by getting off the bench. By getting up off the canvas. By coming into the game. Willis Reed. Kirk Gibson. Kerri Strug. These athletes played. They showed up in the big game. They were winners. The list of celebrated sports heroes is long. The list is a list of players and athletes who stepped up.

Much of the legend of Mickey Mantle is the fact that he played. He played. Period. He was taped up in the locker room before every game. He was hobbled. He was hurt. And he played.

***

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Michael Jordon

We know this. To argue this point makes no sense.

***

Tonight the Yankees face an elimination game.

The Yankees have an ace pitcher, Gerrit Cole.

The history of the championships and World Series is filled with stories of ace pitchers pitching on short rest. Time and again we have seen it. Madison Bumgarner. Randy Johnson. Mickey Lolich. Bob Gibson. Iron Man McGinnity. Christy Mathewson. The list goes on and on.

We need look no further than C.C. Sabathia.

"Give me the ball," the ace pitcher is supposed to say.

***

The most iconic baseball song's most memorable lyric is

"Put me in coach, I'm ready to play."

***

Yet tonight, Gerrit Cole, the pitcher the Yankees are paying $36 million dollars a season for to be the ace is not pitching.

The pitcher they signed for big moments like this - to be the man who steps up when the chips are down Is going to be rooting from the dugout.

Ol' Gerrit is taking a seat.

***

Across the diamond, Freddie Freeman is hobbled. He's homered in each game. He's about to be the World Series MVP.

Across the diamond, Shohei Ohtani has an injured shoulder. He's playing.

But for the Yankees, in the big moments, their ace starter is taking it easy.

I don't get it. I don't get it at all. Winners get the job done, losers make excuses.

Winners look where they are going to - losers focus on what they're going through.

***

On the other side of town, Francisco Lindor was hurt. He didn't know if he could play.

He then hit a huge grand slam...

Because he did play.

Big stars playing in the biggest games isn't a relic from the past. It still happens. All the time.

Except, it seems, it doesn't happen in the Bronx.

***

The Yankees best chance to win tonight is with their ace, Gerrit Cole. To argue otherwise is silly. In big games, teams go to their ace pitchers. Ace pitchers pitching in big games on short rest has been part of the story of baseball from the start.

If Cole pitches tonight, he could also pitch in Game Seven. If he sits tonight, he cannot.

The Yankees' best (and only chance) at winning the World Series will be having Gerrit Cole starting two of the four games they must win.

But Gerrit Cole will be watching from the sidelines.

Unless he is hurt. Unless he has a huge injury risk (and if that's the case, even if the Yankees win, he shouldn't pitch tomorrow), Gerrit Cole should be on the mound tonight.

But he's not.

***

Nestor Cortes said, "Give me the ball. I want to win."

Why isn't the Yankees' ace starter doing the same?

***

On Sunday tens of thousands of people will be running the streets of New York City. Many of them will be hobbled. Many will push through pain and doubt and misery to try to complete the New York City Marathon. They will be celebrated because that's what we do - we celebrate athletes who step-up.

It's always been that way. Dating back to the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Virgil, The Bible, and more, since the beginning of time, we have celebrated the heroes who stepped up.

Except it seems, if they're a star on Yankees today. When you're a Yankees star, it seems it's okay to sit.