Well the defensive limitations and health issues are partially a result of just that. Didn't keep his body in good condition most of the time.
If work ethic would have led to him staying healthy, sure... But when Lance played for the Astros, lackadaisical and all, he played at a HOF level. Bagwell giving him pep talks was not the reason he hit a franchise record 55 doubles in his first full season. Lack of longevity, and the large cumulative numbers that come with that, kept him from the HOF... so if work ethic gives him longevity, sure.
He may have been lazy and entitled as a ballplayer, but at least Berkman has developed into an excellent human being.
If you really want to wage a war against racism, don't attack baseball nicknames. Address the 75% of African American's who grow up in single parent households, which correlates to much higher levels of violent crimes and drug use. Address the culture that glamorizes these results instead of addresses the cause. That is not funny. It's not cute. Tyler White has hit 10 HR's in his last 26 games. That's called having power. However, since certain people don't want to take accountability for the actions of their community, I will change the nickname to Tyler White Pride. The kids love it, they've been yelling it everywhere and there's nothing wrong in having pride for those who perform for the city. Whitey works too.
White is in much better shape than Berkman .. he works at it. I would call Berkman portly, maybe stout, but not fat. They've got good enough zone instincts to pluck nothing balls and throw them into the stands, alot of it being strong hands. White is a poor man's Berkman atm and that's a great thing.
Why is it either/or? Why can't people argue for improving society while also not being racist assholes?
I'm fine dropping White Power. It's a hypocritical double standard going on but I'll bite the bullet.
I love the nickname. I seriously doubt your intent was as a white supremacist. I do agree though that he has little in common with Berkman, besides being overweight. Berkman was such a ridiculously natural hitter. White's swing isn't nearly as pretty or natural and he's primarily a pull power hitter right now whereas Berkman was a threat to drop a ball in any part of the park. Berkman was just amazing to watch. While young, it's very hard to imagine White ever getting into the stratosphere Berkman is on. What about Glenn Davis as a comparison for White?
And what's the root cause of the large percentage of African Americans single parent households (It was done so smooth it had to be a plan)? Off to D&D we go.....
By the time his career is over, I think Bregman will surpass Berkman as an overall player. He doesn't have Berkman's power and may never match Lance in that aspect, but he is a much better defensive player obviously and while I recall Berkman being clutch, Bregman's ability to come through in the clutch is at another level already. Likewise with plate discipline, I recall Lance being pretty good in that area and not being a chaser but Bregman's plate discipline is almost incredible at this point. I'd be interested in seeing how they compare in high leverage situations statistically. Bregman's OPS is dragged down by the pedestrian starts he has had to 2017 and 2018. But is there any reason to think he won't overcome that hump as his career progresses and start off the season stronger? The kid's hunger is really impressive. When he wants to get better at something, he puts in the time and gets the results.
There's no way someone can be that lazy and perform as well as Berkman did for so long. I think the lazy thing is overblown. If he would have used the supplements that Bagwell did then he would have been Manny Ramirez.
I think you are dreaming. This is Bregman's third year. His numbers currently are BA .293 OBP .395 OPS .928 HR 25 and RBIs 86 In Berkman's 3rd season his numbers were BA .331 OBP .430 OPS 1.051 HR 34 RBis 126. Berkman finished top 3 in MVP voting 2 times and was top 5 in 5 seasons. I doubt Bregman's defense is good enough to overcome Berkman's ELITE bat. Berkman is "underrated" around here because of his appearance, less than stellar work ethic, and for some his out spoken political views. Comparing Tyler White to Berkman is a joke at this point. White is a career .252 hitter with a .793 OPS, and he only has 429 career ABs in the majors.
Nope, he was very lazy. I worked for the Astros during that time period. Work ethics were all over the place with those Astros teams. No one worked harder than Clemens and Pettite though. I’ll just add that the narrative on who did and didn’t work hard from the perspective of the fans wasn’t always accurate. Some of the “Good Guys” really we’re dedicated and some did the bare minimum acceptable... and others hid in the trainers room and let the trainer give him a massage for 30 minutes only seeing the field minutes before game time. Typically Berkman was one of the last guys to the stadium... skipped batting practice, skipped shagging balls, received a 30 minute massage... complained and then sauntered out to the field on the 1st or third base side and sat on his butt. Someone else would bring him his glove while he walked to his spot on the field... review tape? Nope (although in fairness there were a couple times I know he was in a slump and pulled the tape to review).... usually had to get a pep talk from Baggy at some point and then got his 4 at bats and went home with his wife.... that was wealthier than he was. Other than being opinionated and grumpy, he never caused problems but did what he wanted and got away with it because he could REALLY swing a bat.
Berkman is likely the most gifted hitter to ever play for the Astros and had more athletic ability than given credit for. For all his flaws, he was very very good and could hit elite pitching because he was so gifted.
The more I find out about Tyler White the more I have a healthy amount of respect for him. He was originally drafted in the 33rd round and given only a $1000 signing bonus in 2013. He had to work his way through every level and fight for a job everywhere along the way. When he first came up here I kind of lumped him in with some of the others like JD Davis and Derek Fisher. Glad to see that his hard work and persistence finally paid off for him. Isn't his nickname "The Great White Shark"?
Thee have been many worse disappointments of a player that have put on an Astros uniform more so than Lance was. He didn’t work as hard, that’s for sure. There’s also the viewpoint that he didn’t have to work as hard... mostly due to his superior god given talent. There are examples of this type of person in all walks of life. They are universally disliked due to their perceived indifference or laziness. But nobody could ever question how great he was as an Astro. Not even sure he could have been “better”, as that would put him in the the conversation of one of the greatest hitters ever.
He certainly could have been better, no doubt about that. His teammates even joked about it. Having said that, Lance is one of the best players in franchise history and should be remembered for it. It is just interesting to talk about, because people wonder what his numbers would have been had he juiced and worked as hard as Clemens. Just as a side note... Lance wasn’t the only one, Alou didn’t especially work hard either... part of the difference was the optics (Alou wasn’t overweight) and would watch a lot of film with Bagwell.
Don't attack baseball nicknames? While I do think someone them are kind of silly, none of them stand out as outwardly and obviously racist...at least not ones used since the 1960's. The only war I'm raging is against utter stupidity. It just happens that racism falls under that category. I don't know Tyler White. Maybe he would like a nickname that makes him sound like a Nazi. I'm going to lean towards that not being the case. There's really no other way to hear "Tyler White Power". I'm not sure how you got to single-parent households in the African American community. That was quite a reach. Also, what kids are you referring to? You actually hear kids yelling "TYLER WHITE POWER"? The only place I could imagine that happening is at a trump rally or a KKK meeting where they really like the Astros. Maybe YOUR kids are yelling that. Maybe you are a kid yelling that. In either case, I can't imagine that Tyler White would be too happy about it.
