Pondering Pettitte

OK, a break from ad talk...

Special thanks goes out to Keith Olbermann’s recent blog entry concerning Andy Pettitte and the Hall of Fame. For years, I’ve stood on my soapbox (er…back patio) and made my case for Pettitte and the Baseball Hall of Fame. I am pleased to see someone with as much baseball and history acumen and someone with such a loud forum as Olbermann has put pen to paper on this. He is far smarter and more articulate than I, and I appreciate knowing that I do not have to walk in this Pettitte Parade alone.

The arguments against us come and go without any strength, much like the opinions of any of the five hosts of The View. The flimsy excuses questioning his dominance over any year or set of years, his winning percentage and the age old one – he plays for a stacked team, the Yankees. The fact is that he is one of the best pitchers of his decade by categories including winning percentage, no-decision team wins, strikeouts, innings-pitched, playoff wins and, ultimately, World Series wins.

The argument that he is on an already-stacked team is wasteful, given the notion that hey – he is one of those elite players that qualifies the label of “stacked.” Pettitte has never been a hanger-on or just a team member. On the contrary, he’s been a leader and a force to be prepared for by the oppositions. And let’s not forget the hiatus from the Yankees wherein he played for the Astros and greatly contributed to their 2005 first-time and only appearance in the World Series. I cannot say I am blind to the fact that he had a couple of years of self-admitted HGH use. I cannot say that I am not disappointed by this, but I also cannot rule out that he was one of many and at least he came forward and handled the scrutiny as well as anyone else has thus far. In fact, I think it is quite telling of his quality of both his athleticism and his character that he opted not to go quietly into the night amid this controversy, but instead piled it on his back and stepped out onto the mound for an insulting salary contract, and added a couple of clutch playoff wins and a World Series title to his repertoire. Who else can say that? No one. And neither did Mr. Pettitte.

With as long as Pettitte has been in the league, you’d think that some of these hitters would have him completely figured out by now. He has a good fastball, but he’s no Randy Johnson in terms of speed. He has great movement on his pitches, but he’s no Greg Maddux. He has a truckload of wins, but he’s no Roger Clemens…but then again, neither is Mr. Clemens, apparently.

I liken Pettitte to an alt-rock, country indie band that has a strong following and has produced dozens of critically acclaimed records. He’s not a band you’d hear on the top 40 radio station and he’ll never have a platinum selling record. He’s not a group that will have a shelf lined up with Grammys, nor will he be on the cover of Rolling Stone. He had a couple of hits that cracked the top 10, but people forget that he’s had several crack the top 20, which is something rare in itself. Lastly, I think he is one of those artists that we hear about, respect and appreciate, but we don’t own any of his albums. And then one day after he’s long retired and has unplugged his amp for good, we hear something that we like and we want more. So we go on Amazon.com or iTunes and dig up all we can find of his past albums, previous singles and collaborations, only to discover a new love and appreciation. Then a little frustration will ensue, knowing that we can only browse the archives.

All in all, he is consistent in all such areas and he has a great case for the Hall of Fame. Even if the ballots don’t produce justice, we can bet that the Steinbrenners will make him a Yankee-Hall of Famer for the new Yankee Stadium. When you consider the top five pitchers that hitter did not want to face from 1996 through 2010, it is difficult to leave Pettitte out of discussion. Sure, we can throw in bigger names from year to year or by short-lived dynasty, but when you consider 1996 – 2010 (and beyond) those other names find themselves on the disabled list or signing generous minor league contracts. Please visit http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/ and read March’s entry for Pettitte, and reconsider any pessimism when you see the stats.

- Lance LaRue, Advertising & Creative Manager at Americom Marketing Ad Agency 2010