Quote: Animalman said: Who's inspirational, and who isn't? Afterall, isn't the whole argument against A-Rod that he hasn't "inspired" his teammates to a World Series? If winning the championship or having the best record isn't required, what gives?
To draw a parallel to PJP's earlier anecdote about Jeter playing through injuries, Alex Rodriguez played in all 486 games during his time as a Ranger(finishing at nearly 600 overall). Didn't miss one. Surely, during that time, he had to endure many injuries. How is it leadership for Jeter, but "looking out for #1" for A-Rod?
and yet, even with all this debate, through a flurry of statistical differences, its been clearly noted by fans and players, alike, that of the two, jeter is hands-down the more inspiring, leader type.
Quote: Animalman said: Then how does one know who's a leader and who's not?
probably best seen through the eyes of other players and the coach. in the case of the yankees, as quoted by peejus, that is annually jeter -- formerly, donnie. with the bosox, its been veritek. i'd wager many teams could claim their own.
again, the argument for how to quantify such stock is certainly difficult.
but it can't be all that much more challenging than determining if 50 homers has greater value than a 340 batting average (etc)
at the very least, it should be a factor in the award, particularly with a title named on "value"
