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By Root 714 0

confidence in his outside shot and therefore decided to give the ball up to Hunt, a much better three-point shooter. But while Johnson was far from a Reggie Miller-like sharpshooter from distance, anybody who remembers his miracle four-point play vs. Indiana in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals knows that Johnson had the ability to knock down the three-ball. He shot 34.9% from three-point range as a collegian (30 of 86) and 33% as a pro (414 of 1,259 including the playoffs), decent percentages for a power forward, so despite Hunt’s hot hand it is unlikely that’s the reason Johnson passed up on an open look at the basket. Plus, if there was one thing Larry Johnson never lacked, it was confidence.

Put yourself in Johnson’s shoes for a moment. Imagine that you’re the consensus national player of the year. A two-time first team All-American. You have a clean look at the basket. The national championship is on the line. There’s seven seconds on the clock. Don’t you take the shot? Of course you do. Anderson Hunt may be the better shooter from distance, but if you’re playing to win the game there’s no way you pass the ball there. No way. Sorry, Tark.

CONCLUSION:

#27

Was Cal Ripken’s 2001 All-Star Game home run a set-up?

When “Iron Man” Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles announced in June, 2001, that he would be retiring from baseball at the end of that season, the rest of the year became a farewell tour of sorts for the decorated twenty-one-year veteran. The highlight of this tour was unquestionably the All-Star Game, held that year at Seattle’s Safeco Field.

While Ripken’s career accomplishments made his eventual election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 a no-brainer, some questioned whether his selection to the 2001 Midsummer Classic (his nineteenth in a row) was warranted. Playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games over seventeen seasons had taken a toll on Ripken, and in his last few years in the majors his offensive production declined significantly. In 2001 he’d post the worst statistical season of his career, and at the All-Star break Ripken was batting just .240 with four home runs, twenty-eight runs batted, in seven doubles in and a dreadful OPS (on base plus slugging) percentage of .594. By comparison, fellow third baseman Eric Chavez of the Oakland Athletics was not selected to the American League squad despite substantially superior numbers (his .245 batting average notwithstanding, Chavez had tallied eleven homers, forty-six RBI, twenty-five doubles, and an OPS of .738 while on his way to earning the first of six consecutive Gold Glove Awards as the league’s best defensive third baseman).

Overtaking Anaheim’s Troy Glaus and Seattle’s David Bell for the starting position in the final week due to a flurry of online voting, Ripken was clearly a sentimental choice for the 2001 AL roster, and it’s hard to argue against his inclusion. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game has long been a popularity contest and Ripken was not the first (or last) seemingly undeserving player to be selected. As long as voting is primarily determined by the fans, that’s the way it will always be. And I don’t have a problem with the fans’ desire to see Ripken take his last All-Star hacks in 2001. That’s not the point of this chapter, anyway.

This chapter also isn’t about the selfless, touching gesture extended to Ripken by Alex Rodriguez, the AL′s starting shortstop, in the first inning. Rodriguez had arranged with AL manager Joe Torre to pay tribute to Ripken, his boyhood idol, by switching positions with him and allowing Ripken to play the first inning at the position he had played for 2,216 consecutive games. They switched back to their elected positions at the start of the second inning. While that was a nice touch on the part of a player who could use that kind of good press these days, it was really just the icing on Major League Baseball’s PR-baked cake.

The real drama of the evening came in the bottom half of the third inning, when Ripken stepped up to bat for the first time. Upon his introduction