Other than structurally I am not comparing the two cases – throwing me out and throwing Reggie Jackson out aren’t in the same universe – but we are beginning to see the outlines of a pattern of the Yankees ham-handedly overreacting in defense of their rapidly rusting former star.

So...Reggie is a chandelier, then?

Details about the preceding pitch? What's the advantage in that? I guess if then coach's assistant does it then A-Rod doesn't have to watch from the on deck circle. That would free him up to scan the crowd for muscular women.

Sounds like it could become a new proverb: "Robbing Reggie to allay A-Rod."

I can't for the life of me imagine why a hitter would rather look at hand signals from a flunky in the stands rather than just watch the freaking pitcher with his own eyes, but this is the weirdest dude in all of baseball we're talking about here, so almost nothing about him surprises me any more.

Olbermann recycling a story from April. Man, has that guys stock fallen.

I thought the headline was Rob Riggle Lays A-Rod.

It's always about the Yankees, even when the players involved has their best years elsewhere.

Quick, think of Reggie's best season in Pinstripes. Consider where it would rank among great Reggie seasons.
.... done? It ain't in the top 8 in WAR. Reggie was an Athletic, and it's a shame that when he hit the 3rd (by then menaingless) dinger in the one WS game that it became his signature moment. I prefer to remember him being pulled mid-inning from RF by Billy Martin, or standing on the top step of the dugout in 86 ready to celebrate a pennant that didn't happen.

OK, rant over.

You have to be a very casual fan (or a particularly provincial Yankees fan) for Reggie to be "identified solely with the Yankees."

The irony in this piece is off the charts.

I thought the headline was Rob Riggle Lays A-Rod.

Did Rob at least get a gift basket?

You have to be a very casual fan (or a particularly provincial Yankees fan) for Reggie to be "identified solely with the Yankees."

Or under 40 years old.

I prefer to remember him being pulled mid-inning from RF by Billy Martin, or standing on the top step of the dugout in 86 ready to celebrate a pennant that didn't happen.

OK, rant over.

TomH - it's ok, I'm glad some people still remember what a horse's rear end Reggie was/is.

When people were doing all the Barry-bashing a few years ago when he was still with the Giants, I had to remind people that Barry wasn't exactly the first (nor will he be the last) player to be openly despised by fans, opposing players and even several of his own teammates. Reggie was up there on the "most hated" list just as much back in his day.

Of all the members of the 500 HR club, Reggie is by far my least favorite - so, of course, he is the only one on the list that I actually saw hit #500 live - Sep 17, 1984 - Angels vs. Royals. His solo shot was the only Angels run in a 10-1 shellacking at the hands of KC.

...this is the weirdest dude in all of baseball we're talking about here, so almost nothing about him surprises me any more.

As for A-Rod: this is really sad. He will be remembered for steroids, The Slap and all other manner of bizarre behavior both on and off the field. Yet he is also one of the greatest players ever to play the game, and when he came to the Yankees he was the one who willingly moved to third base despite:

1)Being a significantly better hitter than Derek Jeter
2)Being a much better fielding SS than Derek Jeter

Supposedly this was a move made to keep harmony in the clubhouse, which seems unselfish at first glance. I wonder, though, if A-Rod would have been better off to insist "Hey, I'm CLEARLY the better player here, me moving off of SS is NOT in the best interest of the team's performance and anybody here who doesn't get that isn't interested in the Yankees winning games!" Of course, then A-Rod would have truly been hated by all his teammates - but then I doubt there was a single player on the roster intelligent enough to realize A-Rod would have been 100% correct. These are jocks, after all. But at least it would have shown some guts and some confidence on A-Rod's part - something he has seemed to be lacking ever since.

Or under 40 years old.

Most people between 30-40 probably remember Reggie as an Angel more than a Yankee. Under 30 and you probably don't remember watching him play.

Under 30 and you probably don't remember watching him play.

I almost certainly never saw him, but I remember him as an Angel, because he was on them when he tried to kill the Queen of England.

Or under 40 years old.

I'm 34.

And I stand by what I said anyway. If you are a young person with a passing familiarity with the game's history, you know that Reggie didn't play only for the Yankees. I can understand people not knowing that he had his best years with the A's, and I understand that a lot of people's primary image of him - even people who know his career - is as "Mr. October" with the Yankees. I'm not saying that people need to know every last detail of his career to be a real fan or anything sweeping and exclusionary as that.

I'm talking about identifying him "solely" as a Yankee. It was over-the-top of Olbermann to say that in such a general way, and downright ridiculous for him to say that he's "high on the list" of players like that (shocking for KO, I know). That's all.