Does he like the school systems in Phoenix? or are those kids he cited as the reason he went to Colorado in graduate school now?

Mike Hampton never said the schools in Denver were the reason he signed with the Rockies.

Mike Hampton never said the schools in Denver were the reason he signed with the Rockies.

You know, I hate to cite Murray Chass, but . . .oy vey

He didn't say it like that (so you're correct), but he made it seem like it played a part in his decision.

He had to have some excuse for doing what at the time appeared to be all but ending his career for money.

I have to admire the guy. It'd have been easy for him to take his gazillion bucks and retire, and yet after every injury he keeps trying to come back.

I should mention 10 years ago there were people calling WFAN complaining that Hampton went to Colorado after saying he didn't like cold weather. But one of "Newsday" reporters (Davidoff?) researched his notes from clubhouse conversations and found Hampton never cited preferring warm weather. People just assumed he did after growing up in Florida and playing mostly in Houston. Hampton, like almost all players and every owner, refused to admit it was the money that he wanted most. I've made career choices with money being the big factor (some good, some bad). I will not criticize anyone for earning an honest dollar.

Mike Scott is still in baseball?

The Superintendent of Schools for Denver was subsequently installed by the governor as U.S. Senator, so you could say the school system at least did well by him.*


*Yes, I know it was not Bennett at the time.

Never liked Dolphin Face even though he was an interesting player: short and athletic lefty who was able to be very good for a few years, a good hitter, and very good fielder.

a good hitter, and very good fielder.

Hampton has the most positional WAR of any pitcher in the past 50 years.

Highest WAR/pos, pitchers debuting since 1954

I should mention 10 years ago there were people calling WFAN complaining that Hampton went to Colorado after saying he didn't like cold weather.

Even if he had said that, the average temperature in Denver in January and February is higher than the average temperature in New York.

Hampton has the most positional WAR of any pitcher in the past 50 years.

I'm not sure if this accounts for fielding or not... just looking at Greg Maddux's chart, his fielding runs are 0 every year, which seems unlikely.

I'm not sure if this accounts for fielding or not

Hmm. Perhaps WAR assimilates pitcher fielding into the rest of the pitchers' defensive value. IOW, I assume Maddux' defense is part of his pitching WAR. So this WAR/pos looks to be entirely pitchers' offensive value.

"Even if he had said that, the average temperature in Denver in January and February is higher than the average temperature in New York."

I made one trip to Denver in mid-January and it was 72 degrees.
The next year, the trip was in mid-April - major snowstorm.

sample size alert, lol

But many people in the northeast don't understand the very different temperature patterns out west.

In the northeast, I think it just feels more like the temp goes 'up and down the ladder' - that it gets hotter and hotter from March until August, then it keeps getting colder and colder.

Obviously the exceptions for a few days are frequent, and data could even debunk it to an extent, but I do think that's the mindset that is often present.

I don't think that would really be the mindset of people from Denver or San Francisco or LA for instance, I'd imagine?

#14, it's not only that, it's also that people don't account for the relative dryness at altitude, the frequency of sunny days in Colorado during the winter, and how warm the sun feels at altitude. It can be 20 degrees but since it will also likely be sunny and dry it's not that bad at all.

However, at night, the ice weasels come...