12/21/24
April 28, 2012
Tigers Fans Owe Inge Better: Yes, it's a Yahoo! article, and yes, it was possibly written by Brandon Inge's little brother, but still.
posted by The_Black_Hand to baseball at 01:18 AM - 12 comments
Not to say the boo birds were right, but there was more to the Inge boos than just a downturn of productivity.
posted by roberts at 11:31 AM on April 28, 2012
He's a sub-.200 platoon player making $5 mill+ in a city where most people are fighting to make ends meet, that's crying about playing time. Since 2009, he has 162 hits, and 214 strikeouts. He had 21 HRs in 2009 before the All-Star break...and 23 since. Yet he seems to think he deserves to play every day at a position he's never played over 2 other experienced 2nd basemen. Yes, he's going to get booed...
posted by MeatSaber at 02:02 PM on April 28, 2012
He's a sub-.200 platoon player making $5 mill+ in a city where most people are fighting to make ends meet, that's crying about playing time.
Ugh.
Even in prosperous cities, $5mil+ is still so much more money than what (almost) everyone else in the city makes, so why go digging for a reason to hate the player for the salary they make?
They aren't taking money out of anyone else's pockets EXCEPT the owners. This isn't a case where the player gets money but the orphanage down the street has to close because of it.
You can hate a player for his inability to hit, or his public attitude, but his salary shouldn't make a damn difference. If Inge was making the league minimum, would that have been okay?
posted by grum@work at 04:51 PM on April 28, 2012
grum,
All of the reasons I laid out are the things people in the area have been saying since the Tigers announced he made the Opening Day roster. Whether or not it makes sense to you or I is irrelevant. That's why they're booing. But it does make sense to me. When you're working your ass off 80+ hours and getting paid shit, or unemployed because there's no jobs, and you see a guy making millions to play a game that's he's not even good at? Yeah, you might wanna boo that guy...
posted by MeatSaber at 06:13 PM on April 28, 2012
People who can afford to go to a Tigers game -- or got free tickets they couldn't afford -- should be in enough of a good mood that they don't need Brandon Inge as a scapegoat for economic disparity. This is a good time to be a Tigers fan.
I like that Inge didn't take a parting shot at fans after his release.
posted by rcade at 08:26 PM on April 28, 2012
I was going to post some long screed about player salaries and performance and fan expectation and economics, but I've decided to delete it since I'd basically be arguing against irrational fan responses.
There ain't nothing I can say that can counter irrational fan responses. There are people that booed Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, and Ted Williams during repeated MVP-level seasons.
Haters gonna hate.
posted by grum@work at 09:36 PM on April 28, 2012
Anyway, Brad Eldred, the guy they called up to take Inge's roster spot, had as many hits in his first game as Inge had in 9 games...
posted by MeatSaber at 12:11 AM on April 29, 2012
Yeah, this is a good time to be a Tigers fan. It's also a good time to not have Inge on the roster. Yes, the article is correct, he did contribute and did play through lean years. So what? The dude's been held around longer than his performance ever dictated.
Basically, I can appreciate what he had done for the team, but I can also feel his play has been more than fairly compensated and be glad he's gone.
posted by apoch at 07:38 AM on April 29, 2012
The dude's been held around longer than his performance ever dictated.
But that's not on him, and he's the one Tigers fans loudly booed on his own home field. That's a humiliating thing to do to a hometown hero. When I read Roberts' link above, I didn't see Inge doing anything to fault. Are fans mad he accepted demotion to Triple A, rather than insisting on a release? Isn't that the kind of loyalty you want in an athlete?
I can understand the sentiment of wanting to be done with an athlete who isn't performing any more. But I guess I didn't see Inge personally doing the things that would make him the target of fan wrath instead of Tigers management.
posted by rcade at 11:03 AM on April 29, 2012
Inge just signed with the A's.
Ah, Oakland. Where (semi-)famous careers go to die.
Joe Morgan
Frank Thomas
Nomar Garciaparra
Mike Piazza
Reggie Jackson (yes, I know he started there)
posted by grum@work at 10:03 PM on April 29, 2012
Fans are irrational rcade. Yes, in a logical world, the boos should be aimed at Dombrowski for keeping Inge around, except that if Dombrowski was actually on the field they'd probably be cheering for the signing of Fielder.
posted by apoch at 05:54 AM on April 30, 2012
I heard those Inge boos while listening to the Tigers-Rangers on radio. They were enormous. You would have thought John Edwards was coming up to bat.
Inge's little brother is right. Inge's batting troubles should not obscure what he gave to Detroit over his career.