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Editor:
Basic sports knowledge is not hard to come by in this day and age, so I think that it is not too much to ask that the columnists for your sports page have at least as much knowledge of athletics as your readers.
First of all, Cecil Fielder is not "the most prolific home run hitter of his time ("Justice served in Alomar's key blunder," Oct. 15). If you define prolific by the number of at-bats a player has had divided by the number of home runs he has hit, then Mark McGuire has Cecil Fielder beat hands down. McGuire has the single season record for best at-bats/home run ratio and will most likely have the all-time record for the best at-bats/home run ratio for a career upon his retirement. If you instead define prolific by who has hit the most home runs overall, then I must point out that Fielder is behind quite a few people in that category not only for all-time but also in "his time."
Secondly, why is it justice that Fielder is going to be playing in the World Series? Just because he played in Detroit? Talk to Alan Trammel about that. I hope that you are not saying that it is just for Fielder to be playing for a world championship because he is such a good player? Fielder is a fat, slow first baseman (because he isn't good enough at defense to play anywhere else) who is only known because he can hit the ball pretty far. What about the likes of Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey, Jr., Albert Belle, Fred McGriff, Ken Caminiti and many others (some who have played in the World Series and some who have not) who actually possess some skills out on the field other than being substituted for in late innings with a pinch runner or being an automatic out at first base if the ball doesn't go over the fence? There is more to being a baseball player than hitting home runs and if you think that the fact that Fielder hit 51 home runs in one season a couple of years ago is a big deal then I have two words for you: Brady Anderson. Also, McGuire hit 52 this year and he missed something like 30-35 games.
Third, I liked the fact that you ripped on Roberto Alomar for the whole spitting incident but did you think that it was just that Alomar played great ball in the series against Cleveland including hitting the game-tying RBI and the game-winning RBI (in extra innings) to end the Indians' season? Maybe life isn't as just as we think.
Darryl C. Hottinger
second year law student
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