Bronx, N.Y., Jan. 31, 2002 — Stats, stats, stats. I know. They are a valuable tool. They are a means of measuring performance. They are quantifiable. They are easy.

I would argue that few baseball fans, few boys and girls that fall in love with the game of baseball, do it because of the numbers. Yes, they may have collected baseball cards. Maybe they can rattle off the numbers on the back. But still, even though so much of what happens on the baseball field can be summed up and recorded with numbers, it’s about more than that. And any true baseball fan knows that watching players play is how to determine their greatness. Otherwise we would have cpa’s vote for the Hall of Fame (the vote doesn’t take place around April 15, so they would be available).

I bring this up because checking Letters to the Editor in sports magazines and newspapers and looking in on baseball-focused Web sites (or any where fans of different stripes meet) it can be easy to forget that. Numbers are easy because they’re quantifiable. Making actual decisions about greatness and near greatness is both subjective and difficult.

So, if I use numbers and fan bias and logic to tell Mets fans that Ron Swoboda was a butcher in the outfield and that Tommie Agee was just a pretty good center fielder, anyone who was watching in 1969 could tell me how wrong I was. A fan of the Tigers (or Twins or Blue Jays) could smile knowingly if I were to disparage the career of Jack Morris. I mean, quality starts, or walks or hits per nine innings — those are valuable things to know, but how many guys throw a 1-0, 10-inning shutout in the seventh game of the World Series?!?

What prompted these thoughts? Well, first it was an acrobatic catch and throw that Derek Jeter made on October 21, 2000, to nip Timo Perez trying to score in Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. Great play by a great player, but what do you expect in a postseason game pitting the best vs. the best? I’ll tell you what you don’t expect, and that’s the relay he made 357 days later to nail Jeremy Giambi at home in Game Three of the 2001 ALDS. The fact that he followed that up two days later with a backward somersault and catch of a Terrence Long foul pop while falling into the stands is really just gravy to a fabulous meal of postseason delights.

So rattle off all the numbers you want. Insist that the OBP or the SLG or the BA or the homers aren’t up to par. Tell me you know more about shortstop play than the Wizard of Oz. (Ozzie Smith has called Mr. Jeter the best shortstop in baseball). I don’t blame you. I’m guilty of the same. (I continually come back with stolen-base-against totals when a Mets fan tries to tell me how great a hitter Mike Piazza is.) Tell me you used math to prove that Derek Jeter isn’t the best shortstop, maybe the best player, playing the game today. I’ll tell you what the silent gasps and the open-mouthed stares on kids and old geezers alike watching this guy play in the postseason should have told you, if you’ll only open your eyes. Behold baseball greatness!!!

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!