The Perkins/Valencia twitter feud

[Parker Hageman]

Ok, so not really a "feud" per se.

 

This morning, following the Kurt Suzuki signing, closer Glen Perkins welcomed his soon-to-be teammate by recanting a story of Suzuki launching what can only be presumed to be a mammoth PING shot off of the then-starter for the University of Minnesota in the 2004 NCAA Regionals.

 

Or did he?

 

According to the box score, Perkins went the distance (8 IP, 10 hits, 7 runs, 6 earned, 6 Ks and no walks) and did not allow a home run in the game LET ALONE A HIT to Suzuki (Suzuki went 0-for-4). Perkins did, however, surrender a long one to Suzuki in March of that year during a non-conference game (a 2-run shot).

 

But that’s beside the point.

 

In his tweet, Perkins referred to the game as the “’04 CWS Regionals”. The CWS, of course, standing for the College World Series. Former Twin and new Kansas City Royal Danny Valencia responded to Perkins’ claim by noting that the College World Series is for those who, you know, actually make the College World Series.

 

Miami did not reach the CWS in 2004: that honor went to Suzuki’s unranked Cal-State Fullerton, who ultimately won the tournament over the number one seeded Texas.

 

ANYWAY. Fun interaction among professional athletes, right?

[nicksaviking]

Hmm, that depends on if you consider Valencia professional.

[ashbury]

Or did he?...

But that’s beside the point.

 

Fellow SABR member Stew Thornley has long made the case that first-hand accounts from ballplayers still need rigorous fact-checking. They don't mean to mis-remember, but time plays tricks on the synapses. What then becomes tricky is how to deal with discrepancies when you write up the interview in a biography or whatever. In-line corrections, parenthetical corrections that in effect call him out, endless footnotes, do nothing, or what?

 

Interesting to see in this case that you don't have to be an old goat to unintentionally embellish. As you say, it wasn't your point, but an interesting side point anyway.

[Parker Hageman]

Fellow SABR member Stew Thornley has long made the case that first-hand accounts from ballplayers still need rigorous fact-checking.

 

Yes (this can be applied to all people, really). I do enjoy how often Torii Hunter's memory fails him:

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/09/great-moments-in-great-memories-torii-hunter/

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16289

[Otto von Ballpark]

I had to fact-check a couple of my favorite Metrodome memories in that thread. And I've gone to a lot fewer games than these guys have played, so I will give them a pass!

[JB_Iowa]

Oddest thing about all this for me?

 

I never realized that Perkins and Valencia are just 1 1/2 years apart in age until this thread prompted me to look.

 

Odd how arrival in the majors and success can affect perceptions.

[PseudoSABR]

I like that Glen replied with some subtle snark to Valencia's petty correction.

[nicksaviking]

Yes (this can be applied to all people, really). I do enjoy how often Torii Hunter's memory fails him:

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/09/great-moments-in-great-memories-torii-hunter/

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16289

 

For quite some time I told people that I saw a great 2-0 game between Orel Hershiser and Nolan Ryan which was part of Hershiser's record scoreless innings streak. After researching it over a decade later, I realized this Hershiser shutout took place previous to his record streak. However while that was disappointing, my fact checking help discover that at that game I witnessed the first of Craig Biggio's 3,060 hits.

[zchrz]

[swag On] / Swag Off

 

thanks dan

[Thrylos]

I still don't get why some Twins' fans dislike Valencia. If he did not play the way he did in 2010, the Twins would have not won the division...

 

Yes he is outspoken and has some personality unlike the majority of Twins players these days. Is that such a bad thing?

[stringer bell]

I had to fact-check a couple of my favorite Metrodome memories in that thread. And I've gone to a lot fewer games than these guys have played, so I will give them a pass!

I find that remembering stuff from '87 bleeds into '91. I was ready to say I waved a Homer Hankie at home during '87, but didn't know if they were only introduced during the World Series and then common later on. Also, I couldn't pin down the year or years that I spoke at length to Darrell Miller and Dennis Martinez, although I remember talking to Miller as an Angel in one of the games immediately after the dome deflated (partially).

[nicksaviking]

I still don't get why some Twins' fans dislike Valencia. If he did not play the way he did in 2010, the Twins would have not won the division...

 

Yes he is outspoken and has some personality unlike the majority of Twins players these days. Is that such a bad thing?

 

He was a highly disappointing player. We need to hold our 19th round draft picks to higher standards.

[jokin]

I like that Glen replied with some subtle snark to Valencia's petty correction.

 

Wait a minute. Perk is factually incorrect, not once, but twice in the same tweet. Valencia gives credit to, not his, but Perk's, new "alleged teammate" for actually having reached the CWS.......so.....DannyV alone deserves the chiding for their mutual snarkiness?

[PseudoSABR]

Wait a minute. Perk is factually incorrect, not once, but twice in the same tweet. Valencia gives credit to, not his, but Perk's, new "alleged teammate" for actually having reached the CWS.......so.....DannyV alone deserves the chiding for their mutual snarkiness?

Petty corrections are indeed worthy of scorn. Referring to the college baseball playoffs as the College World Series is pretty common, as that's how ESPN sells the product. Danny may have been 'correct,' but he certainly appears pretty small in my view.

[Kwak]

Yes (this can be applied to all people, really). I do enjoy how often Torii Hunter's memory fails him:

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/09/great-moments-in-great-memories-torii-hunter/

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16289

 

I remember the AB against Rivera (Game Two) much the same way Hunter described;

Pitch 1 super-fast cutter on the fists resulting in a foul tip, Pitches 2 and 3 fast balls well out of the strike zone that Kubel whiffed badly (never came close). Kubel was badly over-matched and was embarrassed.

[Thrylos]

You know that Ford "loud and clear" vs "loud or clear" commercial? This is what this sounds like...