Last week it was two former Pats QBs doing battle in “Wednesday’s Challenge” with Steve Grogan ending up victorious over Drew Bledsoe and moving up the RBSF Ladder from #73 to #66. And while last week’s battle was between two very similar contestants, this week is practically apples vs oranges. The most clutch kicker in NFL history, Adam Vinatieri, attempts to move up from #61 as he takes on the longest tenured owner in MLB history, Tom Yawkey of the Red Sox, who is sitting at #52. A look at this week’s candidates…
YAWKEY: Sole owner of the Red Sox for 44 seasons (1933-1976), longer than anyone in baseball history. Purchased the struggling Sox in ’33 for $1.2 million. The Red Sox won 3 A.L. Pennants under his watch: 1946, 1967 and 1975. Team reached Game 7 of all 3 World Series they reached, though lost all of them. Served as American League Vice President from 1956-73. Street Fenway Park is located on is now named Yawkey Way in his honor. Original member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame. Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980.
VINATIERI: Played 10 seasons for the Patriots (1996-2005), never missing a game. Member 3 Super Bowl Champions (2001, 2003, 2004) and AFC Champions in 1996. Franchise all-time leading scorer with 1,158 points. Also holds franchise records for career field goals (263), field goal percentage (81.9%), longest field goal (57 yards) and points in a season (141). Named to Pro Bowl and voted 1st Team All Pro in both 2002 and 2004. Led NFL in field goals (31) and points (141) in 2004. Kicked two game winning field goals in the Super Bowl (2001 vs Rams & 2003 vs Panthers). Also had two game-winners in divisional playoffs and record-tying 5 FG in 2003 AFC Championship. Field goal in snow vs Raiders in 2001 playoffs to send the game to OT might be the most clutch kick in NFL history.
VERDICT: Yawkey certainly did a lot of good as owner of the Sox, but his reluctance to sign black players (Sox were the last to have one on their roster) likely contributed more to a championship drought than any curse. He also enabled a star-system to remain in tact under his reign. The Patriots meanwhile could not have won their titles without their clutch kicker and despite still having some hard feeling over his departure to Indy, a decade of excellence earns Automatic Adam my vote here.
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9 comments:
To be honest, I'm not sure how Yawkey got ranked so high to begin with...though owning the team for so long is impressive, it was also a reign that produced zero titles.
Seems to me that Vinatieri was a key component in winning championships and Yawkey was a key component in not winning championships.....this one is a layup as far as I'm concerned.
Vinatieri no question asked. 44 years as an owner and no titles. Adam kicks Yawkey way down.
Yawkey was a super racist. We could've had Willie Mays...
need I say more
(to say nothing of all that AV got done here)
People I would like to see move up in coming weeks:
Bill Belichick
David Ortiz
Ted Williams
Terry Francona
People I would like to see move down:
Roger Clemens
Keep in mind that the site is still only 4 months old....over time this will work itself out to where people are where they belong. Bledsoe has fallen 13 spots already. Yawkey is likely headed downhill as well. It will be interesting to see where other owners fall on the Ladder (Kraft, Sullivan only ones on for now). Perhaps they are tough to measure aside from titles..
The more you look at this the more it makes you wonder why Yawkey is in the Hall of Fame.
Put a fork in him.
It was not a criticism, as it was a suggestion for future challenges, opposed to the do it by decade (i.e. 70s or 50s and such). The poll is a good way to get consensus though. Francona is conspicuously absent though, moreso than Wake. May have to do another challenge to pierce to top 100.
Next time it comes around for somebody to get on the Ladder we'll have a poll with 10 candidates to get on.
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