I handed in my final paper for this semester on Friday night — a riveting detail of Sino-Saudi economic integration — and now that I have a little more time on my hands, I thought I’d tackle a question I’ve been chewing on for a couple of years: why are shortstops the way that they are?
The late ‘90s and early 2000s were defined, at shortstop, by three young and dynamic talents in Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra. Jeter is one of the best pure hitters of all time, A-Rod had everything Jeter did, plus a little more ego, little more fragility, and superior power and defense.