We love you Gordon, oh yes we do

[SoxAce]

Recent article on the main site on him being a game changer.

[witesoxfan]

I think you guys are being a bit harsh. Heck, Gordon Beckham's OPS this season is higher than Phil Rizzuto's when he won the MVP!

[bighurt4life]

He's got a bright future no doubt. BUT, cmon, lets wait for him to have another 5-8 REALLY good seasons before we start talking about the hall. Frank Thomas was one of the best righties in the past 20 years and he's not even a shoe in.

[Shamrock4Life]

Frank's a shoe in for the HoF. What he is not a shoe in for, but should be, is 1st ballot.

[witesoxfan]

I'll tell you what I can fit my shoe in

[StrangeSox]

Gordon Beckham is bigger than the Hall of Fame.

They'll need the Hall of Bacon annex in Cooperstown.

[RibbieRubarb]

Beckham should be in the Hall!!! The Earth is also flat!!! We never walked on the moon!!! LOUD NOISES!!!!!

[G&T]

Can we just wait for some retard to post "Beckham is a bum, trade him" when he goes in a deep slump first?

 

Why wait? I figure his value is highest now. Not trading him would be a huge mistake.

[lostfan]

I didn't think it was possible. But somehow, someway, somebody has managed to overrate Gordon Beckham. Congratulations.

[HuskyCaucasian]

How good is Gordon Beckham? He's even caught Derek Jeter's eye..

I’ll admit to being something of a Jeter cynic, but coming from him all of this makes me smile.

“The baseball world has taken notice -- starting with Jeter.

''He's playing well,'' Jeter said. ''I got a chance to talk to him a little bit because he's been on second base the whole series. He can hit, that's the bottom line. You throw him in, he pulls it; you throw him away, he hits it the other way. It looks like he's got some pop.

''He hasn't been playing third base very long, but he's been doing a good job there, too, so I'm sure he's going to be here for a long time.''

This might surprise Beckham, but Jeter has been keeping an eye on the kid who wants to duplicate the future Hall of Famer's career on the South Side.

''Yeah, man, he got up here pretty quickly,'' Jeter said. ''But if you have talent, it's hard to keep you down. He's taking advantage of an opportunity, and he's playing well.''

This is what happens after you hit five doubles in four games against the Yankees.”

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/1697...eluca03.article

I want to get all your opinion on this. On the Score yesterday, B&B where doing some "speculating" as to who Beckham projects out to be as a hitter. Comparing him to other 3rd Baseman like Todd Ziel and even Ron Santo. They were purposely excluding Hall of Famers to compare him to. But I got to thinking, why not? If you look at what he projects out to be... .300 hitter, 15-25 hr/season, 80-95 RBI/season... only one player comes to mind... Derek Jeter. If Beckham was player for Boston or NY, he'd be called the next Derek Jeter. I also dont think Beckham will play 3rd for life. He'l get moved to SS or 2B at some point.

 

I'm not so sure this isnt a fair POTENTIAL comparison.

 

[ChiSox_Sonix]

The 1988 and 1989 seasons almost made me deny to people that I was a Sox fan.

 

Ironic.

 

That's when I was living in Germany and became a Sox fan.

[lostfan]

I want to get all your opinion on this. On the Score yesterday, B&B where doing some "speculating" as to who Beckham projects out to be as a hitter. Comparing him to other 3rd Baseman like Todd Ziel and even Ron Santo. They were purposely excluding Hall of Famers to compare him to. But I got to thinking, why not? If you look at what he projects out to be... .300 hitter, 15-25 hr/season, 80-95 RBI/season... only one player comes to mind... Derek Jeter. If Beckham was player for Boston or NY, he'd be called the next Derek Jeter. I also dont think Beckham will play 3rd for life. He'l get moved to SS or 2B at some point.

 

I'm not so sure this isnt a fair POTENTIAL comparison.

If you look at his numbers right now, and his numbers in the minors (which are basically exactly the same), his stats project exactly to Jeter's.

[Controlled Chaos]

*There was a cool graphic accompanying this article in the hard copy version comparing Beckham to other top picks and their initial impact on the game.

*Edit: I found the text of the graphic. It's at the bottom.

 

chicagotribune.com

Gordon Beckham's major leap impresses many

Brewers' Ryan Braun marvels at Sox rookie's success

By Dave van Dyck

 

Tribune reporter

 

August 4, 2009

 

When the White Sox summoned Gordon Beckham to the major leagues after only 59 minor-league games, they were taking a huge gamble.

 

Forget that Beckham was a first-round pick in 2008 out of college with a "can't-miss" label attached, virtually skipping the minor leagues is unheard in the modern game.

 

"I know he was a great player and a first-round pick, so I'd have to say he would have been successful, but I marvel at the success he has had this early because that's really difficult to do," Milwaukee's two-time All-Star Ryan Braun said.

 

Braun should know.

 

He was the fifth pick in 2005 as a collegiate third baseman. But he played in 199 minor-league games -- about 3 1/2 times more than Beckham -- before his promotion.

 

Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria?

 

He was the third pick as a collegian but spent parts of three seasons and 205 games in the minor leagues.

 

Of course, Longoria became an All-Star in his first full major-league season of 2008 and again in 2009. And Braun was picked in his second full major-league season, 2008, and again in 2009, as an outfielder.

 

A check of other recent first-round infielders shows none made it to the majors sooner than Beckham.

 

Could Braun have succeeded if he had been called up earlier?

 

"I'd like to say yes, but I think the development time, getting to spend a little extra time in the minor leagues, is something that really helped me," he said. "The biggest thing was just dealing with the grind, physically and mentally, of playing every day. It's drastically different from college, where you're playing three or four games a week.

 

"I think that's the biggest adjustment, just playing through it, dealing with some adversity, dealing with some failure. It's not something that as a college player you deal with too much."

 

Beckham, who also had to deal with a switch from shortstop to third base, obviously doesn't know if more time in the minors might have changed his 0-for-13 big-league start.

 

"It's never going to hurt to have more time," Beckham said. "I didn't necessarily want to spend more time, I wanted to be up as quickly as I could. They felt I could help the team right now, without more games, and I think that's why they pulled the trigger on bringing me up."

 

They "pulled the trigger" on the advice of player development director Buddy Bell and general manager Ken Williams, not manager Ozzie Guillen. This is what Guillen said after Beckham went from Double A to Triple A after only 38 games:

 

"If we have Beckham here, we're in trouble. That kid needs to play. A lot of people say the difference between Triple A and the big leagues is one jump. It's a huge jump. In Triple A, you're going to face a good pitcher maybe once a week. Here, it's an everyday thing."

 

Yet Beckham, after a very slow start, has proved his now-believing manager wrong, even getting his batting average to .311 by hitting .411 in his last 20 games, proof that the exceptional talents will succeed if they have strong makeups.

 

"To get through what I went through to start my career, I have an enormous amount more confidence because of that," said Beckham, who admittedly does not lack for self-assurance. "I was at 2-for-28 and I was at a point where I was going, 'What am I doing here? I don't deserve to be here.'

 

"But I kept telling myself I know how to play the game, just keep working and it will all work out, and it ended up working out."

 

Braun also remembers starting out in the majors sooner than most first-round picks.

 

" Greg Maddux, Jake Peavy, Tim Hudson and John Smoltz were four out of the first five pitchers I faced," he said. "Welcome to the big leagues.

 

"But for anybody to come up that early [as Beckham] and have success just speaks a lot about who he is as a person and his character. It's not easy, especially when you fail early as a player on a big stage in Chicago. Obviously, he has come back from that start and is having a great year."

 

As for Braun's worries about the everyday grind, that's still ahead for Beckham, who signed with the Sox only last Aug. 14.

 

"I know what [braun's] saying," Beckham said. "I think I'll be fine. That's what I have to deal with, playing every day.

 

"If you can't get up for playing in the big leagues, you can't get up at all. I don't even really notice I play here every day, I'm just out there."

 

dvandyck@tribune.com

 

Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune

 

 

 

 

chicagotribune.com

Highly drafted infielders who made quick impact

August 4, 2009

 

Infielders who were high draft choices and their time in the minor leagues, with a season usually consisting of about 140 games:

 

Gordon Beckham, SS, White Sox. Drafted No. 8 in 2008, played in 59 minor-league games.

 

Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays. Drafted No. 3 out of Long Beach State in 2006, played in 205 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2008, first season.

 

Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers. Drafted fifth overall in 2005 out of Miami (Fla.), played 199 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2008, second season.

 

Justin Upton, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks. Drafted No. 1 in 2005 out of high school, played in 231 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2009, second full year in majors.

 

Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado Rockies. Drafted No. 7 in 2005 out of Long Beach State, played 106 minor-league games over parts of two seasons.

 

Rickie Weeks, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers. Drafted No. 2 in 2003 out of Southern University, played in 209 minor-league games.

 

Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies. Drafted No. 15 out of UCLA in 2000, played in 400 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2006, third full season.

 

B.J. Upton, SS, Tampa Bay Rays. Drafted in second round in 2002 out of high school, played 485 minor-league games.

 

Stephen Drew, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks. Drafted No. 15 in 2004 out of Florida State, played 169 minor-league games.

 

David Wright, 3B, New York Mets. Drafted No. 38 in 2001 out of high school, played 395 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2006, second full season.

 

-- Dave van Dyck

 

 

 

Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune

 

Edited August 4, 2009 by Controlled Chaos

[kapkomet]

Crack.Pipe.Please.

 

[shipps]

He should be in the Hair of Fame.

[clyons]

Not only will he be enshrined, they will change the name to "The Hall of Beckham." The current museum will become its foyer.

[Beckham4thehall]

Are you guys even sox fans ? Wtf. do you watch the sox play. have you been to a sox game. are you blind ? do you not watch him get the job done ? i bet you people don't even play sports. Try doing what he does. Being a life time short stop then moving over to third and playing it better than fields right now and in a year or two maybe as good as crede. Go f*cking play the game of baseball. Learn how to play the game and please go watch a week of sox games.

[RibbieRubarb]

Are you guys even sox fans ? Wtf. do you watch the sox play. have you been to a sox game. are you blind ? do you not watch him get the job done ? i bet you people don't even play sports. Try doing what he does. Being a life time short stop then moving over to third and playing it better than fields right now and in a year or two maybe as good as crede. Go f*cking play the game of baseball. Learn how to play the game and please go watch a week of sox games.

 

I love you and I wish you were able to stick around this site. Either you'll get kicked off or your alien leaders will come and take you home.

 

Either way... Thank you for being you

Edited August 4, 2009 by RibbieRubarb

[BigSqwert]

Are you guys even sox fans ? Wtf. do you watch the sox play. have you been to a sox game. are you blind ? do you not watch him get the job done ? i bet you people don't even play sports. Try doing what he does. Being a life time short stop then moving over to third and playing it better than fields right now and in a year or two maybe as good as crede. Go f*cking play the game of baseball. Learn how to play the game and please go watch a week of sox games.

[DaTank]

Are you guys even sox fans ? Wtf. do you watch the sox play. have you been to a sox game. are you blind ? do you not watch him get the job done ? i bet you people don't even play sports. Try doing what he does. Being a life time short stop then moving over to third and playing it better than fields right now and in a year or two maybe as good as crede. Go f*cking play the game of baseball. Learn how to play the game and please go watch a week of sox games.

 

Jesus Christ. Take it easy over there. Nobody's trying to insult your intelligence or their own intelligence on the game of baseball. They're merely saying that it's a bit early to be talking about Gordon Beckham for the HOF TWO months into his career.

[BigSqwert]

Maybe that was actually Bechkam posting on here? Didn't realize he has such a short fuse.

[RibbieRubarb]

Jesus Christ. Take it easy over there. Nobody's trying to insult your intelligence or their own intelligence on the game of baseball. They're merely saying that it's a bit early to be talking about Gordon Beckham for the HOF TWO months into his career.

 

Didn't we as a collective chide the Cub fans for doing the same thing with Mark Prior?

 

 

[lostfan]

I just didn't think it was possible to praise Beckham too much.

[BigSqwert]

Out of curiosity, is he eligible for the next induction?

[Nixon]

You guys need to sticky this thread so that in a few years you can see what morons you all were. Beckham4thehall is right, this kid is straight up HOF material. Here's to many many many many WS championships brought home by his bat.