INBOX

NOVEMBER 19--26, 2018

PASSING (NOT-SO) FANCY

Steve Rushin's poem Is an instant classic, Nobody can deny that. I'd say it ranks Right up there With that one about Casey's at bat.

Greg Nelson Duluth

The poem is amusing to some, but not to all, Browns fans. The author gives well-deserved credit to Otto Graham and his seven title-game victories. But Rushin is intercepted when he lists Frank Ryan as one of the "lesser" quarterbacks. The Browns won the NFL championship under Ryan, in 1964.

Paul Kostansek Aurora, Ohio

THE BEST MONEY CAN BUY

Tom Verducci says that Bryce Harper is "on a Hall of Fame trajectory." However, according to Baseball Reference, entering the 2018 season, Harper's season averages for his career are roughly equal to the 2017 year Mike Moustakas had while with the Royals, which garnered him just one free-agency offer of one year and $6.5 million. And yet Harper is set to earn more than $300 million? Good grief!

Joe Kutchenriter Genoa, Ohio

EASING THE PAIN

I find those who maintain that going ahead with sporting events in the face of disaster—as mentioned in Michael McKnight's essay—because they raise morale and provide a distraction for the afflicted to be self-indulgent. I applaud Pierce College volleyball coach Lance Walker's decision to cancel his team's games and help those in need. This is a better lesson for his players and much more important to the evacuees than playing the games.

Terry Griner Spokane

WILLIE MCCOVEY

The Willie McCovey obituary paid ample tribute to one of the premier power hitters of the 1960s. But the statement that he was "the first Giants star who was all theirs" (meaning San Francisco's) is highly debatable. McCovey came up in mid-1959, but Orlando Cepeda came up to the Giants when they moved from New York the year before, and he won the Rookie of the Year in '58. McCovey was great, but when the planets aligned to drop both Cepeda and the Giants in San Francisco for that game-changing season of '58, the city found not one but two things that made them truly big league.

Larry Reilly Doylestown, Pa.

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ON DECK

The next edition of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED will be the Dec. 17, 2018, issue. Look for it on newsstands and in your mailbox on Dec. 12.