Rant #2,509: Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces ... Pieces and Bits.

However you say it, this type of entry has returned for the year 2020.

They are stories that don't necessarily need full Rant coverage, but they are interesting to speak about in a shortened type of way.

So without further ado, here are the Bits and Pieces stories for today:

Derek Jeter Elected To Baseball's Hall of Fame: Quite honestly, this was a no-brainer.

How could Derek Jeter not be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Look at his statistics: he played 20 years for one team, the New York Yankees, and he was the heart and soul of those teams, which won five World Series championships during his two decades manning shortstop for the Bronx Bombers.

He had a lifetime batting average of .310, hit 260 home runs and had 3,465 hits in more than 11,000 at bats for the Yankees. He holds numerous team records.

During the postseason, he had 200 hits and batted .308, and that included seven World Series appearances.

He was a true icon during his career, with seemingly not a single misstep on the field or off the field during his time in the Bronx.

So his path to Coopertown was pretty much a given after he retired five years ago ...

Except for one thing.

One sportswriter did not vote for his entrance into the Hall of Fame.

How could this happen?

First of all, at this writing, the sportswriter who did not vote for Jeter is unknown, and it might stay that way for a while. Sportswriters can now reveal their votes, but if they refuste to do so, that is their right.

Was the sportswriter who left Jeter of the ballot trying to make a statement? Was that sportswriter trying to say that, well, let's just say, if Willie Mays and Tom Seaver and Babe Ruth didn't get 100 percent of the votes when they were up for election, why should Jeter?

Was the sportswriter trying to say that Jeter wasn't as good as Major League Baseball led us believe he was, as he never won a Most Valuable Player Award, and that other shortstops were actually better than him at bat and in the field.

Was the sportswriter perturbed at something Jeter did to him that he hasn't yet forgotten, and thus, Jeter was not on his ballot?

Or did the sportswriter, awash in his own ego, simply forget to put Jeter on his ballot (this was an excuse used in the past when ultra-deserving players were left off ballots).

Whatever the case, Jeter joins teammate Mariano Rivera in the Hall of Fame, but not as a unanimous choice, like Rivera was.

And also, congratulations to Larry Walker, who also made the Hall of Fame yesterday, and Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, who were named to the Hall of Fame earlier.

My Parents' 64th Anniversary: Yes, this one is a personal entry, but so be it.

My parents, still going strong at 88 years of age, celebrate another milestone anniversary today, and it's just like 1956 all over again.

That is the year they were married. I came along a year later to completely ruin their wedded bliss forever, and my sister came at the end of 1959 to further reek havoc on their lives, but whatever the case, this union has lasted through a lot of good stuff and bad stuff for the past 64 years.

There have been lots of ups and downs lately. Yesterday, my dad had to be looked at by the doctor, because he seemed to be a bit weak, and they did find that he is going through another bout with pneumonia. But he seems to be OK now, much better than he was just 24 hours ago.

My mother--who has more energy than those one-third her age--keeps him going, keeps him on a regimen, and makes sure that he does what he is supposed to do, even though he often fights her tooth and nail.

This is a different generation than we are. They were Depression babies, and their upbringing, work ethic and will to do the right thing is so different than what we see in succeeding generations.

To me, their generation is the greatest generation, because they knew heartache like we will never know, yet they were able to focus on the right things, and continue to be on focus to this day.

And where would I personally be without my parents? Well, other than just being here, period, they have helped me in so many ways that I can't count that high. They raised my sister an I the right way, to do the right thing, and while it is harder to apply that principle today, we have done our best to do so.

And that was instilled in us by our parents from our personal Day Ones.

So here's to my parents on their 64th anniversary of wedded bliss, and who's to say that they won't enjoy another 64 years of happiness?

I would not put it passed them, I really wouldn't.

My Work Situation:

(I just thought I would throw that last one in. Anybody who thinks that it will improve, well, I have to hand it to you, you have a real sense of humor that I guess I don't have related to this subject. The reality is that I am probably headed to early retirement, and last night, my wife an I went to a seminar about Social Security to find out information about how to handle this. Let's see what happens with that, because the job market is pretty much closed to me right now, and I need to look past that and set my sights on the rest of my life.)

Anyway, that's it for Bits and Pieces today.

Speak to you again tomorrow, same Bat-place and same Bat-time (I threw that in to congratulate Burt Ward for getting his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this past week--he joins comrade Adam West with that honor. And yes, they were the BEST Batman and Robin, in my own determination.)