Aside from enjoying the company of my fellow embryology students at Shea last night, attending the Dodgers/Mets game in person meant I was spared a baseball history lesson, Fox-style, as descibed by Salon’s King Kaufman (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory).

Thursday must have been Rogers Hornsby’s worst day since he was managing the St. Louis Browns. Maybe the worst day he ever had without going to the track. He was dissed, or at least forgotten, on national TV by two different playoff announcers.

The worst insult, and you’re going to think I’m overreacting but I think it was just unfathomable, came during Fox’s broadcast of Game 2 of the Dodgers-Mets series Thursday night. Announcer Thom Brennaman was rattling off some of Jeff Kent’s impressive statistics and he summed it up in that cadence of his: “Arguably the GRRRREATest offensive second baseman in the HISSSSSTory of the game.”

I don’t mean to insult Kent (above), who’s a fine player, a borderline Hall of Famer if he retired today, but that’s one of the most preposterous statements I’ve ever heard a sports announcer make on national television, and that’s saying something.

Saying that Kent is arguably the greatest offensive second baseman in the history of the game is like saying Detroit is arguably the largest city in the United States. It’s like saying Echo and the Bunnymen are arguably the biggest-selling band in the hissssssstory of Liverpool. Never mind arguable. It’s not even close to being anything like approximately true. I’m foaming at the mouth here.

And as we all know, Teardrop Explodes are the biggest-selling band in the hissssssstory of Liverpool.