What is a Shortstop?

760’s rarely play much weaker players except in very early rounds of local tournaments.

Weaker still League is non-existent for 760’s. I personally don’t know a single player over 650 that wants anything to do with any league.
 
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iusedtoberich said:
760’s rarely play much weaker players except in very early rounds of local tournaments.

Weaker still League is non-existent for 760’s. I personally don’t know a single player over 650 that wants anything to do with any league.
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I know plenty of them. However, in my neck of the woods, playing league pool is one of the only ways to get to play. 95% of our tournaments out here are capped somewhere below 650. I happen to LOVE league pool!
 
easy-e said:
I know plenty of them. However, in my neck of the woods, playing league pool is one of the only ways to get to play. 95% of our tournaments out here are capped somewhere below 650. I happen to LOVE league pool!
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You’ve got to be a minority. The only players in my area that love it are alcoholics. To each his own:)
 
Who would y'all consider shortstops these days? Like, Mhet Vergara at the lower end, Hunter Lombardo around the middle, someone like Jeremy Sossei towards the top of the shortstop range?
 
In the DC metro area, the late Danny Green was the perfect embodiment of a shortstop. Extremely talented, plenty of heart, but lacking that little something that would've gotten him to the highest level. In David McCumber's Playing Off The Rail, "The Dew Factor" chapter has a highly entertaining description of the frustrations that road players like Tony Annigoni often had in matching up with him.
 
This guy’s picture should be in the dictionary.
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easy-e said:
I know plenty of them. However, in my neck of the woods, playing league pool is one of the only ways to get to play. 95% of our tournaments out here are capped somewhere below 650. I happen to LOVE league pool!
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plenty of short stops in htown playing in leagues
most of em actually

lots of vegas opportunities and cash payouts in between apa bca vnea and tap
 
wlycdgr said:
Is there significant financial value to making vegas through an amateur league, or is that mostly just for fun & glory? (nothing wrong with that obvs but I imagine a lot of shortstops need to prioritize $)
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free vegas ride, need i say more?
lots of tournament money to win there as well

you wont be quitting your day job over it
pool players gotta do what they gotta do
 
old thread but to answer it in a definite way.

a shortstop is the next level below a pro player.
next below him is an A player
then a B
and then a C
and then a D

you can add pluses or minuses to further complicate it if you want.

the top local players that run out often are A players who call themselves shortstops.
 
My friend Hawaiian Brian and I spent many a day in the late 60's early 70's traveling around hustling pool. Brian always felt that going into a strange room always try to play their best player. Why, because he's most likely going to be a "shortstop" who beats on everybody locally but is frequently out of stroke because no body wants to play him. Perfect for a nice score. Shortstops frequently can't explain their poor play nor can they explain their exceptional play. They're like a golf club pro. They can teach, sell clubs and break par at their home course but put them out there with the big boys............they never make the cut. How do i know this? I've been living it all my life.
 
Baby Huey said:
My friend Hawaiian Brian and I spent many a day in the late 60's early 70's traveling around hustling pool. Brian always felt that going into a strange room always try to play their best player. Why, because he's most likely going to be a "shortstop" who beats on everybody locally but is frequently out of stroke because no body wants to play him. Perfect for a nice score. Shortstops frequently can't explain their poor play nor can they explain their exceptional play. They're like a golf club pro. They can teach, sell clubs and break par at their home course but put them out there with the big boys............they never make the cut. How do i know this? I've been living it all my life.
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Something tells me you separated a lot more wannabe hustlers from their money than the other way around
 
maha said:
old thread but to answer it in a definite way.

a shortstop is the next level below a pro player.
next below him is an A player
then a B
and then a C
and then a D

you can add pluses or minuses to further complicate it if you want.

the top local players that run out often are A players who call themselves shortstops.
Click to expand...

BITD there was a Durham (North Carolina) A Player named Mike Wynn, who could spot any of the local players the 7 and beat them easily. And then one day the young Cole Dickson came through town and had poor Mike dogging balls that previously he would've made blindfolded. The moral is that there's always someone better than you.
 
It's such a pointless term these days in my mind. It's too tied to the tradition of pro-level road hustlers working from city-to-city and state-to-state. The shortstop would be the best that could be put up against the road player after they suckered everyone else in the pool hall. The shortstop maybe was the best in the city and maybe was the best in the state. And the road player that plays pro speed would be able to bust them (even if it was a hard game) and make enough money to continue traveling and build a bank roll for bigger matches against their actual peers.

But now that travel gambling is dead and everyone knows everyone and their FargoRate, does the word shortstop mean anything anymore? What are we even trying to redefine it as, a skill range? Just trying to fiat it in the space below touring pros. Right in that grey space amidst amateur open state champs, semi-pros and retired-pros? You can easily slot that from 720-760 in terms of the amazing people that couldn't win a pro tour event if their life depended on it. You want to add in the other upper amateurs that would be some of the city-best, you're lumping in 630-720 now. But at that point I really think we're losing the plot on what the point of using this term is anymore if shortstops are 630-760.

So it kinda feels like a "why are we even asking?"
 
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