Wally Pipp probably deserved better.
While the reason is subject to debate, the Yankees starting first baseman did not play on June 2, 1925, making way for a young backup named Lou Gehrig to get into the lineup.
Whether it was a small slump, his trouble hitting lefties, or — the most popular story — a headache, it cost Pipp his starting job for just more than the day; Gehrig started against the Washington Senators and played for 2,129 consecutive games after that, becoming baseball’s all-time iron man.
Pipp, of course, is now synonymous with being usurped.
No one expects Nick Mullens to become the Lou Gehrig of football — in either success or longevity — but it sure seems as if C.J. Beathard has been “Pipped” … again.
After Mullens picked up a spot start last Thursday against the Raiders and led the 49ers to a blowout win in front of a national TV audience, he told reporters Tuesday that Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan named him the starter for Monday’s game against the Giants.
Beathard has now lost his starting quarterback job twice in his two-year NFL career. Last year Jimmy Garoppolo took the starting job from him, and this year, after Garoppolo’s injury made Beathard the starting quarterback once again, third-stringer Mullens took advantage of a short week and a Beathard wrist injury (and a terrible Raiders defense) to take the spot from him again.
There’s plenty of football to be played — more than enough time for Beathard to get the starting job back — but Shanahan made the right decision to go with Mullens against the Giants.
Because while Beathard has been done in by bad luck in his career, he also has been done in by some terrible play.
That’s the big difference between him and Wally Pipp — the former Yankees first baseman had twice led the American League in homers and was a .310 hitter in the three years leading up to that fateful day in June 1925. He was one of the best players in baseball.
Beathard, on the other hand, has the worst DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) of any regularly starting quarterback over the last two seasons — performing 23 percent worse than an average quarterback last year and nearly 25 percent worse this year.
The only quarterbacks who have performed worse than Beathard this season are all rookies — Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Josh Allen. Not exactly elite company.
So while Beathard’s demotions might not have been the cleanest transfers of power — the Niners traded for Garoppolo after Beathard’s second start, and the only reason Mullens started was because Beathard’s injured right wrist didn’t have a full, normal week to heal before the Battle of the Bay — no one can argue that he’s been robbed of a job that’s rightfully his. He simply hasn’t performed well enough to lay claim to anything.
Will Mullens do any better than Beathard moving forward? That’s anyone’s guess. But Mullens’ performance Thursday gave every indication that he’s a better option than Beathard for Monday’s game against the Giants.
Beathard is 1-7 as a starter. He has 13 interceptions to 12 passing touchdowns. He’s taken a disproportionate number of sacks in those eight games, too.
Now, Shanahan has to stand by the quarterback he hand-picked in the draft — not only for general team morale, but also to satiate his own ego — but truth be told, we’ve seen enough of Beathard to know what he is.
Simply put, he isn’t going to be a viable starter in this league — not with the 49ers at least. And I have serious questions on if he can be a worthwhile backup, too.
So why not find out if someone else on this roster is the real deal — as unlikely as it might be?
Since Garoppolo — the true starting quarterback — went down, this 49ers season has been about experimentation and development.
Beathard played five games — two performances were solid, three were god-awful. Let’s see what Mullens can do with five games. He’s earned at least the month of November (two games remaining) with his performance last Thursday.
And if Mullens proves that he’s not the man for this job (and, in turn, next year’s backup spot), let Tom Savage take a stab at being the starting quarterback.
And if the Niners can’t get through the season with those three, then we have some serious problems, but let’s not worry about that for now.
For the time being, Mullens is the 49ers’ starting quarterback — there was no other reasonable choice to make — and it should be his job until he for a while yet.
