Pete Gray

On the recommendation of a student that I taught last semester and this semester, I read Pete Gray's book - One Armed Wonder, which tells the story of the St. Louis Browns outfielder.
In the first class that he took, which I taught, we used to heroic passages to write summaries and research papers. I used the tale of Adam Bender, and he found this book and the story of Jim Abbot as comparable tales to the life of Adam Bender, a one-legged boy who still plays baseball (he's a catcher) and high school wrestling as well as quarterbacking for youth football.
I've always said that despite age, we don't look down to find our heroes, and the reality is that Bender who is currently 10 has more leadership and heart than most grown people that I know. To be honest, I wish I had more of what makes him tick.
The same can be said about Pete Gray who always wanted to play at Yankee Stadium despite losing his right arm in a truck accident. World War Two's diluted player pool gave him the opportunity to do that, but he gave himself the ability to make the opportunity count. He learned to hit one armed. He learned to catch a ball and throw it to the infield with one arm. Nobody stopped the game for him, and despite the fact that the switch from glove to arm with the ball tossed into the air in the meantime took a few seconds, Gray did what it took to get better.
He even hit 5 home runs at Memphis in 1944 before making it to the St. Louis Browns in 1945. This was one year removed from their historic 1944 campaign where they played the Cardinals in their first and only World Series losing 4 games to 2 (and almost winning a third - quite an accomplishment for perennial cellar dwellers - even in a time where players were there because they were unable to be drafted for war service). Quite simply, he wasn't an also ran or a gate attraction like some people made him to be.
Instead, he was inspiration to the young and the injured war vets, who he had more respect for than they had for him (and that's saying something).
He was a hero - be it from roughly the same area that I live in (give or take a few hours) or from the world in general. He didn't let life get in his way. He didn't let those people who belittled him get him down. He fought to be on the diamond and to give his best, and he truly did. Be it in the majors or the minors, he was a great part of the game. In addition, his 11 strikeouts in 77 games would be something that many of today's free swingers took note of. Gray might not have had the muscle power to do one-armed Mickey Mantle shots in the pros, but he knew enough about small ball to get the hits, the bunts, and the seeing eye dribblers that put him on base to steal second. In this, he was a fierce base runner (more minors than majors, but still).
And like Jim Abbot (who wanted to be more like Nolan Ryan than Pete Gray) tossing a no hitter to celebrate his abilities and competitive nature, there is pride in any person overcoming their obstacles (be they disabilities or doubts or being picked second) to be great. Abbott did his no hitter against Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Albert Belle in 1993. Those Indians weren't exactly the Cleveland Spiders.
Heart is all about what you make of your circumstances.
Pete Gray may not have had a right arm, but he had a lot of heart.

Roy Halladay

Philadelphia has long been known for its doctors. There was Dr. J and his sweet 70s afro flying through the sky for slam dunks with style and class. There was Bill Cosby delivering babies and proving that the African American place was wherever their talents and drive could take them. The University of Penn and Temple both have famous doctoral schools and churn out lots of great medical professionals, but no doctor in the city of Philadelphia is quite as famous as Doc Halladay (and while he may not win 30 games like The Baseball Project predicts, he could come very close).

Yesterday, he was sitting down Padres like a defrocking convention gone haywire. All in all, he had 14 friars getting irate in the dugout by the end of the 8th inning, but then, he blew the 2 hit shutout in the 9th inning with 3 more hits, and so in came Antonio Bastardo to seal the deal on the Phillies first home sweep of the Padres since 1979 and the days of Ozzie Smith.

This was a perfect comeback after the debacle against Milwaulkee (6.2 innings, 6 earned, 3 whiffs), but it doesn't disguise the hatred that I feel for Philadelphia's announcers (for their partisan nature and dullness) since the days of Harry Kalas shufflinging off this mortal coil. However, yesterday was about watching a game, so it's not like I really cared who was commentating, but when I have to listen to the backpedaling after "innings counts don't matter" and then going into "he's getting a lot of innings" after hearing "he's going to want to finish this game," I just want to vomit.

I'm from the Nolan Ryan school of pitching. Three runs in 6 innings is not a quality start. I'm for guys finishing their games and leaving losers like Dan Wheeler in the breadline or forcing him to find a real job (instead of being the designated innings eater whipping boy, which I'm sure every team needs, but still... I could do that job for far less money). I'm for removing the role of all closers except consistent ones (something that Mariano Rivera has been faltering on lately with his second blown save of the year on Sunday). Even then, I'm for bringing them in when the door needs slammed shut. I'm for multiple innings saves. Giving Bastardo a 1 pitch save for inducing an out... bullshit (in the words of Matthew McConaughey to Kate Hudson - when she wasn't ruining herself being A-Rod's non-Madonna arm candy - then again, with her track record of men, she's not exactly a prize herself).

Nevertheless, if there is no limit to pitches - especially in light of finishing a gem of a game (and I heard this same line with Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez's no hitter flirtations), then they should do the deed or lose it all.

Yesterday, the good folks at MLBTV (the baseball fetishist's porn without nipples network) showed game 7 of the 1992 NLCS - Pirates against Braves... the beginning of all that was Atlanta and Barry Bond's stake through the heart to Andy Van Slyke and the rest of the Pittsburgh faithful (no winning seasons in almost 20 years). Drabek gets to the 9th and is dealing, but then the wheels come off. It's a pitcher refusing to let the ball free and doing what it takes to win or lose on his shoulders because he got the team here, and goll dang it... he's reveling in the glory or sulking in defeat. One misplayed ball later, Sid Bream comes home on a single to Bonds, and despite all those surgeries, he's under the glove, and that's it.

But that's a pitcher letting it all hang out.

It's Pedro in 2003 with Grady Little not demanding the ball. If you don't demand it, you have to give in to the pitcher's ego.

And if it's Halladay, there's an ego. One run in with two on in the ninth - to pull the ball is to disrespect your workhorse. Let him win it or lose it. He's got the stuff... even if he's tiring out - or don't bring him out for the 9th. You (Charlie Manuel) are the one who left him hit... now you're the one that should leave him pitch.

But all the same... creating adorable little Muppets that get yanked after 6 innings and therapy headcases that need to be reassured that they're ok even when they're not (Brad Lidge) just shows how far we've come from tough pitchers to move into a world of pampered athletes.

Joe Torre

When one does poorly, there is a certain demeaner that they should take - want to do better and not screw up so badly the next time. However, Manny Ramirez's remark that "he likes it" begs to differ with the philosophy, and all things considered, it is "Manny being Manny" - i.e. a complete idiot who needs his unconditional release for the purpose of waivers / psychiatric counseling. To be honest, he can live off his last couple contracts for a while. And since Bleacher Report is offering a list of the top 50 most over-rated people, what better way to start with than a guy who doesn't deserve a 5th chance (AT LEAST 2 from Boston, 1 from LA, 1 from Chicago, and now 1 from Tampa Bay), and to think that he does is saying A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT MORE ABOUT 1995 TO 2004 THAN THE REST OF HIS CAREER THAT ISN'T THE LAST 187 AT BATS OF 2008. Most of the list should be called 3 things - Yankees, Red Sox, and steroids users - oh my! On the list is some pretty standard fare on the bigger contract and "value" to the team than actual productivity: Hideo Nomo, Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, and Barry Zito (minus his teddie bear). But there are some pretty confusing choices, too: Cliff Lee, Brooks Robinson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, and Pete Rose, a man who played the game to win obsessively, but who is slighted for being ONLY a hitter in the same way that they call Nolan Ryan only a strikeout pitcher who threw a lot of walks. In this, we can only say one thing - "If Rose's stubborness to never give up and keep playing until he ran out of gas completely is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Didn't Cal Ripken never give up his streak until it was incredibly late in his career? The Orioles had been in the toilet and have been since he refused to make room for a new guy - because Baltimore loved him that much. But alas... the point of lists is to debate, so I debate with two of their choices. The first question would be how Roger Maris is considered over-rated for two good seasons despite the folks at Bleacher Report forgetting his 1960 MVP Award. Perhaps, from their narrow minded judgements of remembering what parts of baseball history that they choose to see, they should remember how the New York media did their damnedest to destroy the man who failed to live up to being Babe Ruth. Now, we are Maris apologists here - because we realize what he was to the game: a hard working player who didn't have time for the cliches and short talk. He may not have been as charismatic and lovable as Mickey Mantle, but he brought a tremendous upside - even if he never did hit .300. And for that, he was very good. He wasn't great. We don't claim he was. I can't do that revisionist history thing, but at the end of the day, his season in 1961 will stand as the only home run season to eclipse Ruth's - without aid of PEDs. And then, there is Joe Torre. Now, I'm a Yankee hater, but I do love the books Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty by Buster Olney and The Yankee Years by Tom Verducci. Both of them accurately depict an era of time that I came to loathe as I grinded my teeth to the thought of the Yankees winning again and again (I wasn't vested in 96, but the Padres, the Mets, and the Braves all had to have something to beat the Yankees... and when they didn't... thank God for 2001 and the DBacks, which led into the Angels, the Marlins, and that miracle Red Sox run in 04 before the collapse that led to teams like Detroit and Cleveland beating the Yankees. I used to hate Torre. I used to hate his look as he sat in the dugout waiting for something good to happen or to pull the hook on Chin Mein Wang, someone who is TRULY over-rated (but not on the list), but after I read that book, everything changed. There was something about the way that guys like Jeter and Mussina rallied the troops for the coach, a guy who wasn't even wanted in New York due to the fact that he couldn't get his other teams to gel. But that's leadership. Sometimes, being in the right place for the right people is all that matters. Call it a facet of Gladwell's book Outliers, but could anyone else have had the right training, the right manner, the right respect from his young troops that he built confidence in with any of the same talent that Torre used to get it done? Was he the best manager ever? Probably not, but then again, Larussa and Francona are far more over-rated than Torre and they're on teams that I like. In the end, he was run out of town by the extended Steinbrenner family, but for what he did for that time, we all hope that we can get the troops to come together and win 4 of 5 and almost 2 more. That's dominance beyond the players he did and didn't have (since really, only Jeter and Rivera are hall of famers on that team). If that makes the list of Yankees that I loathed for the better part of my adult life over-rated, so be it, but I have to believe that a leader brings the best out of his players, and for him to do that, and for me to spend my life hating the Yankees... I don't fear what isn't real.

Choo Choo Coleman

The Mets really sucked when they first started out.
This isn't being mean. This is a fact.
If Marvelous Marv Throneberry was the symbol of futility, then Choo Choo Coleman was the symbol or purely terrible.
In 1963, he batted 178 in 277 at bats. He did hit 3 home runs, but he did little else. This was pretty much his track record with the Phillies before the the Mets picked him up, and then despite a spike in limited at bats in 1962, he went back to "nicht so gut," and well, that was it.
Throneberry wasn't much better. He hit .244 in his first Mets season and in the space of 2 hits and 1 RBI in 14 at bats, the Mets and the major leagues had seen enough of Marv, and he went on his way.
Ken Burns summed up Marv by saying that nothing he did was marvelous.
That said, we can't all be Pete Rose and Ted Williams at the plate, but we should be able to touch first and second when we actually hit a triple.
In the beginning, there was Casey Stengel to lead the team, and while that might have been for familiarity for New Yorkers who loved him as a Yankee, he really was "too old" and it just didn't play out well.
Nevertheless, there was the Miracle Mets with Seaver and Ryan and Koosman. There was the 86 Mets that benefited more from Roger Clemens, cocaine, and Dan Shaughnessey, and there was a few other good teams along the way, but the Mets of today... "nicht so gut."
It's not the fact that they're also rans since the days of 2006 and Endy Chavez saving the day only to pull defeat out in a game that they seemed fated to win. And that was it.
High priced free agents named Carlos (Beltran and Delgado) who don't do anything well (including staying healthy).
David Wright can't save the day with all those strikeouts.
Pitchers who can't stay healthy.
Jose Reyes who is REALLY over-rated.
Yeah... that's the Mets.
Lastings Milledge who didn't know his place.
And then there's this year...
Charlie Samuels being watched like a hawk eyes a mouse because he just might have profited too much on memorabilia sales.
Francisco Rodriguez and his desire and actions to smack the tar out of his main squeeze's dad.
Oliver Perez no longer a consideration for the starting rotation.
CITI Field not bringing cash in that was hoped for (guess, they should have stayed at Shea).
Bernie Madoff's victims and their lawsuit to get their $1BILLION worth of money back (can't fault them for that).
Fans that don't want to see games even with cut ticket prices (down 20% from $500 in some cases).
A $25 MILLION loan from MLB to keep the team up and running (time to cut out some unprofitable teams, eh?!!).
And perhaps New York needs 2 teams.
Perhaps there is hope in Manhattan yet.
Maybe we can return to the glory days when men on the moon coincided with great teams with dominant pitching.
Just not this year.

Andy Pettite

On the eve of Roger Clemens going to testify against his best buddy and steroids confidante Andy Pettite, I have to say that I have NEVER felt like Pettite was worth anything as a pitcher - especially with Hall of Fame consideration. I can remember knowing that he was coming into game 6 in the 2001 World Series, and I knew he was done for. Within 3 innings, the D-Backs were up 12-0 and were headed for that magical game 7.
I can remember hearing rumors of trading Pettite to the Cardinals a decade ago. I was so glad that he never came. First and foremost, he was a Yankee, but at best, he was a mirage propped up by the Bronx in much the same way the A's pitchers were propped up in Oakland and the Braves pitchers were propped up in their years in Atlanta.
He was never the reliable go to guy except in the years that the Yankees had nothing else to give. When he went to Houston, he was good, but he wasn't great. When it counted, they couldn't beat the White Sox, but I can't say as I remember much of that World Series since I refused to watch the battle of the Little Yankees (Clemens and Pettite vs. Contreras and El Dookie) with AJ Pierzynski thrown in for extra loathing. Sure, it was nice that the whole Black Sox thing was over and that Ozzie Guillen won one, but other than to make people understand how Shoeless Joe Jackson got screwed over, there wasn't anything to be said for that World Series other than I'm glad Pettite and Clemens steroid confusion duo didn't get rings.
Sure, he was good for a lot of innings most years, but because a person stays healthy and has an offensive juggernaut behind them and a solid bullpen after them doesn't mean that all wins are created equally. Need proof? Nolan Ryan in 1981 went 11-5 with a 1.69 ERA. How can that ERA not win every game? In his time with the Angels, he had losing seasons with an ERA just over 3.00. In 1973, 1974, and 1977, he was top 3 in Cy Young Award voting and had 16 losses in EACH season. With a winning team, he wins 30 times in each year.
But alas, we see Andy Pettite has 240 wins and we think this guy could be heading for the Hall of Fame. To that, I say, "Hooey!"
Since the Yankees are as desperate for pitching, they are positively desperate and scared stiff to bring Pettite back or find themselves going back to the late 80s and early 90s. To scare the YES Network all the more, he still can't make up his mind, and in some ways, we hope he does come back just so he can be there to get knocked around in his old age once again and come out of it without a ring.
Sure, there were those magic moments when Andy Pettite admitted his guilt in the whole Mitchell List thing, but there was something that just summed up all of his wins and that extra oomph that his average self gave. It wasn't aura and mystique.
But if a $12million from the Yankees waiting on a table believes it is, so be it. Let them believe. The division is no longer theirs. The Red Sox can say all of the right things, but the reality is that now more than ever, the ancient and aging Yankees don't have one more hurrah left in them. It's over. They're done like fried chicken.
Look at the Yankees... Chamberlain was all hype. Posada is geriatric. Burnett is over-priced and erratic. Phil Hughes is definitely not playoff ready. A-Rod is in decline. This leaves them with CC's enormous waistline... I mean price tag for an above average pitcher. The same can be said for Teixara's bat. Jeter is at the end of his run. Robinson Cano is positively dangerous. Mariano Rivera can't be counted out until he counts himself out, and well, the rest are average.
Can they compete against the Red Sox? Don't think so.
Can they compete against a young Rays team that has pride and direction and a lot of hope? We'll see on that end, but...
If the Yankees want to take their chances on the hope of Andy Pettite, just let them. It's time to see the Yankees in the cellar again, which will be BEE-YOU-TEE-FULL.