Results tagged ‘ Pudge Rodriguez ’
The Greatest of All Time
There are very few people in the sports world who can create a stir the way Muhammad Ali can, actually none. Just his very presence wherever he goes sets off a buzz of excitement that can spread through, say, a Spring Training venue like ripples on a lake.
Ali made another appearance at a Cactus League game on Friday, something the Scottsdale resident has done in the past — and again, his presence floated like a butterly and stung like a bee. It didn’t exactly settle things down when “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky sidled next to him, along with baseball Hall of Famer George Brett and likely future Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre. That’ll get the cameras clicking.
And so it did, bringing back a couple of memories here:
- A few years back, Ali visited Phoenix Muni for an A’s game, and that ripple effect was in perfect form. He walked to his seat that day, and people literally stood and cheered him as he went by as if he were royalty. After the game, the A’s players and the reporters and others who happened to be in the clubhouse were treated to a magic show from The Greatest, and basically just soaked in the greatness. He was more frail and too wobbly for anyone’s comfort, yet he was THE MAN — just owned the room, like he does everywhere.
- A few years before that, it was the 10th anniversary of Rickey Henderson breaking Lou Brock’s career steals mark. In an interview about that while he was playing for the Padres, Rickey explained his “Greatest of All Time” line — he said it’s because Brock spent time at his house in Oakland leading up to the record, and they discovered that they were both huge Ali fans. So the line was actually an inside joke, he said, as opposed to the “diss” most everyone seemed to think it was. This anecdote has appeared a few other places, but isn’t universally known. Know what? Makes sense. Why not? The story was due right away and never did talk to Brock, unfortunately. Doubt he’d say “Muhammad who?” Hope he wouldn’t say “Rickey said what?”
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Pudge dons new uni,
the number on it this spring?
Not 7 on ‘stros
Two weeks in a day
What we learned last week:
- Pudge is back. Or he never left. Whichever.
- The Red Sox love them some Jon Lester, to the tune of five years and about $30 million. Jason Bay? It’s a severe case of like, just not love yet. At least not the green kind.
- You can take the news out of A-Rod, but you can’t take A-Rod out of the news.
- You can’t throw behind a Dutch player without having a guy named Van Driel come to the mound the next inning. Seriously, is that a great name for an intimidating reliever or what? Berry Van Driel. The Driller. He didn’t, though.
- Randy Johnson has it in him to utter the line of the spring so far, courtesy of the Tim Lincecum “clone” television ad: “He should put a towel on.”
What we will learn next week:
- How many times Manny and hammy can be used in a headline, except we’ll stop counting after 1,000.
- The identity of the Final Four. No, not by looking at your NCAA bracket — well, especially yours. Talking about the teams going to L.A. for the World Baseball Classic finale.
- Just how American this pastime is, perhaps.
- Hopefully, a cure for the “dead arm phase” of Spring Training. Operators are standing by now.
- We’re gonna miss having Nederland around, doggone it.
The day the World moved
Seriously, has there ever been a day of baseball like that one? Granted, you could say that about any day of baseball, in that each one is like a snowflake: unique.
But to butcher the true meaning of the word, this one was very unique.
It sure wasn’t like any March 7 you saw before.
If you were up late or early, there was the China win over Chinese Taipei, a big baseball moment for a big country. But that was just the appetizer.
The rest of the day was a smorgasbord. There was as big an upset as you’ll find in these proceedings, with the Netherlands holding on to beat the D.R. Then a U.S.-Canada meeting that rivals anything before it in any sport between the two countries. And a couple of powerful displays by Pudge and Puerto Rico, as well as Venezuela.
Wow, just wow. Watching Willy Taveras thrown out at third and then Netherlands dance on the field, pretty surreal stuff for that early on a Saturday. Then the Rogers Centre crowd? Unbelievable, so into it — pumping up their relievers and making it a hard deal to close for the U.S. Just amazing stuff to watch as the first week of March comes to a close.
There’s something a little more intense and sharp about these games so far, and the passion and depth of talent that surprised last time around is showing up early in the tournament this time. It’s already like a book you can’t put down.
The next chapter could include powerful D.R. being ousted from the tournament, for crying out loud. Come on now.
Enjoy, World.
Yakyu Haiku
That’s the American tradition of baseball in Japanese, and here’s an Americanized version of a Japanese tradition:
Sween Dog, now a coach,
Isn’t that a “right” of spring?
Mark Sweeney, good dude
mlblogsthegrind1
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