What about Albert?
I was reading Philadelphia Inquirer baseball writer Jim Salisbury’s Baseball Notes column today. Salisbury (unlike David Aldridge and 67 other Philly newsroom employees) still has a job at the Inky. For better or worse.
Salisbury notes in his Notes that tomorrow is the day we find out which players will be in the 2007 Hall of Fame class. And for his part, Salisbury voted for nine guys, none named McGwire:
Nine players got a check mark next to their names on this scribe’s ballot – Ripken, Gwynn, Goose Gossage, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Jack Morris, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Albert Belle. McGwire didn’t get one. He remains under review until we learn more about the steroid era and his place in it.
Whoah, take a step back there, Jim. Albert Belle? Really?
Here’s the thing about Albert Belle: I think there’s a legit argument to be made that Belle belongs in the Hall. But I’m not sure you can withhold a vote for McGwire, because you suspect he used steroids, but vote for Bell, who we know corked his bat, stalked his girlfriend, and, come to think of it, probably also used steroids (as the Sports Guy points out, all the signs were there).
Belle was a cheater and a total delinquent. He embarrassed the game on a regular basis. How can one possibly argue in favor of Bell, but against McGwire? It’s impossible. It can’t be done.
On a random note, Salisbury’s column includes one totally awesome tidbit. Apparently the Phils have a pitching prospect in their system named Josh Outman. Is that not one of the all-time great names for a pitcher? Just one question: When Outman makes it to the bigs, what will his fan club be called? We had Wolf’s Wolves, Thomie’s Homies, and Sal (Fasano)’s Pals. Is Outman’s Outmen too obvious?
January 8th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
1. FWIW, Peter Gammons once told me that Albert Belle can do the NYT crossowrd puzzle in 20 minutes flat. (And before you ask, no, Gammons did not specify whether this was the Monday puzzle. If so, that makes it less impressive.)
2. There’s a special word for when someone has a last name that correlates to their job. Like a librarian named Bookman, or an ice cream man named Cone, for you Seinfeld-lovers out there. For a cookie, who knows what the special word is?
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January 8th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Argh, a word I don’t know. I wanted a cookie, but even more than that I want to know what your word is.
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January 9th, 2007 at 8:09 am
As in, Albert Belle is “fair” in the diamond…
…park?
… (chirp chirp)
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January 9th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
It’s an aptronym, bitches!
http://www.slate.com/id/2132505/
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January 9th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Oh, okay, I feel better. “Aptronym” is hardly a real word, if at all. It was coined by a newspaper columnist and is only one of several competing terms.
Bitches!
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January 9th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Aptronym schmatronym, now that we’re done with the word nerdiness, can we get back to baseball???
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January 10th, 2007 at 11:48 am
[...] I mentioned in a recent post that I thought there was a decent case to be made for Albert Belle’s induction into Cooperstown. Apparently, I’m in the minority. Yesterday, Bell got bounced from the Hall of Fame ballot after receiving 21 fewer votes than the previous year and less than five percent of the total votes cast. [...]
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January 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 am
[...] Angels GM Bill Stoneman has one of those really apt names Sarah was talking about in one of her comments. Much like a stone, he never says anything, never shows any emotion, and never does much of anything either. Stoneman is legendary in LA for never trading anyone for anything, so any time you hear a trade rumor involving the Angels, you can usually just discount it entirely and proceed with your merry little life. [...]
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