Rumors & Rants’ The Baker admits he doesn’t watch a ton of White Sox baseball (“There’s no need to…when I picture a White Sox fan, I picture someone who uses their baby™s head as a coaster”) but got a big kick from former Cubs analyst Steve Stone (“Shakespeare with a nine-inch cock”) waxing poetic on the matter of the retired Juan Gonzalez earlier today during the Brewers/ChiSox tilt.
Stone and Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson were discussing how large some of the older ballparks like Milwaukee County Stadium and Municipal Stadium in Cleveland were. As the game meandered, as Spring Training games tend to do, their conversation reached a tangent. And for those who grew up listening to Steve Stone massaging your brain with baseball gold, it was a trip down memory lane – a reminder of the good days.
Hawk: When™s the last time you ever heard of a guy turning down $140-plus million because the ballpark was too big?
Stone: That was Juan Gonzalez in Detroit. And having my cousin as his agent, he mentioned to him, ˜You know you™ve had some back problems and for seven years at $142 million they will probably move the fences in for you.™ Which by the way they have done in that ballpark. But he turned it down and never came close to that kind of money again. Now, they™re not holding the tag days for him¦
Hawk: Right.
Stone: ¦but on a list of decisions in his life, that™s going to go down as a bad one.
Hawk: They are not holding Miguel Negram on at first. Little chopper, easy force at second and that will do it. We are half way home, tied at 1-1.