If you’re expecting me to say “the human race”, nice try. Violence is wrong. That said, I am very grateful that Newsday’s Neil Best listens to Michael Kay’s radio show so I don’t have to.
Some people dig ditches for a living. Others listen to endless talk radio babble about Alex Rodriguez.
For those of us among the latter, the tedium was broken yesterday by an intriguing exchange between two of A-Rod’s biggest supporters: his agent, Scott Boras (above), and ESPN-1050’s Michael Kay.
Asked about the suggestion Sunday night from ESPN analysts Steve Phillips and Harold Reynolds that Rodriguez be traded to escape bad New York vibes, Boras called the idea “absurd,” “media exploitation” and “ridiculous.”
He also suggested that in Phillips’ case, it “may be personal,” presumably because of Phillips’ dealings with Rodriguez and Boras when Phillips was the Mets’ GM. Phillips followed Boras on Kay’s show and denied it was anything personal, saying he believes A-Rod is being treated unfairly.
It’s anti-rumor time at 12:30 CST, ladies and gentlemen. MetsBlog doesn’t know who started the Aaron Heilman-for-Gil Meche talk, but Matthew Cerrone isn’t falling for it. Meanwhile, White Sox GM Kenny Williams is denying that Brandon McCarthy might be sent to Washington in a trade for Alfonso Soriano.
Sammy Sosa is miffed he’s not amongst the Cubs’ 5 nominees in MLB’s “Hometown Heroes” promotion. From the Chicago Tribune’s Fred Mitchell.
“This is supposed to be the five best players?” said Sosa, the Cubs’ all-time leading home run hitter and the only man to hit 60 or more in three seasons.
“Let me say all of the respect that I have for [the five]. I would like to know who was the one who made that decision of the five best. I just thought I should say something about that now.
“Maybe if I had played in another city most of my career, maybe this wouldn’t affect me,” said Sosa, who spent 13 seasons with the Cubs after three with the White Sox. “But I played all of those years in Chicago. All of those glorious years.”
“The city of Chicago knows about baseball; I am not a bad player”no way, Jose,” Sosa said with a laugh. “With all the respect for Mr. Cub, my numbers can compete with everybody. When I heard that I was not on the list, I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ I was shocked and surprised. The five best players? You have to calculate my numbers.”
The 5 Cubs listed are Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ferguson Jenkins.
Sammy’s right. Then again, why is he surprised? Wrigley welcomes its spectators every day with a statue of Harry Caray, our late, flabby, beer goggly announcer, rather than any of the five names that did make it into the Hometown Heroes list. I have no doubt that if Ron Santo sucks up hard enough he will get a statue from the Tribco, too, and make it into the Hall of Fame for not making the biggest f’n out of my entire lifetime in 1969.
Ben
Sosa would have been a better choice than Santo, but isn’t it odder there’s no pre-Banks representative? (a pretty sad list for a team with 100+ years to choose from). For the life of me I’ve never understood the Santo HOF push. Maybe I’m a tad too young to have appreciated him (then the same would apply to Banks, tho) but his stats just don’t stack up- hell, Cleveland loyals mounted a HOF campaign for Ken Keltner, too. Methinks Ronnie benefits from being a persistent reminder of an idyllic good-but-not-good-enough late 60s Cubs stretch. But by that measure where’s the groundswell for the 80s Blue Jays? Lloyd Moseby, anyone?
The Cubs could also include Bruce Sutter, Maddux, Mark Grace, Andre Dawson, or back to Hank Sauer, Mordechai Brown and Frank Tinker if they so chose. The Cubs make every decision like the block party around Wrigleyville is Cooperstown.
Ben