Kolek planning to go pro
This is how I felt when Jim Edmonds became a Cub.God, I hated that guy... until he got a few big hits as a Cub.
LOL. OK. You took a topic about AJ and made it about Cheeks and Crean. He's right when he says "It’s funny how much space I occupy in your brain."
Half shirts.
I'm gonna tip a cap to myself and say that even though I was a kid, I never rooted for Albert Belle when he was on the Sox. In fact, I don't have a single memory of him on the Sox even though I know he had a monster year.
AJ was an interesting guy.He was hated in San Fran his one year there. A couple pitchers refused to work with him. He went to Chicago the following season with that reputation ... but he actually was quite popular with the White Sox. They had a loosey-goosey clubhouse with "good guy" leaders like Konerko and Buehrle, and a manager who didn't give a crap about who had what kind of personality. One of my favorite Ozzie Guillen quotes was: "If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less." Fact is, though, Ozzie liked him quite a bit.It helped that the White Sox won right away after he joined them, and he was a big reason why. He emerged as a leader on that team, which nobody would have expected. By and large, White Sox fans loved him. A few Twins pitchers said they actually liked AJ a lot -- they felt he always had their backs. Michael Barrett ... he liked AJ quite a bit less. Barrett wasn't much of a catcher, but Cubs fans gave him a long leash because they loved that he clocked AJ.As I said, an interesting guy. Back when he was a Bad Boy, Dennis Rodman had physically tried to injure Scottie Pippen and other Bulls. In that regard, he was miles worse than AJ (or Edmunds, for that matter). And yet Bulls fans came to accept him and, for many, to love him. Face it ... most of us cheer for the uniform shirt.
Could we do a similar vote?
AJ's teams won wherever he went. I'd much rather have a winner like AJ than a head case like Milton Bradley
All well said, Mike.As for Barrett, my recollection is he was at fault - he blocked the plate, AJ bowled him over (both clean and legal then). Barrett dropped the ball (if he ever really had it), AJ stepped hard on home and Barrett (embarrassed?) sucker punched AJ. I think Barrett was on the downside of a mediocre career that fell off of a cliff after the incident.
Top 5 in MLB in RBIs since 2012.4th is Pujols.....I was rather shocked to see that. Guy is on a tear of late and looks relaxed for first time in a long time.
Worthless stat.
If so, they wouldn’t keep it....thus would not be worth keeping....considering they still keep it, I’m going to go against your opinion on this one. It’s not the end all be all stat, and I am not arguing that anyway.I realize people don’t love it like they used to, but if so worthless, please end the Triple Crown talk forever since 1/3 of it is based on a “worthless” stat.
There are a lot of "stats" that are pretty comical, especially the "combo stats" that teams love to tout in their press notes and ESPN likes to parrot.So-And-So is only the fourth player in MLB history to record three months of 12 HR, 24 RBIs and 12 steals in a single season.Dis Guy is the first NBA player in 40 years to average 25 ppg, 8 rpg and 7 apg.Dat Guy is just the fifth college football player since World War II to rush for 1,200 yards and catch passes for 600 yards while averaging 5.5 yards per carry.Those aren't "milestones." They are just numbers that some PR person thought sounded cool together.
You could argue 2/3’s is a worthless stat. Nostalgia plays a big part in these things being relevant.