Manny being Ted?
So many trees are waste in Boston on the non-topic of ‘Manny being Manny’. Blah Blah Blah. As long as he does what he does for the Sox, he can be as loopy as he wants. You would think actions so self-centered had never visited themselves upon the Fens.
However in a post in the new and awesome ‘Bradford on Baseball’ blog, Rob Bradford highlights some reader comments (scroll down) on how Manny is actually only following the example of Boston’s baseball hero Ted Williams. Ted was kooky. Ted was insolent. Ted was even <GASP> late for Spring Training! Some one call the Globe and alert Shaughnessy....and tell him to lighten up on Manny and read Leigh Montville’s book.
“...Dave brings up interesting parallels between Ted Williams and Manny Ramirez after reading Leigh Montville's one-for-the-ages book. These from Dave:
Never arrived on time for spring training, even as a rookie. Usually he was a week or more late.
He requested to be traded several times during his Red Sox career, virtually every year in his last 6 with the Sox. He even "retired" at the end of one year out of disgust, but ended up deciding to play and showing up very late to camp the next spring. He actually was dealt once for Joe DiMaggio, but the deal was rescinded the next morning when Tom Yawkey sobered up (a bit).
Teddy lived in a hotel for much of his Sox career and often felt trapped there because he couldn't go out without being besieged by Boston fans.
Was accused more than once of faking injuries or not playing through them. He was also often accused of not running out ground balls (then again, there were plenty Yaz never ran out, either) and being more concerned with his personal stats than the team. T.W. was also given a lot of crap for taking walks rather than swinging at pitches just outside the zone that he probably could've hit. Manny has an equally discerning eye, but this is lauded in todays game where OBA & OPS is favored over batting averages.
Ted Williams was a bonafide and widely acknowledged "flake" - no, he never disappeared into the Green Monster, but he did miss a fly ball once because he was practicing his swing during a game while in the outfield and had his back to the plate as a ball was hit. He also came to Fenway on an off day with a rifle and shot several dozen pigeons then had the batboy clean up the carcasses. Other crazy activities noted in the book.
He had a contentious relationship with the media.
Teddy Ballgame was also a hell of a hitter, a hard worker and a student of hitting, as is Manny.”
So next time Manny acts like Manny, just think about Ted.
Monday, March 12, 2007
