« VULTURE UPDATE | Main | WAS THE SPIN DOC IN GERMANY??? »
July 30, 2004
A LEGEND CHEAPENS HIS LEGACY
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson is one of the five greatest lefthanded pitchers ever to play the game. He's struck out more than 4,000 hitters, thrown a perfect game, won five Cy Young Awards, won 238 games, and has been the dominant force in the game for more than a decade. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer, and one of the all time greats.
But he cheapened that legacy this week. He tried to force a trade to the New York Yankees - whether that was going to help the D-backs or not.
There are a hundred things I could write about why Johnson's so in the wrong. But ESPN.com Page 2 columnist Eric Neel wrote them all down for me. His column summarizes my thinking on Johnson's little stunt. A couple of excerpts:
"So Randy Johnson wants to be a Yankee ... He says NO to the Dodgers, NO to the Angels, NO to anyone but the Bombers. That's weak. That's just a whorish glory grab. Why not go to work for Microsoft while you're at it? Why not jump in with Goliath and teach little David a lesson?
Or what if he'd said, "Yeah, these are lean times, but the Diamondbacks are my team, and this is where I want to be." What if he'd stayed with the ship, honored his contract, stuck by his word? He plays one of those parts and we're not just putting him in the Hall when it's all said and done. We're putting his mug on Rushmore. We're talking about a solid-gold dollar coin known simply as The Big Unit rolling off the line at the Franklin Mint. But no. That's not how Randy sees himself. He'd apparently rather wear pinstripes. Well, you better look again, RJ, because you look cheap in them."
