Baseball, as I said last week, is full of unpredictable circumstances and it allows us to follow the players and teams we love. Last week, I took a look at 5 players and they were some of my favorites. They somehow had a period where they were really good and all of a sudden they vanished. This was due to injuries, age, and failure to make adjustments to pitchers/hitters. These five players were Richie Sexson, Brandon Webb, Miguel Tejada, Jim Edmonds, and Johan Santana. This week I take a look at the following five players: Matt Morris, Mark Grudzielanek, Larry Walker, Grady Sizemore, and Carlos Lee.
5. Larry Walker
What I remember about Walker is his weird batting stance and it didn’t look like the prototypical home run swing. It would work as if he had a desire to swing for a single but he ended up hitting a deep double or a long homer. He ended up playing the majority of his career with the Colorado Rockies where the ball was launching out of there due to the high altitude. I remember one time a news piece popped out one night and it was talking about his obsession with the number 3 which seemed kind of odd considering that his number was 33. He ended up averaging around 30 homers in his 17 year career and one word comes to mind when I think of Walker: class. He never said anything wrong and he played the game the right way. I would say Walker is one of those rare players that had a great career and even though he was in a class that included players that may have been juicing he was still great in my eyes.
4. Matt Morris
I know this seems like a strange pick but for some odd reason he always struck me as a guy that would stick around for years. When guys get big contracts their body starts wearing down from all the stress that must come from trying to live up to that big contract. Guys aren’t really playing right after getting that big contract because they have everything right in front of them. If you are given the task of keeping score in a ball game, then obviously at first you aren’t getting paid for that task at first. But, let’s say that someone offers you the chance to get paid for it. You obviously are doing it for the money and the keeping score is an afterthought. This is what happened with Morris as he had many successful years with the Cardinals as he dominated with a sick curveball and a decent fastball. His best years were from 2000 to around 2005 where his ERA was around the mid 3’s which is still pretty good considering that having it in the mid 2’s is considered stuff of legend. He managed to have a weird pitching motion where he swung his arm on top of his head which prompted most hitters to not figure out which pitch was coming out of his hand. Most of the time, he would look good and other times he would look great and that is what matters the most. Morris had his best years and once he got the Giants it was time for his career to wind down. However, Morris ended up winning a world series on a team that was ok considering that their pitching and offense wasn’t great.
3. Mark Grudzielanek
One of my favorite players because he never had great power but he was a great contact hitter. He managed 2000 hits in his career which is great for a 2nd baseman. One of the funnier plays I can remember him making was him scooping up a ball and kind of grounding it over to his first baseman. He also played great defense and his range was good due to his medium sized body as he was able to grab the ball and not really worry about too much. I had much respect for the guy because he somehow managed to play for almost all the midwest teams such as the Cubs, Cardinals, and the Royals. I mostly remember that his swing was so compact and sweet that it was almost inevitable that he would make contact at some point in the game. He was one of those hitters that didn’t strike out too much but he didn’t walk that much either. Damn, I miss Grudzielanek!
2. Carlos Lee
I always enjoyed watching Lee play because he was so good. I have heard the phrase that you don’t have to be in the best shape to play baseball and he did it with precision. He smacked the ball whenever he hit a home run and he never got too cocky in terms of the way he played the game. I remember when he got to the Houston Astros he would run out most plays and he was one of my favorite players that just went away. My theory on Lee is that he never got the chance to really ever play for a contender so eventually your body starts wearing down due to all the stresses that come with not playing for a contender. He did hit many homeruns and he did drive in a lot of RBI in his career. He also ended up playing in most of the games that his team played in which takes a lot of class due to the grind that must take up on your body. He never played with a playoff but he busted his ass every day to be one of the game’s legit players. The last time we saw Carlos Lee was when he was playing for the now Miami Marlins and it is sad that he had to end his career that way but he had to have a lot of dignity in order to do that. Hats off to Carlos Lee!
1. Grady Sizemore
Talk about one of the greatest short lived careers because there was so much potential with Sizemore! I saw him playing for the first time in 2005 and I figured this guy’s gonna be good for years to come. He would go after most balls that were headed his way in center field and he would also have the longest swing in terms of following through with it. He would also hit sweet home runs that just came off the end of the bat as he didn’t try to hit them but he did anyway. He had what we call the five tools in baseball and if only he hadn’t gotten hurt who knows what would have been of Sizemore. I would like to think at age 30 his career is over but I also have memories of the guy that make me smile. That special moment when he drive in a run for the Indians always had me wondering how many more guys like this could possibly come along in this generation where the five tools are almost impossible to come by? He was young and he had the potential but injuries just caught up with the poor guy. I’m sure he is upset at himself for not having had a longer career but what matters most is that he made the most of it while he played. Much thanks for Sizemore for all those times he would rob a home run because he made it look so easy yet so hard at the same time. I can’t think of anybody close to Sizemore’s range and speed to come close as to how he played the game as he will rank as the biggest what if just because he had the it factor which is missing so much in today’s game. Oh baseball, where do these players go? I don’t have an answer and what I can do is just preserve the memories.
Just Another Day... 