SHOCKED: Rob Manfred Does The Right Thing And Puts Albert Pujols In The Home Run Derby
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I actually love that Pujols is apart of the all star weekend. We talked on Starting 9 today (out tomorrow at 7am) about how cool it would be to get to your first all star game and you look over and you see Albert Pujols and his huge dick standing on the other side of the clubhouse. That has to be a real Pinch Me moment for young ball players.
For context, I - an admittedly old seasoned salty guy - was in JUNIOR HIGH when Albert was named to his first All Star Game. Fuck me sideways with that statistic. I’m still that same immature punk at heart and Albert is still hitting in the derby and playing the midsummer classic.
Granted it’s a loophole or executive authority or whatever. But it’s still an appearance and I respect that even if he’s this alleged premadonna of epic proportions. The stories I’ve heard over the years.
Like if you are a coach doing soft toss with him, he has a zero tolerance policy for bad soft toss. He literally will kick you out mid drill and will not work with you if you give him ONE bad toss. And that’s not in a session. That’s in your career as an Angels staffer. Rumor has it got so bad they had an athletic trainer giving him flips one year.
He fouled a ball off his foot in BP and the next day the batting practice guy was not allowed to pitch to Albert ever again. Like straight up no longer authorized to even look at Albert because he could have hurt his foot on that pitch. You couldn’t make that kind diva shit up if you tried.
But the bigger takeaway is that attitude worked. It created one of the best hitters in history, certainly a top of my lifetime. He didn’t get there being a lazy bitch. Joe Maddon once said he commands more attention as a player than anyone he’s been around - and the results show. It’s not a dig as much as a pure observation that the best players consume the most coaching resources and demand, by far, the most from those entrusted with their development. They actually WANT to be coached and that’s awesome to me. Even with this dude haunting the majority of my young adult life. I still respect the shit out of him.
Cool to see he’ll be in LA and even better he gets the platform in the derby. Even though he’s cooked and washed and whatever, anyone with a pulse should want to see him one last time. God knows he deserves the final lap no matter how old and tired. I’m all for it.
more tomorrow morning on Starting 9. We talk to Dansby Swanson and it’s incredible. Listen and tell me I’m wrong