The Second Coming

Sorry for the long delay. Just got caught up in a bunch of things. I'm slashing video of the day due to it's suckiness. I'm gonna write a Cardinals pre-draft outlook this week in preparation for this Thursday's draft. Hope you enjoy my Pujols article I wrote last year. Sorry if it's outdated, I tried updating some of it.



“I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshiped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I gave Jesus a chance, but it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball. I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul - day in, day out - is the Church of Baseball.”
- Annie Savoy, Bull Durham

Ever since Manny Ramirez tested positive for steroids last year, I have been feeling like a Tim Wakefield knuckleball. And after the verification of Sammy Sosa's steroid use, my whole baseball world has been turned upside down and I'm slowly becoming a believer that every player that has found success for the past decade has cheated one way or another. I know this was/is pretty much common knowledge but for some reason, I had way too much faith in the game of baseball.

But due to the semi-recent problems that baseball has had to deal with (i.e. steroids, corked bats, cocaine user, and Roger Clemens' fetish for underage girls.), I have begun to lose my faith in the game. I have always defended a select few players who I truly thought played the game like it was suppose to be played and stayed clean. A few of these players include Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza and Chipper Jones. Man-Ram was also included on this list up until his positive test of a female hormone drug early last season resulting in a 50 game suspension. This is where I began doubting all of these players and I starting thinking about those guys more seriously and I realized it wasn't too far fetched to think these guys were on something illegal.

Kenny G, since 2001, has only averaged 98 games a season and only made three all-star teams. A far stretch from his 141 game per year average between 1990-2000, where he made the all-star team every year and won an MVP in the process. For Mike Piazza, I can see how age might be an excuse but since 2003, his last five years in the league, he only averaged 102 games a year and his batting averaged was 37 points lower that his lifetime average. And Chipper, who is averaging 123 games a year since 2004, had never played less that 153 games since his rookie year. Now, I know you could argue their power number have remained pretty consistent for the games they did play but I just don't think a guy like Griffey, who might have been the best athlete in the game of baseball during his hay-day could have become such an injury-proned player overnight like that. I'm not insinuating that he or the other two players have done steroids but in this era, anything shady like that will make a rational person like me question everyone and everything.

In the quote at the beginning of this whole rant, it talks about the Church of Baseball. That got me thinking about religion and baseball. If you know me, you know that I'm not religious at all and have no affiliation with any religion. So, when I saw that, I immediately adopted the Church of Baseball as my official religion. But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted to really try and find parallels between the Church of Baseball and Christianity. A ironic similarity would have to be that there are 108 beads on a Rosary and 108 stitches on a baseball. Coincidence, I think not. But the main question that came to my head had to have to been, “who is the 'Jesus' of baseball?”

If you go back into time, you can look at a lot of players who were in the game that displayed God-like abilities, such as the season Hack Wilson had in 1930 where he batted .356, hit 56 homeruns, and had a major league record 191 runs batted in. Or during the Yankees' historic 1927 season, teammates' Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth combined to bat an astonishing .365, hit 107 homeruns and knocked in 339 runs, more than half of the Red Sox's 597 runs scored that entire season. Or Ted Williams season were he batted .407 and only struck out 27 times in 606 plate appearances. That's a strike out a little over every 22 at-bats. Or you can look at Rickey Henderson's modern day record of 130 stolen bases in a season. The really amazing part about this is that Rickey only had 143 hits that season and was thrown out a major league record 42 times.

But in our era, these achievements aren't as impressive or heralded (minus the stolen base record) due to the prominent use of steroids in the past 20-30 years. Most notably, Mark McGwire's 62nd homerun to pass Roger Maris and Barry Bonds's 71st homerun followed by his 756th career homerun to pass Hammerin' Hank Aaron. Though I cannot speak from my own personal memory, I believe that when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's homerun record of 714 career homeruns, besides the outspoken racists and direct descendants of Babe Ruth, I believe everyone was generally excited and elated by the fact that such a beloved record was being broken in front of their eyes. But watching Bonds break Aaron's record was quite the opposite. People immediately put the infamous asterisk on the record and pretended that it never happened, still giving the rightful record holder, Aaron, the recognition he rightfully deserved. This isn't how baseball should be treated though. Yes, I know, there is always a bad guy, but never has the bad guy been so truly hated. Not everyone liked Pete Rose, but when he broke the hits record, people tipped their hat. Not everyone liked Pedro Martinez, but when he finished the season with a 1.74 earned run average, you better believe Yankee fans respected it even though they probably didn't show it. But when guys like Barry Bonds were winning MVP's, no one was happy about it.

Getting back to my original point, as mentioned before, I had the question put in my head, “who is the 'Jesus' of baseball?” I listed some all-time greats and even some recent legends but I had to find a player who displayed God-like traits and was capable of being a savior of this great game. And as I searched through the all the players, only one truly stood out. That player would be none other than the Machine, Albert Pujols. Why, you ask? Well, it's quite simple really. If my instincts are right (and I will admit that they have lead me astray. Ex. Manny Ramirez being clean, the Diamondbacks doing well the last few seasons, how the Break-Up was going to end, etc...), I believe Fat Albert is clean of the juices. I know you're saying, 'of all people, why would he be clean?' I agree with you. In this era, how can a man of his size and ability be playing baseball without the added help of steroids? Well, I like to think I can read a persons character by the demeanor they display on and off the field. The man has been nothing but a fantastic ambassador to the game of baseball and is loved by everyone (except Cubs fans). The man just goes out there everyday and puts up unbelievable numbers. I could use the argument as well, that he hasn't been caught or accused of anything yet so that makes me believe a little more that he's done nothing wrong. And some might argue that his numbers are too inflated for him not to be taking steroids or some form of HGH. I counter that with the fact that guys in the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and the 2000's all included players who put up numbers equivalent to Albert's and I'd have a hard time believing that guys during the Ruth, Mantle and DiMaggio eras were juicing. Albert is, in my mind, undoubtedly, the best player I have and probably ever will see play the game of baseball. He was sent here by the baseball Gods to right the ship. He will die, well not literally die but metaphorically die, for the sins of his brothers before him that tainted the game of baseball. He will be harassed, questioned, verbally abused, hated and put down (In other words, crucified) but through it all, he will rise above and save the game of baseball. He will do what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did in '98 until they ruined it all and dug an even bigger grave for the game we all so dearly love. Pujols will never truly get the recognition he deserves due to the era he was forced to play in but in years to come, we will begin to understand how he salvaged baseball. He has never asked for anything. He has always played the game with modesty and pride. He is nothing less than a godsend and I hope that one day, when the steroid mess clears itself up, Albert will rise with it and not be attached to this dreadful era of baseball that can only be titled the dark ages. Please, stand up to the popular belief that 'everyone in baseball is using steroids.' Use your best judgment. Sometimes you are wrong and sometimes you aren't. But Albert is the surest thing left in the game and we need to wrap ourselves around it and embrace it and frown upon everything else that makes this sport seem so evil and dreary.

Plus, anyone that can hit a ball as far as he hit it against Brad Lidge in Game 5 against the Astros in the 2005 NLCS should be praised.

My only goal with this is to promote baseball and make it America's Game again. As my friends and I like to say, “Here we go baseball, here we go!”