Originally posted by: Agentbolt
Firstly, Philly fans are the worst. I've been to a Phillies and an Eagles game, and you'll never meet a more bitter and angry group of people. It's like they don't even enjoy being sports fans, they're forced into it or something.
Having said that, Pat Burrell was a REALLY frustrating player to watch. He had tons of talent but never seemed willing to put in the extra effort to take that next step. He was also the kind of guy who'd swing on a pitch to first base to check the runner, which can get old after awhile.
Gee, you sound bitter and angry. :laugh:
First, you give Pat more credit than you should in terms of natural talent. Hitting major league pitching is FAR harder, even for the most accomplished of athletes, than it might look. Just ask Michael Jordan, who could hardly crack .220 against MINOR league pitching.
Burrell is a classic "three true outcomes" power hitter -- walk, strike-out, home-run. He averages close to 30HR and 100 rbi per season. How many of the ELITE athletes in these MAJOR leagues have been able to do THAT? Are there even as many as 10 now playing?
But, yeah, he has major holes in his game. Sometimes he has "disappeared" for a full half a season (last year) or, one time, an entire YEAR. Again, hitting major league pitching is NOT that fucking easy!
As for his fielding, well, yeah, overall, because of his shot knees on top of never having turf covering speed of any kind to begin with, he's an overall liability.
BUT, one guy here said he got tired of seeing balls pop out of his glove. That's selective memory, if Pat Burrell can actually
get to a ball, he not only catches it, but knows what to do with it, which is why he has REGULARLY been in or near the top 5 in the league in assists. He . . . throws . . . out . . . runners.
If you watched him regularly (I did), you'd also know that he dead nuts knew how to play the ins and outs of the left field wall, positioning his lumbering self perfectly before hand for the caroom and then often being able to one hand/bare hand the ball, and in one strong and fluid motion, laser throw it back to the CORRECT guy, be it the cut-off man or the right base.
Note: Nevertheless, he was a liability as an outfielder. His knees are shot.
But I have save the most important for last: Your false impression that Pat Burrell doesn't or didn't (at times) care. THIS IS PATENTLY UNTRUE. People's impression of Pat suffered because he's a true "old school" ball player, one who tries to NEVER let his emotion show.
I call that the Mike Schmidt syndrome. Mike Schmidt is recognized as the greatest third baseman in the history of the game, but HE never got his full due
while playing in Philly because he, too, always kept his emotions in check.
Pat Burrell cared, he
always cared, but he kept that stuff bottled up inside of the old school shell, which developed over the years and decades of baseball becuase they play 162 mother fucking games each year (used to be 154, shoot me)! You can't get too high or too low or it would KILL you in the long run, it would exhaust you emotionally. That's its genesis.
But, man, I'm hear to tell you, YOU COULD ALWAYS SEE the HURT and repressed emotion in Pat Burrell's eyes. The poor bastard was giving himself a goddam ulcer keeping it all in.
And yet, he was almost always amongst the FIRST off the bench to congratulate a teammate on his success. PAT . . . BURRELL . . . CARED.