Beltran
64So, I have had this long Carlos Beltran essay in my head for a while … I have inserted most of these thoughts into other posts and columns, but I thought that at some point it would be worth putting all of them in one place. And what better time to do it than Michael Rosenberg Week since Michael, long before he was writing fabulous books about Woody and Bo was a diehard New York Mets fan. I realize that is a stretch, but hey, let’s be honest, we can’t write every day about Ohio State and Michigan.
* * *
The game I remember most — and I remember many games featuring the young Carlos Beltran — was a Thursday afternoon makeup game against Arizona in the charmed year of 2003. The Royals, improbably, were still only a game out of first place that year … I say improbably because nothing about that year made sense, nothing, including the fact that the Royals starter that day, in the midst of a pennant race, was someone called “Brad Voyles.” To this day I cannot remember if Brad Voyles was the pitcher who rather maniacally tossed around the rosin bag after every pitch or if that was someone else whose name is on a past Royals roster, like Jimmy Serrano or Matt Kinney, but whose face and talents have been lost to memory.*
*I do recall that Jeremy Affeldt was the one who lost a game by SLIPPING on the rosin bag as he attempted to start a double play. When you chronicle the Kansas City Royals, you have to keep such details straight.
Arizona happened to be starting Randy Johnson that day; I suspect Las Vegas did not have a betting line for the Unit-Voyles pitching matchup. But this was 2003, a magical year for Kansas City, and the Royals battered Randy Johnson that day (Unit was hurt and off in 2003 anyway). They banged Unit around for 10 hits and four runs in five innings — Aaron Guiel led off the game with a home run, Beltran hit a sacrifice fly, and in the fifth Beltran, Rondell White, Ken Harvey and Angel Berroa hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles to finish off Randy Johnson. Meanwhile, Voyles piched well in his third (and final) Major League start. He gave up just one run in five innings, and it looked like the Diamondbacks would just concede and go home.
As I wrote in my Kansas City Star column the next day, the Diamondbacks had three of the following four very old people in their makeup-game lineup that day:
1. Steve Finley.
2. Felix Jose
3. Carlos Baerga
4. Minnie Minoso.
Yes, it looked like the Diamondbacks wanted to get home in time for the early-bird buffet at the Golden Corral. But there is something about the Royals that inspires opponents (it could be the walks) and the D-backs showed some energy, and they scored three off of D.J. Carrasco, another one off Jason Grimsley. The Royals actually trailed 5-4 going into the ninth.
And that’s when Carlos Beltran did one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on a baseball field. Well, it wasn’t just one thing. It was a series of things. With one out in the ninth, he faced Arizona closer Matt Mantei. And he fell behind two strikes. He worked and fouled off pitches and drew a walk. It is one of the more exciting walks I’ve ever seen — not that I carry around a long list of exciting walks — because Beltran seemed to realize early on that he could not hit Mantei, who was throwing 99 that day. But he was also determined not to make an out. I don’t know how many pitches he fouled off — maybe two maybe six, I don’t remember. But I do remember the tenseness of the moment, the intensity of the crowd, the almost surreal feeling of Kansas City being in a pennant race. Beltran drew the walk and went to first base.
And this is what he did: He stole second base. That’s not too surprising … Carlos Beltran is the most effective base stealer in baseball history. He has stolen successfully 87.3% of the time (updated, I had the wrong number of stolen bases). Here are the most successful base stealers in since 1950 (min. 200 stolen bases):
1. Carlos Beltran, 270 steals, 37 caught, 87.3%
2. Tim Raines, 808 steals, 146 caught, 84.7%
3. Eric Davis, 349 steals, 66 caught, 84.1%
4. Willie Wilson, 668 steals, 134 caught, 83.3%
5. Barry Larkin, 379 steals, 77 caught, 83.1%
(tie) Tony Womack, 363 steals, 74 caught, 83.1%
7. Davey Lopes, 557 steals, 114 caught, 83.0%
8. Jimmy Rollins, 290 steals, 60 caught, 82.9%
9. Stan Javier, 246 steals, 51 caught, 82.8%
10. Carl Crawford, 302 steals, 64 caught, 82.5%
Notice, I say Beltran is the “most effective base stealer.” I don’t say he’s the greatest or the most successful … as you will see part of the Beltran aura is that he is TOO effective a base stealer, the ever-present feeling is that he should steal more bases, take more chances, be willing to get thrown out more. This is the constant cry with Beltran: He should be greater.
But there’s time for that later. Beltran stole second base. Then, after Mantei walked Raul Ibanez, Beltran stole third base. There was this look about him that afternoon, he looked mad. You didn’t see that often. Beltran from his first day played baseball with an ease that struck people in different ways. He always looked bored but pleased, the way people look when laying out on a beach. Many thought Beltran just wasn’t giving his all … and he gave those people fuel as a young man when he would forget how many outs there were or he would look disinterested as he jogged down a double in the gap. But mostly, I think, the ease was just grace. The old sportswriters always marveled at how DiMaggio made it all look so easy. Beltran made it look easy too.
But this day, he was caught up in the game, he was inspired by the moment, he drew the hard walk, he stole second base, he stole third base, and then Ken Harvey hit a very short fly ball to right field. Very short. The ball could easily have been caught the second baseman. Instead it was caught by the Arizona right fielder, Danny Bautista, and Beltran without hesitating took off for home. There seemed absolutely no possible he could scored on the fly ball.
Only … he scored on the fly ball. He simply outran the throw home. It was like an optical illusion. It was like something you might hear them say about Cool Papa Bell.
The Royals ended up losing the game, somehow. But I remember the way everyone buzzed about what Carlos Beltran had done. People talked about how he looked like a big brother playing ball with the little kids. And it was that day, I’m pretty sure, that Raul Ibanez said: “I think by the time Carlos is done, he will be as good a player as the game has ever seen.”
* * *
Sure, I got carried away with Carlos. Well, what do you expect? It’s one thing to TALK about how bad baseball has been in Kansas City the last dozen years. But it’s quite another thing to live it. In the last dozen years, I apparently have written more than 1,000 columns with the word “Royals” in it. And since I have rarely written about the British Royal family, that means I have spent most of my adult life chronicling a baseball team that has played .414 baseball for the last dozen seasons.
That’s really bad — worse than I thought, honestly. That means the Royals have averaged 95 losses a season since I began writing about them. as lamentable as the Pittsburgh Pirates have been, they haven’t been that bad. As pointless as the Tampa Bay Rays have been, going back to their Devil ways, they haven’t been that bad. The Royals since 1997 have only been about one win per year better than the Kansas City Athletics, probably the worst franchise in the history of professional baseball. And if you take away that charmed 2003 season, the Royals not even that one game better.
The Royals haven’t just lost either, they have lost funny, they’ve been a freak show. This is easy to see when you look at the catalog of disasters under the heading “Dropped fly balls.” This is just one category, mind you, this does not include “Base running blunders,” or “Incredible pitching moments” or “Managerial foul-ups” or “The odd but satisfying career of Ken Harvey.” I’ve mentioned some (or even all) of these before, but they take on a special meaning for me when put together.
1. The famed Chip Ambres, who managed to so greatly enrich Royals history in only 53 games, dropped a pop-up with two outs in the ninth inning to allow the Cleveland Indians to overcome a 7-2 ninth inning score. The Indians did not just overcome the five-run deficit, they laughed at the deficit, mocked it, they score eleven runs in an ninth inning that deserves to be relived for posterity … Mike MacDougal started the inning on the mound. And this followed:
- Casey Blake doubled.
- Grady Sizemore doubled (Blake scored Run #1)
- Coco Crisp singled (Sizemore scored Run #2)
- Jhonny Peralta struck out.
- Travis Hafner doubled.
- Victor Martinez singled — this may have been the pop-up that landed behind Angel Berroa, I know that was in there somewhere (Crisp scored Run #3)
- Ron Belliard grounded out to short (Hafner scored Run #4)
- Jeff Liefer (oddly) was chosen to pinch hit for Ben Broussard, and he lofted a fly ball to left field, the one that Ambres famously dropped. (Belliard scored Run #5)
- Aaron Boone doubled (Liefer scored Run #6)
- Jimmy Gobble came in (inexplicably) to intentionally walk Casey Blake.
- Grady Sizemore singled to right field (Boone and Blake scored Runs #7 and #8 as Emil Brown kicked the ball to the infield)
- Coco Crisp walked
- Jhonny Peralta homered (Sizemore, Crisp and Peralta scored Runs #9, #10, #11).
- Travis Hafner struck out.
For the record, this was loss #11 in the Royals famed 19-game losing streak of 2005.
2. The famed Chip Ambres teamed up with Terrence Long (who Royals general manager Allard Baird insisted deserved a Gold Glove) for a classic moment on a routine pop-up hit by Juan Uribe. It went like so: Uribe hit the pop-up to left with two outs, Ambres and Long both settled under it, looked at each other, and then started in a satisfied way began running back to the dugout. Unfortunately neither one had actually caught the ball, so it plopped down harmlessly behind them, allowing the winning run to score.
3. Esteban German, inexplicably playing centerfield, caught a fly ball with his face on a particularly sunny day. Well, he didn’t “catch” the fly ball … it just hit him in the face and fell to the ground. It did not go unnoticed that German was not wearing his sunglasses while playing centerfield. It also did not go unnoticed that he WAS wearing his sunglasses that night on the plane ride home to cover up the shiner.
4. Tony Pena Jr. dropped a pop-up this year when HE was not wearing sunglasses, and his explanation was that he had ordered the sunglasses but they had not come in.
5. Pitcher Brian Bannister dropped an infield pop-up that allowed the winning run to score from second base.
6. The astonishing Kerry Robinson, in one of only 18 games he would play with the Kansas City Royals raced back on a long fly ball by Joe Crede, used his great athleticism to climb the ball, reached up his glove … and watched the ball bounce 10 feet in front of him on the warning track and then skip over the fence. The umpires were so faked out they called it a home run, leaving poor Buddy Bell in the unenviable position of having to argue that, no, it was not a home run, he just happened to have a centerfielder who climbs walls on ground rule doubles.
This is but a small sample of what it is to be around the Kansas City Royals year after year, and an explanation of why I fell so hard for Carlos Beltran. I used to go to a terrible late night diner that had one good item on the menu; the tuna melt. Every other choice on the menu might get you sick. Carlos Beltran was my Royals tuna melt. He could do everything — who could hit and run, throw and chase down fly balls, crush homers from both sides of the plate and steal bases so easily, like he was ordering them from a drive-thru window.
He wasn’t a polished player as a 22-year-old rookie … he had not played Class AAA ball, and if the Royals had been a better team there is no way he would have started the season in center field. But his talent was staggering and decisive. How many 22-year old players in the history of baseball have hit 20 homers, stolen 20 bases and had 100 or more runs created? The answer is five, and it’s a pretty good list of players.
1. Alex Rodriguez had his 40-40 season when he was 22, 138 runs created.
2. Andruw Jones, one of the great young players ever, had 26 homers, 24 stolen bases and 105 runs created.
3. Grady Sizemore at 22 very cooly hit 22 homers and stole 22 bases. He had 104 RC.
4. Cesar Cedeno, who would be in the 25-under Hall of Fame, hit 25 homers, stole 56 bases, 103 RC.
Then, there’s Carlos Beltran — he is the only rookie on the list (though Sizemore SHOULD have been a rookie … he had just a few too many at-bats the year before). Beltran, on sheer talent, hit 22 homers, stole 27 bases, scored 112 runs, drove in 108 runs. And he had no idea what he was doing. It was extraordinary. He was nothing close to a complete player then … he struck out about three times more than he walked, and actually had a slightly below average 99 OPS+, and he got terrible jumps on fly balls, and half the time he looked scared to death. He really struggled with the language barrier too, and in the clubhouse he often looked like a little boy who had gotten lost in the mall. It was startling when I went to see Beltran this year with the Mets … he was the focus of the clubhouse, the guy was telling stories and jokes, everyone was gathered around him. I found myself feeling just a tiny bit the way a father must feel when he sees his child graduate from high school … not pride as much as wonder, how quickly time goes by.
“I just grew up,” Beltran said.
Beltran’s second year was a fiasco, he faced real failure for the first time and he didn’t like it, didn’t know how to handle it, he got moody and defensive, and when he got hurt and the Royals wanted to send him to rehab in Florida he refused to go. He wanted to stay with the team; he seemed to feel that if the Royals sent him away they would never let him come back to the big leagues. He was hauntingly insecure and unsure of himself … and I think it’s in part because nothing Beltran ever did his whole life seemed good enough for anyone else. He has the gift and the curse; when he hit 20 homers people thought he could hit 30, and when he stole 40 bases people thought it should have been 50, and when he played great center field defense people thought it should be closer to Willie Mays. This went back to high school. Beltran was a second round pick even though many scouts could readily see he had more pure talent than the No. 1 overall pick Darin Erstad.
“I saw Carlos in high school, and he had all the talent in the world back then,” one scout said. “He was no secret. I thought that if he wanted he could be Willie Mays. I just wasn’t too sure that he wanted that, and neither was anybody else.”
And I think it wore Beltran down, I think he had a hard time in those days feeling good about himself. In 2001, he hit .306, finished in the Top 10 in runs, triples, stolen bases and total bases. In 2002, he played every game and hit 44 doubles and more or less matched his 2001 numbers. In that charmed 2003, he had a great year despite missing time early with an injury. He punched up a 132 OPS+, stole 41 of 45 bases (and two of those were pickoffs), drove in 100 and scored 100 for the fourth time in his young career. He finished ninth in the MVP balloting. I think by now people in Kansas City appreciated him, but everyone also knew he was going to leave for bigger places and vastly more money. In 2004, he got traded mid-season, and he hit 38 homers for Kansas City and Houston and then had perhaps the greatest playoffs in the history of the world.
All the while, people seemed to want more from him. Beltran would occasionally do these amazing things, so amazing that there seemed no going back to mortality. He once outran a Mike Cameron fly ball to deep center field, reached up just as he hit the ball, and caught the ball just as it seemed to be rushing by and over the fence. “I’ve seen two hog killings and a county fair,” pitcher Curt Leskanic said. “And I haven’t seen anything like what Beltran did tonight.”
He once outran a Garrett Anderson double into the gap, turning it from a double into an out. Brian Anderson was pitching for the Royals that day and he said, “There was no way he could catch that ball.” Even Beltran was impressed. “After I caught it I looked back to see how far I ran. And I was surprised. I thought, ‘Wow, how did I get all the way over here.’”
He once threw out a streaking Rocco Baldelli — who was probably the fastest guy in the game — on an amazing throw to the plate. “I have been around baseball a long time and I have never seen anything like this guy,” manager Tony Pena said.
He decided to cut down on his strikeouts and walk more one year — players talk about doing this sort of thing all the time but it’s not something a player can just DO. Only Beltran is so stunningly talented that after he made that decision he cut out about 30 strikeouts per year and added about 20 walks. … He once hit a tape measure homer at Safeco field that the scorers refused to even estimate … In Chicago the year he got traded to Houston, he hit two homers and stole two bases in the same game, one of only 10 players to do that the last 50 years …
And so on. And so on. In some ways, Carlos Beltran saved my life … or at least he helped me keep my passion for baseball. There is this feeling in Kansas City that baseball sort of goes on without us, that the Royals are only kept around for everyone else’s amusement. Beltran was like having a little bit of Broadway. Then, of course, the Royals could not afford to keep him, and then he signed for $17 million per year with the Mets, and then Beltran belonged to someone else. After the Royals traded away Beltran, and he had that ridiculous playoffs where he hit eight home runs and stole six bases in 12 games, sportswriters and fans from around the country would say to me, “OK, but you didn’t know he was THIS good.”
And I would say, “Yeah, I did.”
* * *
This year, with the New York Mets Carlos Beltran is on pace to hit .281/.371/.491 with 41 doubles, 26 homers, 117 runs scored, 114 RBIs, 22 steals (3 caught) and 90 walks. He should win a Gold Glove … he’s +17 according to the Dewan plus/minus. Since the beginning of August — so in the heart of the pennant race — he’s hitting .329/.391/.593 with 30 RBIs and 32 runs scored in 37 games. And he’s doing all this after having knee surgery in the off-season.
Only nobody is talking about Carlos Beltran as an MVP candidate. In fact, from what I can gather, many people are still disappointed in Carlos Beltran. He’s good, but he could be better. He’s well-rounded but overpaid. He’s put up some numbers but he left many on the table. The more things change, the more they stay the same. “I don’t think he’s right for New York,” one writer said to me. “I don’t think his personality fits in here.”
I suppose that will never really change for Carlos Beltran — he will keep on being incredible and he will keep on leaving people wanting. He’s 31 years old now, but he still faces the blessing and the burden. He seems to have come to grips with it all. Hey, he knows, it’s not a bad life. He’s rich, he’s famous, he’s part of a winning team, he plays baseball. I watched the guy long ago work out at the baseball field near his home in Puerto Rico, in that small town of Manati, and a few family and friends gathered around to watch him swat home runs from both sides of the plate and run down fly balls hit by a friend. “Carlos has grown to love baseball,” a friend of his said. “I don’t think he always loved baseball.”
A few weeks ago, I asked Carlos if it ever bothers him that people think that it all comes so easy. He seemed to know just what I meant. “Maybe I make things look easy,” he said. “But I can’t help the way I look. It isn’t easy. It never was easy.”
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How old is Carlos now (as opposed to later)?
He’s 31. It took me 5 seconds to find that out. Don’t be That Guy.
Ah, the 11 run 9th inning. The Royals and Indians seem to have a lot of classic games, like the time Luke Hudson gave up 500 runs in the 1st inning (maybe a little less) and when Paul Byrd got shelled early on but the Tribe came back to tie it on a Shin-Soo Choo triple and then win it in extras. Of course, there was also the time Grady Sizemore lost a ball in the sun during the heat of the 05 playoff race…
Of course, the only correct MVP in the NL this year plays in Missouri, but Carlos Beltran has as much right to be 2nd in the ballot as David Wright and more right than Jose Reyes (the New York’s press previous darling for the award) or Carlos Delgado (their current darling for the award).
I got to experience Carlos Beltran in person on only a couple occasions, once was in 2003 late in the year at the Cell and the other was early, 2004. Baseballreference.com says the 2004 game was April 14, 2004, a day game at the Cell. He was marvelous, though the Royals were not. They lost 10-9 to the ChiSox, after overcoming leads of 6-0 and 8-5 by the ChiSox by scoring 4 in the top of the 9th, including a long HR to CF by Beltran to tie the game, his 2nd of the game (the first was a moon shot to RF which is the longest HR I have ever seen at the Cell). He also made a great HR saving catch against the wall in dead center earlier. Alas, the ChiSox scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th off Curtis Leskanic and N. Field (whoever that was) and won the game
Beltran’s line that day: 5 3 4 4 0 0 .344 1.166 17 0 0 2·HR,2B,SB, not a bad day’s work. More than a few ChiSox fans that day were salivating at the opportunity to bid on his services the next year to come play CF on the South Side of Chicago.
It really grieves an old time Royals fan like myself that these 11 run 9th innings now happen to them instead of for them. I recall a game as a child where they scored a boatload of runs in the 9th to win a game. I listened to the whole inning on the radio in bed. I want to say against the Brewers.
This was wonderful, and so important, but the thing is, you’re right: it’s going to fall on deaf ears. No matter what Beltran does, there are bloggers out here criticizing him for treating this as “just a J-O-B” - well, isn’t it his job? Isn’t it the job of every professional athlete to play the game they are hired to play? This isn’t some episode of the Little Rascals or Lassie where people are here for the love of it.
I love watching Beltran because he reminds me of a gazelle out there. He doesn’t dive or barrel into the wall unless he absolutely has to, so he doesn’t end up on Baseball Tonight, so people don’t think he plays hard enough or tries hard enough.
There was a beat writer last year that criticized him for not having hired a language teacher so he could learn better English, because with all the money he’s making, and given the city he’s playing in, that was something he CERTAINLY should have done. I didn’t respond to that but I’m still angry about it.
(Am I the only one in the world mortified that beat writers for baseball aren’t rushing to learn Spanish? I mean if I was a kid in college now and wanted to be a sportswriter, I would be learning myself some languages. I mean, I want to find the time to learn spanish so I can talk to the people around me and so I can understand what Jose Reyes is yelling across training fields during spring training… I digress.)
And I wonder how it is that people who think they understand baseball - and people I know who really DO understand baseball - gleefully under-rate him so terribly, at least IMHO. I want to say to them, do you EVER worry when a ball gets hit into center field, no matter how impossible? I don’t. We sit there and watch balls go out and listen to people around us groan and all I can think is: “That’s caught.” And it’s caught not by some dramatic arabesque, it’s caught by what seems like Carlos Beltran sticking his arm into the air and snatching the ball out of it. Of course I know it’s not.
I have been happy this year to see/hear him making jokes and feeling more comfortable with the media. I am happy for this because it isn’t easy to play in New York and the fans are not applauding your effort and the racist idiots accusing Omar Minaya of what I refer to as “the International Latino Baseball Conspiracy”) (a nod to Dan Bern there) and and and. So when he challenges Jimmy Rollins with a smile on his face I am glad for him.
I found it. Love baseballreference.com. Friday, June 15, 1979. Royals beat Brewers at County Stadium 14-11 by scoring 8 runs in the top of the 9th. Willie Wilson hit 2 inside the park HRs, including a 3 run job in the 9th (his second hit of the inning) to win the game.
Caryn, Beltran reminds me a lot of the CF I grew up with in KC, Amos Otis. He is one the few players I have ever seen booed in KC (back when KC fans never booed). He always seemed like he wasn’t trying very hard. But man could he play.
I was at that Arizona game. I remember entering the stadium as Aaron Guiel hit a lead-off homer off Randy. My friend and I still recollect on the “sacrifice fly.” Beltran is as graceful and fluid a baseball player (even athlete.) as I have ever seen.
It’s too bad Baird waited till his walk year and insisted on a Major League-ready 3B and catcher in return. When you trade someone of Beltran’s talent and value, you trade for best available. It’s not often referenced, but I think the lack of creativity in the Beltran trade has stalled the Royals rebuilding as much as anything.
I was at that makeup game in 2003. I specifically went to see Randy Johnson pitch. That and when the tickets went on sale I snagged some right behind home plate. It was a one off makeup game on an off day for both teams. I wanted to see Johnson pitch a no hitter or at least strikeout a boatload of Royals, but was satisfied when we roughed him up too. That was also the game I got Buck O’Neill’s autograph. A pretty memorable afternoon though the final score was very forgettable.
The 2 Beltran moments for me are the climbing wall HR robbery, and the walkoff HR on opening day after Mendy “Freakin’” Lopez hit a grand slam or 3 run homer to tie it which I believe was 2003 as well.
As a Twins fan, I remember one or two seasons when the Royals opened the season with an outfield of Damon, Beltran and Dye. At the time, I thought if only the Royals could keep these three guys. And sadly, much like the Twins, it just can’t be done.
I really enjoy the random player mentions of Brad Voyles, etc. Sadly, I remember these guys. You have to find a way to get Carlos Febles or Joe Vitiello in your next post.
I had the misfortune of attending the game in which Jeremy Affeldt slipped on the rosin bag trying to start a double play (at Yankee Stadium on a Saturday afternoon). At the time the Royals were up 7-3 in the bottom of the ninth and a DP would have ended the game. I sat there seething while the Royals proceeded to blow it. My girlfriend, who was with me, had given me tickets for that game and the one the next day as a birthday present. As we walked out of the stadium, I said, “I can’t believe I have to come back here tomorrow.” That’s what the Royals do to a fan. (I did go the next day, to see Greinke get pummeled.)
I would love to know: would Carlos be booed when he comes back to KC? Has he ever been booed when he came back on an opposing team? I am curious, because in Houston it was HORRIBLE. And no one could make a rational case to us for their booing. A 13 year old kid had a sign reading BELTRAITOR.
It would seem to me that KC would have more of a case for that behavior.
I’m an Indians fan. They last won a World Series in 1948, since then expansion clubs, like the Royals and Marlins, have won World Series. Even the ol’ St. Louis Browns - the real worst franchise in the history of baseball, not the Royals - have morphed into the Orioles and won the World Series.
I don’t wanna hear about how hard it is to be a Royals fan. To us Clevelanders being a Royals fan is just a long parade of occasionally interupted championships.
Yeah, Mauichuck; you’re two World Series appearances, seven playoff appearances and .547 winning percentage in the last 15 years are a real tradgedy compared to the Royals 2 winning seasons and .432 winning percentage over the same period. It must be rough.
Here’s the boxscore and play-by-play for the 2003 game.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B09040KCA2003.htm
I decided at the begining of the 2005 season that I would keep a Royals schedule in my wallet the entire season. I charted each win or loss with a ‘W’ or ‘L’ on each date, and to this day, still have the schedule in my wallet. I don’t know why I keep it. Maybe to remind myself that things can’t get much worse.
The long, depressing season wore on, and my wrist cramped from writing the letter L more than any human possibly should. My dad went woth some work buddies to the K on a nice August night that season, and I saw him in the morning. He tried to describe the maddening way that the Royals had lost the previous night, but he could not, for you see, he had no voice left. He had worn his vocal cords out SCREAMING at Chip Ambres.
My father is a proud baseball fan. He played in college, and taught the game to me. I immediately took out my schedule, took a pen, and filled in the square of August 9th with black ink.
His name was Chip Ambres. He killed my father.
Regarding the Browns; there’s an old St. Louis phrase (I’m sure most of you have heard it already, but it’s still fun) that goes “First in booze, first in shoes, last in the American League”. The Brown shoe company, so far as I know, has nothing to do with the baseball team other than the fact it also comes from St. Louis.
Lastly, as a Cardinals fan you can believe that I have appreciated how good Beltran is. I think he’s very under appreciated. It’s like how sometimes teachers grade an essay not based on how good it is, but on their subjective impression of how good a writer you could be if you tried 100%. I hate when teachers do that.
Caryn, I don’t live in KC anymore but I used to watch Beltran play as often as possible. I really don’t think Royals fans would boo him. Perhaps unlike Houston, no one in KC expected him to stay. Rather I think we felt pretty lucky to have him while we did.
That 1999 Royals team got me back on the bandwagon. With Dos Carlos (Febles and Beltran … Febles, coincidentally, many had pegged as the better of the two), a not-yet-ravaged-from-steroid-abuse Sweeney, a coming-in-to-his-own Jermaine Dye, a steady-if-unspectacular Joe Randa. It was a darn good offensive club.
I remember thinking that if labor strife would hold off a few years, then the influx of first-round pitchers the Royals had stockpiled the previous six or so years (household names like Austin, Reichert, Pittsley, MacDougal, Burch, Snyder, Stodolka, etc.) would finally give the Royals a dominant young pitching staff to go along with the powerful offense.
But, alas, those names didn’t quite turn out to be dominant. Nor serviceable either.
Too bad, because that was a fun, fun team to watch. Got me back on the bandwagon like I said. The worst part is, I haven’t been able to jump off despite the crappiness of the past decade.
@ nick:
Slice it and dice it any way you like, but no Cleveland team has won a championship since 1964. When in high school, I used to love to make ironic jokes about winning championships after I die. Today I’m staring down the barrel of age 40, and I’ve stopped making those jokes. There’s no doubt that the Royals have had it bad for the last 15 years, but I also know that I’d happily trade places with you - I’d love to know what it feels like to have one of “my” teams win a championship.
BTW, the Phillies are the worst team ever in baseball, at least if you count WS appearances and titles by percentage of seasons played.
And it would have been awful to be a Philly baseball fan from about 1935 to whenever the A’s moved to KC. The A’s were awful (much worse than the Browns) and the Phillies weren’t much better.
Marco - I was just slicing it the way Joe sliced it in this post. He’s been writing about the Royals for 15 years. I certainly wouldn’t wish 60 years of championship-free baseball on anyone but I also wouldn’t wish the last 15 years of Royals baseball on anyone either.
[...] a trademark long, meandering post on his website today, the amazing Joe Posnanski writes about Carlos Beltran. Posnanski discusses the pure talent [...]
Thank you Joe.
He is the most underrated player on the Mets, a critical cog, a massively talented multi tool player.
And yet many of my very knowledgable baseball pals put him down.
The only ONLY chink is he doesn’t hit 300. Jeez, so instead of being THE greatest player of his generation, this leaves him among the best all-around players of his generation.
I’ll take that any day of the week.
Here’s a great, relevant article:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/9/11/611626/all-those-in-favor-of-carl
About how while Beltran’s numbers are better, everyone is screaming for Delgado to be MVP. And while I understand that argument emotionally, the numbers just don’t back it up.
I remember watching a game from the right field bleachers. About 20 people were out there and I happened to be sitting in the front row across the aisle from the right field Santa Clause (I can’t remember his real name, but he was at every game since I was a kid).
A line drive was hit into the gap and it hung up long enough that it looked for an instant that Beltran was going to be able to get to it. It would have been a truly amazing catch if Beltran was able to make it. Instead the ball bounced about 5 feet away from his glove and hit the wall where the 375/385 (can’t remember which it was that year) sign is. The thing was, it looked like Beltran just glode (glode should be the past tense of glide) over there. But he made up such an impressive amount of ground that I don’t think any CF would have been within 10 feet of where Beltran had gotten.
But, it really did seem that Beltran wasn’t really trying. For this, Santa Claus yelled out that Beltran was a loafer and wasn’t trying hard enough. I tried to convince him that the ball was a double off the bat if there ever was one and it was really quite amazing that he was that close to it in the first place. Santa Claus just said, of all the people he’s seen play CF in Royals Stadium, Beltran is the only one who could make that play and he damn well expected him to make it.
Such it is with the Beltran, he will never be good enough.
I was at a game at Shea a couple of weeks ago and some retard was booing Beltran and shouting “we didn’t pay you 17 million to hit .260″
I came over here from Metsblog. As a Mets fan I really, really LOVE watching Beltran. I find the Beltran should be better crowd just maddening. I said on another blog that if this were basketball Beltran would be Jason Kidd.
In so many ways I think fans want their star to confirm some part of themselves. Beltran doesn’t do that. He does have the curse of making it look too easy. It’s not so much that people don’t appreciate. They may appreciate–and resent it–all too well.
Let me try that again…
I said on another blog that if this were basketball Beltran would be Jason Kidd, but now that I think about it he’d be more analogous to Tim Duncan. Hard to deny his greatness, but for some people he’ll never be a “true star… you know like Michael Jordan.”
In so many ways I think fans want their star to confirm some part of themselves. Beltran doesn’t do that. He’s so much better at every aspect of his job than most of us are at ours. He’s a virtuoso, “cursed” by making it look too easy. He’s easy to hate. But in the ultra masculine world of professional sports it’s not okay to hate him because he’s beautiful. Rather, it’s more acceptable to simply raise the expectations bar just beyond his performance then say “he didn’t catch *that* ball and struck out in *that* at-bat.”
As an old KC A’s fan who still gets upset that Charlie O. bolted just as they were getting good, it gives me no pleasure to acknowledge that the Royals over the long haul, have been just as bad as the A’s when they were the Yankee’s farm club. Those clubs of the ’70s and ’80s were just messing with us.
Aaron M.,
I seem to remember the Mendy Lopez homer being the game winner in the opener in 2004, and it was that homer than won the game.
As a NYC-based Cardinals fan who weathered Beltran’s Godsauce-like 2004 playoffs, I feared his addition to the Mets. And after a disappointing 2005, he was definitely hindered by pretty poor home/away splits: in his near-MVP 2006, his OPS was .855 at home, 1.090 on the road (with a BABiP split of .213/.305!), and in 2007, the OPS split was .822/.925.
So now that he’s righted those splits and is producing better this year at Shea than he his on the road (.890/.836), it seems too little too late for Mets fans. But he’s still the best centerfielder in the National League, and yet Mets fans didn’t even vote him into the All-Star game.
I guess my point, is as a Cardinals fan based in NYC, that I don’t think too much of Mets’ fans. When his contract’s up I hope he finds a team that values him. Or undervalues him less.
Great read!
What an amazing compilation of knowledge!
I have never understood grading players on a curve. I don’t care if Beltran doesn’t try and Eckstein tries harder than anyone (I actually don’t know that this is true–in fact, I suspect it is false–but suppose it for the sake of argument.) Beltran is way better, and I should cheer him more. To put the same point another way, Beltran is just as good as he is; it doesn’t matter whether he attains that level by being as physically talented as Willie Mays and loafing, or if he is less physically gifted but incredibly determined.
I live near Houston and go to the Mets games whenever they are in town. It is horrible to hear them boo Beltran. The Astros fans claim that he left there at the trade deadline without the Astros having a chance to replace him. They blame him for only leaving because of the money.
I’m Guilty. When another Met hits a home run, I think something along the lines of “Wooohooo.” When Beltran take that smooth easy swing and hits a 450 foot homerun, I instinctively think “Why can’t he do that every time?”
@Keith H.
I’m not sure what Mets fans you hang around, but I think most Mets fans are happy with Beltran right where he is.
As for Delgado being the league’s MVP? No. He clearly doesn’t have the numbers. People who think so are just caught up in the shocking resurgence of a nice guy. But is he the Mets MVP? Oh yeah. If you don’t think so, it’s probably because you haven’t watched the Mets all season. Just looking at the numbers, you could make the argument for Reyes, Wright, Beltran, or Delgado. But numbers don’t tell you how many times late in a game David Wright has come to bat with a runner on third with less than 2 outs and he’s popped up or struck out. And they don’t tell you how many times Delgado’s come to bat when the entire team seems to be sulking and resigned to lose, and he launches a bomb that changes everything.
So from everything I know about Joe, he was a Tribe fan because he grew up in Cleveland, but he started covering the Royals (and rooting for them) right when the Indians finally turned around after 30+ miserable seasons and started winning the division every year?
That has to be the absolute worst luck you can have as a baseball fan, right?
this is one of the better stories i have ever read
I only had the opportunity to see Beltran once, but I didnt have to wait long for “that” moment. 2007 in Detroit. Beltran walks with 2 outs in the top of the 1st. Steals 2nd only the throw goes into centerfield. Granderson was playing deep but was moving in with the pitch and the errant throw came at him like a line drive back thru the box. Granderson, though overrated, is both REAL fast and has an above average arm. Beltran scored easily. He slid at home but probably didnt have to. He was at full speed the instant he popped off of 2nd base. One of the truly stunning plays I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in person.
“the Kansas City Athletics, probably the worst franchise in the history of professional baseball. “?
Try this. A team that over a 31 year stretch had a winning % of .373. A stretch that included 12 years with more than 100 losses and 7 with fewer than 50 wins. A 31 year stretch with one season over .500 (78-76) in the 15th year of that stretch. A stretch with 16 last place finishes and 8 more in next to last place.
A team with 1 World Series championship in its entire 125 year history and just 5 appearances in the World Series overall.
I know the A’s were awful during their stay in KC, but that was a relatively brief time and both before and after the franchise has had a few glorious periods. The Philadelphia Phillies have been the absolutely worst franchise in the history of major league baseball given the long history of failure.
Oh yes, incidentally in their first year of existence, the Phillies went 17-81!
Curt: Infante started in center that day, and Beltran singled. You can watch the stolen base and run here:
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w=2007/open/tp/archive06/060907_nyndet_beltran_scores_tp_350.wmv&pid=mlb_tp&gid=2007/06/09/nynmlb-detmlb-1&mid=200706092016082&cid=mlb&fid=mlb_tp400&v=2&id=576950
“But numbers don’t tell you how many times late in a game David Wright has come to bat with a runner on third with less than 2 outs and he’s popped up or struck out. And they don’t tell you how many times Delgado’s come to bat when the entire team seems to be sulking and resigned to lose, and he launches a bomb that changes everything.”
Wright 2008 Late & Close: .307/.441/.507 (93 PA)
Delgado 2008 Late & Close: .218/.326/.385 (95 PA)
Joe,
I was at the game you described where Beltran willed himself to score. My recollection is that his slide was something out of Houdini’s bag of tricks. I thought they had him dead to rights but he seemed to evade the tag by materializing on the other side of the catcher. This sequence was the most amazing performance I have actually seen while in the ballpark as opposed to ESPN. I love Beltran. Thanks for perfectly describing that run.
[...] checks in with a fantastic piece about Carlos Beltran, wrapped around a review of how pathetic the Royals have been since the 1994 strike. I had [...]
Caryn,
No we don’t boo these guys. Even though they are gone we still love them, we realize they are too good and KC just can’t afford those salaries. The last time I saw Damon he got a standing ovation. Mike Sweeney on the other hand…
I guess my point, is as a Cardinals fan based in NYC, that I don’t think too much of Mets’ fans.
That’s right. Tar us all with the same brush. Because, ya know, Cardinals fans are just such examples of deportment and class and great fandom.
I still don’t understand Houston. Beltran had no say in that trade. It’s not like he was some guy who worked himself up through the minors and became a favorite because the team gave him a chance. Which is why I feel that KC has more grounds to boo than Houston. Houston is just STUPID. They yell things like “We don’t stand for that kind of garbage here!” and I turned around and said, “WHat kind of garbage is that, exactly?” and aside from the 13 year old kid with the BELTRAITOR sign, no one could tell me, exactly.
After reading this it only made me miss Beltran even more. I had chance to see him play in the 06′ playoffs in St. Louis. Wore my Mets Beltran shirt and ticked a lot of people off out there. It was great the night he hit 2 HR’s that place cleared out faster than roaches when the lights come on. Best fans in baseball, my foot.
Anyone know where I can find a Royals shirt with Beltran’s name and number 15 on it?
Now I’m not a math major, but where do you get those figures?
If Beltran stole 279 times, and was caught 37 times, doesn’t that make his % 279/(279+37) or 88.29%?
Can anyone tell me what I’m doing wrong?
[...] In case you we haven’t mentioned it before, Joe Ponanski is the best. [...]
‘BTW, the Phillies are the worst team ever in baseball, at least if you count WS appearances and titles by percentage of seasons played.’
The saddest thing about the Phillies is that they were established in 1883, and beat both the Braves and Cubs to 10,000 losses. Both the Braves and Cubs were charter members of the NL.
I’d say the Cleveland Spiders deserve consideration for the worst franchise ever.
Jake, Beltran stole 270 bases, not 279, that’s what you are doing wrong. 270 /(270 + 37) = 84.79
Um, Carlos Beltran is not the Tim Duncan of the MLB. Duncan has won, what, 4 titles and is (easily) a top-15 NBA player of all time. I suppose they are similar in the way that they are not appreciated for what they are.
So, yes, Beltran is underappreciated. He’s wonderful to watch.He’s at a critical stage of his career. If he has several more good years, he’s a HOFer easily in my book. But a lot players fall off quickly at age 32.
Beltran is much better than Delgado, and the only reason people are on the Delgado for MVP bandwagon is that up until June, he was a disaster. Sure, the team picked up once he jumped into the wayback machine and found his bat - it was like finding an All-Star in the mezzanine and tossing him a uniform - but his craptitude was a major reason they were horrible to begin with.
From opening day 2007 through June 1, 2008, here are some numbers for “MVP” boy and the man they sent away to get him, Mike Jacobs:
AVG - Jacobs .263, Delgado .249
SLG - Jacobs .494, Delgado .431
HR - Delgado 32, Jacobs 30 (but in 208 more plate appearances)
RC/27 - Jacobs 5.11, Delgado 4.99
Sure, he gets credit for the upswing, but he deserves just as much approbation for the early-year struggles. (@ Denopac - nice assist on the late and close numbers for Delgado and Wright!)
I loved the way he would tumble in the outfield after he launched a throw to home and the way he would wait just an extra second after robbing a home run to show the ball.
I think when he left is when I really started to get bitter about the Royals. When he was here, the losing didn’t seem so bad.
@Old Man Duggan
You are correct in that it was the 2004 Opening Day (and after 2003’s excitement, this made 2004 seem like it could be the year!). You are incorrect about Lopez winning it. Beltran hit a 2 run homer to win it after Berroa singled, after Lopez hit the 3-run homer to tie it.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2004/B04050KCA2004.htm
I’m late to commenting on this because Joe writes sop much that I’m playing a hopeless game of catchup…but his description of how many people view Beltran was rather haunting.
You see, I am a Reds fan, and we recently rid our club of someone who, while not nearly the all-around player Beltran is, is in much the same boat: Adam Dunn.
The people who hate Dunn (and they are legion) have their arguments, mostly centered around his flaws: he strikes out a lot, his numbers with RISP can be frightening, and his defense before this year could be an adventure — this year he is mostly average.
Of course, these arguments do not focus on what he does well - namely, hit the hell out of the ball and get on base at an astonishing clip — unless you are Dusty Baker and claim that walks merely “clog up the bases,” which is only the second most idiotic thing that man has uttered this season.
Faced with the idea that the front office was not going to be willing to resign him or even offer him arbitration, I suppose the Reds took the best deal they could get for him. But I cannot help but think that the D’Backs not only got a helluva bargain for his services for the rest of the season (the Reds are reportedly paying half his remaining salary), but they are going to be first in line to sign him to a long term contract at the end of this season.
The good news is that AZ fans (and more importantly, the front office) seem to get it…they appreciate him for what he can do, not what he can’t.
And there is a deep part of me that is pulling for a Arizona - White Sox World Series to make sure that one of our proud warriors can get a ring, even if our team is swirling down yet another whirlpool of a season.
I totally feel the psychic pain of KC fans. Just wonder how many contortions Dusty and Walt are going to make the Reds go through until it’s “their team,” rather than Krivsky’s.
SusieQ:
“I live near Houston and go to the Mets games whenever they are in town. It is horrible to hear them boo Beltran. The Astros fans claim that he left there at the trade deadline without the Astros having a chance to replace him. They blame him for only leaving because of the money.”
We boo him for a more legit reason than that. He played the Astros for chumps. He used us only to raise the Mets’ bid. The Astros offered him more money to play, but he just wasn’t interested in playing here. That would’ve been fine, had he simply told Houston as such. Instead, he prevented the Astros from signing anyone else in the offseason.
He would have been a better match in Houston. Fans in New York boo him (and A-Rod) out of stupidity. Fans in Houston adored Beltran in 2004. He was still batting in the low .260’s, but Astros fans recognized his greatness. He’s wasted on New Yorkers.
I have always thought Beltran was overrated. I watched him for five years in KC and, while the team was mostly bad, I cannot remember him ever carrying the team. He had one magical run in the playoffs for the Astrons, but aside from thathe has been a good and dependable player, not a huge star.
Also, I can’t believe that no one mentions his most famous moment as a Met, when he struck out looking as the last out in game 7 against the Cardinals, when a home run would have won the game.
I remember that day very well!!! I skipped a seminary class with few of my friends. They were selling tickets cheap and we sat on the third base line and marveled at the deeply pitted face of the Unit. I remember watching Beltran tag up with effort after Harvey made contact. I grabbed my friends by the arms (the kind your normally not comfortable with) and braced myself and said, “Oh sh&% he’s gonna go.” There was not way in the world he could have made it, but man was it amazing. I tell my 4 year old son that story sometimes when we watch a game on TV. I have a feeling I might tell that story to his kids… thanks for that Joe
I’ve really enjoyed my half-hour reading on this site today.
Bo or Beltran
Which player has more physical talent? My knee-jerk would be Bo Jackson since his abilities allowed him to do a multitude of legendary, freakish things. Not to mention being a ProBowler and an MLB allstar. Their dispositions are different which makes the comparison difficult. Bo the more aggressive and Beltran more reserved and fluid. Maybe the better question is who had better baseball physical talent?
I grew up watching Bo and was devastated when learning of his hip injury. To this day, I feel deprived not knowing just how great Bo could become given his immense raw ability.
Brian, that was exactly what this article was about. That someone would actually expect Carlos Beltran to automatically hit a home run in Game 7 is why he is so underated because people like you expect him to be great every at-bat
[...] thought I’d share with you something written about a month ago by the great Joe Posnanski. Here is a nice little piece of business about Carlos Beltran, who has just been this underrated force on the Mets the past two years. His 2006 was better, but [...]