Archives
11:00:00 AM EDT
Hearing Indie Rock on AOL Radio
'To Forgive Is Divine'
The Orioles may draft Jeffrey Maier next week. Peter Angelos just may go ahead and welcome the kid that O's fans love to hate into the franchise. Washington Post's Dave Sheinin does a wonderful job telling the story -- which has been emailed to me repeatedly this morning, "Is this a joke?" -- of the infamous 12-year old who turned Derek Jeter's fly out into a home run during Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS but who is now all growns up. In fact, the kid is now the all-time hit king at Wesleyan (Conn.) University and has "a 50-50 chance" of getting drafted. Here's what Angelos had to say on the subject...
"I wouldn't be at all opposed to [drafting Maier]. In fact, I'd say it's a very interesting development. You can say the Orioles are very seriously considering him. I know this much: I was at that game, and he certainly did seem to be a heck of an outfielder. Sure, we'd take him. In fact, I like the idea more and more, the more I think about it."
I can tell you who doesn't like the idea, though: Angelos' paying customers, who already despise him anyway. Even if the home run wasn't the kid's fault -- umpire Rich Garcia blew the call, bastard -- the ill will towards Maier runs deep. Check out these quotes...
"I could still be in Baltimore if that didn't happen," said Davey Johnson, the Orioles' manager at the time, whose departure from the organization at the end of the 1997 season came under disputed circumstances -- he says he was fired; Angelos claims he resigned.
"It was a real big game, and we were going to win it," Johnson said. "It changed a lot of things. It got me fired -- not immediately, but it got me fired. I didn't win [it all]. I won a little bit, but not enough."
Pitcher Scott Erickson, who started the game for the Orioles and was in line to get the win before Armando Benitez served up the fateful pitch in the eighth inning to Jeter, said he hopes Maier makes it to the major leagues, "just so I can drill him -- I'd like to get one shot at him."
That's pretty intense right there. Ten years gone and Erickson would bean the kid for something he did, for something we all would have done, as a 12-year old. Amazingly, I agree with Angelos here when he says, "To forgive is divine." That said, I'd still rather see him go undrafted just so we don't have to recall this mess of a game any longer than we've already had to.
Update: Yeah, my brother really hates Angelos now more than ever.
Written by dcsportsguy Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
Good! Draft him. If for no other reason than to keep him from ever playing for NYY. Revenge is sweet. Draft him and then bury him in Bowie.
-
Man, I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Maier... He started the Yankee dynasty. And i enjoy talking about him in front of O's fans. Ha, the reason they don't win is because their owner is a POS!
http://journals.aol.com/knemeth00/TheLushFactor/ -
No, Davey, your moronic managing in the 1997 ALCS ensured you were fired. Having Benitez walk Thome despite Thome being 0-20 against him in Game 2 gave the Indians life. Whining about instead of rallying your troops after Game 3, then starting the goat of the Game 2, Webster, so he could be the goat of Game 4. Then you took your mistress to Angelos' charity event in the post season.
-
I wish the Yankees would draft him so we can finally put him on the payroll :-)
6/5/06 11:54 PM