Received a call tonight from someone who’s supposed to be on vacation. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.
Anyways, I’m a fan of the New York American League franchise. I’ve been called an obnixous Yankees fan, and that’s a distinction I hold with pride. 99% of the time, win or lose, I am happy and support the team, but there is one player who I cannot bring myself to support.
Anthony Darrell Womack.
Tony Womack is the worst position player I have ever seen (and I’ve watched Alvaro Espinoza, Oscar Azocar and Bobby Meacham). Sure, Womack may have hit .300 last year, but his presence in a lineup means you may just as well start awarding runs to the other team.
There are players that for karmic reasons, I don’t want on the Yankees. This is a select group. Not necessarily because they’re bad players, but just because of things they’ve done in the past. And I’ve said that when these players become Yankees, they will absolutely suck.
To wit:
-Todd Zeile, in game 3 of the 1996 ALCS, tried faking a throw to second on a Tino Martinez double with Bernie Williams on third. The ball ended up in the dirt, allowing Williams to score. In 2003, he was signed to a $1.5 million contract and batted .210 in 66 games for the Yankees.
-Armando Benitez, who in a highly controversial game at Yankee Stadium in May of ’98 gave up a game-tying home run to Bernie Williams. The next batter up, Tino Martinez, received a fastball in the middle of the back, inciting a bench-clearing brawl (which saw Graeme Lloyd run in from the bullpen ready to open a can of whoop-ass). In mid-’03, the Yankees obtained him from the Mets for three minor leaguers. He lasted a few weeks before being dealt to Seattle for Jeff Nelson.
There are others, but these are the two that come to mind right now. And Womack (for his double in Game 7 of the 2004 WS, not to mention his general suckiness) is one of them.
Why couldn’t they have signed Placido Polanco instead?
For more reading on what Womack has brought to this glorious franchise, read this excellent entry by Larry Mahnken of the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog.
By the bye, 31 in a row. This man is amazing.
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