Friday, January 06, 2012
R.A. Dickey is a pitcher for the New York Mets. He is not a particularly great pitcher, having lost more games in his career than he has won. He kicked around the minors for a while before making the majors, and even then was pretty bad. However, in 2010, at age 35 Dickey suddenly seemed to be able to get some people out, actually winning 11 games against nine losses and posting a very good 2.84 ERA. Last year, however, he again lost more than he won going 8-13, despite a credible ERA of 3.28. His employer, the New York Mets, is counting on him to fill one of the five spots in their starting rotation in this upcoming season.
However, Dickey and the Mets are at loggerheads about how the pitcher should spend his time in the offseason. The Mets want Dickey to train and stay in shape so he can complete the season without injury despite having turned 37 years old. Dickey, however, thinks he should climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. I assume the Mets made a formal request for Dickey to postpone his journey until after his playing career is over, which may be pretty soon, so that should some adverse event occur on the mountain preventing him from pitching the Mets will seek to void his contract.
Dickey, however, is undeterred and as I write this has begun his climb up the fabled mountain. The New York Times is indulging his ego by giving him a platform for daily reports. Today, for example, we learned that it took a long time on a lot of airplanes for him to get there (big shock). He told us of the clean air, copious foliage (his words), and an aroma which is “raw and organic” (most things raw and organic I have no desire to smell, but maybe they smell better at the base of a mountain).
(I should point out that Dickey is a knuckleball pitcher, a deliverer of a trick pitch which relies on the vagaries of air currents, raised seams, and its unfamiliarity to major league hitters. Knuckleballers have always been deemed to be as weird as their pitches.)
Dickey wrote that upon arrival he and his companions received a lecture on safe ascent. He went on: “I wondered if the attributes I have acquired as an athlete would be of service on the ascent to the summit. I am certainly mindful of the one thing that can cripple anyone, athlete or not, and that is hubris, the pride before the fall.”
What? Forgetting whether a pitcher is even an athlete (John Kurk, all-star first baseman once said to a woman who questioned whether his weight was too much for an athlete: “I ain’t no athlete, I’m a baseball player”), this guy wants to submit some false modesty about hubris? Someone whose only claim to any fame at all is his ability pitch just well enough to secure a starting job on a team which is widely-predicted to be the worst in the National League, but who, nevertheless is given a forum in the most-respected newspaper in the world? And while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is certainly a challenge and not something I have any desire or ability to do, he is not exactly Sir Edmund Hillary. According to the official website about 25,000 people a year attempt to summit the mountain. Not succumb to hubris? His entire trek is about hubris.
Dickey, according to his press releases, is climbing to “raise awareness for the Bombay Teen Challenge, which rescues and cares for women and girls in Mumbai who are at risk of being abused and exploited.” He said they are halfway to their goal of raising $100,000 for the group. Forgetting for a second that Dickey pitches in a city where there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of women and girls at risk of being abused and exploited, but to whom he sees no reason to raise money, I question why Dickey has to fly halfway around the world and portray himself as walking into the jaws of hell to raise money for this cause.
The New York Mets saw fit to reward Dickey for his single season of success in 2010 with a two-year contract worth $7.8 million. $50,000 is about six-tenths of one percent of that amount. For someone who makes $100,000 a year it would be approximately $640. R.A. can’t contribute that on his own? Maybe he can ask some of his teammates. According to baseball-reference.com the Mets payroll last year was $115 million (which was not very well spent as they went 77-85). Can’t R.A. ask some of those guys to put up some cash? How about Johann Santana, he made $22.5 million, couldn’t he spare a few thousand? Or maybe Jason Bay who made $16 million but played in only 123 games and drove in a mere 57 runs. Shouldn’t he feel a little guilty about not earning his pay and want to give some to charity? How about Oliver Perez who was given $12 million, released by the team in March and pitched only 16 games in the minor leagues for Washington? Surely he would feel better about helping abused Mumbai girls than buying more bling.
Dickey is not alone. Keven Slowey, who pitched badly for the the Minnesota Twins and was shipped to the Colorado Rockies over the winter, is with him. The Rockies apparently are not too concerned about Slowey’s injuring himself as they have made no request for him to turn back. I can’t understand why Slowey can’t contribute some to the charity since he made $2.75 million last year and is under contract for the same amount in 2012. Not bad for a guy who did not win a single game last year, but did lose eight times. (He was only 1-3 in the minors when sent down.)
I respect what Dickey is doing, and I have no problem with trying to help abused Indian women and girls. But cant he put some of his own money where his hubris is?
However, Dickey and the Mets are at loggerheads about how the pitcher should spend his time in the offseason. The Mets want Dickey to train and stay in shape so he can complete the season without injury despite having turned 37 years old. Dickey, however, thinks he should climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. I assume the Mets made a formal request for Dickey to postpone his journey until after his playing career is over, which may be pretty soon, so that should some adverse event occur on the mountain preventing him from pitching the Mets will seek to void his contract.
Dickey, however, is undeterred and as I write this has begun his climb up the fabled mountain. The New York Times is indulging his ego by giving him a platform for daily reports. Today, for example, we learned that it took a long time on a lot of airplanes for him to get there (big shock). He told us of the clean air, copious foliage (his words), and an aroma which is “raw and organic” (most things raw and organic I have no desire to smell, but maybe they smell better at the base of a mountain).
(I should point out that Dickey is a knuckleball pitcher, a deliverer of a trick pitch which relies on the vagaries of air currents, raised seams, and its unfamiliarity to major league hitters. Knuckleballers have always been deemed to be as weird as their pitches.)
Dickey wrote that upon arrival he and his companions received a lecture on safe ascent. He went on: “I wondered if the attributes I have acquired as an athlete would be of service on the ascent to the summit. I am certainly mindful of the one thing that can cripple anyone, athlete or not, and that is hubris, the pride before the fall.”
What? Forgetting whether a pitcher is even an athlete (John Kurk, all-star first baseman once said to a woman who questioned whether his weight was too much for an athlete: “I ain’t no athlete, I’m a baseball player”), this guy wants to submit some false modesty about hubris? Someone whose only claim to any fame at all is his ability pitch just well enough to secure a starting job on a team which is widely-predicted to be the worst in the National League, but who, nevertheless is given a forum in the most-respected newspaper in the world? And while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is certainly a challenge and not something I have any desire or ability to do, he is not exactly Sir Edmund Hillary. According to the official website about 25,000 people a year attempt to summit the mountain. Not succumb to hubris? His entire trek is about hubris.
Dickey, according to his press releases, is climbing to “raise awareness for the Bombay Teen Challenge, which rescues and cares for women and girls in Mumbai who are at risk of being abused and exploited.” He said they are halfway to their goal of raising $100,000 for the group. Forgetting for a second that Dickey pitches in a city where there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of women and girls at risk of being abused and exploited, but to whom he sees no reason to raise money, I question why Dickey has to fly halfway around the world and portray himself as walking into the jaws of hell to raise money for this cause.
The New York Mets saw fit to reward Dickey for his single season of success in 2010 with a two-year contract worth $7.8 million. $50,000 is about six-tenths of one percent of that amount. For someone who makes $100,000 a year it would be approximately $640. R.A. can’t contribute that on his own? Maybe he can ask some of his teammates. According to baseball-reference.com the Mets payroll last year was $115 million (which was not very well spent as they went 77-85). Can’t R.A. ask some of those guys to put up some cash? How about Johann Santana, he made $22.5 million, couldn’t he spare a few thousand? Or maybe Jason Bay who made $16 million but played in only 123 games and drove in a mere 57 runs. Shouldn’t he feel a little guilty about not earning his pay and want to give some to charity? How about Oliver Perez who was given $12 million, released by the team in March and pitched only 16 games in the minor leagues for Washington? Surely he would feel better about helping abused Mumbai girls than buying more bling.
Dickey is not alone. Keven Slowey, who pitched badly for the the Minnesota Twins and was shipped to the Colorado Rockies over the winter, is with him. The Rockies apparently are not too concerned about Slowey’s injuring himself as they have made no request for him to turn back. I can’t understand why Slowey can’t contribute some to the charity since he made $2.75 million last year and is under contract for the same amount in 2012. Not bad for a guy who did not win a single game last year, but did lose eight times. (He was only 1-3 in the minors when sent down.)
I respect what Dickey is doing, and I have no problem with trying to help abused Indian women and girls. But cant he put some of his own money where his hubris is?
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