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I came across this CBS Sportsline article of the Top 50 Jerks In Sports. The list is mostly crap, but they did have an interesting and funny tidbit on Albert Belle.
This remains one of the best written descriptions of pure jerkiness ever conceived. It comes from former New York Times baseball writer Buster Olney:
“It was a given in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts. … The Indians billed him $10,000 a year for the damage he caused in clubhouses on the road and at home, and tolerated his behavior only because he was an awesome slugger. … He slurped coffee constantly and seemed to be on a perpetual caffeinated frenzy. Few escaped his anger — on some days he would destroy the postgame buffet … launching plates into the shower … after one poor at-bat against Boston, he retreated to the visitor’s clubhouse and took a bat to teammate Kenny Lofton’s boom box. Belle preferred to have the clubhouse cold, below 60 degrees, and when one chilly teammate turned up the heat, Belle walked over, turned down the thermostat and smashed it with his bat. His nickname, thereafter, was ‘Mr. Freeze.’”
Naturally, after reading this I went to Wikipedia to see if I could dig up any other “Crazy Al” stories. I came up empty for the most part, but I DID find out he plead guilty to stalking a hooker in 2006.
In February 2006, Belle was arrested on suspicion of stalking a woman who was identified in court as a former licensed escort. He was again arrested in charges related to the same case on May 17, 2006. On July 27, 2006, Belle plead guilty to one count of stalking and he was sentenced on August 24 to 90 days in jail and five years supervised probation. Belle had attached a GPS tracking device onto her car and obtained her phone records. Belle issued an apology to the woman stating, “I have made mistakes in my life, but I have admitted my mistakes and learned from them to be a better person.”
The great ones are always a little wonky in the head.
About ten months ago I wrote about Marc Ecko threatening to deface Barry Bonds’ record breaking home run ball. Ecko ran a poll on his website in which visitors had the option of branding the ball with an asterisk, sending it into outer space, or simply sending it to Cooperstown.
Ultimately, it was decided that the ball would be branded with an asterisk and submitted to the baseball hall of fame. I’m not mad at Ecko branding the ball, he paid over $700,000 for it and should be able to do whatever he wants with it. However, I think it’s an outrage that the Hall Of Fame would actually accept the defaced object.
The last twenty years arent referred to as “The Steroid Era” for no reason, as more facts come out it’s becoming painfully clear that a staggering number of athletes used performance enhancing drugs. Accepting this baseball unfairly singles out Barry Bonds for a reasonably common practice, and it sends a message that memorabilia in the hall of fame is no longer sacred.
I almost want to buy a prestigious Babe Ruth jersey, wipe my ass with it, and send it to Cooperstown. They have to accept it right? All bets are off.
It wasn’t that long ago that black men weren’t even allowed to play alongside whites, let alone own a piece of the most prestigious franchise in the MLB. Jay-Z is looking to become a minority owner in the New York Yankees, according to Time Out Magazine.
He’s already part owner of the New Jersey Nets, and almost bought into London-based soccer team Arsenal Football Club in 2005 before the deal fell through.
“I had invested in the Nets, and they (Arsenal bosses) asked me if I was interested in investing. But I get that from time to time,” Jay told London’s Time Out magazine. “Someone told me yesterday that someone else had a piece of the New York Yankees, ‘We wanna talk to you, yadda yadda yadda.’ I mean, I love the Yankees so I’m in the middle of following that through, but sometimes it comes to be nothing. That (Arsenal) was one of the times it came to nothing.”
All this will be worth if it I can just see George Steinbrenner through up the ROC diamond at a Yankees game…. .seriously.
Almost two months ago, I wrote a very popular article questioning the coverage of Ken Griffey Jr.’s 600th home run. Griff finally knocked number 600 out of the park today, and the classy fans in Florida gave him a proper ovation (although the crowd was really thin).
ESPN cut away from the Detroit game to show the modest celebration and the obligatory stat comparison with other all-time greats. I still stand by my original opinion that the media could have been a bit more helpful in the process of making this a special moment. But let’s enjoy the play in the video below shall we?
Two MLB players have reached milestones. Manny Ramirez has joined the 500 HRs club, the 24th player to do so. Ramirez’s blasts, 499 and 500, came at Camden Yards. Congratulations! Stank-0 thinks Manny would have passed 500 a few years ago if not for the Green Monster in Fenway.
In other news, Ken Griffey Jr. is sitting at 599 career homers. Sportaphile.com has written about Mr. Best-Swing- in-the-Majors before. It is unfortunate that injuries stole Griffey’s prime or we would be talkin about Griffey, the HR king. Albert Pujols and Manny have the next best swings in baseball, ISO.
Stank-0 has a few questions, where do you think Ramirez’s final HR total will be? Griffey’s? Their place on the all time HR list?
I came across this CBS Sportsline article of the Top 50 Jerks In Sports. The list is mostly crap, but they did have an interesting and funny tidbit on Albert Belle. 
About ten months ago I wrote about Marc Ecko 
It wasn’t that long ago that black men weren’t even allowed to play alongside whites, let alone own a piece of the most prestigious franchise in the MLB. Jay-Z is looking to become a minority owner in the New York Yankees, according to