 Manny hits number 500. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net. Used with permission. |
In having a discussion (as much as one can discuss via Twitter) with a non-Red Sox fan who writes about baseball for a living, I was struck a bit surprised by this message:
Too many Red Sox fans are trying to dismiss Manny’s time there as only negative
I don’t re-post it here (his “tweets” are public and anyone can read them) to single him out, but I truly wonder if this is really where non-Red Sox fans are with all the Manny talk.
I visit a lot of Red Sox blogs, message boards and other related sites, pretty much, daily. The majority of my friends, relatives and coworkers are Red Sox fans. It’s fair to say that possibly 50% of my time is spent taking in information about and/or discussing the Red Sox – and that’s in the off-season. So with all of that behind me, I can honestly say I haven’t come across one human being who has dismissed ALL of Manny’s time in Boston as being nothing but negative. (Dan Shaughnessy doesn’t count!) Hell, even Curt Schilling has acknowledged that Manny was a huge part of why the Red Sox were so successful while he was here. This isn’t even up for debate.
If people like my friend interpret the Red Sox fans getting upset with Manny trashing Boston and with his “antics” (for lack of a much stronger word) last year as our forgetting what GOOD he did while he was here, they aren’t really paying attention.
As I’ve mentioned time and time again, I was at Fenway when Manny hit his first home run as a Red Sox player and I was in Baltimore last year when Manny hit his 500th home run. It was an honor and pleasure to watch that milestone being reached, especially because I was sharing it with good friends. One of my friends came from New Zealand with a Manny jersey in hopes of seeing number 500. We weren’t sitting together when it happened, but we texted each other just after. He and I (and some of our other friends) were crying. The impact that Manny made on the Red Sox and Red Sox fans is not lost at all on me, nor on anyone I know.
But I see no correlation between appreciating what Manny helped accomplish with this team and what Manny did to orchestrate his ouster from Boston.
I have many good memories of Manny. His being a dick in 2008 doesn’t change that. But I have no love for him any longer and I make no apologies for that.
And now I’m done with writing about him. I’ll keep focussing on ex-players worthy of my time. Kyle got into the Mets game today and faced five batters. I couldn’t follow the game, but according to the box score, he gave up a hit and a walk, struck out one and got two flyouts. He continues to pitch solidly and that pleases me greatly!
Tonight we get Yankees/Red Sox at 7:05 (Remy!! Mikey Lowell!!!) and it will finally feel like real Red Sox baseball is here!