he didn't have to prove me wrong so quickly! back in my blog regarding keith foulke, i mentioned an article that i read awhile back that claimed that keith foulke was a selfish, non team player who did not get along at all with his teammates. he proved me wrong on the first day of spring training (the day that pitchers and catchers were to report), which was coincidentally keith's last day as an indian. he retired on this day. in doing so, he turned down the $5 million promised him by the indians to be their closer. actually, he was competing to be the closer with joe borowski. now there is no competition. joe borowski is our closer. competition over.

but in regards to keith. at first, this seemed an announcement reminiscent of the one made on the very first day to training camp for the cleveland browns. yet another reminder of the cleveland curse. on the first day of the browns season, le charles bentley sustained an injury that ended his season the day it started. the man who was signed to beef up a 'sad sack' offensive line. the man some 'scouts' had rated one of the best free agents available. the man who was going to vastly improve our running game. the man who was going to give us the upper edge when playing the hated steelers. the man. the myth. the legend. sustains a 'freak' injury and so goes any optimism for the 2006 season. on that front, i just read an article that states le charles may not play in 2007 either. his career may be done, all because of this freak injury.

fast forward to this past friday. i get on-line after a long day of work to check my e-mails. i was anxious to check out the indians website to read about their first day of spring training. i do not care that only the pitchers and catchers report on this day. it is the FIRST DAY. the off season is over. spring is near. baseball is back. for most teams, there is no real news. a few position players may report early. certain players may not make it for many various, mostly boring reasons. so and so looked in good shape. so and so isn't 100%. the manager made a joke. optimism is high. blah blah blah. i did not expect to hear indians news about this day in an e-mail. but there it was. from the indians website. 'foulke retires' i believe was the headline. my first thought is that of looming disaster. how could this bastard do that to us???! but time, and future articles, have proved to me he made this decision was made by a man of strong character and out of respect to the indians.

the best i can garner is that foulke's body was not responding to the gearing up he usually performed to get his body ready for an upcoming season. he had sustained many injuries the last few years. but he did pass the indian's physical. i have nothing but respect for a pitcher. it is amazing what they can do. i always considered myself a strong guy (for my size). i was absolutely humbled the first time a threw a baseball at a cage with a radar gun. on my first attempt, i think i registered 50 something. i was amazed. i was determined to throw the next ball 25 MPH faster. i think it registered the same, or maybe a couple MPH more. on the third attempt, a made a few changes that i thought would help. it didn't. i do not believe i hit 60. and my arm was sore later. sore, from those three pathetic attempts to throw a baseball as fast as i could. it looks so easy on the tv. everybody always complains when someone is wild. from 60'6" away, everyone complains when they are an inch or two off. any trig peeps out there? what is the angle of a triangle with a = 726" and b = 2". i believe it involves taking the inverse tangent of a / b. trust me, the angle is minute. less than 1 degree. math aside, my point is pitching is an amazing accomplishment. being able to excel at it is even more amazing. just look at the salaries mediocre (at best) pitchers recieved this off season. look up the contracts of recently singed starting pitchers adam eaton, jeff weaver, jason marquis, gil meche, and miguel batista, to name a few. most of these guys recieved somewhere between $8 to $11 mil a year to pitch. then look at their career stats. i consider eaton the best of the group, but he is always injured. weaver was dropped by the angels last year before the cardinals picked him up, and he got hot in the playoffs / world series. marquis and his 6 something ERA did not even make the card's post season roster. gil can be good, but inconsistency and injury have 'plagued' him. same with miguel.

ok, my point. throwing a baseball is an amazing talent. it is also an unnatural skill. one that can destroy a body. i believe keith knew his body could no longer take it. he was signed to be a closer. some call the closer the toughest position in baseball. because not only must one possess the skill, but also a mental 'toughness'. to forget about a blown save. to forget that he got hammered (pitching-wise) the night before. the last time he faced this team. the last time he pitched in the world series and blew the save in game seven that would have ended his team's uber long drought. that the hard work that the starting pitcher and maybe set up man / men performed, plus the work of the offense to put up more runs, and the defense to back up the pitchers, just got 'wasted' because you could not get the last three outs of the ball game. the indians wanted him to be an elite performer, and keith's body told him this was not going to happen. so he retired. and turned down $5 mil in the process. had he came to camp and tried to work through this, or even if he came and just pretended to try, he would have recieved his $5 mil. for less than one month, he could have made $5 mil. for a team 'on a budget', $5 mil IS huge. now, it can be used in a trade, or saved and used next winter / off season. now part of this ties into my whole disdain over contract disputes. if keith needed the $5 mil, he would have done so. who wouldn't, if they needed it? i do not know if he has a wife and /or kids. regardless, he could have had $5 mil. but how many times does a player leave his hometown team because someone else gave him a bigger contract, even though he really 'wanted' to stay with their old team? $5 mil. i do not know how many millions keith has already made. i do not want to know. all i know is this: he made enough that an extra 5 meant nada to him.

ok, i hate talking about salaries and money. they are ruining baseball. and it is greed, plain and simple. this story proves it, like i needed the proof. they do not need that extra money. j.d drew leaving LA early. a-rod possibly opting out of his contract early, so that it can be restructured. head buried in sand. i make less than $20 per hour. do you really think i am going to sympathise with you? no! get off my team, you greedy lying bastard. thank goodness for karma. need proof, the yankees haven't won the world series since 2000. enough said.

so keith, thank you. i think it is sorta cool you retired as an indian, despite never having thrown a pitch.