A YEAR AGO, you might have bet the mortgage money that none of the following would happen:
* A return to $1-a-gallon gasoline.
* Bill Clinton becoming The First Man.
* Pat Burrell emerging as Charlie Manuel's No. 3 hitter.
Well, two out of three ain't bad . . .
I find myself wondering if Burrell's amazing, second-half turnaround could project the team's highest salaried and least appreciated player into the hunt for National League Comeback
Player of 2007. But that required me to buy into
the misconception that Pat is
rebounding off a horrible season.
That would be wrong, of course, despite the late season slump on which the premise is based. Batting .258 with 29 homers and 95 RBI doesn't qualify
as a comeback launching pad. But the popular notion that Burrell's 2006 was a bust endures because it was his turn to be the lightning rod. And if I was ever a marcher in the "Pat Must Go" lynch mob, may Zeus strike me with a bolt of celestial fire . . .
ZAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, who can remember who said or wrote what so long ago?
Here's what I can tell you about a Burrell swing I have followed since his fabulous 1996 freshman year at the University of Miami: It is back.
A lot of Hurricanes games are on the Sunshine Network in Florida. One night during spring training in Clearwater, I watched Pat dismantle
Florida State with a colossal home run and several lesser aluminum bat tracers. Even as a freshman, he was a man playing against boys. And one of the boys in the Seminoles outfield was a sophomore named J.D. Drew.
Pat's numbers that year would have been ridiculous
at the Little League level. They were so off the charts they read like slo-pitch softball stats: He became the first freshman
in Division I history to lead the nation in batting (.484) and left Miami as one of the most honored college players of all time.
Scouts I respect projected
Burrell as a major leaguer
capable of hitting .300 to .325
a year with an average of 40
homers. In other words, a
first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Nobody paid a lot of attention to his defense at third base because nobody believed Pat would ever play a professional inning anywhere but first base or designated hitter. But he was not a butcher at third. He had two of the top three things a third baseman requires - a strong, accurate arm and soft hands. What he didn't have and never will have at any position is range.
He should be honorary chairman of the WMDF - White Man's Disease Foundation.
