In honor of the pomp and pageantry of WWE Wrestlemania XXIV, which is responsible for my very late and very abbreviated update this evening, I present you with Albert Jojuan Belle, who would be right at home in a wrestling ring.
Good old Joey! My friends and I still called him that, even after he came to Baltimore.
I liked him as an Oriole - not only was he productive, I felt he made the other batters in the lineup around him more productive (because pitchers would not want to face big Al).
He definitely got a raw deal in both the MVP voting and the Hall of Fame voting because of his surly nature. There was certainly no-one more feared in baseball (both on the field and off) during his brief 10 year career!
Tim - The one thing I'll always remember about Belle was the time he was taking the field while hacky local sports anchor John Buren was doing a pregame report. Buren (probably wearing his standard classy Hawaiian shirt) called out for Albert, who responded "I'm not talking to you, clown!". I never had more respect for #88 than I did at that moment.
Good old Joey! My friends and I still called him that, even after he came to Baltimore.
ReplyDeleteI liked him as an Oriole - not only was he productive, I felt he made the other batters in the lineup around him more productive (because pitchers would not want to face big Al).
He definitely got a raw deal in both the MVP voting and the Hall of Fame voting because of his surly nature. There was certainly no-one more feared in baseball (both on the field and off) during his brief 10 year career!
Tim in NOLA
Tim - The one thing I'll always remember about Belle was the time he was taking the field while hacky local sports anchor John Buren was doing a pregame report. Buren (probably wearing his standard classy Hawaiian shirt) called out for Albert, who responded "I'm not talking to you, clown!". I never had more respect for #88 than I did at that moment.
ReplyDelete