I want to be like Mike (Michael Young, that is).
As the spring continues to unfold and the baseball world is aflutter with Albert Pujol’s impending free agency and the New York Yankees’ front office continually running their mouths, Michael Young of the Texas Rangers had been mired in his own drama after the Rangers told the infielder they were moving him to DH after the addition of first-time All-Star third-baseman Adrian Beltre (that’s a lot of hyphenated words in a row).
Young, having himself been an All-Star six out of the last seven seasons, has been asked to switch positions before. He switched from 2B to SS for Alfonso Soriano in 2004 (I wonder how that turned out?) and in 2009, immediately after winning a gold glove for his play at SS, he switched to 3B so Elvis Andrus could play everyday.
His strong play, consistency, and “team-first attitude” has won over the hearts of many fans through the years. He’s sort of like the Mark Grace of the Rangers. You can understand then why 3-year-old Gavin Justice-Farmers was in a bit of disbelief/denial when his mother gave him the news a couple weeks ago that Young was going to be traded.
Check it out for yourself (and try to ignore the fact that the mother kept her iPhone in the frustrating vertical position when taking the video):
Beyond just being cute, the kid’s words took me back to when the team you rooted for was basically just there to support your favorite player. He says it quite a bit: “Michael Young is my favorite team!”
We all grew up with our idols. Somewhere along the way, I lost a bit of that mentality though.
It used to be that it didn’t even matter if your favorite player was on a championship team, or heck, even on a winning team.
Let’s look at the world of basketball for a second. Michael Jordan reigned supreme as a lot of kids’ favorite player. He was bigger than the Chicago Bulls franchise. Too big, probably. The Bulls had no choice but to conform to Jordan’s larger-than-life image.
I always had a soft spot for players who were constant professionals, devoted to their team, and eventually saw dividends from their hard work. David Robinson, of the San Antonio Spurs comes to mind. He was one of the good guys who stuck with his team through the ups and downs. He retired with two championship rings. He was from the old-school, I guess you might say. He was also part of a dying breed.
Michael Jordan wrote the book by which the new breed of superstars live by. Players like LeBron and Carmelo are bigger than the franchise. It’s the same in baseball with guys like A-Rod and Manny. They can’t be confined to a team. They represent a brand. We talk about them without even using their whole names.
Michael Young is an old-school player. He reached out to Gavin, the boy in the video, to talk to him and try to explain himself and his frustrations.
Who does that? Nobody.
Then he reported to camp, seemingly prepared to play a new position.
I want to be like Mike (Young).
Who were your favorite players growing up?
Players that maybe weren’t in the first (or even second) tier of superstars, but were able to stay loyal to their franchise without making it all about them.
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You mentioned mine- Mark Grace. Favorite Cub ever. My favorite non-Cub of all-time is Tony Gwynn. I think Grace loved the attention in a quiet way. Gwynn was/is just a professional.
Tony Gwynn is a great one. I mentioned David Robinson in the post, and I think Tim Duncan is worth a mention. A lot of what Robinson believed in got passed on to Tim in his formative years. Besides briefly entertaining the idea of forming a super-team in Orlando with Grant Hill, he has been a steadfast member of the Spurs.
John Stockton comes to mind as well. Malone always seemed to be about the scoring title when he was with the Jazz, and he’s since proven that by going to the Lakers for a super-team and his ridiculous commercials about a comeback with those training shoes.
It might be too obvious, but how about Cal Ripken Jr.?
Honorable mentions for guys like Scottie Pippen and Kerry Wood who experienced their best days in Chicago, left on good terms, and ultimately came back to the organizations. It was a highlight of my life to be in the United Center for Pippen’s first game in Chicago after being traded away in the great Bulls fallout of 1999.
I’d mention a guy like Peyton Manning too, but he does SO MANY DUMB COMMERCIALS. It just starts to hurt after awhile. You’d think being the highest paid QB in the league wouldn’t be as important to him as getting a quality team in place to win another Super Bowl.
Brett Favre WAS this kinda guy to countless people in the Midwest until the shenanigans he started pulling around age 35. Just goes to show that you can think you know a guy and be oh-so-wrong about him.
From what I read, the only difference between Brett Favre now and Brett Favre then was that his off-field activities are now public. Not a big surprise.
Yes, Kerry Wood may end up supplanting Mark Grace as my favorite Cub ever. He was pretty near the top already, and the way he came back to take less money to be a part of the Cubs organization again pretty much seals the deal. There are rumors there once was an F-1 “Kerry Wood walk to the shower naked day” everytime Wood was scheduled to pitch…I can neither confirm nor deny these rumors except to say- they’re true.