Scott Fletcher 1990 Upper Deck

On December 23, 2016 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook, I wrote: Is the BCB really Santa? That's what some people are saying. Postmarked from Salt Lake City too. Perhaps the BCB is Mitt Romney?After many moons, the BCB dropped a Scott Fletcher card on me with a note asking "Why can't we get players like that?"

This question was often posed by erstwhile Channel 4 reindeer/sportscaster Bob Lobel (not his nonunion Mexican equivalent Pablo Bell) when a former Bostonian did well in another uniform. 

2019 Notes: Hey! I refer to Bob Lobel here and I didn't need to do it in the last entry. I guess that just goes to show that I should probably read the next entry so that I'm not doubling up the work. 

Today's card features Fletcher in a different pair of Sox, White to be exact, getting upended on a double play. Fletcher was the prototype Dirt Dog that Boston fans have grown to love: scrappy, no power, no speed, and did the "little" things. He was one of the many who manned second base prior to the arrival of Dustin Pedroia. 

You should praise Zeus every day that you get to watch Pedroia instead of Scott Fletcher.

2019: I know that I wrote a bit about this a few days ago when I was talking about the Red Sox and their shortstop problems of the 1980s and into the 90s, but that also extended to the second base. I mean, Tim Naehring played pretty well but he was always hurt. Luis Alicea was okay for a little while and Todd Walker and Mark Belhorn were both good too, but once Pedroia showed up, that was the second baseman you wanted in your lineup every day. He hit for average and power, he was fast, he had great range and could throw too. 

Pedroia hasn't played in over a year (and in 2017 he was slowed down by a bunch of injuries) so I think that people forget how good of a player he is; but when he's on, he's one of the best in either league.  

This is a really cool shot of Fletcher jumping over Angels infielder Jack Howell to turn a double play. If I was him, that would be hanging in my living room. 

Fletcher played for 15 seasons in the big leagues and that's nothing to sneeze at. He did okay for the Red Sox when he showed up in 1993 (95 OPS+) but the most important thing is that he stabilized the second base position. The Sox had no idea who to put there after Jody Reed left, so Fletcher was the guy. The following season, he fell off the cliff and he spent his last year in Detroit before retiring. 

Fletcher only made it to the postseason once in his career (1983 when he was with the White Sox the first time), never made an All-Star game or win any awards (MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, etc). He just was Scott Fletcher, professional baseball player. And I think that for most people who never made the majors, that would probably be an okay lot in life. But I wonder if it gnaws at him that he was just a fine major leaguer. 

Getting to wear a big league uniform for 15 years is no easy feet, but I wonder if Scott Fletcher feels differently? 

Marty Barrett 1990 Upper Deck

On June 10, 2016, I received the above card in my mailbox. I took to Facebook that day and wrote this:

“Two days in a row for the BCB! This time he goes high class with a 1990 Upper Deck Marty Barrett. 

What the BCB doesn't know is I've harbored a grudge against Barrett since the winter of 1987. He was supposed to be at a baseball card show at Merrimack College signing from noon to 3:00. We showed up at 2:30 and he was gone! 

STICK TO YOUR COMMITMENTS BARRETT!”

I didn’t get how baseball card shows worked when I was a kid. While I still think that Barrett was probably wrong leaving the show early, I think that I would’ve been much more shocked to learn that he expected money for his autograph. That would have driven me to the edge of my prepubescent sanity, “Money for your name? Are you kidding me? How easy is it to write your name? Just do this! What the hell?”

I didn’t know a lot about a lot of things back then.

In the 1980s, Marty Barrett was every mom’s favorite player. He wasn’t a big guy, baseball-reference.com has him at 5’10, 175 pounds (there was also a Marty Barrett who was born in Holyoke, MA who caught and played outfield for the Braves and Indianapolis in 1884). He didn’t have a lot of power, he wasn’t particularly fast either. He played second base and got a lot of singles and doubles. He kicked ass in the 1986 World Series. I know batting average is a lame stat, but he hit .433 against the Mets.

Basically he was the Paul McCartney of the Boston Red Sox.

Aside from the 1986 postseason, where he was voted American League Championship Series MV, Barrett didn’t play like a star. He hit in the .270s and sacrificed a lot. He led the league in sacrifice hits three years in a row.

Barrett even had 18 sacrifices in 1986, which was by far his best year. The Sox second baseman rapped 179 hits that year, including 39 doubles. I’m not sure what Red Sox manager John McNamara was thinking taking the bat out of Barrett’s hands 18 times that year, but man, that was dumb. Though a lot of things John McNamara did in 1986 were monumentally stupid.

Aside from Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens, Barrett was the only member of the 1986 team that didn’t play like he had a hangover in 1987. He hit close to .300 (.293) and continued in his customary second spot in the lineup. 1988 was another good year for Barrett, but beginning in 1989, his numbers faltered and in 1991 he found himself on the San Diego Padres.

The reason for Barrett not playing well after 1989 was that he injured his knee and it never fully healed. He’d end up playing for a bit, his knee would act up and then he’d go on the disabled list for a few weeks. The consistent Marty Barrett, the metronome of the mid 80’s Red Sox, was no more. Unlike Stella, he never got his groove back and according to Wikipedia, his last brush with greatness was this:

“ In his National League debut he was called upon as a pinch hitter to face the San Francisco Giants' Dave Righetti, with two outs in the ninth inning. Barrett, not known for his power stroke, hit the ball into the left field stands for a three-run home run.”

 (This was the only picture of Marty Barrett as a Padre that I could find.) 

After that, it was 11 more National League games for Marty and then he retired.

Marty Barrett was part of a small club of professional baseball players that I longed to be a part of: he and his brother were both major leaguers. Tommy Barrett was a no-hit second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the late 1980s. After he was released from Philadelphia, he spent a few years in the minors before being signed and called up by the Red Sox in 1992. He played four games and got zero hits.

Three interesting facts about Marty Barrett:

•  He scored the winning run for the Pawtucket Red Sox in the longest game ever, which was 33 innings over the Rochester Red Wings.
• With two outs and no one on base, in Game Six of the 1986 World Series, NBC named Marty Barrett the player of the game. This was before everything went to hell.
• Barrett went to Arizona State University as an undergrad. The Red Sox would draft another diminutive second baseman two decades later, Dustin Pedroia

This is a shorter entry because I don’t have much more to say about Barrett. He was a regular dude who started at second base for an all-time, star-crossed Red Sox team. On a team with a lot of oversized egos, Barrett looked like your eighth grade science teacher and just did his job without a lot of fanfare.

That just goes to prove that you don’t have to be chiseled out of iron to be a baseball player. You just have to have some really remarkable hand-eye coordination. There’s something to be said for that, I suppose.

You know what I like most about this card? It looks like the photo was taken late in 1989 during a Saturday or Sunday game. Barrett is in his long sleeves, the sun looks to be high and for some reason it just reminds me of one of those late season games where there's either a lot on the line or nothing left to play for. But it couldn't be, like I wrote earlier, Barrett hurt his knee early on in 1989 and was pretty much out for the year.

Too bad. I love late season baseball games. They're different from games played in the first half of the season because you know that this is most likely the end of the line for your team. Soon players that you rooted for will be on different teams. Guys you boo'ed might join your squad. Even though the years sort of moosh together and teams seem to intermingle, each team has a unique feel to it. September baseball magnifies that feel, I think. Everyone gets old, everyone leaves home. It happens every year. 

Two Guys Talking Tiger

Back in October I posted a piece called “Two Guys Email Review of 'Inglorious Basterds' “ with my friend Jamie. Today my friend Nick emailed me asking my thoughts on tomorrow's press conference where Tiger Woods addresses the media about his adultery for the first time.*

* I was getting a bite to eat earlier today and as I was driving to Burger King, I happened to hear the SportsHub's (Boston's new-ish sports radio station) mid-day anchor Gary Tanguay say that tomorrow's press conference is going to be as big as the moon landing. He went on to say that kids (yes, literal children) are going to huddled around the television set or “their iPhones” (direct quote) watching this press conference. Really? Are you fucking kidding me? Tiger Woods gets caught having sex—consensual, straight sex with an adult woman—and is going to apologize for it and this is bigger than MAN LANDING ON THE FUCKING MOON?

And he was absolutely, 100% , no-I-am-not-being-ironic, serious.

This is how Nick and I see it. And yes, I already wrote about this once before.

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

So you interested to hear Tiger tomorrow?

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

No.

I have a feeling that I already know what he's going to say. It's not going to be from the heart or honest, it's something that his PR team is meticulously going over right now making sure that there isn't even a
chance that someone can misconstrue what he's saying. Like everything else about Tiger (except the recent troubles) it's going to be airtight.

I would be shocked if he took questions.

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I am interested. But I think it will be a joke.

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

Do you think that he's going to say anything of any substance?

And BTW, that last email wasn't an indictment against Tiger. I think that most athletes and celebrities don't say anything that hasn't be scrubbed over dozens and dozens of times by professionals. I think that's why when a famous person does say something that doesn't sound scripted we're all legitimately surprised.

Remember when Tom Cruise jumped up on Oprah's couch and told her how he loved Katie Holmes so much? It wasn't that it was a very strange action by a 40-year-old man who has been married twice before, but it was all so obviously choreographed. I mean, I can pretty much remember the exact moment where I figured out that I loved Aly and had a natural outburst of joy. It wasn't something that I could replicate ever again, it was an epiphany.

I doubt that Cruise was sitting on the couch with Oprah, in front of millions of people and just then realized that he was in love with Katie Holmes. It's all fake and these people think that we're morons and will buy anything (which is true for amount of the population) but it's all so insulting to everyone involved.

Tiger knows that he's full of crap, the reporters know that he's full of crap and we know that he's full of crap. But we all just play along and on Sunday's SportsReporters (among other shows) people are going to parse each and every word like he's speaking from the heart. It's a complete sham.

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I agree. I would like to think of I was ever famous I would just speak my mind and be honest. Be real.

Sadly I still will cheer for Tiger when he plays. Guess that's not a good thing.

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

You wouldn't be able to. The problem with athletes, celebrities, etc is that they're essentially small companies. You know how Coca-Cola doesn't really publicly comment on stuff that doesn't concern them, famous people follow that line too. And like Coke, celebrities have to worry about the public not "buying" what they're selling--which is themselves.

If you give people enough reasons not to see you in a movie, buy your music, etc eventually they're going to take it. And obviously that lessens your net worth and suddenly you tooling around in a Honda and hoping to get picked for Celebrity Apprentice.

It's best to try and be all things to all people and not worry about the small percentage of the population who don't like you because you aren't "real". The strange thing is that works against you in subgenres of music and entertainment like hip-hop, rock, independent movies, etc. but that's a different topic for a different day.

Why isn't it a good thing to cheer for Tiger when he's on the golf course? Just because he cheated on his wife? How does that effect his game or your joy of watching it? To me, the only thing that his cheating has interfered with is if someone was a huge fan of celebrity marriages. On Thanksgiving I didn't care about Tiger's marriage and I don't care now. I just want to see him crush a golf ball.

BTW, I'm really interested in hearing your opinion because I don't care about this story at all and feel like I'm missing something.

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

Good point. I think once you become famous you give up your freedom to speak your mind. Especially if it could effect your bottom line. I think your better off just flying under radar.

I'm interested in the story probably because it is such a train wreck. I NEVER believe celebrities are perfect. They live in a world we will never understand. And I think in the majority of the cases they are not faithful and their "marriage" is not real. So the fact that Tiger cheated doesn't surprise or disappoint. I think my interest stems from the fact that it's SO out of control.

That being said. I will continue to cheer for him as a golfer because he is one of the best ever. His off the course antics doesn't bother me.

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I was interested because I know that you were such a big fan of the 90s Cowboys and they were such a debauched group of individuals, I wanted to hear how you balanced the two.

And you're right, it is so out-of-control, which is really the main story here. Tiger Woods fires people because they breathe too loud in front of the press. Any chink in his armor is immediately covered up and brushed aside. He has 95% of the sports media in his hip pocket and most of the fans*.

* Do you know anyone who hates Tiger Woods? I mean, really hates Tiger Woods. Unless they're just being a contrarian or a jerk, most sports fans love Tiger Woods, which in itself is strange because we're so programmed to root for the underdog. And Tiger Woods is in our face constantly, you'd think that before this there would be a backlash, but there wasn't. Everyone loves the guy.

Where was I? Oh yeah, this is the first time that he's lost control or people have been able to peek behind the curtain and see that Tiger really isn't as bright and calculating as we originally thought. He's an idiot around women, just like we are. In a weird way, I wouldn't be surprised if this situation humanized him a bit more.

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I think I was a lot younger and kinda caught up in loving the Cowboys. But I have always avoided calling ballplayers role models or putting them on some pedestals. I would say the majority are screwing around etc.

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I agree with that assessment.

Why do you think that it matters to people whether or not an athlete screws around? Isn't it immaterial to his performance on the court? Why do athletes and actors have to be model citizens as well as excellent at their crafts?

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I think because people feel like they know these people on a personal level. So they act as if they have some type of bond or something in common. So when they go out and act in a way they can't relate to they feel like they were betrayed.

From: Byron
To: Nick
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

I can buy that. Good observation.

And that's really the crux of the issue isn't: people feel betrayed because they think that they know these people, when in actuality they have no idea who they are what makes them tick. We see a dude like Dustin Pedroia for three hours a night 175+ nights a year and we think that we know how he is or in the very least we think that we know what he's like.

I can guarantee you that what we are "so sure" of what we know about Dustin Pedroia or whomever isn't reality at all. And when we find out about our reality, we're pretty bitter and distraught about it and that manifests into knocking a celebrity down a peg. I keep going back to it being strange that we are so fascinated by the private lives of public strangers.

BTW, I was thinking of using our exchange on my Blog. You ok with that?

From: Nick
To: Byron
Subject: Tiger's Press Conference Tomorrow?

Sure. Use away!

You and I should be given a radio talk show. We would rock.