Do you remember where you were when you heard that Renyel Pinto had been released last year? I meant his June 23rd release by the Marlins, not his August 21st release by the St Louis Cardinals. I was at a family dinner, which also included a priest, and I still cursed. Even the US victory over Algeria in the World Cup that day provided little solace.
You see I had fan invested. Fan investing involves taking limited knowledge of a sport, mixing it with tribal-like allegiances and attaching oneself to a potentially dubious, but convenient, product. As a sports fan, my goal is to approximate what I once heard someone say sarcastically about my hero *William F. Buckey Jr.’s politics: “He chose his side like a fanatic, and defended it like a philosopher.” Well, as you will soon click and learn, I got at least half of that right.
For my first defense of Pinto, I brought Fredo Corleone into the discussion. For my next defense of Pinto, I realized that I needed a little more muscle, so I brought in Jack Bauer. One month later Pinto was gone. Can’t help thinking I could have done more, or less. Even Wes Helms very funny interview on March 18th with the 790 Radio Station, in which he jokingly calls out Pinto for being the least manly Marlin last year, did not soften the blow.
Great start for the Marlins fans last night, especially against the hated and hateful New York Mets. Speaking of giving up on players too soon, did you see what Cameron Maybin did on opening night for San Diego? Although in his case, we know from recent interviews that that the final decision to release came from ownership, not the baseball people. Please remember that somewhere in Pawtucket, Andrew Miller is throwing in the mid 90’s.
* – Turns out that the original quote came from Thomas Babington Macaulay who was speaking of Edmund Burke. Coincidentally enough, Burke’s offspring also came to be released by a professional baseball team, the New York Highlanders. However, Burkey, as he was known, was so embarrassed by his intellectual father, that he had changed his name to Stubby Magner, no relation to Honus.
