I'm bigger than he is, and probably stronger and faster than he is, too. I probably throw harder than he does, and have much more range. I can probably turn on a fastball better than he can, and hit for a higher average and better power. And, on top of that, I have much better hair than he does.
But for some reason, David Eckstein is in the major leagues, and I'm not. He showed why Monday night.
With two outs and two strikes on him in the bottom of the ninth, with the Cardinals one strike away from postseason elimination, the diminutive shortstop was about to stand in the box against Brad Lidge, one of the nastiest closers in the game today. The sellout Houston crowd was on its feet, ready to erupt into raucous celebration, expecting to watch the Astros clinch their first World Series berth in franchise history. And what was Eckstein feeling as he stepped into the batter's box?
"It's pretty calming to step to the plate in that situation," he told MLB.com after the game. "I have no idea, no reason why."
Eckstein then pulled a Lidge slider into left field for a single and, after a Jim Edmonds walk, came home on Albert Pujols' dramatic three-run homer that won the game for the Cardinals and sent the National League Championship Series back to St. Louis, with the Astros leading the series 3-2.
Before Monday night, Eckstein used to annoy the hell out of me. Listed generously at 5'7", Eckstein was considered by many scouts to be one of the least talented players in the game. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com called the Cardinals' signing of Eckstein in December "the most head-scratching move of the winter," and even the Cardinals front office admitted it may have overpaid for him by signing him to a three-year, $10.25 million contract.
It seemed that he was only able to stay in the major leagues for his adorable hyperactivity and spunkiness, which was well documented during the 2002 World Series when he played for the Angels. His all-out style of play and ridiculous bat-twirling, windmill-imitating warm-ups in the on-deck circle made him a fan favorite - well, at least to those in Anaheim. I wanted to punch him in the mouth.
Before Monday, the image of Eckstein that stuck most in my mind was of him during a game in Oakland last year. Jermaine Dye, who has average speed at best, hit a routine two-hopper to Eckstein, who gloved it and quickly threw to first - only to have Dye beat out the throw by a step.
My friends and I were quickly all over that.
"You suck, Eckstein!"
"My grandmother could throw harder than that!"
My friends are I were a creative bunch.
But that all changed Monday night with a slap single through the hole to the left. At that moment, I finally began to regard Eckstein as a real player.
What Eckstein lacks in talent, he makes up for in passion and solid fundamentals. To make up for having one of the weakest infield arms in the game, Eckstein has learned to get rid of the ball quickly. To compensate for his small size, which results in his limited range, Eckstein makes sure he always positions himself correctly for each pitch. He understands his power limitations as a hitter and concentrates on making solid contact instead.
The results? Last year, Eckstein led major league shortstops with a .988 fielding percentage, and he has a lifetime batting average of .282.
I hate to throw this term around, but Eckstein plays the game the right way. His passion for the game rivals that of Derek Jeter. He plays the game every day like it's his last and has shown considerable poise under pressure.
Playoff heroism isn't unprecedented for Eckstein, or the "hyper little bugger," as Larry Walker referred to him in an interview with MLB.com after the game. During the 2002 World Series, I remember that Fox announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver would not shut up about what a spark Eckstein was to the Angels, and that TV cameras would be glued to him, instead of the plate, as he did his ridiculous windmills in the on-deck circle.
As nauseating as his warm-ups were to the rest of us, they must have worked for Eckstein. He hit .310 in the World Series and led the Angels over the San Francisco Giants to their first-ever World Series title.
What surprised me most about that World Series, though, is not that the country embraced Eckstein as its underdog, but that Eckstein found his biggest fan in the most unlikely source: Giants slugger (and giant jerk) Barry Bonds.
"(Eckstein's) one of my favorite players ever," Bonds told ESPN.com's Peter Gammons in April 2003, after Bonds went to Japan on an all-star tour with Eckstein. "I told him that he's a gift from God."
I don't remember Barry Bonds ever complimenting anybody other than Barry Bonds. I'm sure the hyper little bugger appreciated the compliment, and for all we know he just swung the momentum of the NLCS the Cardinals' way with his seeing-eye single on Monday night. Not bad for someone you just wanted to punch in the mouth.
Stu Woo '08 will miss the great Oakland A's radio broadcaster Bill King, who passed away Oct. 18. He hopes he's in Holy Toledo now.
