Mike Trout should never play another game for the Los Angeles Angels.
Yes, I know you’ve heard that before. Even from here.
The often injured former mega-star – he’s on the injured list for the fourth straight season – will be 33 in August and still without a single win in the playoffs.
The Angels are back in last place in the American League West again and even with a healthy Trout they have little or no chance of getting even to third place much less into playoff contention.
As Pittsburgh Pirates boss Branch Rickey once told his star Ralph Kiner who was looking for a pay raise: “Ralph, we can finish in last place with you or without you.”
Please send Trout to Philadelphia or New York (no, not the Mets) or Baltimore where he would be guaranteed to play in October.
Yes, he is no longer the Trout of years gone by when he was the best player in the game, but he is still a valuable bat in the middle of any order. Think about the New York Yankees with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Trout. Eat your heart out Dodgers.
The most insane thing – at least in the world of baseball – recently was Dodger third-baseman Kiki Hernandez, who made an error while he was being interviewed. During the game.
Now, get this. Players are PAID $10,000 to wear a microphone during a game ($15,000 in the playoffs).
Kiki already makes $4 million a year before he slaps on a microphone. Crazy!
Baseball and nicknames go together like Babe and Ruth.
But Beyond Babe and Lefty and Duke, Whitey and Buck and even Yogi, there are some mostly forgotten jewels: Here’s 5:
*Le Grand Orange: Red-headed Rusty Staub when he played in Montreal.
*The Toy Cannon: Jimmy Wynn. At 5-foot-9 he was a power hitter of the highest level.
*The Reading Rifle: Carl Furillo. From Reading, Pa., the Dodger right-fielder had a marvelous arm.
*King Kong Keller: Yankee slugging outfielder who actually hit more home runs (33-30), than Joe DiMaggio in the 1941 season when Joe hit in 56 straight and won the league MVP.
*High Pockets Kelly: George Kelly was a tall, 6-4 star first baseman for the New York Giants in the 1920’s. He once drove in 136 runs in one season (1924) and is in the Hall of Fame.
Of course there’s legendary ones like Mr. October, Big Papi, the Human Vacuum Cleaner, the Ryan Express and The Yankee Clipper.
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George Kelly and George (Babe) Ruth aren’t the only Hall of Famers named George. There’s George Brett, of course, and George Kell and George Sisler, but did you know there’s also George Thomas Seaver and George Kenneth Griffey, Jr.
