December 19, 2005
Catcher Gets a Raise
Winning the World Series does wonders for your paycheck. A.J. Pierzynski scored a three-year contract worth about $15 million from the White Sox. He earned his money in game 2 of the ALCS when he alertly went to first base after an apparent strikeout and subsequently scored the winning run. It's a nice turnaround for A.J. after being released by the Giants one year ago.
DOH!
I was torn between whether he should join the *.J. Stars in Toronto or the All Scrabble League team in KC.
he shoulda gone to kc to join that all-alphabet team they're assembling
And in contrast, Josh Paul, the Angels' catcher in that game, was designated for assignment, still claiming that he didn't tag AJ because he caught the ball.
re: left-handed catchers and winning the World Series
certainly since the days of mickey cochrane, bill dickey and yogi berra, not to mention tim mccarver and darren daulton, there seems to be a connection between left handeed catching and winning.
let's not forget johnny roseboro, another winner, on that list. Or Darrell Porter.
the great RH catchers were really great, like Campanella, Bench, Fisk, Gary Carter.
But a LH catcher can be a little less and still be a winner, it seems to me.
--arthur john kyriazis