January 16, 2009
Did you Know David Eckstein was Gritty?
Tim Sullivan wastes no time getting to the toughness of David Eckstein.
Though his arm is barely adequate, Eckstein was twice an All-Star shortstop in St. Louis. Though he has hit only 32 major-league home runs, he led both leagues with three grand slams in 2002. He has made a career out of making do, compensating for his physical limitations through competitiveness and craft, toughness and tenacity.
I love Eckstein since we share a name and height, but at this point, he's just not that good.
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Dave, Still enjoy reading your website and I am looking forward to utilizing this site as a resource tool when my fantasy league starts up. Hope all is well.
Ken Collamore
C'mon David, Eck consistently leads the league in grittiness.
As an Angel fan, I loved Eckstein's gritty play, his mental toughness and his ability to maximize his talent. What I loved even more was when the Angels finally realized he had no range, average hands and a below average arm and released him accordingly. I can't tell you how many times Angel pitchers had to pitch to extra batters in an inning because gritty little Eck couldn't get to a ball or throw a runner from deep in the hole. Eck is a winner. He was our SS when the Halos took it all in 2002. But the reality is, the dude at his best was only an average SS. (And he is past his prime for sure.)
Still love to see him warm up in the on deck circle though. He is the only ballplayer I ever saw get air by just windmilling his arm trying to get loose!
rbj - "grit" is the new HOF category for people of lesser physical stature. Rice cornered the "feared" category vote to gain entrance this year.
I think he'll be a good influence on the Padres moral and attitude during the season, but man...that article talks him up like he's going to save the franchise. I don't think anyone with an OPS+ of 88 has ever been talked up as much as Eckstein in their career.
Eckstein has his moments of being an exciting player, but I hate when they overhype him.
Is there a single Eckstein-related cliche that Sullivan did not use in that article? Again, what drives a lot of baseball fans nuts is not Eckstein himself, but the absurd hagiography of the man.
cranky - "grit" was unused. But I think this is my favorite Eck quote of all time:
""My biggest strength as a hitter is getting to two strikes,""
That's a STRENGTH?
At this point? He was never that good. Examining the public perception of Eckstein brings up a lot of race issues in our society I believe.
I believe you're a racist idiot.
Eck played out of position all the time to cover for his weak arm. None the less he was the starting ss for 2 different WS champs. Not a lot of guys are going to be able to end their careers saying that.
