A year after playing a bit part in baseball history, pitcher Mike Bacsik recently found himself in a setting far removed from the eyes of national media and a sold-out major-league park.Stationed in the Cooper Stadium bullpen, along the first base line, the 30-year-old Clippers reliever had just demonstrated proper fielding technique to a group of glove-toting youngsters. Most had no idea of Bacsik's link to baseball immortality and Barry Bonds.
Of course, the fact that he's here in Columbus as opposed to the bigs probably has something to do with the fact that, according to the article anyway, the pitch he threw to Bonds was "an 86 mph fastball." That's not exactly the kind of heat that's going to keep you in Major League meal money.
But at least Bacsik seems to have a pretty good attitude about it all:
"Do you know what the most important thing about baseball is?" Bacsik said. "It's about having fun. If you're not having fun you shouldn't be playing."When I was a kid I wondered how Eric Show felt giving up Pete Rose's historic hit. Signs point to "not very damn good." Obviously Show had way bigger problems than 4,192, but it's still good to see that Bacsik is cool with this little place in history.
3 comments:
I am always amazed at how we (i.e. fans, media) selectively link folks to historic events such as who was pitching when Bonds hit his 756th HR yet the fact that he hit 8 off future hall of famers Maddux and Smoltz goes unnoticed. So Bacsik made the historic pitch - had Maddux, Smoltz, Schilling (8 HRs) not given up their 24 long ball Bacsik would be just another pitcher who didn't last long in the big leagues. In some strange way he may be pleased to be linked to such a hostoric moments because it means that he was good enough to pitch in the major leagues and unlike lots of guys that only had fleeting moments in the bigs - he will be forever remembered as a major league pitcher. As someone who tends to see the glass as half full I'd rather be remembered as a guy who gave up a historic hit and not as someoene who never got a shot.
To help prove my point about our selective memory in linking people to historic events - who was the cather or pitcher when Rickey Henderson stole number 939? I think his SB record (1406) is more impressive than Bonds hitting only seven more homeruns than Aaron - especially when we consider the assistance Bonds received in the process.
I don't remember the catcher or pitcher but I do remember that Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter on that same day.
I always considered it good fortunate for some of these players in historic moments. Their name will end up in Cooperstown, if only to describe a single moment. It's still Cooperstown, though.
Thanks for the link on Eric Show. Didn't know that story & made an interesting angle on the Bacsik anniversary.
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