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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > August > 14
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How will Glavine be remembered?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This felt like a wake. Even so, those who run the Braves didn’t announce the death of Tom Glavine’s career in Atlanta after he was beaten, bruised and then buried by the suddenly ruthless Chicago Cubs on Thursday night at Turner Field.
Four innings. Seven hits. Seven earned runs. Four walks, including one with the bases loaded. Two homers allowed, both landing near Mars. We’re not talking about a vintage trip to the pitcher’s mound for a 42-year-old veteran returning after missing two months with a damaged left elbow.
All of that is the little picture when it comes to Glavine these days. As for the big one, it’s been 14 years since the foolish viewed this first-ballot Hall of Famer as baseball’s Great Satan over his vocal stance for the players association during the Mother of All work stoppages in sports, and some folks still haven’t let it go.
Let it go.
Please, let it go.
Maybe that’s happening. Despite Glavine’s miserable evening, the booing either was soft or silent, but he still isn’t the people’s choice in the Braves Nation compared to Aaron, Murphy, Niekro and the rest.
“Because of that, I’m more saddened for him that he wasn’t able to pitch the whole year. He deserves a great send-off for all the things that he did,” said Braves pitcher John Smoltz, a Glavine teammate for most of the past two decades. They both were around during the wretched late 1980s for the franchise, and both were among the catalysts that pushed the Braves from worst to first before spurting to a record 14 straight division titles.
Terry Pendleton was part of that string, too, but only as a slugger. “I’m not sure about this, but I would hope that Tom would be remembered as a left-hander of consistency, and one who showed up every time he got the baseball, he showed up to beat you — with or without his best stuff,” said Pendleton, now the Braves’ batting coach. “He should be remembered as a gentleman, as a class act, one who wanted to see everybody succeed and who was willing to help one and all.”
Unfortunately, Glavine will be remembered in a two-fold way by the foolish. He’ll be remembered as the guy who wouldn’t stop yapping during that 1994 strike (even though the bulk of the fans’ anger should have been directed toward the greedy owners). Second, he’ll be remembered as the guy who left the saintly Braves for the evil Mets.
This is how Glavine should be remembered: He was the stoic face of the Braves during their transition from bad to good. Only three left-handed pitchers in baseball history have more victories than Glavine. He pitched the opening eight innings when the Braves clinched their only world championship in town with a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians. He always was the ultimate professional no matter the status of himself or his team. He had the guts to stand by his convictions when it wasn’t popular with the public in general and the foolish in particular.
The point is, those among the enlightened should enjoy Glavine while they can, because these are his final years, months or even weeks with a Braves franchise that he helped make famous.
Who knows if this Cub clubbing was the beginning of the end for Glavine or just an ugly but brief pitstop? What we do know is that when it comes to the choppers and the chanters, Glavine deserves better. He deserves only cheers — from now until Cooperstown.
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