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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > June > 04
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Never count John Smoltz out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He dressed out in full uniform for the news conference, when slacks and Izod might have seemed a more accurate foreshadowing for his career. Then again, can you ever really know with John Smoltz?
There have been other surgeries. There have been other comebacks. There was the time he missed an entire season, bottomed out emotionally after a start in his return in 2001, and using his words, “I ripped the jersey off my back and said, ‘I quit.’ “
He didn’t. Instead, he transitioned into one of the most dominating closers the game has ever known.
We got over that shock just in time for him to transition back to being the Braves’ most effective starter.
John Smoltz didn’t say the words “I’m retiring” Wednesday. If you believe this time between news conference and surgery amounts to little more than window-dressing, you’re missing the point.
The man’s career has been a series of medical precedents. What’s one more?
Smoltz acknowledged: “I can’t compete against my body anymore.”
He also reminded us: “One thing I know is of all the challenges I’ve had in my career, a lot of them aren’t really believable. I’ve never seen anything I couldn’t accomplish.
“I’ve learned a few lessons from being hard-headed.”
He said this with a sense of peace. The Smoltz we witnessed Wednesday was not the one who has been venting frustrations at reporters when asked for medical updates. At this point, there’s a feeling of resignation. Surgery next week will either end his career or give us another reason to rub our eyes.
John Smoltz could come back as a left-handed, knuckleballing setup man, and I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I said I would retire if the desire is gone,” he said. “I’m not there yet. I’m not there emotionally. Physically, it’s to be determined. No one wants to have surgery. But I look forward to the challenge.”
Chipper Jones called the news “devastating.” He said, “Just the mere speculation that he would be able to come back and close for us kind of kept everybody going.”
There is a point when all great athletes attain special status. The statistics may not sing like before. The limbs may not function in concert as in early years. But there becomes a feeling of, “At least he’s there.”
Smoltz can’t be replaced this season. He can’t be replaced, ever. (He certainly can’t be replaced by Manny Acosta, who allowed a pair of two-run homers in the ninth inning Wednesday. Maybe somebody should check out Acosta’s shoulder, too.)
If this is the end, baseball will have lost one of its premier big-game pitchers. Atlanta will have lost one of the biggest “gamers” in any sport in the city’s history. Nobody has quite grabbed the moment like him.
When Smoltz goes into the Hall of Fame, people will see the numbers: 200 wins; 150 saves; 3,000 strikeouts; eight All-Star Games; one Cy Young. But they won’t know what set him apart. They won’t know about the five surgeries (at least). They won’t know about the times he changed his delivery in hopes of just trying to function.
They won’t know about March. Smoltz, who has had little sleep in months because of pain and uncertainty, tried to re-invent spring training. He rarely pitched, working instead on a side field in hopes of saving arm strength. It seemed to work. He opened the season on the disabled list, but then went 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA in four starts.
But the shoulder, now 41 like the rest of Smoltz, throbbed. He never threw between starts. He was “mentally drained.” Rehab assignments in the minors accomplished little. He returned as a closer Monday, only to get shelled. If that message wasn’t loud enough, the pain he felt an hour after the game was.
Maybe this is the end. But right now it’s just another maybe.
“Sooner or later our bodies are going to shut down,” Tom Glavine said. “But if there’s any way John thinks he can put that off, he’s going to do it.”
Assume it’s over at your own risk.
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