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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Hank Aaron: Tiger Woods’ domination unprecedented
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
It takes greatness to put greatness into perspective. So as the PGA Tour becomes even more of a showcase for You Know Who with everybody else sitting a few monster tee shots behind, who better to describe the extraordinary ways of Tiger Woods than Hank Aaron?
At 74, and enjoying his 33rd year in retirement as baseball’s magic owner of 755 home runs, Aaron has made golf his sport of choice these days. “Well, I’m just a Saturday and Sunday golfer, and I’m not crazy enough to bet somebody any money,” said Aaron, laughing on Thursday after working out at Turner Field.
As for Woods, the winner of his past six tournaments overall, including three straight to begin this season, Aaron walked the course that day in Milwaukee 12 years ago when Woods made his pro debut. It turned the baseball Hall of Famer into a fervent Woods watcher and admirer. The Tiger Slam. The 13 major titles, including four at Augusta. The latest streak for Woods that continued after his annihilation of Stewart Cink in match play last weekend for a 63rd PGA Tour victory. The sliding past Arnold Palmer on the all-time wins list.
The inevitability during every tournament featuring Woods that he is not only going to win but romp.
It’s a combination that has Aaron calling Woods the most dominating athlete in sports history. “I don’t know of anybody who would be better,” said Aaron, a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan who even placed Woods ahead of the Browns’ icon of the 1950s and 1960s.
Yes, that guy.
“As great as Jim Brown was, and as great as Michael Jordan was, and as great as anybody you’d want to keep mentioning, I don’t know of anybody who was as great at his sport as this man is now,” Aaron said. “I mean, he’s totally incredible. He’s phenomenal. Sometimes I hear people say, ‘He’s lucky.’ Well, you can throw that talk out. You can be lucky and good, but he is absolutely good. Even when he’s way ahead, he wants to make every putt and every golf shot as perfect as possible.
“I don’t know of anybody who has ever played any sport who was able to concentrate as much on perfection at all times as Tiger Woods.”
Somebody was close: Aaron, who did everything well enough with his bat, glove, arm and legs for 23 seasons to rank with Willie Mays and any Yankee great among baseball’s most complete players ever for those who weren’t juicing. You also had the sensational likes of Muhammad Ali, Carl Lewis, Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson and Mark Spitz in other sports.
None intimidated their peers as much as Woods. Consider, too, that professional golf never has been deeper in players who are better than good. It hasn’t mattered, because Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and the rest have needed to be better than great to approach Woods territory.
“Tiger is great, and there’s no question about it, but I think his competitors are so amazed by his greatness that they forget to play the golf course. They play Tiger Woods,” Aaron said. “I’ll tell you this right now: They’ll never beat Tiger Woods, because the only person who’ll ever beat Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods.”
That said, Aaron remained his eternally consistent self. For instance: He always has said records are made to be broken, including his old mark for homers that was surpassed last summer by artificially inflated Barry Bonds. As a result, it was logical for Aaron to say somebody will shatter Woods’ slew of records someday, but Aaron said as much with an asterisk as big as the one next to Bonds’ name.
“I think Tiger is going to put things so far out of reach for records that it’s not only going to take somebody very special to come along, but the game is going to have to change,” said Aaron, referring to the need of more explosive balls and new-age clubs to enhance a golfer’s game.
It’s just that all of those things also would enhance Woods’ game, which is a frightening thought.
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Terence Moore
Kotsay won’t play in Andruw’s shadow
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Vero Beach, Fla. — On the day Andruw Jones made his debut in another uniform, Mark Kotsay was given a day off. It’s the Braves’ sincere hope that this remains simple irony and not something more significant. Like, say, foreshadowing.
Kotsay is the Braves’ new center fielder. If he doesn’t have the most daunting task in professional sports, he is at least in that neighborhood.
What’s more difficult: Trying to make a full recovery from back surgery at 32, or replacing a 10-time Gold Glove center fielder and five-time All-Star who now plays for Los Angeles (Kotsay’s resume has neither gold nor stars)?
Actually, don’t answer. Kotsay has to do both. But his view on the situation is what you would expect from someone known for crashing into outfield walls.
“I like this situation,” he said. “For whatever reason, this is the kind of situation I thrive in. It’s true — I have a lot on the line. I have a lot riding on this year. But my attitude is, let’s play for something here.”
Braves manager Bobby Cox calls Kotsay “a dirt player.”
Kotsay puts it another way: “Andruw makes everything look so easy. I make everything look hard.”
Which is fine. As long as he’s making the catch look hard and standing easy, nobody will have a problem.
Jones is gone for economic reasons. Kotsay is here for economic reasons. That might be their only common denominator.
The Braves — following a self-imposed budget and determined to improve their starting pitching — didn’t want to take the payroll hit for what Jones’ one-year salary likely would have been after arbitration. So they let him go in free agency, where the Dodgers gave him over $36 million for two years.
Oakland was leery of Kotsay’s back issues and was going through another organizational churn: veterans out, prospects in. The A’s were so determined to get Kotsay out of their team, if not their books, that they agreed to pick up $5.35 million of his $7.35 million salary. The Braves traded away two young arms, though didn’t particularly value either that highly (Joey Devine and Jamie Richmond).
The team was just looking for a cheap and safe bridge in center field between Jones and prospect Jordan Schafer. Cheap, he got. Safe, not so much. Kotsay’s a gamble. If he can play 150 games, it pays off. If he’s closer to the career-low 56 he played last year, the Braves have a problem.
(Kotsay wasn’t injured Thursday. He reported early and played in Wednesday’s exhibition against Georgia. Long bus rides to Vero Beach tend to be bad for backs, so Cox rested him.)
Kotsay never had a back issue until 2003, when he crashed into the wall at Colorado while playing for San Diego, putting him on the disabled list with a sprain. The following year with the A’s, he played in 148 games and batted a career-high .314. But the back worsened the next two seasons. In 2006, he missed 25 of Oakland’s final 51 games.
He added yoga stretches to his conditioning program. But the herniated disc in his back wasn’t receptive. In March, Kotsay was forced to undergo surgery and spent over two months on the disabled list. He now admits he probably rushed it back in June, which explains why he played only 56 games before being shelved for the year.
And now?
“I feel great,” he said. If he didn’t say that, I’m guessing the Braves could void their $2 million contribution.
Openly, the team remains confident. Kotsay insists the memory of surgery won’t lessen his aggressive nature in the outfield. But the A’s clearly had doubts.
“The team had a long line of injuries last season,” Kotsay said. “It put a lot of stress on the organization. They made changes in the medical staff and the training staff. Whether it was anybody’s fault or just bad luck, nobody knows. But they just tried to get rid of guys with that cloud hanging over their heads.”
He expects some fans will have doubts. Vocally, also itchy trigger fingers. He knows that the, “Andruw would’ve gotten to that ball,” cries are on deck. If he cares, he’s hiding it well.
“The guy was here for 11 years,” Kotsay said. “He’s got [10] Gold Gloves. I don’t have any. The fans are spoiled and they’re going to want nothing but what Andruw was capable of doing. But I’m not here to please them. I’m here to do my job.”
If he stays upright, that will be a start.
Permalink | | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
Big Tex + Big Season = Big Exit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Two predictions.
Mark Teixeira will have a huge season.
Then he’ll leave.
As a free-agent-to-be, Andruw Jones seemed at an ongoing loss. (He hit .222, in case you’ve forgotten.) In conversation at spring training last week, Teixeira sounded like a measured man who has long awaited the opportunity. He will not hit .222. He might well hit .333.
Jones and Teixeira have the same agent, the famous Scott Boras. But the mighty Boras machinery is geared toward maximizing Teixeira in a way it never was Andruw. (Not to say Boras did all that poorly by the departed center fielder, who’ll make $18 million the year after he hit .222.) The big Boras free agent last fall wasn’t Jones but Alex Rodriguez. The big Boras free agent this fall will be Mark Teixeira.
“That’s just the natural progression,” Teixeira said. “When I was a rookie, there were a lot of [Boras] free agents. Every year there’s a new guy coming along. This just happens to be my year.”
Don’t look for Teixeira to disown Boras the way Gary Sheffield has, or to fire him the way Kenny Rogers did, or to go behind the agent’s back the way A-Rod did. Teixeira, see, is a truer believer. He calls Boras a “friend.” The two talk weekly. “There are always issues,” Teixeira said, “but a lot of it is, ‘How’s your family?’ “
As much as the Braves might try to keep Teixeira, there’s too much invested in this for Boras and his client to offer a hometown discount. (It didn’t happen with J.D. Drew, yet another Boras client, did it?) For the Braves to have any real shot, they’ll have to stop acting like a small-market team — Boras, as we know, loves bigger markets — and even then they’ll surely be outbid by one of the New York or L.A. clubs. That’s just the way this skewed system works. Or doesn’t work.
Don’t hate Boras for seeking to make his rich client richer. That’s his job. And don’t hate Teixeira if, after an All-Star or even an MVP season, he signs elsewhere for massive money. That’s the way of the baseball world, and Boras pretty much runs baseball.
Permalink | Comments (105) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
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