Albert Belle's Arthritic Hip Forces Him Into Retirement

My grandfather was the baseball scout who signed Albert Belle. Weird huh?

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Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I'm sure baseball will be sad to see such a classy guy like him go.

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He is entering the third year of a five-year, $65 million contract and will receive the remaining $39 million whether he plays or not.

What moron GM agreed to this?


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Newspaper reports out of Baltimore claim the Orioles can recoup 70 percent of the $39 million through an insurance policy they hold on the mercurial slugger.

Good to know but that is beside the point.

[This message has been edited by Smokey (edited March 07, 2001).]

 

I'm the only one who actually likes Albert Belle I think.

If punk kids ever egg my house, I'm running them down in my SUV dammit.

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I don't like Albert Belle, he's a jerk. But I think it's sick to be happy that a guy suffered a dehabilitating injury like that. I hope he has some comfort in life, because he may have acted like a nutcase, but this shouldn't ever happy to any human being.

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Rocks2001 in disguise. . .

 

Yes, you are. Maybe he should join the cast of SNL and then you can be the only one liking him there. He couldn't be any worse than Tina Fey.

Actually, I take that back. Joey Belle would be really funny on SNL.

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Dude, Tina Fey's hilarious.

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If this guy didn't have such an attitude problem, he would be a GREAT player. He was a very good one to begin with.

Also, who remembers that episode where Miles Simon showed up to his house ? That had to have been hilarious.

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Belle has been the anti-Puckett
By Dan Patrick

Albert Belle is slowly leaving the diamond. And nobody cares.
I guess the Baltimore Orioles care because they owe Albert $39 million over the next three years. And right now that looks like an awful lot of money for very few -- if any -- runs, RBI and home runs. At this point, they may not even get any at bats for their money.


What will the O's do if Albert Belle's hip keeps him off the field?
But that's just business. It's a write-off for some rich guy.

Still, a once-promising career is ending and I don't think Belle will get the send-off his numbers deserve.

An arthritic hip is the cause of Belle's demise, but the lack of fanfare is his own doing. I met him many years ago when he was known as Joey Belle. He approached me at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. He was curious about why we were there. We had a 10-minute, off-camera chat.

I liked him. He obviously had it in him to be personable. Later on, when the media became the enemy, my feelings about him changed. Not in any big way. He just wasn't one of the good guys anymore.

Guys like Belle pose a small problem for the media. We can't be fans. My job is to report on an Orioles win with as much enthusiasm and professionalism as I report on a loss by the Ravens. Or the Reds or the Red Sox. They're all the same when you work on SportsCenter.

As far as personalities go, however, my job can't change my human nature. I have always tried to cheer for guys with good stories. And I try to make sure that I don't ever root against anyone. But let's be real. Belle was a surly and unresponsive player who cared little about what sportswriters and broadcasters needed to do their jobs.

As a result he was not well-liked. His troubles now will not engender the sympathy that other, more amiable players would receive.

When glaucoma took down Kirby Puckett, the baseball world openly mourned the loss of one of its best ambassadors.
Think of when glaucoma took down Kirby Puckett. The baseball world openly mourned the loss of one of its best ambassadors. Column after column extolled Puck's wonderful personality and remarkable statistics and accomplishments. And this year Puckett will enter the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. His numbers were fine but not outstanding.

It would not have been an outrage if he had to wait a year or two for induction. But good will goes a long way.

Puckett's problems emerged in spring training just like Belle's have. There are no games of significance to report on, so anyone who wanted to say goodbye to Puckett did so. But Albert Belle, once the highest-paid player in the game -- who earned more in one year than the entire payroll of some teams -- will not have any tears shed for him by anyone who covers baseball.

You won't hear it very often, if at all, but the essential reaction to this story is a firm "good riddance."

http://espn.go.com/talent/danpatrick/s/2001/0307/1135935.html




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