Many teams' fans demonize someone they feel, correctly or not, ruined their team's chances for a championship and/or doomed the team to years of futility. Those fans would scream bloody murder if their team even contemplated having the villain play for them. While the Detroit Red Wings rebounded the next year to win the first of two consecutive Stanley Cups, the idea of Claude Lemiuex wearing the winged wheel became unimaginable forever once he laid that cheap shot on Kris Draper in the 1996 Western Conference Finals.
I therefore find the story of Jeffrey Maier so ironic. You see, Maier was a twelve years old New York Yankees fan whose father took him, also in 1996, to the House that Ruth Built to see the first game of the American League Championship Series between the home team and the Orioles.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Yankees were losing 4-3 when Derek Jeter, with a man on base, hit a deep fly ball to right field. Just as Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco was about to catch the ball, young Mr. Maier reached over the fence to snag it himself and instead knocked it into the stands.
It was a clear case of fan interference, which meant that, since Tarasco most likely would have caught the ball but not for Maier's actions, umpire Rich Garcia should have ruled the play an out. Garcia instead called the play a home run, thereby making it a tie game.
The Yankees won the game on a Bernie Williams home run in the eleventh inning. The Orioles never recovered. The Yankees won the series four games to one and then the first of four World Series titles in five years. The Orioles, on the other hand, returned to the playoffs the following year before commencing a string of eight consecutive losing seasons. I know that you Tigers fans are probably thinking, "Eight seasons? Big whoop. Try thirteen." But that's not the point. Orioles fans never forgave Maier and even blamed him not only for the Orioles losing what he caused to be a tie game, but the rest of the series and the next decade.
Anyway, fast forward to 2006. Maier, now 22, just graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he set the school record for career hits and finished with a .375 average. While he is not a sure thing to make the major leagues, one of the teams considering Maier is, you guessed it, the Baltimore Orioles. I'm sure that the team's followers, including Zwicker Blog reader O's Fan, have a few choice words on the subject, which I hope he will share with us.
6 comments:
First off, while that ball would have been caught, no one is saying the O's would have won that series or the World Series. I'd like to believe they would have, but who knows. Did it hurt like hell, sure it did at the time.
Second, there are many other reasons for the Orioles lack of recent success. Bad free agent signings and trades have absolutely killed the franchise. Possibly one of the worst trades in baseball history had the O's getting Glenn Davis, a power hitting first baseman, from Houston in exchange for:
1. Pete Harnisch, a decent pitcher who went on to go 95-81 after leaving the Orioles with a 3.79 ERA, two 16 win seasons in there, and an All-Star game appearance in 1991.
2. Steve Finley, who is still playing, a two-time all star, a great fielder, and a pretty darn good clutch hitter. baseball-reference.com compares him to various players statistically, including a few hall of famers.
3. Curt Schilling. Enough said.
Biggest free agency bust - signing Albert Belle to a 5 year/$65 million dollar contract. I understand he had degenerative osteoarthritis in his hip, but still...
Third, if the guy is good enough to make the roster and can help a team win, that's the only way he can make up for screwing the team over in the past.
he didnt get drafted.
Nice! Where you get this guestbook? I want the same script.. Awesome content. thankyou.
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