Rooting for a Rival

Yesterday I found myself hoping a guy who plays for the Mets would win a game. Yes, you read that correctly, I was actually rooting for Tom Glavine in his bid to become the 23rd pitcher in Major League history to win 300 games. See Tom was a part of my childhood/adolescent years as a member of the famed Atlanta Braves starting rotation of the 90s.

I have always felt like I had a fairly normal childhood. In the summer I would play outside all day and then at night I would watch baseball on TBS (looking back at it now I'm a little surprised we had cable that far back, but we did). In the 80s watching the Braves on TBS was more about love of the game than winning, they didn't do much of the latter. But in 1991 something got into a young group of pitchers and they propelled a team that had been the worst in baseball in 1990 all the way to the World Series (they talked a lot about going from "worst to first" - they're the only team in history to go to the Series one year after having the worst record in baseball). As a matter of fact, the Braves lost game 7 of that series 1-0 in 10 innings behind 7+ shutout by John Smotlz who was out dueled by Jack Morris. The NL Cy Young winner that year? Tom Glavine.

As I've watched baseball evolve over the years, through the labor disputes and strikes (that's labor strikes, not pitches in the zone) I've grown to respect Tom as a player and a professional. I don't claim to know a ton about him, but he is one of those guys who has consistently gotten it done while maintaining a level of professionalism and class that is rare among high profile athletes. Perhaps part of the key to that is that he never seems to care about the high profile part.

One of the things that I always appreciated about Glavine (and Greg Maddux as well) was his ability to get hitters out and win games without overwhelming batters with his stuff or power. I don't know if he ever broke 90 on the gun or not. I don't think anyone ever claimed he had the best stuff in the game (stuff here refers to movement of pitches that makes them difficult to hit). But he has always had outstanding location and he can consistently out smart hitters (when things are going well). He is a finesse pitcher (perhaps part of the reason he has had such a long career, though Roger Clemens and John Smoltz do defy the theory that power pitchers burn out quickly) and a lefty at that (only the 6th left hander to win 300).

Off the field, Glavine was among a few players respected by their peers who were integrally involved with labor negotiations in the 90's. While other players have a hard time staying out of jail, Tom managed to navigate very tenuous negotiations with class and dignity. In on camera interviews he is always composed, courteous, and well spoken. He's the kind of guy you can see either being an analyst or going to work in the front-office for a team.

SportsCenter suggested this morning that he might be the last 300 game winner. Their reasoning is fairly sound - trends in pitching combined with a small number of pitchers over 200 wins that legitimately might pitch enough additional seasons to reach that mark. I'm not sure I'd go that far, no one ever thought someone would hit 715 home runs, then came Hank Aaron. I've got a feeling that there will be another 300 game winner at some point, maybe several. But the relative scarcity of pitchers with that kind of win total is really a tribute to the longevity and brilliance of Tom Glavine (and others, Maddux and Clemens among them that have also reached this milestone).

Congratulations Tom, when you're done in New York, please come back to Atlanta where your legend began.