Saw this one yesterday from my friend Matt.
Social Politics 101…
Dickey craves the spotlight and cared mostly about himself, while Colon seemingly only wanted to play baseball and have fun.
Fans value, relate to and respect Colon’s joy more than Dickey’s ego. https://t.co/OKBJYTCxkW
— Matthew Cerrone (@matthewcerrone) November 25, 2019
Hmmm.
Now I do remember when R.A. was here in Queens that The Beat would float this idea every now and then. The way I remember it, the narrative was that R.A.’s teammates didn’t like him because he was all about himself.
Not that R.A. rode into camp on a horse, or dated supermodels and showed up in flashy sorts cars, or goes on Jimmy Kimmel and adds vulgarity to Let’s Go Mets – my memory of R.A. Dickey is….
1. He showed up in camp on a bicycle once.
2. He liked Star Wars
3. He sought attention for himself by climbing “Mount Kilimanjaro…to raise awareness and money for the Bombay Teen Challenge, a charity that helps victims of sex trafficking.” (via Daily News)
I spent time with Dickey once – back when the Mets liked bloggers and would have us over I spent about twenty minutes with him. (You can read the 2011 post here.) I really liked the guy from memory, and that 2011 post shows me my memory isn’t too bad.
Now, was Dickey maybe a jerk to the folks who regularly spent time downstairs? I dunno. Did fellow players not like that people would want to talk to Dickey and not them? I dunno.
Let me excerpt from a Blue Jays blog called Call To The Pen. The bold is mine.
While a member of the Blue Jays, the veteran right-hander was always a well-spoken role model in the clubhouse. A published author before even arriving in Canada, management knew he was a genuine salt of the earth kind of guy with cognitive abilities.
Furthermore, Dickey advocated against child abuse and sexual misconduct. He involved himself with an organization in India to prevent young women from being sold into sex slavery. He donated 1 percent of his annual salary each year to the Jays Care Foundation and was the only player to do so.
Dickey’s heart, while in Toronto, never seemed to waver as often as his signature pitch did. His legacy will forever be contrasted to what remains of Syndergaard’s career. For all of Dickey’s statistical shortcomings after his hallowed 2012 season, he did take the ball nearly every time he was called upon in Toronto.
Seems like they liked him there. Now I know Canadians have a reputation for being nice, but imagine how much Mets Fans would like it if we had traded Thor TO Toronto for CYA winner R.A. Dickey and gotten what Toronto got. People would be as mad about that trade as they are about Cano. And yet, the Toronto blogger still likes the guy.
So what gives?
I’ve been doing this long enough to know where there is smoke there is fire…and I have known Matt long enough to know he is calm and cool headed and not prone to the Dramatic Emotional Proclamations that your favorite Fat Blogger tends to do here on Mets Police.
I liked the guy, and he was cool to me the one time I met him. I still like him. If you read the comments on the original tweet, seems some mets fans see things the way I do.
But I dunno….Dickey craves the spotlight and only cares about himself? Go climb mountain. (Love ya Matt.)
