Within an hour of Saturday’s Barrett-Pierzynski brouhaha both my best friend and brother called me to share that they were currently purchasing Barrett jerseys off the Internet. This probably says more about my friends and family, defenders of the indefensible, sophists of the sucker punch, than it does about the valor or cowardice of Michael Barrett. But what I think they are trying to say is the same thing I’ve felt for much of the past three Cubs’ seasons: I need a hero.
Now, according to Bonnie Tyler, a hero has to be strong, fast and fresh from a fight and Kevin Bacon is apparently the epitome of all those things. Barrett, however, is not overly strong (76 career HRs), definitely not fast (9 career SBs), but he is fresh from a fight. With the Cubs posting a 5-17 record so far in May and already more than 10 games out of first, I’ll take anything I can get.
To Barrett’s credit, he said all the right things after the fight. He was appropriately remorseful (“I wish I would’ve pushed him away from me…”), realistic (“…what’s done is done…”), and mindful of the kids (“[they’re] watching and you don’t like for those things to happen…”). But appropriateness aside, I was able to take heart in Barrett’s right hook for one reason: finally it looks like someone is tired of losing.
Every one remembers the Varitek-ARod fracas that spurred the Red Sox in 2004. (If you listen to the hundreds of guys in “Varitek is My Drinking Buddy” shirts passed out around Boston right now, the Red Sox haven’t lost a game since.) I will admit that after seeing the Cubs-Sox fight for the first time, I hoped that this altercation might have the same effect. It was enough to spark a Cubs rally on Sunday, and get them out of The Cell with one win, but they have since dropped two to the woeful Marlins and any hopes of changing the season with one “swing” are ambitious for even the most die-hard, nee optimistic, Cubs fan.
Barrett has been his usual solid self since Saturday going 3 for 11 with two triples, one home run and two RBI. In the past three seasons, Barrett has been as consistent as any Cub on the roster. He put up nearly carbon copy years in 2004 (.287/.337/.489; 32 2B, 16 HR, 65 RBI) and 2005 (.276/.345/.479; 32 2B, 16 HR, 61 RBI), and is on pace to equal or surpass those numbers this year. On a team where every major superstar minus Carlos Zambrano has missed significant time over the past two years, Barrett’s reliability alone makes him one of the Cubs most valuable assets.
But statistics don’t really tell the whole story. If you polled 100 baseball fans as to who is the Cubs’ leader, I doubt you could come up with a concrete answer. Lee is undeniably the best player, but he’s so picture-perfect, glossy-good that his example does most of the talking. Ramirez, Prior and Wood, while brilliant in short-spurts, have all the reliability of members of a slow-pitch softball team, you’re never quite sure who will actually show up for any given game and you might be left pitching your left fielder or playing with three infielders. And while I love Zambrano’s feistiness, every one likes to describe him as “mercurial” which immediately disqualifies any player from team leader consideration. Take away Todd Walker, a consummate ball/role -player, and the rest of the Cubs’ regular line-up is in their first full season with the team.
So that leaves Barrett and his fistful of dynamite. Is any punch on a baseball field ever heroic? Only by some antiquated code of the game. Was the punch unprovoked? Depends on which side of Chicago you support. But one thing seems certain: the action wasn’t heroic, the result could be.
“I’m a grown man, and I take care of things the way I feel they need to be taken care of,” Barrett said after the game. If he can channel that attitude into on-field performance and clubhouse persistence the inevitable week without Barrett might be worth it.
It’s about time. Cubs fans have been living too long on Kyle Farnsworth’s 2003 body-slam of Paul Wilson. We needed some fire, some suspensions, some spunk. For a team so often toothless, even a PR black-eye sometimes has some shine to it.
It might be a long five or six games with Henry Blanco and his current .051 batting average, but those jerseys should be showing up any day now.
Decent post but I cannot help but lose respect for Barrett. I've said it before but if this were the first time Barrett had done something like this, I could understand but this is the third time he's gotten into a confrontation. All three times, his team has lost that individual game.
I think you could have made the case that the brawl was good if the Cubs had won these games against the Marlins and then played well against the Braves. As it turns out, the White Sox have looked stronger. They handed the Cubs a win on Sunday but have beaten the A's, a team that they usually have trouble with, twice. And A.J. is hitting over .340 right now. He hit a homer on Sunday, scored the game-winning run yesterday, and had an couple more hits tonight.
JrCuss: Thanks for the comments. Both are good points, but I don't think Barrett is a bad guy or even a jerk, he draws the same baseball tradionalist line that so many others do and if you cross it he's shown he'll do something about it. I don't have a problem with that
Good post, I will say that I was looking at a Michael Barrett jersey before the brawl on saturday. I really do like having Michael Barrett on the Cubs roster for the simple fact that I honestly believe that if that were some other Cubs players in that position or in a similar position they would have backed down. I am not saying what Michael did was right but somebody had to do something. Barrett is also reliable and usually a pretty steady hand behind the plate which is nice when the rest of the lineup is on the DL.
One other reason I liked the punch so much was because as a Cub fan I was so sick of seeing the World Series Championship logo for the White Sox over and over again so go ahead Michael do what you gotta do.
HPD--Good to see you back on line - I enjoy reading your material. My personal favorite is the "soccer" story. I can relate to it being from the area and having sons who felt football was more to their liking. Visited Spain and was told THEY play true football - we play NORTHAMERICAN football -and added a shake of their heads. Want you to know that big town to the south now has quite a "sanctioned" program going - thanks to some industrious students who moved in from the south. They got training for the coaches and the cute little outfits - I think I remember a fashion statement was a must. Although I'm sure Pete met culture shock upon arriving, I know he missed the cheeseburgers when he left! Good luck HPD!
I would call you the sophist of the sucker punch, Drifter. You thought about this more thoroughly than I.
My only instinct has been to critique the action, and that photo illustrates my thoughts perfectly. How did Pierzynski not see it coming? Believe it buddy, it's heading your way. And Barrett delivering without his eye on the prize? To the jaw? Sheesh.
You have a lot of good thought here -- motivation/action jusitifed by result... and it sounds as if you enjoyed pondering it. Writing wise, I really enjoyed the team leader discussion. Lots of high points here. Outstanding vocab.
Now I have a more philosophical debate and a Bonnie Tyler earworm. Not sure how I feel about the latter... :)
Well, MC, when you're a Cubs fan you become very good at overanalyzing every minute glimmer of hope and stretching it into a positive. ;) But in all honesty, I was happy to see Barrett take the old-school, hard-line approach...many others weren't.
Nolan Ryan wasn't afraid to sell some knuckle samitches, but he's a HOFer so that means he's tough, a leader. Why can't the same apply to a catcher who is simply above average right now? Do you have to be great AND tough?
Thanks Mav, I feel like the last time around not everyone slid the parenthetical assignment tag on the titles, I know I didn't. But seeing as how everyone did this time, now I feel like a dope.
Hey Hi Plains -- yeah guess they never specified anything -- just saw it as a way so that people would notice it -- I'm seeing everyone's getting read and maybe it's because of the silly tag-- you have one of my favorite writing styles on here by the way--
HiPlainsDrifter-nice read-nice premise-"holding out for a hero"...Sometimes people will choose someone just because that person vents some frustration and the people themselves are unable to vent to a satiafactory degree about the frutrations of their own life.
HiPlainsDrifter-nice read-nice premise-"holding out for a hero"...Sometimes people will choose someone just because that person vents some frustration and the people themselves are unable to vent to a satiafactory degree about the frutrations of their own life.
Within an hour of Saturday’s Barrett-Pierzynski brouhaha both my best friend and brother called me to share that they were currently purchasing Barrett jerseys off the Internet. 
Every one remembers the Varitek-ARod fracas that spurred the Red Sox in 2004. (If you listen to the hundreds of guys in “Varitek is My Drinking Buddy” shirts passed out around Boston 
