Uribe

[Frayed Knot]

What a trip this guy is.

- probably the most anonymous (to me anyway) 15 year vet in MLB - mostly as a result of playing out west much of the time I suspect.
- came up as a SS (still has played more games at that position than at any other) even though he looks only slightly more like a SS than Benjie Molina.
- has played a major role with several WS contenders and winners (2005 ChiSox, 2010 SFG, 2013-14 LAD) though has never been higher than maybe the 5th banana on any of those squads
- has had a wildly inconsistent career with some sub-.200 BA seasons coming right on the heels of .300+ years and then back again
- doesn't really have good numbers as a NYM so far but seems to be in the middle of everything whenever he's out there
- has some swing and miss to his game but hits the ball REAL FUCKING HARD when he does make contact

[Guest themetfairy]

Andale Andela Uribe!

[Zvon]

Lightning fast hands. Lightning fast bat. How could you not ? Uribe.

[Zvon]

themetfairy wrote: Andale Andela Uribe!

Beautifully classic shot. I see a card in that photo's future. It's like the perfect baseball card pic.

[Guest themetfairy]

Thank you Z! From you that's quite the compliment

[Zvon]

I love those sideburns too. A cross between Star Trek and The Wild Wild West.

[MFS62]

Going back to Smokey Burgess and Gates Brown, I like guys with a gut who can hit.

Later

[Zvon]

MFS62 wrote: Going back to Smokey Burgess and Gates Brown, I like guys with a gut who can hit. Later

I saw Gates play in my very first big league ballgame at the real Yankee Stadium. It must have been 1967 cause I saw my first Mets game the next year.

[Zvon]

I ran into this on tumblr thru the Mets feed (their caption):


Who wore it better? Cespedes or Rally Bird?


LA up 3-0 on a wacky play..oh, the ball went into the dugout! On a double by Ethier! Relay by Rendon is wild!
Good thing too cause Pederson fucked up on the bases and would not have scored from first.

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: Going back to Smokey Burgess and Gates Brown, I like guys with a gut who can hit.

Except that Uribe is no mere pinch-hitter, he's a guy who can field and run and for a while played mostly every day.
But mainly I'm just taking in this first prolonged exposure to him (despite his already lengthy career) and am getting a kick out of the odd and seemingly disjointed set of looks & skills he brings to the table.

[MFS62]

You're right about Brown, who only played outfield in about 300 games during his 11 year career. But Burgess caught over 1,100 games in his 17 year career. I remember him as a strict platoon player with Hal Smith for a while with the Bucs.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah I never saw Burgess play, and the rep he has is one where he was a PH specialist, but, yes, he was a semi-regular player for much of his career. Kind of like those who only knew Rusty from his second go-around as a Met never knew that he was an excellent OF for at least a decade or more.
Brown was a DH in the pre-DH era who thrived on PH-ing in the days when larger benches gave PH specialists lots of opportunities and double-headers meant enough starts to keep one from getting stale.

What intrigues about Uribe is the infielder (even middle infielder) skills coupled with a corner man's power (four times has topped 20 HRs and is closing in on 200 career) all wrapped up in a PH'ers body -- and then also how he's all of 9-for-46 as a Met to date yet seems to have already played a big role in a bunch of important games.

[MFS62]

Yep, he's a guy with a gut and a glove who can hit.

Later

[seawolf17]

And from all accounts, a GREAT clubhouse dude: https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/the-likable-unlikely-career-of-juan-uribe

These days, Uribe's listed weight is 235 pounds, 60 pounds more than it was his rookie year. It's easy to think of him as a kind of jolly, round baseball jester�Tommy Lasorda if he was an active player and Dominican. He walks into the Dodgers clubhouse every day with a cigar in his mouth. He wears fancy patterned sweatpants and custom baseball hats that say "Papi" on them. Once, he was sued by a former landlord for lighting an apartment on fire when he decided to fry some fish in the middle of the night. He has been a victim of the hidden ball trick. But in his Cy Young acceptance speech this past offseason, Clayton Kershaw�Uribe's exact opposite culturally, stylistically, and personality wise�singled out the third baseman. "Thank you for making me laugh," Kershaw said. "You are one of the most important people in our clubhouse."

Until we acquired him, I conflated him with Jose Uribe (his second cousin, as per the article above), who I conflated with Jose Gonzalez, who I conflated with Julio Gonzalez. So in my head, sort of, Juan Uribe has been around since I was a kid.

[Edgy MD]

Jos� Uribe, indeed, started his career as Jos� Gonzalez, realized there were too many Jos� Gonzalezes around and was afraid of getting confused with somebody else and accidentally released, briefly changed his name to Uribe Gonzalez, before settling on Jos� Uribe.

The steroids era had a buncha guys who spent the first half of their careers as middle infielders, but had productive second halves, even after prematurely aging out of the middle infield, by becoming professional hitters.

The Mets had a few. Jos� Offerman. Marlon Anderson (who still played second, but made his living with his bat), Lenny F. Harris. Seemed like Boston had a few, and maybe one or two affiliated scandals (?).