In a recent post, Big Game James, I said “What should you watch for in game three? A breakout performance by Mr. Howard and continued production from B.J. Upton.” What happened? Howard had a breakout performance, hitting a curveball for a home run, and Upton went 2 for 4 with a run and 3 stolen bases. Just sayin’.
The star of the game for me though was Jamie Moyer. Moyer had a solid World Series start with 3 earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched and 5 strikeouts. It’s a shame he couldn’t get the win. Two things about Moyer jumped out at me, regarding his on-field performance. The way he dove and threw the ball, with his glove, to first base, giving all out effort as a senior member of MLB (he is 45) was impressive. This guy only knows one way to play. All-out.
Secondly, the way he tipped his hat to the umpire, even after he got robbed on the play where he dove to throw the ball at first to beat the runner (Crawford was called safe), and tipped his hat to the fans was nice to see. You might take it for granted, but you certainly don’t see that kind of gesture everyday.
Moyer is also a noted philanthropist, and it was noted during yesterday’s World Series game, that Moyer’s impact on charitable contributions can be attributed to over $15 million in fundraising. If you want your kids to emulate a major league baseball player today, this should be the guy. Class act all the way.
Oh, and if you’re looking to pick up one or two of Moyer’s baseball cards, you can still get them at a very affordable price. His Fleer rookie card, while with the Cubs, has a current book value of $2.00. For a guy who’s been in major league baseball for 22 years, and racked up near 250 wins and over 2,000 strikeouts, that’s a card that we can all afford, and should all be collecting.
