One Last Shot of Glory

I have always been fascinated by the ability of fading baseball stars to reach back and find one more great performance before the end. I don't really understand it, but it happens.

Bill Simmons wrote in his ESPN column today about the sudden and tragic decline of Boston's David Ortiz. Many people have speculated that he may have been a steroid user as his rapid rise in power during the steroid era was matched by his rapid fall after testing went into place.

Simmons (a rose-colored-glasses Boston homer if there ever was one) has decided that steroids is not the answer in this story. Rather, he thinks that Big Papi is actually older than the 33 that he is reported to be. Players from the Dominican Republic have a notorious history of making themselves younger to be more appealing to Major League clubs. In Simmons opinion, if Ortiz is really 37, then this decline is very predictable for a large-bodied slugger. (I am skeptical and think that steroids could still be the answer here, but there is no evidence yet.)

As a fan, Simmons was encouraged by the slugger's first home run of the year. Unfortunately, it has not been followed by any other signs that he has regained his bat speed. It was possibly one of those last-gasp heroics of the declining star.

From 1974-1978 Doug Rau was a mainstay of the Dodgers rotation going 73-49 with a 3.20 ERA over those five seasons. Solid. Then he started the 1979 season 0-4 through 6 starts with an ERA of 8.10. He looked like maybe he was hurt. Then he inexplicably gutted out a one-hitter over a very good Montreal team that won 95 games that year.

The sports section of the LA Times featured the story with a huge headline that ran all way across the top of the page. LA fans rejoiced. Rau was back. Not long after that his arm fell off and he only started 7 more games in his career.

Fernando Valenzuela was the biggest thing to hit the Dodgers when he earned both Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young award in 1981. All the pitches he threw eventually took a toll and he was injured through most of LA's 1988 World Series season. In 1989 he was only 10-13 and started the 1990 season 5-6 and clearly struggling (he finished the season 13-13). But on June 29, he took the ball and no-hit the Cardinals. I will always remember Vin Scully's game-ending call, "If you have a sombrero, throw it up in the air. Fernando has thrown a no-hitter."

Valenzuela was cut the following spring. He hung around baseball for several more years, but was never again a top pitcher.

If he is indeed finished, Big Papi may have a two-homer six-RBI game left in him. If so, don't be fooled, however. It sometimes happens before the end.