Down the Left Field Line:
Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes

Someone asked me that question at the KPFA Arts and Crafts Fair on December 10th. (I was wearing my Byrnesblog jersey, so that’s how the subject came up). My first reaction was "Why NOT Eric Byrnes?" which made the questioner laugh and back down. As "My Friend, the Yankees Fan" has said, the choice of a favorite player is a very personal one. (Actually, I think that was her polite way of saying "There’s no accounting for taste" when she found out that my blog is partially dedicated to a player who is neither at the top of the statistical heap nor "drop-dead gorgeous").

When I started this blog, I subtitled it "because in a team sport, it’s not just the superstars that count." The ace doesn‘t pitch every game; the slugger isn’t up every time the team needs a hit. To wit: the 14th inning of Game 3 of the 2005 World Series. Geoff Blum, who had the least playing time of all the White Sox, made the difference. We also know that sometimes superstars go bust in the clutch. A-Rod and Vlad Guerrero are the most recent examples, but baseball history is as full of those stories as it is of tales of unheralded guys who rose to the occasion, or the regulars who did something special but unexpected. I mean Bill Mazeroski was a fine player, but did anyone really think of him as a homer threat when he went up to bat in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series?

Still, that doesn’t per se answer the question "Why Eric Byrnes?" And neither does the Audrey Hepburn quote I used in my November 15th article "Why Does Eric Byrnes Matter?" That article was one of several I wrote in an attempt to come to terms with Byrnesie’s abysmal and aberrant 2005 season. My use of the Heburn quote

People, even
more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and
redeemed; never throw out anyone…"

was a cri de coeur born of my sense of what might happen, and actually did happen about 5 weeks later: the Orioles’ non-tender. But it really didn’t answer the question "Why Eric Byrnes?"

While I offered a more precise answer to the guy at the Crafts Fair, it has always struck me as odd that I could not really articulate well why I chose Byrnesie as my favorite player. It’s not that I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t as eloquent as I expected to be, words being my bread and butter. Then I read the answer to the question as stated by Tina Harris on her fan site EricByrnes.com and I knew immediately that she had succeeded where I had failed. She’s been watching him since his minor league days and has had the site for several years. You should visit. She’s also got great pictures of him. Tina said "It’s hard to put into words what a great guy and great ball player Eric is" but she was quite detailed in her fine explanation. I will only quote her summing paragraph here:

I love the high socks, too. Reading what Tina wrote, with which I agree entirely, I was finally able to articulate what was so special to me about Eric Byrnes. In one sentence, it’s this: I trust Eric completely. I’m a journalist and that work, plus life experience in general, has made me very cynical. Trustworthiness is no small thing in a world full of politicians on the take, businesses that exploit workers and shaft consumers, athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs, and students who cheat on exams. I know when I watch Eric Byrnes that he’s always giving his best. One of my favorite Eric Byrnes moments is a game against the Cleveland Indians in 2005 when Indians starter C.C. Sabathia was throwing 97 mph aspirins. He pitched a three-hit shut out against the Baltimore Orioles that day. One of the three hits was an infield single by Eric Byrnes. It should have been a simple 6-3 ground out. But Jhonny Peralta non-chalanted the play and Eric, who never non-chalants anything, was safe at first. Byrnes doesn’t give up and he doesn’t give in…ever.

The passion and the joy with which Byrnesie plays baseball, on which Tina also elaborated, are the other major reasons "Why Eric Byrnes" for me. It would be a better world if we all could feel about our jobs the way he feels about his. How many of us are doing something we just fell into because we needed the money? How many of us are bored with what we are doing? How many of us are frustrated because what we are doing isn’t making the difference we want it to make, whether in our workplace, in our locality, or in the world at large? How many of us do give our best and get ridicule instead of respect? I’ve experienced all of those things. Perhaps you have as well.

Eric Byrnes is a lucky soul; he makes great money doing what he loves. But you can make great money, work in a creative field, be respected, be famous even, do something you think you were meant to do, rather than just something you fell into because of the way things were at the time, and still not be a happy camper. Look at the Hot Stove League season just concluded. While some guys, some way richer and more famous than Byrnes, were playing ego games, some of which backfired on them, Byrnesie was looking for the best place to play baseball. "More than anything coming into this season I just needed to find the best situation for me as far as playing baseball is concerned," he said, in an article by Steve Gilbert that appeared on MLB.com on December 30th, the day Byrnes signed with the Diamondbacks. "That’s what ultimately was the deciding factor more than money, more than location, more than anything else."

Byrnes has his head on straight, knows what his priorities are, and he’s not just a lucky soul, he’s a joyful one. I’m quite the serious type, all too serious at times. I’ve a seriousness that typically leads to burn-out rather than the seriousness of purpose that leads to even more work being created. I don’t enjoy enough of what I’ve accomplished. Byrnes appreciates where he is and what he’s done. I watch Byrnesie, turning 30 today and still struggling to be an everyday player; the guy who was standing on third as the potential tying run in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2003 ALDS—I was there—unable to score as two teammates took called third strikes; the guy struggling through abysmal and aberrant (and bewildering) 2005, and I know that even in the dark times, there’s this joy about him, this sense that he’s comfortable in his own skin, that makes watching him fun. So he’s a big life lesson to me.

And yes, there are the on-field tools. Let’s not forget those. At least five teams were interested in signing him this December, and not just because of the joyful attitude, the great work ethic, the willingness to try to improve, and the high-energy, although those qualities all factored in. Byrnes has performed well in the past and can do so again. As the Diamondbacks GM stated when Byrnes was signed: "I think he’s a player that can impact the game defensively and with the bat in his hand." I look forward to 2006 being the season no one asks me "Why Eric Byrnes?" because "Why" will be self-evident to all.

Kéllia Ramares
Oakland, CA