• Belle took then-Brewers second baseman Fernando Vina out with an elbow when Vina tried to tag him going to second in 1996. See, Vina shouldn’t have been there in the first place. He could have underhanded it to the shortstop.
The more Belle did, the more fans in Cleveland went nuts for him. He was the best player not only on the team, but in the city.
Of course, when Belle left Cleveland for the White Sox, Cleveland became just like the rest of the country – only it booed louder.
Belle finished his career with Baltimore 2000 with a career-total of 381 homers and 1,239 runs batted in. In his final season, he drove in 103 runs.
Belle was arrested Wednesday for the second time on stalking charges. He was charged with stalking in February after he allegedly installed a GPS device on his ex-girlfriend’s car and threatened her.
When looking back on Belle’s career, I think of two men. The first was one of the best hitters I have ever seen. If I had to pick one batter from my lifetime to bat in a clutch situation, Belle would be it.
Now I look at Belle’s off-the-field antics differently. In truth, Costas was right about Belle. He needed help. He appears to still need help.
Indians fans knew over a decade ago that Belle had issues. But he was a great player, and more importantly he was our great player. But a decade later, the realization is we defended him not because we wanted to downplay the incidents, but because he was a great player.
I wonder, in light of the steroid allegations that make Bonds’ guilt evident to almost everyone outside of San Francisco, how the Giants’ outfielder will be regarded in a few years there.
The Giants fans may not want to face Bonds’ issues now. But what about when he’s no longer wearing a Giants uniform?
Article comments
1 - sal m
let's see how much love the giants' fans have for bonds if he goes across the bay to dh for the a's next season!
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Bonds playing for Cleveland would be a bit too cruel, so I'll imagine it happening anyway.