I didn’t read Chipper’s but the Ankiel one is an excellent read. Thanks for sharing it.

APIAD wrote:

Chippers was better. Chipper really called himself a pos. Self awareness was interesting.

I wish ankiel would have touched on his hgh use.

Strange how that was omitted. Or I'll take your word it was omitted, because I gave up after about 1,000 words. I kept thinking if I reached the end there would be an address to which I could send financial donations to help all these unfortunate retired professional athletes who didn't live up to their potential.
I confess whatever appeal Ankiel's comeback as an outfielder had for me was lost when I found out he was bullying Rasmus. And I'll allow Rasmus was a difficult personality, but it would seem to me that Ankiel with his similarly dysfunctional parenting situation would have tried to help Rasmus instead of being threatened by him.
The most offensive aspect of the part I read before I nearly threw up was Ankiel trying to claim he was an ugly duckling as a kid. Then, in the next breath, he's bragging about having better stuff than Morris and Kile when he was 19-years-old. I'm sorry, but this catharsis, for whatever it's worth, doesn't engender any sympathy for him from me. I'd advise Ankiel to watch the excellent documentary about Vietnam that aired on PBS the past couple of weeks. I'd advise him to pay attention to the stories of veterans who came home from the war with real trauma. I'd advise him to pay particular attention to the segment about the veteran who was so torn up by his experience in war that when he got home he kept putting a gun to his head but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger because there would be no one to let his dogs in the house at night. Ankiel ought to compare that to his inability to throw a baseball accurately.
And now I'll get down off my soapbox.
 

Last edited by artie_fufkin (10/02/2017 1:57 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Chippers was better. Chipper really called himself a pos. Self awareness was interesting.

I wish ankiel would have touched on his hgh use.

Strange how that was omitted. Or I'll take your word it was omitted, because I gave up after about 1,000 words. I kept thinking if I reached the end there would be an address to which I could send financial donations to help all these unfortunate retired professional athletes who didn't live up to their potential.
I confess whatever appeal Ankiel's comeback as an outfielder had for me was lost when I found out he was bullying Rasmus. And I'll allow Rasmus was a difficult personality, but it would seem to me that Ankiel with his similarly dysfunctional parenting situation would have tried to help Rasmus instead of being threatened by him.
The most offensive aspect of the part I read before I nearly threw up was Ankiel trying to claim he was an ugly duckling as a kid. Then, in the next breath, he's bragging about having better stuff than Morris and Kile when he was 19-years-old. I'm sorry, but this catharsis, for whatever it's worth, doesn't engender any sympathy for him from me. I'd advise Ankiel to watch the excellent documentary about Vietnam that aired on PBS the past couple of weeks. I'd advise him to pay attention to the stories of veterans who came home from the war with real trauma. I'd advise him to pay particular attention to the segment about the veteran who was so torn up by his experience in war that when he got home he kept putting a gun to his head but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger because there would be no one to let his dogs in the house at night. Ankiel ought to compare that to his inability to throw a baseball accurately.
And now I'll get down off my soapbox.
 

Thanks very much, Artie.  I was hopeful about the book but as soon as I read a review that praised Ankiel for dumping on his old man, I decided against.  I thought about reading it for the same reason AP cited but have now decided better.
The more I'm exposed to young guys the more I begin to understand LaRussa.  At the same time, I think the Rasmus situation was really unfortunate.