Grip on Sports: Dee Gordon not only leads off for the Mariners, he is leading them in other ways as well
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Gather round kids, and Grandpa Vince will tell you how to become a major league baseball player. And, at the same time, explain why he has a new favorite Mariner. Read on.
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• The M’s played a 13-inning game Friday night. They won, 4-3, on Mitch Haniger’s opposite field home run. And then something really special happened.
Dee Gordon dragged a bucket of balls – it might have been the one the M’s received from the Cubs for Mike Montgomery – and a batting tee out to home plate.
It was well past midnight. The sprinklers were on at Safeco Field. And Gordon proceeded to stroke balls off the tee into left field.
A major league player doing something Little Leaguers do every day. But that’s not all. After working on his swing – Gordon had gone 0-for-6 in the win – the eight-year veteran picked up the empty bucket and roamed the outfield, picking up the baseballs and dodging sprinklers.
That’s two lessons young players can learn.
Gordon makes almost $11 million a year to play the game. But he’s not too good to do the little things that make him a better player (hitting after a game) and a better person (picking up after himself).
When I saw video evidence of this on Twitter thanks to Seattle Times beat writer Ryan Divish, I had flashbacks to my youth. There weren’t batting tees back then – I told you at the beginning this is coming from Grandpa Vince – but I did have a bag of beat-up baseballs I used to take to the elementary school down the street and hit for hours. Of course, I couldn’t get down to first base in 3.7 seconds like Gordon (or in 6.7 seconds), so the road the major leagues ended in a Spokane cul-de-sac, but that’s not the point.
Hard work doesn’t end no matter how successful you are. That’s the lesson. Keep banging away on the tee, keep working on staying inside the ball, keep building on your foundation. That’s how you become successful – and stay successful.
And then clean up after yourself.
• We in Spokane are lucky to have one of America’s most talented fiction writers living among us. And his brother. (I know this because I used to have to read and approve sports editor Ralph Walter’s expense reports back in the day. The guy could somehow convince me a bottle of Fireball was crucial to designing a near-perfect IN Life page.)
Ralph’s brother wrote this “What If” piece on the Sonics for today’s S-R. If you want to laugh, make sure you read Jess’ story. But beware, there is one factual error in it: He states Steve Ballmer “wanted an NBA team so badly he actually bought the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014.”
Sorry Jess, the Clippers are not an NBA team.
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WSU: The Pac-12 was busy yesterday, with Oregon and Arizona State losing in the women’s fastpitch college world series (UCLA and Washington had the day off after going undefeated in two games) and four baseball teams playing. Oregon State, at home, and Washington, on the road, won, while UCLA lost to host Minnesota and Stanford lost at home. The Oregonian’s Ken Goe believes the Beavers can win the NCAA title. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, the conference honored a Spokane football official. … The basketball rosters are pretty well set, meaning we know who the favorites are. About the only contender north of Tucson hurt by defections was Stanford, and the Cardinal were only somewhat of a contender anyhow.
Gonzaga: It was Gonzaga Night at Safeco Field – for some reason it was also Boise State Night, which I still don’t understand – and Rob Curley was in attendance. He has this story on the happenings. … The Zags stayed alive in the Minneapolis regional – they will play UCLA in a loser-out game today – with a win over Canisius. There are a lot of photos from the game.
Mariners: It’s appropriate Marco Gonzales pitched well again last night in the 3-1 win over Tampa Bay. Appropriate because it was Gonzaga Night (see above) and appropriate because he’s just been pitching well. The lefty is one of two feel-good stories in the starting rotation (along with Wade LeBlanc) and a big reason why the M’s are 36-22 and in first place in the American League West. Yes, I just wrote that on June 3. The Mariners are in first place in their division.
Sounders: Another match, another scoreless defeat. It happened on the road last night in Salt Lake City. This Sounders team is as bad as it gets right now.
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• The Capitals’ 3-1 win over Vegas last night was certainly fun to watch. The Stanley Cup Finals are always about as good as sports gets. Until later …