Farewell Billy Ballgame
In all the news coming out of Red Sox Nation in the last few days (new GMs, Theo might be back, Rocket talks, Damon talks, trade rumor after trade rumor), one little factoid has been a little overlooked: the Red Sox' starting 3B for the last 3 seasons was offered arbitration, but all signs pointed to his heading west. Those signs came true today when Bill Mueller, my favorite Red Sox player, signed with another storied franchise: the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mueller's new deal is 2 years and $9.5 million and he deserves every last penny of it. Over on the Sons of Sam Horn chat board, of which I am a member, he has been referred to as "the Professional" or simply "Pro" for a logn time and many people posted in a "Thank you, Bill Mueller" thread. Here was my post (written on the 9th, a few days before he signed on the dotted line for real):
"I almost feel guilty for not starting this thread myself. Bill Mueller, over the last three seasons, has been my favorite Red Sox player. To me, he epitomized everything that a ballplayer should be, from how he played on the field to how he handled himself with the utmost class and courtesy in the locker room and to the media. Mueller, to me, represents a dying breed: a guy who only has a good day on the field if his team wins, a guy to whom stats don't really matter if they don't help the team get closer to a playoff berth.
Several moments stand out in my mind as key memories of Bill Mueller as a Red Sox player. The most obvious ones would be his game-winning homer off Rivera in the A-Rod-Varitek game and his single up the middle in Game 4 that planted Rivera on his ass and scored Dave Roberts to tie the game.
But, while they may be the most obvious, they're not the ones that I will truly remember forever, mainly because I didn't see the homerun (I was at work) and because the single up the middle was preceded by an even greater moment in Red Sox history and its full impact was not felt until October 27, 2004.
My first real memory of Bill Mueller came one summer night in Texas. The Red Sox were playing the Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington and the until-then anonymous Mueller came to the plate three times and hit 2 of which were Grand Slams, one from each side of the plate. He was the first and only player in the history of Major League Baseball to do it, and the expression on his face as he crossed homeplate after the second was one of complete shock, as though asking himself, "How the hell did I just do that?"
I had been a Shea Hillenbrand fan before the coming of Mueller. When Hillenbrand was sent to the desert for Byung-hyun Kim, I was not happy. However, Mueller quickly made me forget the Shea-hey Kid (though he still holds a special place in my baseball fandom) and was my favorite Red Sox player by the end of the '03 campaign.
By all accounts he was a phenomenal teammate and nowhere was that more on display when he was kneeling at the side of Matt Clement in 2005 after the pitcher was struck on the head by a linedrive off the bat of a Tampa Bay hitter. While I freely admit that I do not share Mueller's religious views, his actions that day transcended simple belief. He was there, urging his teammate and friend to be okay, praying to whatever higher power he believes in to make it so. If it wasn't such a scary moment, it might have brought a tear to the eye for the selflessness on display.
After the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, the first move they made in the offseason was triggering Mueller's '05 option. When the Twins were looking for a 3B in late '05 and the Red Sox could have nabbed a great left-handed reliever for Mueller during a time when their bullpen was ashambles, they never pulled the trigger. For some reason they decided to let Bill Mueller play out the year in Boston instead of improving themselves at a vital position. Even though his final season in a Boston uniform ended in a disappointing 3-game sweep at the hands of the eventual World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, it was still a fantastic final season considering that it began with his health in question and ended with some claiming he was robbed in the Gold Glove voting.
Earlier this year, I finally bought a Bill Mueller player T-shirt, adding it to my collection of Lowe, Schilling, and Wakefield. It still remains the only non-pitcher shirt in my collection, which will probably be added to this season.
Part of me hopes that the rumored signing of Mueller by the Dodgers is false and that he'll accept arbitration and the team will move Mike Lowell. But I know that there's little chance of that happening and that the team will put Kevin Youkilis at 3B if they move Lowell, which is nothing more than what the Greek God of Walks has earned, so I'll put aside that dream for now and simply say thank you.
Thank you, William Richard Mueller. Thank you for 3 fantastic seasons as a Boston Red Sox player. Thank you for creating memories upon memories for this fan and, I know, many others. Thank you for the homeruns, the singles, the doubles, the great defense, the team-first attitude, and for being one of the classiest guys amongst a bunch of "Idiots" from day one until the day you sign(ed) on the dotted line to play somewhere else.
Thank you for giving me, us, and all of Red Sox Nation the pleasure of watching you leave everything on the field every time you went out there. Thank you for being one of the 25 in 2004.
Thank you for everything and all the best to you and your family from now until the end of time. Even if the BBWAA doesn't honor you with a spot in the Hall of Fame, you're undoubtedly in the Hall of Fame of every Red Sox fan in Red Sox Nation for what you did on this team, for this team.
Take care and good luck."
And even that doesn't begin to sum up how happy I was to see this man take the field night-in, night-out, or how proud I felt as a Red Sox fan to see a guy like this, who played the game the right way all the time and never stopped thinking about the team first and any personal accomplishments a distant second. I don't think he'll ever truly understand how much that ring that he earned means, symbolically, to a veritable nation of fans, or how much of a hero he was, is, and will forever be. The Dodger fans are getting someone special and I hope they realize it.
Thank you, Bill...for everything.
"I almost feel guilty for not starting this thread myself. Bill Mueller, over the last three seasons, has been my favorite Red Sox player. To me, he epitomized everything that a ballplayer should be, from how he played on the field to how he handled himself with the utmost class and courtesy in the locker room and to the media. Mueller, to me, represents a dying breed: a guy who only has a good day on the field if his team wins, a guy to whom stats don't really matter if they don't help the team get closer to a playoff berth.
Several moments stand out in my mind as key memories of Bill Mueller as a Red Sox player. The most obvious ones would be his game-winning homer off Rivera in the A-Rod-Varitek game and his single up the middle in Game 4 that planted Rivera on his ass and scored Dave Roberts to tie the game.
But, while they may be the most obvious, they're not the ones that I will truly remember forever, mainly because I didn't see the homerun (I was at work) and because the single up the middle was preceded by an even greater moment in Red Sox history and its full impact was not felt until October 27, 2004.
My first real memory of Bill Mueller came one summer night in Texas. The Red Sox were playing the Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington and the until-then anonymous Mueller came to the plate three times and hit 2 of which were Grand Slams, one from each side of the plate. He was the first and only player in the history of Major League Baseball to do it, and the expression on his face as he crossed homeplate after the second was one of complete shock, as though asking himself, "How the hell did I just do that?"
I had been a Shea Hillenbrand fan before the coming of Mueller. When Hillenbrand was sent to the desert for Byung-hyun Kim, I was not happy. However, Mueller quickly made me forget the Shea-hey Kid (though he still holds a special place in my baseball fandom) and was my favorite Red Sox player by the end of the '03 campaign.
By all accounts he was a phenomenal teammate and nowhere was that more on display when he was kneeling at the side of Matt Clement in 2005 after the pitcher was struck on the head by a linedrive off the bat of a Tampa Bay hitter. While I freely admit that I do not share Mueller's religious views, his actions that day transcended simple belief. He was there, urging his teammate and friend to be okay, praying to whatever higher power he believes in to make it so. If it wasn't such a scary moment, it might have brought a tear to the eye for the selflessness on display.
After the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, the first move they made in the offseason was triggering Mueller's '05 option. When the Twins were looking for a 3B in late '05 and the Red Sox could have nabbed a great left-handed reliever for Mueller during a time when their bullpen was ashambles, they never pulled the trigger. For some reason they decided to let Bill Mueller play out the year in Boston instead of improving themselves at a vital position. Even though his final season in a Boston uniform ended in a disappointing 3-game sweep at the hands of the eventual World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, it was still a fantastic final season considering that it began with his health in question and ended with some claiming he was robbed in the Gold Glove voting.
Earlier this year, I finally bought a Bill Mueller player T-shirt, adding it to my collection of Lowe, Schilling, and Wakefield. It still remains the only non-pitcher shirt in my collection, which will probably be added to this season.
Part of me hopes that the rumored signing of Mueller by the Dodgers is false and that he'll accept arbitration and the team will move Mike Lowell. But I know that there's little chance of that happening and that the team will put Kevin Youkilis at 3B if they move Lowell, which is nothing more than what the Greek God of Walks has earned, so I'll put aside that dream for now and simply say thank you.
Thank you, William Richard Mueller. Thank you for 3 fantastic seasons as a Boston Red Sox player. Thank you for creating memories upon memories for this fan and, I know, many others. Thank you for the homeruns, the singles, the doubles, the great defense, the team-first attitude, and for being one of the classiest guys amongst a bunch of "Idiots" from day one until the day you sign(ed) on the dotted line to play somewhere else.
Thank you for giving me, us, and all of Red Sox Nation the pleasure of watching you leave everything on the field every time you went out there. Thank you for being one of the 25 in 2004.
Thank you for everything and all the best to you and your family from now until the end of time. Even if the BBWAA doesn't honor you with a spot in the Hall of Fame, you're undoubtedly in the Hall of Fame of every Red Sox fan in Red Sox Nation for what you did on this team, for this team.
Take care and good luck."
And even that doesn't begin to sum up how happy I was to see this man take the field night-in, night-out, or how proud I felt as a Red Sox fan to see a guy like this, who played the game the right way all the time and never stopped thinking about the team first and any personal accomplishments a distant second. I don't think he'll ever truly understand how much that ring that he earned means, symbolically, to a veritable nation of fans, or how much of a hero he was, is, and will forever be. The Dodger fans are getting someone special and I hope they realize it.
Thank you, Bill...for everything.