| 08 June 2010
Congratulations and welcome to the 3,287th column, article, blog post, essay, profile, feature, kindergarten free write and poem you’ll read about Stephen Strasburg this week. Please feel free to check your coat at the door, and be sure to leave your name and address with my secretary. Your parting gifts will be arriving by mail in 7-10 business days...
Just kidding of course.
There’ll be no gifts, at least not from AaronTorres-Sports.com. Instead, tonight’s gift comes from Strasburg himself, when he takes the mound against the Pirates.
Because when Strasburg does make his debut, this will be bigger than just a baseball game. It’ll be a potentially historic event, and certainly the greatest unveiling of an American professional athlete since LeBron James hit NBA courts in 2003. Arguably it’ll be the most hyped regular season baseball game in recent memory, and certainly the biggest for the Nationals since the franchise moved to Washington a few years ago.
Maybe the most intriguing part of this game though, is the uncertainty surrounding Strasburg himself.
Either way buckle up. We’re in for a wild ride.
As I mentioned before, Tuesday night will mark the most anticipated debut of any American athlete since LeBron James in 2003. But the cloak of secrecy surrounding Strasburg makes him the anti-LeBron.
Remember, when LeBron was a senior in high school, most of his games were televised on national TV. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 17. When his single mom bought him a Hummer, it became a national news story. No seriously, I remember hearing about the Hummer not from ESPN, but ABC’s World News Tonight. By the time LeBron actually played his first NBA game we all felt like we knew him personally. He was already a brand, one of the five most marketable guys in the league.
What makes Strasburg’s MLB debut on Tuesday night so fascinating, is that in this 24-hour, ESPN News, Twitter-fueled society we live in, the guy is basically a blank canvas.
Seriously, what do we know about him?
Ok, he went to San Diego State and played for Tony Gwynn, I’ll give you that. He was the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, and is represented by agent Scott Boras (Also known as Satan’s golf partner). He’s been blowing away overmatched hitters at a rate we haven’t seen since Brendan Fraser played Steve Nebraska in the terrible baseball movie, The Scout. Other than that, give me something on Strasburg. Anything. I’ve heard he drinks a lot of tea. That’s all I’ve really got.
Strasburg is the great unknown. What kind of pitches does he throw? How tall is he? Let me put it to you another way: If Strasburg was standing next to you at the DMV or grocery store and wasn’t wearing a baseball uniform, would you have any idea who the guy was? I write about sports for a living and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t know.
Comparing Strasburg to LeBron is easy, but to me the more ample comparison is to Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeh, that guy.
The only footage we have of Strasburg is grainy film from the back woods of Syracuse, Harrisburg and Altoona. The only people who’ve seen him play in person are old scouts named Chick and Red, and honestly, can we really trust someone named Chick or Red? Could the stories they’re telling possibly be true? That Strasburg once struck out three batters on nine pitches? That his changeup was once clocked at 97? That he pushed the team bus four miles when it ran out of gas? Where does the legend end and reality kick in?
Pitching every fifth day only helps. Unlike a position player in baseball, or an NBA or NHL prodigy, we’re getting just enough Strasburg without being overwhelmed. There aren’t game-to-game, minute-to-minute updates. But when he does slip our minds- if only for a second- there he is back on the mound every fifth day twirling a gem.
Strasburg finished the most decorated two month minor league career in baseball history with Playstation like numbers. He went 7-2 with a 1.30 ERA in 11 starts between Double A and Triple A, striking out 65 batters in 55 1/3 innings. Supposedly he also sold hot dogs on his off days, and cured cancer on the team bus during a road trip from Harrisburg to Hershey Park. Supposedly.
All this brings us back to Tuesday night, and maybe the most celebrated regular season baseball game, since…umm…well, I really don’t know. I spent 20 minutes arguing the point with buddy Finn on the phone Monday. I think the only comparison would be a one game playoff at the end of the season, while Finn contended that a few Red Sox-Yankees games over the last few years were just as big. Except here’s the thing with that: The Red Sox and Yankees play 17 times a year. Same with the Dodgers and Giants. And Mets and Phillies. If you miss them today, you can catch them out tomorrow. Miss Strasburg’s first start and you’re missing history.
Maybe the only people more excited about this one than Finn and I are the Nationals front office and ticket reps. My other buddy Steve and I were talking on the phone the other day about the dollars and cents behind Strasburg’s first start (Doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know? That I’ve had two separate conversations about a Triple A pitcher in the last two weeks?), trying to make some sense of it all.
After Steve and I made the requisite “Number of pink Nationals hats sold to 21-year-old coeds,” and “Number of Congressmen and Senators paying top dollar to bring their mistresses to the game,” jokes, I’d say that Strasburg’s economic impact is impossible to figure out.
I mean sure the Nationals are pulling out all stops Tuesday night, selling standing room only tickets and single game suites for the first time in franchise history. Not to mention that the game sold out just a few hours after you-know-who was named the starter.
But beyond that, how can you really measure how Strasburg has pumped energy into a nameless and faceless organization, one that had been more lifeless than Lindsay Lohan after a weekend bender? How can you measure all the vendors selling cheesy t-shirts, and bars filled with patrons that would have otherwise been at home on a Tuesday night watching The Bachelorette rather than a Nationals game? How can you measure the impact that Strasburg had on a family of four who’d never been to a Nats game before Tuesday night, but had so much fun that they’re buying tickets to come back? You can’t.
Just about the only people who can’t be too happy about Strasburg’s arrival in the big league’s are the Pittsburgh Pirates, the guys who’ll be in the other dugout Tuesday night.
Poor Pittsburgh. Are 17 straight losing seasons not enough? Now they’ve been turned into Tuesday night's punch line, some sort of combination of the Washington Generals and Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars, a group that’s supposed to just smile and nod, and be happy to be along for the ride. Don’t you think they’re going to come out with a little fire in their stomach's when Strasburg takes the mound?
Because of that factor alone, I truthfully expect this game to go down a lot differently than others see it. I think the Pirates come out aggressive and put a few runs on the board early. Strasburg isn’t going to pitch more than five innings, and quite honestly, I’d bet that he’s more likely to end up with a no decision than his first career win.
Regardless though, as much as we’d like to say otherwise, this game isn’t about wins or losses, or even Strasburg himself. It’s about putting the spotlight back on baseball for one night, in the midst of the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup and with the World Cup set to kick off in just a few days.
Whether Stephen Strasburg ends up with a victory or not is trivial, because ultimately everyone will be a winner. Baseball will be a winner. So will the Nationals franchise. Quite frankly so will all of Washington D.C.
I’m still not sure what to expect Tuesday night when Stephen Strasburg takes the mound for the first time.
But I can’t wait to find out.
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