It's nice to have a baseball player to cheer for. I know yours is Roy Halladay, a worthy choice. Mine is Ryan Braun of the Brewers. Before him there were Carl Yastrzemski, Tom Seaver, Reggie Jackson, Jim Rice, and Roger Clemens. (The last since repented). Braun was born to hit. He is off to his fastest start yet. Yesterday he hit his 4th homer and knocked in his 15th ribbie in 14 games. He has a batting average of .393.
I was fortunate enough to see his first home game for the Brew Crew. They called him up at the end of a west coast trip over the weekend. (As I later discovered, this allowed the Brewers to delay arbitration and free agency by a year). It was an inauspicious debut. There was construction on the highway by Miller Park and we missed the start. The girls and I hotfooted it into the park and stood behind the expensive seats to watch his first home at bat. He struck out.
He struck out or grounded into double plays the rest of his at bats. The Brewers lost 2-1. By the last strikeout the fans were booing. So much for a honeymoon.
He bounced back. Did he ever. He was the NL player of the month a couple of months later and was named NL Rookie of the Year. I believe he has more home runs for a guy his age than any player in history.
Much to my pleasure, the usually cheap Brewers locked him up last year with a long term contract. There will be at least one good reason to go to Miller Park for years to come. (Should your journeys ever bring you to Chicago, it's my treat).
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=28721http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Braun
