I took the kids to the National Portrait Museum last weekend. Ostensibly, the trip was part of our ongoing effort to fight against the perfectly natural urge to completely take for granted the immensely interesting and diverse cultural opportunities in our area. But Daddy had an ulterior motive. Peter Gammons called it "duende", from the Spanish word that, roughly translated, means having soul, an authentic expression of emotion. I always loved that description as attached to Pedro Martinez, the most remarkable athlete in my experience as a fan. Pedro's duende manifested itself in a loose-limbed, heavy-lidded arrogance, as this slip of a man whipped a baseball from his long fingers towards the artificially-muscled sluggers of his day, besting them again and again.
In 1999, at the height of the steroid era, Pedro was 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA, 313 strikeouts and 37 walks. His ERA in 2000 was a ludicrous 1.74, more than 2.5 runs lower than the league average. From 1997 to 2003, he strung together what Gammons describes as "the most dominant stretch of any pitcher in major league history".
Like many of the greats, Pedro held on long enough for us to watch his gifts diminish. And though he was still more than serviceable in his final years with the Mets and Phillies, he wasn't Pedro. Nobody could be.
Gammons himself donated Susan Miller-Havens' portrait of Pedro to the National Portrait Gallery, where it hangs today in a wing of other new additions to the museum's collection, near Ann Landers and a tribute to Hunter Thompson. In it, Pedro wears a Sox cap with a uniform of indeterminant provenance that features a Dominican flag, combining his U.S. glory days with the work he continues to do in his native country.
Duende, it seems, stays with a man.
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30 comments:
Ricky Barnes, looking good today, aside from his terrible hats that he wears.
I saw Pedro pitch live twice in 2000. He was insanely good. Note that he only won 18 games that year despite his 1.74 ERA, 0.737 WHIP, and 291 ERA+. In large part because he got almost no run support. Much like this years' 0-6 BoSox pitching staff.
LHC Report: A spring clean for the beam pipe
http://ow.ly/4wa98
don't think i've forgotten about you, my circular friend.
freddy couples, boys and girls
How out of it am I that I have no idea what a Charl Schwartzel is?
This Yanks-Sox game has the makings of a 5+ hour event.
goody, a short one for a change.
Game now 56 minutes old and in the top of the 3rd. I'll be able to watch the end after I put my kids to bed at 7:00.
I'd really like Tiger to get to -5 by the end of his round to spice up the weekend. He's at -3 through 10.
Tiger's showing some real life late in the day. Should make for an interesting weekend of laying on my couch, watching the Masters and intermittently napping. Somebody pour me a vodka & lemonade.
t.r. - you got your wish and then some...ditto here. i'd like to see tiger and rory in the final round w/tiger doling out a firm spanking. speaking of spanking, i have to go.
Wow. He went 7 under over his last 11. Masters and Yanks-Sox looking like the backbone of a good sports weekend.
Manny would be better off serving his 100 game suspension, getting released and signing with a contender in July/August. He could do a ton of drugs for the first two months of that suspension and then clean up and get in shape over the last month.
Sure. Manny has the ability to critically think that far in advance.
And I enjoy the Masters, but I refuse to call a weekend comprised primarily of golf and early season baseball a "good sports weekend".
The Nats' away uniforms are virtually identical to the Braves'. Division rivals. Idiotic.
Guys, has anyone yet commented on the lack of TV coverage of the Masters? 3pm on? (or am I not tuning to the right channels?)
that's fairly normal for saturday at the master, whit.
Rob--I can't believe you bumped TR's awesome Clinton post for Pedro..
Pedro's great. And I'm not a Red Sox fan. Just short.
Will the red sox vacate the 2004 WS?
coverage goes from 3-7:30 today...4.5 hours ain't too shabby but still short of US/British Open by a couple hours. tomorrow coverage starts at 2. the gods of green whit operate under the "less is more" premise, which coincidentally, is the one i operate under.
shlara, write a letter to the editor.
also, without looking it up, can anyone name the nba's leading three-point shooter this season?
Matt Bonner?
TJ's correct. I only know that b/c Bonner's a Gator. Used run into him on campus all the time and let me tell you...that is one nerdy looking motherfucker.
maybe we'll get a masters post today. that would be kind of neat.
Get to it, Dan.
Sample sales are one of the underrated bonuses of living in a beach community. I just bought 5 Volcom t-shirts, a hat & a pair of boardshorts for$50.
i wear medium t-shirts, mark. everyone else other than dennis is probably an xl.
Totally disagree with you on the sports on the telly this weekend, Mark. Different strokes for different blokes.
The final four for the Masters tee off b/w 230-245, so a 3 PM start makes sense.
Good to know, Rob. I can get my G:TB related Xmas shopping done early.
And TR, I suspected you might disagree with me. I also suspect you have no interest in today's broadcast of Florida's spring game. I, on the other hand, am very much interested in the work of Muschamp & Weis.
new post for dan, kq, and shlara
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