A real life Crash Davis
It's taken me some time to think of how to address this, and even now, I'm not sure I'll do the man any justice, but a post had to be made in honor of Rick Short. Much of the information comes courtesty of Washington Post Staff Writer Dave Sheinen.
If you don't recognize the name Crash Davis, you haven't seen one of the best sports films/dramas of all time, Bull Durham. In fact, I'd suggest you quit reading this post write now, and go watch it. The post will still be here when you're done. In Bull Durham, Crash Davis is a career minor-league catcher played by Kevin Costner. I won't go into much detail, but a quick rundown of the plot (the baseball part) is that it's Davis' job to help rookies acclimate themselves to minor league life, and move on to The Show (The Majors.) As Davis reminisces in the film, he tells the rookies how he was "In The Show" for three weeks at one point in his career.
Rick Short has played 1106 career minor league games over 12 seasons in various organizations. On June 9th, Rick Short got called up to the Washington Nationals, the major leagues, for the first time in his career. He made his debut the next day against the Seattle Mariners, and I was lucky enough to be at the game, Deep Cover in the seat next to me. If you don't think Hollywood storylines ever happen in real life, you should have been there.
Short was called to pinch hit for the pitcher (Sunny Kim) in the 5th inning. Furthering my appreciation for the Washington area fanbase, everyone gave him a standing ovation. Pretty neat stuff for a guy making his debut. You could hear the buzz in the stands, everyone pulling for him to do well. Short went down 0-2 quickly, then laced a single to left field, scoring a runner from second base. Another standing ovation. The next hitter grounded out to end the inning. As Short was jogging off the field, his night finished, he was given a third standing ovation.
He was sent back to the minor leagues a day or two later, and didn't appear in another game. With him, he takes a perfect 1.000% batting average, an R.B.I. and three standing ovations. I don't think it could have ended any better for him, and if he never makes it back to "The Show" again, he'll always have the story of his one moment.
We should all be so lucky.
If you don't recognize the name Crash Davis, you haven't seen one of the best sports films/dramas of all time, Bull Durham. In fact, I'd suggest you quit reading this post write now, and go watch it. The post will still be here when you're done. In Bull Durham, Crash Davis is a career minor-league catcher played by Kevin Costner. I won't go into much detail, but a quick rundown of the plot (the baseball part) is that it's Davis' job to help rookies acclimate themselves to minor league life, and move on to The Show (The Majors.) As Davis reminisces in the film, he tells the rookies how he was "In The Show" for three weeks at one point in his career.
Rick Short has played 1106 career minor league games over 12 seasons in various organizations. On June 9th, Rick Short got called up to the Washington Nationals, the major leagues, for the first time in his career. He made his debut the next day against the Seattle Mariners, and I was lucky enough to be at the game, Deep Cover in the seat next to me. If you don't think Hollywood storylines ever happen in real life, you should have been there.
Short was called to pinch hit for the pitcher (Sunny Kim) in the 5th inning. Furthering my appreciation for the Washington area fanbase, everyone gave him a standing ovation. Pretty neat stuff for a guy making his debut. You could hear the buzz in the stands, everyone pulling for him to do well. Short went down 0-2 quickly, then laced a single to left field, scoring a runner from second base. Another standing ovation. The next hitter grounded out to end the inning. As Short was jogging off the field, his night finished, he was given a third standing ovation.
He was sent back to the minor leagues a day or two later, and didn't appear in another game. With him, he takes a perfect 1.000% batting average, an R.B.I. and three standing ovations. I don't think it could have ended any better for him, and if he never makes it back to "The Show" again, he'll always have the story of his one moment.
We should all be so lucky.
posted by The Captain at 5:59 PM
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