Of course Doug Glanville, a Penn grad, can write.
He does it quite well, actually.
Earlier today, Glanville penned a lengthy piece for ESPN.com in which he talked about the (life and!) career of Pat Burrell, whom he played alongside of for a few seasons. Glanville provided some anecdotal bits of tid on teammates’ feelings toward Bat, Bat’s work ethic and, of course, his extracurricular activities.
Some excerpts.
On Pat coming up as a rookie:
I remember watching Burrell's first batting practice and hearing the whispers around the field. His swing: "He hits with a lot of top spin." His image: "He kind of reminds me of any good-hitting first baseman with no glove." He was already eroding locker room goodwill, just for taking BP. All eyes were on him.
Then the real game began and he became more than the first-round draft pick on a joy ride; he became a teammate, my left fielder. He came off a spring training, where he truly looked like he was on his way. Dominating the game, hitting to all fields, hitting for power and average. It was the first moment when we all finally said, "OK, I see why they thought this guy was good."
On Pat's incredible work ethic, which, I think, is one of the reasons he was so well-liked here– he partied, yeah, but it was obvious that he wanted to win, badly:
I played with faster outfielders than Pat, but few worked as well with me. He always paid attention to where I had to position him for the hitter, always knew the situation, and if he had something to add, he respectfully suggested something else. Hustle was never an issue. If he didn't get to a ball, it was simply because he couldn't.
Even when the money rolled in, he was still working out there. The Phillies offered him a contract right after the first breakout year. All the armchair GMs (composed of both players and fans) came alive talking about how the organization couldn't wait to throw money at him. They decided he hadn't done it for long enough. Even if that was true, that wasn't his fault. He kept working on that ball down the left-field line.
And on Pat The Bat:
He also had to endure the jealousy and voyeurism around his social life, often more of a topic than his game. Certainly, he loved to get after the nightlife and seemed to be in a vicious circle between self and being in character (I called him "Ray Liotta" on a few occasions). Just as most players with his kind of access. But his name was daily tabloid fodder and everyone knew the fame level of his date before they did his batting average. Nothing was more interesting than when his Hollywood ex-girlfriend sang the national anthem when we were playing the Dodgers. He took a lot of heat about that one. From me, in particular.
Who. Is. Dat. Woman?
Full article from Glanville here.
UPDATE: via smfiv in the comments, the celebrity was Rosa Blasi.
18 Responses
I’m far too lazy to actually do any of this myself but I look forward to reading the “Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day” style article where someone breaks down every Phillies/Dodgers game in LA while Burrell was on the team and who sang the anthem for each one.
Yea, who was the ex-girlfriend?
Him & Bolaris should get together
It was Rosa Blasi. 100% positive I was watching that game. After she was done singing, I remember Harry saying some to the affect the Pat was dating her. At the time she was on some crappy sitcom with the Dice man that had to do with the music business.
Doug Glanville also had book published all about his career experiences from the minors and up. It’s called ‘The Game From Where I Stand.’
There’s quite a bit of Phillies excerpts and pretty amusing accounts of some whacked female fan in Atlanta. I definitely recommend it to the baseball lovers here.
Rosa Blasi interview Pat the Bat name comes up at about the 8:35 mark http://youtu.be/UBZm-wuWyis
Pat the Bat was a man’s man. He worked hard, played hard & played harder off the field
Pat the Bat was definitely not a man’s man. The dude liked to get weird. Even guy-on-guy weird. Well, then scratch that, he IS a man’s man.
Change that pic. Makes the site reak of gay.
Here’s more confirmation it’s Rosa Blassi
http://articles.philly.com/2001-04-30/sports/25331119_1_pat-burrell-mental-error-larry-bowa/2
“Actress Rosa Blasi from the Lifetime network show Strong Medicine sang the national anthem before the game. Blasi is dating Phillies leftfielder Pat Burrell”
I was watching that game too and am pretty sure she wore #5 on her tight shirt while singing
The best part about this post is the Rosa Blasi link, check out who is getting the next three starts for the Phils in April 01, Daal, Person and Telemaco, my how things have changed in ten years.
That pic is a crossingbroad.com work block
Picture is the gayest
awesome
how does “smfiv” get the credit for Rosa Blasi? I clearly beat him by more than hour, total violation
Your word against smfiv’s link.
my word is better than anything philly.com has ever written
Comments are closed.