Sans Beckham

It's probably because I was still subconsciously mourning formerly awesome third baseman Joe Crede, but rookie Gordon Beckham who is the starting third baseman for the White Sox deserves some attention.

Only a year ago he was playing in the college world series for Georgia and now the 22, 23 year old is starting in the majors. And if you don't believe that he is basically an overgrown kid check out this video of him fooling around the Georgia clubhouse. Pretty candidly bizarro:



I especially like the part when he confesses to that other guy that he got a B in real estate and then the professor asked him for his autograph.

And if that video didn't convince you that he is way younger than you are, he has an official blog on the mlb site! He hasn't written a lot, in fact, it looks like he might of gotten off the hook when they figured out that he wasn't really a prospect, but going to play in the majors this year. But, the posts that he did write are references to older SNL skits like "more cowbell" or "The Japanese Game Show".

He writes about giving autographs:

I try to sign as many autographs as I can each day. Problem is, sometimes it just isn't going to happen. There are days where it's impossible. I feel bad when I can't sign every autograph but the fact is, I have a job to do. If I pull a hamstring because I was not loose for the game, I am blamed for that. I think there are moments when people forget that. There is another problem which a lot of players keep in mind when signing autographs. There are some people out there that try to profit off your signature. THAT'S PRETTY SAD.

That *is* pretty sad Gordon Beckham. But you also get paid obscene amounts of money to play baseball. He also writes about getting razed by AJ Pierzenski:

While the baseball seems to be coming relatively easy, the clubhouse ribbing seems to get even tougher. Lately, the border war between AJ and I has become relatively heated. I have hit two homeruns this spring training and the next day is always a rough one. AJ claims that my bag is on his side of the "border". I walk in and he asks why I placed my bag inside of his locker. He insists that I purposely threw my bag in his locker to mock him. I think we all know that is the last thing I want.

And on the South:

I will be heading east, back to my southern roots, on Saturday. Back where people drink sweet tea, say "ya'll" and "yes ma'am". Where there is more green than concrete and skyscrapers aren't always metal. Where there are actually trees, big majestic two-hundred year old oak trees entrenched in southern soil. Where the writings of Pat Conroy float through the marsh breeze on the coast of the southern shore. Where thunderstorms are actually welcomed after two months of no clouds. But mainly, where baseball parks light up the bright red marinated sunset.

Kind of a funny passage, right? He really kind of hams it up. And Pat Conroy??? What is he talking about?

But more importantly, a blogger for the Times identified some of the comparisons that have been drawn between Beckham and Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs.

Greg Walker, the White Sox’ batting coach, played with Sandberg in the Phillies organization in 1979.

“They’re both pretty easygoing guys, but there are not a lot of similarities in their swings,” Walker said. “Their mechanics are not the same at all.”

Initially projected to have more modest power numbers, Beckham is slightly shorter but more powerfully built than Sandberg. He has shown that he could eventually approach the slugging numbers put up by Sandberg, a Hall of Famer.

“We’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves with Gordon,” Walker said. “If you want to be talked about in the same breath as Ryne Sandberg, you’ve got to do it over a long period of time. But he understands that. He’s getting a lot of media attention right now, but he’s a pretty level-headed kid.”

I can't vouch for that swing comparison nonsense, or talk about them being born under the same astrological sign, but looking at pictures of young Sandberg and Beckham their necks both look similarly large - almost like football players. Unfortunately, neither of them is at all similar to the real Beckham, who has quite the monopoly on google image searches for "beckham"

On the plus side he already has a pair of those sweet Sandberg-esque flip sunglasses that were all the rage when I was playing little league.