Change-UpJuly 15, 2008
Required Reading Alert
By Patrick Sullivan

Joe Posnanski is no stranger to this site, and he is one of the best sports writers in the country. Yesterday he penned a look back at Bobby Murcer and Bobby Bonds in a piece with plenty of baseball analysis but also one chock full of nuggets that make you ponder some of life's curiosities.

Isn't it interesting how two people can become linked forever? How fleeting can life's successes be? Isn't it strange how decisions made at a given point in time can alter the course of one's life forever, even if the implications are not understood realtime? Anyway, it is all in here.

Well, trade talks began for what had a chance to be one of the most overwhelming one-for-one deal in baseball history — a swap of two $100,000 players — Murcer for Bonds. On a level, it too made sense. Here was a chance to get Murcer away from New York, away from the shadow of Mantle, away from the fans who could not love him unconditionally. Here was a chance to send him to the other side of the country, to San Francisco, where he could see more fastballs, where the fans might appreciate his talents, his hard-charging style, his Oklahoma charm. Sure. Made sense.

And here was a chance to get Bonds away from San Francisco, where he could never be Mays, where so many of the fans had come to notice the strikeouts more than he home runs and the stolen bases and the rifle throws. Sure, they could send him to New York, the Big Apple, where his big and overwhelming talents could win over Metropolis and give him the stardom that (maybe) he wanted.

Yes, it made sense … only it didn’t, not at all...

If you only read one full-length baseball article this week, it should be this one by Poz.