Dear Dusty- Why The Knowledgeable Cub Fan Hates You
An open letter to Dusty Baker (not that he'll ever see it): Dear Dusty, When you were hired in 2002 by Jim Hendry to manage the Cubs, I, like thousands of other naive Cub fans, were impressed that Hendry would actually go out and hire a "big name", well known, successful manager to manage the team. Many of us saw this as a turning point for the Cubs, and that this was the first move in what would be a beginning of a long, successful run for a baseball team long down on its luck. As 2003 unfolded, it looked like that would be true. Until Game 6 of the NLCS, with "5 outs to go" and you and your team melted down completely, you had many of us fooled. Even the most optimistic of Cub fans now see you as the complete fraud, sham and phony that you really are, but in retrospect, the warning signs were always there. Without becoming long-winded, watching how you hang rookies and young players out to dry, while backing useless veterans because they have a "track record, dude" (LennyHarris and Neifi quickly come to mind, and I'm sure there are many others) shows us that you are a bully when it comes to rookies, but a coward when it comes to how you treat veterans. The whole Sammy Sosa fiasco is on you, dude, since you should have been the manager and managed, by moving him down in the lineup when he struggled. Also, for a guy whose mantra was "no more excuses" when he was hired, you sure have come up with a boatload of them for the sorry excuse of the last 2 seasons. Your in game decisions are dubious at best and horrible at worst, and your "you're either with us or against us" attitude with the fans has, guess what, turned us against you. Now (for whatever crazy reason) the local media is writing article after article about you getting, and deserving an extension. When it comes to the "earning" business, you, my friend, have not come close. The whole "he got them within 5 outs" argument for keeping you is meaningless, since the Marlins scored 8 runs before you got 2 of those remaining outs, and you haven't come close since. Just so you know, the Cubs coming within 5 outs of the World Series is really meaningless when you consider that every other team but 4 have been in the World Series since 1960, and of those 4, 2 of them began in the '60s and the other 2 in the '90s. Too bad for us fans you have the one person in your corner who actually has the power to bring you back, and for some unknown reason, he thinks you're the greatest manager that ever managed a team. You're not even the best manager in town. Anyway, remember that money can't buy you happiness, and if you decide to stay after this season, you shouldn't expect to be happy, since whatever Cub fans that are still left will make your baseball life miserable. Good luck with that, dude.
An open letter to Dusty Baker (not that he'll ever see it): Dear Dusty, When you were hired in 2002 by Jim Hendry to manage the Cubs, I, like thousands of other naive Cub fans, were impressed that Hendry would actually go out and hire a "big name", well known, successful manager to manage the team. Many of us saw this as a turning point for the Cubs, and that this was the first move in what would be a beginning of a long, successful run for a baseball team long down on its luck. As 2003 unfolded, it looked like that would be true. Until Game 6 of the NLCS, with "5 outs to go" and you and your team melted down completely, you had many of us fooled. Even the most optimistic of Cub fans now see you as the complete fraud, sham and phony that you really are, but in retrospect, the warning signs were always there. Without becoming long-winded, watching how you hang rookies and young players out to dry, while backing useless veterans because they have a "track record, dude" (LennyHarris and Neifi quickly come to mind, and I'm sure there are many others) shows us that you are a bully when it comes to rookies, but a coward when it comes to how you treat veterans. The whole Sammy Sosa fiasco is on you, dude, since you should have been the manager and managed, by moving him down in the lineup when he struggled. Also, for a guy whose mantra was "no more excuses" when he was hired, you sure have come up with a boatload of them for the sorry excuse of the last 2 seasons. Your in game decisions are dubious at best and horrible at worst, and your "you're either with us or against us" attitude with the fans has, guess what, turned us against you. Now (for whatever crazy reason) the local media is writing article after article about you getting, and deserving an extension. When it comes to the "earning" business, you, my friend, have not come close. The whole "he got them within 5 outs" argument for keeping you is meaningless, since the Marlins scored 8 runs before you got 2 of those remaining outs, and you haven't come close since. Just so you know, the Cubs coming within 5 outs of the World Series is really meaningless when you consider that every other team but 4 have been in the World Series since 1960, and of those 4, 2 of them began in the '60s and the other 2 in the '90s. Too bad for us fans you have the one person in your corner who actually has the power to bring you back, and for some unknown reason, he thinks you're the greatest manager that ever managed a team. You're not even the best manager in town. Anyway, remember that money can't buy you happiness, and if you decide to stay after this season, you shouldn't expect to be happy, since whatever Cub fans that are still left will make your baseball life miserable. Good luck with that, dude.
posted by buck at 11:27 PM
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