Let me be the first to say that I really like Larry Bigbie.
Good guy, easy smile, loved Baltimore, routinely went to Ravens games (he even stole a purple headband from me once because he wanted to sport colors and stay warm at the game) and he actually LIVED HERE in the winters. For a while, it seemed like I ran into him at dinner once a week in Canton and downtown.
Obviously, we all kinda knew there were some “allegations” regarding steroids that would come his way. His close friendship with David Segui would also indict him.
But this morning over coffee and the remnants of my shredded NCAA pools, I ran across a front page piece on yahoo sports about his “exile” to Japanese baseball and his side of the story as the Mitchell Report turned his name up to be the biggest “rat” on the ship.
With Bobby Valentine speaking out on the plight of Japanese baseball and the Red Sox being in Tokyo this week, it’s kind of cool to see what Bigbie’s side of the story is now that he has been blackballed in America by his role in the Mitchell Report.
If times were better and the Orioles were involved, I would’ve loved to have gone to Tokyo this week to see baseball. My wife and I actually priced flights.
It’s on my personal “bucket list” to see a baseball game in Japan. Maybe one day…
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But I did finally make it to Tokyo back in November on the backside of my China trip with Cal Ripken. I missed the final game of the Japan World Series by 36 hours!
Last week the web was alive with the stories of the Dodgers-Padres games in Beijing at the stadium I watched Cal Ripken tour back in October. (I linked the video from that day because I think the end of it is some of the best footage I’ve ever shot…Cal telling the head of Chinese baseball WHY he LOVES baseball…very poignant stuff…hope you check it out…about six minutes into the video!)
Seeing baseball in Asia after being there and experiencing the culture is pretty cool.
Either way, I’m glad Bigbie is alive and well in Asia.
They asked Bigbie the truth. He told the truth. Most fans and the insiders of MLB can’t handle the truth. And they’ve all spent 15 years trying to hide the truth, lie about the truth and run from the truth.
Larry Bigbie told the truth and had to run halfway around the world to play the game and feed his family.
I went to Tokyo without any expectations but absolutely fell in love with the city, the culture and the food.
8It sounds like despite it being the worst year of Bigbie’s life, he’s enjoying life and baseball in Japan as a “washed up” 30-year old in Tokyo.
Either way, it’s a good read!
Hope to see you at Looney’s in Bel Air today for the games with the Absolut girls and cool giveaways and food and fun!
