Ah, Manuel Aristides, you bring such joy. Never has a baseball player so deftly disguised his own work ethic. The Rodeo Clown Effect, in which the subject leverages an iconoclastically raucous, tradition-busting public persona, while deemphasizing the traditional values that make such a display possible at all. We learn, in the various bios and profiles, that Manny Ramirez works harder than anybody else, and loves his game just as much or more than the self-appointed traditionalists who would hiss at his "antics," oblivious to the facts of the matter.
Few hitters in this age control the strike zone as well as Ramirez does. Few ordain a positive outcome with that kind of regularity. None do it with such ox-headed, joyful, rigorous apathy. Ted Williams in the outfield, daydreaming about his next time at bat. Is it pompous, juvenile? Or is it necessary to hit more effectively than anyone foolish enough to waste time thinking about left field. The renaissance man damns his own self at the plate, is how I might frame the argument.
In the field, Manuel Aristides tumbles around like a plush toy dangling from a string. His dreadlocks spread and contract (I felt my utmost affection for Ramirez the moment I realized that I couldn't imagine him without them). There is maximum uncertainty. And that is the crux of the matter: when you don't know what is going to happen next--whether a single will turn into a clumsy double, a triple into an inside-the-park home run--the surge of voyeuristic adrenaline accompanies the usual success-pang. Success equals tradition. Chaos and the unknown are frightening, thrilling. "Misoneism" is the term, C.G. Jung's definition runs as "a fear of the new and the unknown." From fear comes adrenaline, and then a pleasure of some fleeting kind.
The skilled, practiced technician serves an endlessly essential purpose. But when Manuel Aristides Ramirez rolls into action to chase down a line drive, it is then that the unconscious--the left fielder as Uncertainty and the Unknowable incarnate--flashes its Technicolor grin.
new yorker, stats, official
Lineup - The Favorites
C - Mike Piazza
1B - Lance Berkman
2B - Craig Biggio
3B - Scott Rolen
SS - Adam Everett
LF - Manny Ramirez
CF -
RF -
SP -
RP -
Manager -
1 comments:
your favorite 3rd baseman got traded to a team I like to call "most random team ever that actually won 2 world series titles before the Red Sox and Yankees ruined everything"
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