Day Two: Edwin Encarnacion
Last March was a haunted dreamscape quite different from the one we are inhabiting today. The Mariners were crushing fools while racking up the errors and the homeruns. It was a strange and amazing time that was pretty well destined for sadness. But in that moment: especially those two series in Chicago and KC, there was mystical work afoot. And at the center of all that was a very strange man with a beard like Captain Ahab. The one and only, Edwin Encarnacion.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Edwin. When he was first coming up with the Reds it looked like he was going to fizzle out, but like his titanic bat flip brother, Joey Bats, a trip to Canada changed his legacy quite astonishingly. Edwin was pretty much a wash out when he arrived in Toronto and instead went on to be the second best hitter in the American League with the second best bat flip (much love big Joe Joe). And that’s what Edwin did while in Toronto. Fucking CRUSH the baseball. There isn’t anyone this side of Gary Sheffield that can punish a baseball as ruthlessly as Edwin. Dude is a masher. And then there’s the parrot.
I love that Edwin is so consistent in riding the parrot around the bases. It’s the strangest homerun ritual and without a doubt the coolest. I also appreciate that when asked if the parrot has a name he became incredulous. “What are you talking about? No it doesn’t have a name! Don’t be ridiculous!” Of course! What a silly and ridiculous thing to think that an invisible bird riding on the arm of a chinstrap bearded Slugger would have a name. Get serious! That’s the kind of commentary that makes me love baseball.
And for the brief moment that Edwin was a Mariner last spring he destroyed the baseball. He made a lot of us jaded fans excited about the Mariners again if only for an instant. When he hit two in an inning it was the best feeling since Ichiro’s prime. Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano had made baseball into a slog fest filled with business like half I don’t give a shit at bats. Edwin never got cheated. And until they made him shave his beard in New York he was the most powerful man in the American League. Fly parrot fly!!!
(Originally done for Facebook on 3/20/20)
I’ve always been a huge fan of Edwin. When he was first coming up with the Reds it looked like he was going to fizzle out, but like his titanic bat flip brother, Joey Bats, a trip to Canada changed his legacy quite astonishingly. Edwin was pretty much a wash out when he arrived in Toronto and instead went on to be the second best hitter in the American League with the second best bat flip (much love big Joe Joe). And that’s what Edwin did while in Toronto. Fucking CRUSH the baseball. There isn’t anyone this side of Gary Sheffield that can punish a baseball as ruthlessly as Edwin. Dude is a masher. And then there’s the parrot.
I love that Edwin is so consistent in riding the parrot around the bases. It’s the strangest homerun ritual and without a doubt the coolest. I also appreciate that when asked if the parrot has a name he became incredulous. “What are you talking about? No it doesn’t have a name! Don’t be ridiculous!” Of course! What a silly and ridiculous thing to think that an invisible bird riding on the arm of a chinstrap bearded Slugger would have a name. Get serious! That’s the kind of commentary that makes me love baseball.
And for the brief moment that Edwin was a Mariner last spring he destroyed the baseball. He made a lot of us jaded fans excited about the Mariners again if only for an instant. When he hit two in an inning it was the best feeling since Ichiro’s prime. Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano had made baseball into a slog fest filled with business like half I don’t give a shit at bats. Edwin never got cheated. And until they made him shave his beard in New York he was the most powerful man in the American League. Fly parrot fly!!!
(Originally done for Facebook on 3/20/20)
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