Day Thirty One: Charles Gipson Jr.

I finished writing the essay on Jay Buhner and felt all stressed out. Writing about someone like The Bone made me really want to get it right. To say all the things that needed saying regarding so important a figure in the history of the Mariners, and my own formative years as a youth growing up in Seattle. I feel like I left out so much stuff. There was no way that it wasn't going to feel rushed and incomplete. I always call things that I write essays. I call these blobs of words "essays" in reference to the origin of the concept from Montaigne who called his pieces "essais" or attempts, tries. Ever since I learned this origin of the term back in community college it has always helped me in getting past myself (which is rare. this is already the largest non-academic thing I have ever written) and the insecurities and self loathings and general can't do attitude that for whatever reason lives like a worm in the interior of my creative spirit. I thought about Bone and about all the interesting things I could write about him, all the ways his career and personality had impacted me, and how many other people probably have meaningful experiences with him and it fucked my mind up for a minute. Made it so I almost didn't want to write. But this writing has flowed out of me like nothing perhaps ever has. I am finding time to writing rather than finding time not to. For someone who has always struggled with the getting going (like really fucking struggled) this is huge. And to complete the Buhner essay was something of a hurdle, a one month checkpoint in this game. To push forward, to try for another 30. And I think I really want to do it. And like Madeline (my wife) said, "You can always edit it for your book!" I love her so much. So anyways, here is a little less pressure. But honestly, it is as important to give attention and respect to Charles Gipson Jr. as it has been to talk about any other Mariner (way more important than Erik Bedard).

Charles Gipson Jr. has two things mentioned about him on his Wiki page: he is one of only 7 players to have more games played in the bigs than at bats (wonder who the other 6 are?), and he was once a replacement player during the strike year of 94. I didn't know either of these facts. But I suppose neither one is surprising. Gippy could play the field with the absolute best of the best, but he could not hit even like Terrence Gore. He was an awful major league batter. But man! That glove. Anyone who remembers Gippy remembers some of his absolute rocket throws from the outfield to home. He was a shortstop in the minors (as shown above) and a pitcher in college, but his main moneymaker in Seattle (the only meaningful stint in the bigs he had) was as a late inning outfielder. I had mentioned earlier in this series that the best outfield of the 00s was Winn, Cameron, and Ichiro. That is true if we are only taking into account everyday players. Just like the best OF of the next decade, the KC Royals trio of Gordon, Cain, and Aoki (Dyson), the third member of the outfield was actually better with a bench guy in play. When you had Gippy in left, Cammy in center, and Ichi in right you had the absolute best of the best (not to mention some snappy nick names). You can't run on that. You can't even really get a hit on that unless it's out of the park (well out) or a seeing eye single. That was a no doubles defense that you could institute in the second inning. And Lou, god bless him, knew it. The first five years that Gippy was with the club (and it was Sweet Lou that gave him that nickname) he saw tons of playing time. He was regularly brought in first to replace Rickey or Al Martin, and later to replace either McLemore or Randy Winn. Sometimes he would get an actual start to give Cammy or Ichiro a day off as well. Basically, he was one of Lou's guys.

Anyone who has followed the Mariners (or any other team that Lou managed) knows that there are just guys that Lou loves. They often times would cloud his ability to see their actual limits of play (Bobby Ayala), but by God! Lou was going to trot them out there. If Lou didn't like you it was an uphill struggle to say the least, but if you were his dude there wasn't too much he wouldn't do for you. Gippy not only benefited from this, but he repaid Lou's promotion with some of the very best outfield assists that you will ever see. I will try to find some on Youtube but who knows. It's not like looking for Cammy highlights (which was actually harder than I would have thought tbh). He played the outfield with the kind of intensity that only a guy who was a replacement player could. And he ran the bases with wild abandon that sometimes bordered on overzealousness, but Lou would never ever fault a guy for that.

In some ways, talking about Charles Gipson Jr. makes me think (more than usual) about Lou Piniella. And in doing this project I have been thinking about Lou a lot. Not only is he the most successful Mariners manager, it is easy to forget sometimes that he is the only successful Mariners manager. No other manager in the history of the club has taken the team to the playoffs. Never. Not once. The final year that Gippy played for the Mariners, 2003, he was forced to work with Bob Melvin. Melvin was a terrible manager for the old school cadre of scrappers that inhabited that team. He looked completely lost with his cerebral acumen. I hated him. He was like the opposite of Lou. Melvin has since found a great home with other analytics guys just barely making the playoffs and crushing your hopes as the Oakland Athletics longtime martyr/manager. And I like the A's. Don't get me wrong. But I liked the Lou Piniella Mariners a whole fucking lot more. And I liked seeing Gippy play regularly even if it wasn't statistically viable. You love to see guys like that if you're interested more in the heart of things than the number of it. It's the reason I love the 2014 Royals so much. They shouldn't have been able to do what they did that year (2015 they were actually good and shocked everyone still) but they just did it! Every time Terrence Gore or Jarrod Dyson would pinch run and then stay in the game to make a huge outfield play down the stretch that year I thought about Charles Gipson Jr. Because it's guys like that who make me want to watch the game. Thank you Gippy for being a vital part of the best regular season team that has ever taken the field. And that is no small accomplishment. If I can't find the throw from deep center to nail a runner at home from 2001: those who remember know. It is probably a better throw than the Ichiro one.