One of my favorite former A’s outfielders, Eric Byrnes, always came to the plate with Burn Baby Burn playing on the PA with Roy Steele announcing his name while he strolled to the plate. Looks like he’s decided to hang up the fast pitch spikes after being cut by the Mariners, and is going to join some of his buddies in some good ol’ beer drinking, and softball. Screw taking a step backwards like our good buddy Jack Cust accepting the demotion to AAA, and being pissed he has to commute. At 34 years young, Byrnes has decided to join the Menlo Park softball team sponsored by the Dutch Goose, and will be the biggest ringer in the Bay Area rec leagues, since Vernon Davis joined the curling squad. I wonder if he can convince old buddy Jermaine Dye to join the league too that would be one solid 3-4 combo in the slowpitch league. I’m also wondering if Byrnes would want to double as a security guard at the Oakland Coliseum. Back in 2005, he didn’t need a security guard with a taser to take down a fan that ran wild on the field.
Instead he chased the fan down, and tackled the guy against the left field wall! I can’t find the footage, but here’s a great picture of the incident.
Said Byrnes on returning to the Bay Area to play softball: “This is going to be a blast. Playing with my buddies. I can’t wait for my first hit. I’m going to ask for the ball.” One of my favorite things about Byrnes was that he always hustled. He’d sprint to the outfield every inning, and he’d sprint to first on infield pop ups. I think his major contribution is keeping guys loose, and demonstrating how to give 110%. I do wonder if he will be Mr. Hustle when his belly is full of beer…
Byrnes wasn’t setting the MLB on fire with his .094 average over 15 games this season in Seattle, but he will still make $11M this year, thanks to that awesome deal he got from the D-Backs a few years ago! At the time it was fair market value for his services. My how times have changed, and guys like Dye are rejecting $1.5M to play. I hope he has fun, and isn’t out of my baseball for good. His personality is just too good to keep away from the game. I’m sure we will see him behind the broadcast desk throwing some goofy analysis out there. I see him as the Charles Barkley type, funny, but never loses his true opinion on the subject.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
May 7th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
chappy
What’s wrong in the world of baseball and Wall St ? An idiot punches in the wrong code and Dow Jones crashes almost a 1000 points ? Byrnes is being paid like a big time movie star who’s not had a hit movie in years. There’s a lesson to be learned there for both Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston !
The executives of Goldman Sachs are angry that they didn’t create the mess yesterday as they could’ve made a boatload of money.
Tha Crossroads ………. See Ya’ At The Crossroads …….. So You Won’t Be Lonely ……
Alan Parkins
May 7th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Well he did have a couple good years leading up to that contract, so he got paid for what he did before he signed it! Just like a lot of the A’s players, they were good when they were in Oakland and couldn’t find a foothold anywhere else. I guess Zito is trying to prove that wrong this year, but overall a lot of them flop not wearing the green and gold!
May 8th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
chappy
Unfortunately the game of baseball no longer deals or lives in reality. Is it any wonder that the players are overpaid and even when they’re unproductive for their teams they’re still being rewarded exorbitantly ?
Man oh man did my Spurs stink up the joint or what ? I tell you I just can’t fathom out this team at the moment ? It’s really irking me no end ! They’ve not played one quarter of consistent or competitive basketball at all in this series against the Suns !
They’re now 0-3 and they’ve not got a hope in hell of erasing this deficit ! That’s how bad they’re now playing ! Popovich and the coaching staff are being humiliated by his opposing number in Alvin Gentry and his coaching staff .
Alan Parkins
May 8th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Guys are getting overpaid, but the execs are gettine even more overpaid!
Rough week for your Spurs, can’t say I haven’t been enjoying it! I wonder if they will save a little face, and come out and win at least one game!?!
May 9th, 2010 at 7:05 am
chappy
Like I said the sport of baseball doesn’t deal in reality ! The execs will be pay themselves what they deem fit whether or not their successful. I mean look at Selig and how much he’s earned as commissioner over the last two years ? It’s in excess of $25 million and counting. But yet over 75 % of the teams in the sport can barely eke out a profit with the help of the tax sharing revenue scheme .
Capitalism at its fines and at its worst !
Great rewards for very little effort being put forth !
Alan Parkins
May 9th, 2010 at 7:11 am
chappy
The Spurs have laid a “monumental goose egg” in this series against the Suns . Even if they “win one game” in the series it won’t do anything to alleviate the blame off the team or the coaching staff in particular. Adapt and evolve and I’ve seen little of that from them during this series at all.
Alan Parkins
May 14th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
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