- JoeBlogs
- Posts
- Julio Franco and the Hall of Fame Basement
Julio Franco and the Hall of Fame Basement
Plus, an update from the French Open where 38-year-old Gael Monfils has advanced to the second round
Hi From Cooperstown —
Went to dinner with some of the great Hall of Fame folks — Shesta, Cassidy, Bill, Tom* — and they told me a couple of wonderful stories about Julio Franco, who was in town over the weekend.
*Josh Rawitch, the Hall President, was supposed to join, but he had to go to Syracuse for his son’s baseball tournament. I only mention this because, as it turns out, Dave Matthews was performing in Syracuse, so Josh apparently went to the concert. In other words, Josh chose Dave Matthews over dinner with me. I mean, what is this, 1994?
I love Julio Franco. You love Julio Franco. We all love Julio Franco. He played in the Major Leagues for so long that in 2005, when he was 46 years old, he was playing for Atlanta when Buck and Bob Kendrick and I came through (that was the summer of The Soul of Baseball).
Julio rushed over to hug Buck. And you know what Buck said?
“I could have sworn I played with you in the Negro Leagues, Julio.”
And Julio Franco laughed and laughed and laughed.
Well, these days, Julio Franco is 66 years old, but he still looks fantastic, still looks like he could go out there and add to the 4,450 professional hits he rang up from New York to Chiba, Japan to Cleveland to Daegu, South Korea to Butte to Cancun to Rome (Georgia). The Hall folks asked me if I thought Julio Franco belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and I said he would be in MY Baseball Hall of Fame, which takes a much more expansive view of what a Hall of Famer looks like. There has never been a career quite like Julio Franco’s.
Anyway, just to share two stories.
Story 1: The Hall gave Julio and a friend the basement tour, which is quite something. When you walk in the door, you will notice a couple hundred boxes along the left wall, each labeled with the name of a great player. The boxes, to be honest, are more reverie than reality — the thrill is in what MIGHT be in the boxes. You see a box labeled “Musial,” and you will fantasize about what you might find there. Then, you open it up to find unmarked baseball pants or socks or perhaps nothing at all because the Musial items are on display.
It’s still very cool.
And do you know which Hall of Fame box made Julio Franco lose his mind. I’ll give you a hundred guesses. Remember, Julio Franco grew up in the Dominican Republic. He was born in 1958. Which box made him shout out, “Oh my gosh! What a hitter this guy was!”
If you guessed “Rogers Hornsby,” take a bow.
“No,” he told his friend, “you have to understand: This guy was incredible.”
I think he said that because, like Jimmy Dugan, Hornsby was once Franco’s manager.
Even though, technically, Julio Franco was four when Hornsby died.
Story 2: As the tour wound down, Julio Franco noticed an open area on the far wall of the basement. And this is what he said to Tom:
“Can I just live there? You guys could bring me food.”
Meanwhile, in Paris …
The Greatest Tennis Generation is almost gone now. Well, tennis has always been a young person’s game. Roger Federer left the stage three years ago. The French Open held a special ceremony this year honoring Rafael Nadal. Andy Murray valiantly tried to go on for a long time after the magic had left him, but he eventually accepted the passing of the years. Juan Martin del Potro packed up his titanic forehand, Dominic Thiem retired his titanic backhand (too young — injuries broke him), Stan Wawrinka is still out there kicking, but mainly just for fun.
Only Novak Djokovic remains — he just won his 100th title last week. But even he seems to be at the finish line.
Oh. And then there’s the indescribable Gael Monfils.
Tuesday, Tennis’ Greatest Showman came back from two sets down to defeat Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien in the first round of the French Open. He did this as only Monfils can; by running down a million tennis balls that would not only have been out of reach for almost anyone else but would have been OUT OF MIND for almost anybody else. That is to say, most players would not even have tried to chase down some of the balls that Monfils reached. “Too good,” they would have said to themselves as they prepared for the next point.
Nothing has ever been too good for Monfils to at least try to chase down.
In the process of chasing down one impossible ball, he crashed into the scoreboard wall and went down for a good while. He got back up, limped through the next few games, regained his footing, and somehow still won the match.
We can offer the technical reasons why Monfils never became a top-five player, never reached a Grand Slam final, never defeated Novak in the 20 times they played. He has always been a bit too defensive, a bit too passive, a bit too mercurial, a bit too comfortable just keeping the ball in play rather than taking a chance and going for the jugular. He loathes coming into the net for anything other than a high-flying slam.
“Buddy, calm down,” he would remember telling coaches who begged him to charge the net and challenge opponents. “I can’t volley.”
In the end, I suppose, he has never had quite the same steely competitive resolve of his era’s stars. But that’s not a fair thing: He happened to play in the era of steely competitors, in the time of Fed, Rafa, Novak and Andy.
“Sometimes people just don’t want the truth,” he has said. “The truth is, these guys were just better than me.”
What remains so fascinating about Monfils is that you sense he has found his own peace with his career. Yes, of course, he would have loved to have a magical two-week run and take a Grand Slam trophy. Yes, sure, he would have enjoyed beating Djoker at least once.
But Monfils has long seemed to have his own higher purpose, something larger than winning, something to do with having fun and entertaining crowds and creating unforgettable moments. The joy he generated in his comeback from the brink against Dellien was enough to power all of Paris. Monfils is now 38, almost 39, and he is married to tennis star Elina Svitolina, and they have a daughter, whom Monfils cannot stop talking about.
You never know about people, but every time you talk with Monfils — or listen to him talk, or watch him play, or see him dance — you think: This guy’s happy. They don’t give trophies for that, but there are only so many places to display trophies anyway.
Kathleen’s Korner
(Note: Kathleen’s Korner decisively won over Kathleen’s Corner in our poll. JoeBlogs Readers love a good K instead of C spelling. There were those who recommended that it be ꓘathleen’s ꓘorner — to represent a called strikeout — but I think at some point we have to admit that we’re losing the plot).
The Worcester Red Sox made it onto Jeopardy! Nickname trivia is some of the best trivia, IMO, so I particularly appreciated this decision.
I also love an animal-on-the-field highlight. This one included a squirrel interrupting the Tigers’ game.
Christian Yelich hit an extra-inning walk-off grand slam.
Over in the NBA Playoffs, Tyrese Haliburton turned in an incredible performance to give the Pacers a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. They’re one game away from the finals.
This was uploaded a few weeks ago, but just decided to grace my feed. It’s a silly but accurate breakdown of trying to explain F1-related media currently streaming or coming soon.
Reply