Rowell's demeanor tonight

[J.D.]

I have seen ML players fall apart when being heckled. I once helped heckle Joe Pepitone of the Yankees so badly in the early 70's at Memorial Stadium that his face and neck turned blood red and he struck out three times. :rofl:He brought the heckling on by wearing a woman's gold colored fur coat when he got out of his limosine upon arriving to the ballpark. Me and a bunch of other Orioles fans rode him unmercifully.:laughlol::clap3:

Or he struck out because he, you know, had a bad game at the plate.

I mean, unless he turned around, pointed, and glared at you like I got Belle to do while he played for the White Sox... then you can't really say with any certainty that you were the cause.

The game I heckled Belle in? Yeah, he went 3-4 with a homer.

Joe Pepitone can't hold Albert Belle's jock. That wuss.

[J.D.]

I agree with your last statement but he never should have made a statement that he thinks he will make it to the HOF as a player in front of anyone who could write it down. All he has done is subjected himself to immense potential ridicule if he doesn't live up to his own lofty aspirations. This will come back to haunt him at some point as that is just the way it is in the real world. Too bad somebody didn't give him some words of wisdom before he said this.

That's also assuming that anyone there to write it down remembers/cares in 5-10 years when Rowell is either in the majors or out of baseball entirely. That's a pretty big assumption. I guarantee you, most beat writers, unless they have an agenda against that particular player, aren't going to give a crap or ride him for it. Neither are 90% of fans, unless they're disgruntled 50-somethings that don't believe in "disrespecting the game" or some nonesense like that.

Rowell didn't set himself up to fail. And the odds of this coming back to "haunt him" are probably 1 in 50. And yes, I pulled that number out of thin air.

Rowell set himself up to fail TO YOU because you think he has a poor attitude and you're looking for a good reason to hammer him. I think you can tell that the general sentiment in that thread is that most rational baseball fans only particularly care about his work ethic and performance on the field. And that's how it should be.

I can't honestly believe that you think that anything he's said is going to have a detrimental affect on him down the line. Seriously. It's crazy-talk.

[Anlbdz]

Do we really need to sit here and criticize each other for our observations? there's constructive criticism, and well thought out banter, and then there's just bickering for bickerings sake. No need to rail someone for making an assertion you may not believe. Sometimes i think people don't feel like posting their thoughts just because they don't feel like dealing with the deluge of negative comments that are gonna come our way.

We're all rooting for the same team here fellas, we got enough trouble with disrespect from every national media source, lets not rip each other apart too.

Look, some might think he's not gonna make it, for whatever reason they might think. Others think he has a great shot to be something special.

Regardless of our beliefs, thoughts, and grumblings, I know that if he makes it, we'll all give a fist pump if/when he hits his first HR, makes his first All-star team, or walks into the Hall.

[Frobby]

Do we really need to sit here and criticize each other for our observations? there's constructive criticism, and well thought out banter, and then there's just bickering for bickerings sake. No need to rail someone for making an assertion you may not believe. Sometimes i think people don't feel like posting their thoughts just because they don't feel like dealing with the deluge of negative comments that are gonna come our way.

We're all rooting for the same team here fellas, we got enough trouble with disrespect from every national media source, lets not rip each other apart too.

Look, some might think he's not gonna make it, for whatever reason they might think. Others think he has a great shot to be something special.

Regardless of our beliefs, thoughts, and grumblings, I know that if he makes it, we'll all give a fist pump if/when he hits his first HR, makes his first All-star team, or walks into the Hall.

Thanks for this. Only 29 posts and you've already shown you have a lot better perspective than a lot of posters.

[Old#5fan]

Or he struck out because he, you know, had a bad game at the plate.

I mean, unless he turned around, pointed, and glared at you like I got Belle to do while he played for the White Sox... then you can't really say with any certainty that you were the cause.

The game I heckled Belle in? Yeah, he went 3-4 with a homer.

Joe Pepitone can't hold Albert Belle's jock. That wuss.

Oh, he did much more than glare. He turned around several times during each at bat and yelled. The final time he gave us all the finger! It was hilarious. He had a complete meltdown. We were yelling at him calling him a Redneck, strikeout machine, but mostly just continually yelling "your a bum, Pepitone, your a bum and laughing really and i mean REALLY LOUD when we were doing it! I bet at least 30 people were doing it.:laughlol:

[Old#5fan]

That's also assuming that anyone there to write it down remembers/cares in 5-10 years when Rowell is either in the majors or out of baseball entirely. That's a pretty big assumption. I guarantee you, most beat writers, unless they have an agenda against that particular player, aren't going to give a crap or ride him for it. Neither are 90% of fans, unless they're disgruntled 50-somethings that don't believe in "disrespecting the game" or some nonesense like that.

Rowell didn't set himself up to fail. And the odds of this coming back to "haunt him" are probably 1 in 50. And yes, I pulled that number out of thin air.

Rowell set himself up to fail TO YOU because you think he has a poor attitude and you're looking for a good reason to hammer him. I think you can tell that the general sentiment in that thread is that most rational baseball fans only particularly care about his work ethic and performance on the field. And that's how it should be.

I can't honestly believe that you think that anything he's said is going to have a detrimental affect on him down the line. Seriously. It's crazy-talk.

In this day and age where virtually everything ever said or written about any sports figure is subject to a historical search of public internet files, I certainly do think this is going to haunt him at some point if he makes it that far. Years ago, before the internet, I might tend to agree with you. Not the case anymore. You do or say something you own it for enternity.

[J.D.]

Do we really need to sit here and criticize each other for our observations? there's constructive criticism, and well thought out banter, and then there's just bickering for bickerings sake. No need to rail someone for making an assertion you may not believe. Sometimes i think people don't feel like posting their thoughts just because they don't feel like dealing with the deluge of negative comments that are gonna come our way.

We're all rooting for the same team here fellas, we got enough trouble with disrespect from every national media source, lets not rip each other apart too.

Look, some might think he's not gonna make it, for whatever reason they might think. Others think he has a great shot to be something special.

Regardless of our beliefs, thoughts, and grumblings, I know that if he makes it, we'll all give a fist pump if/when he hits his first HR, makes his first All-star team, or walks into the Hall.

I completely agree with you (yeah, I know, I've been the one arguing this whole thread).

My issue is with the "He's got an attitude, so he's going to fail" assertion that's out there. There's just no documented evidence of that. I'm rooting for him to succeed. I'm not looking for reasons for him to fail.

[Big Mac]

I'd like to use this thread to share a good Billy Rowell story.

Last Monday I was at Frederick, and as Billy was walking out to the field, I asked him if he wouldn't mind stopping to take a picture with me for a second.

He smiled and said sure and that it was no problem. After my cousin took the picture, he said thank you to me, and I quickly responded with, " Thanks Billy, you're the man."

To me he seemed like a very nice guy was just enjoying the priveledge of playing professional baseball everyday.

Now my observations of Billy Rowell, the baseball player:

I'm 6-4 and he had me by about an inch, so his listed height at 6-5 is correct, which I think isn't true for many of our prospects.

He looks like he has a lot of filling out to do, very tall and lanky. In 3-4 years when he is completely filled out, he could have some ridiculous power.

He looked solid at 3rd base, and went 1-3 at the plate with a double and a walk.

[J.D.]

In this day and age where virtually everything ever said or written about any sports figure is subject to a historical search of public internet files, I certainly do think this is going to haunt him at some point if he makes it that far. Years ago, before the internet, I might tend to agree with you. Not the case anymore. You do or say something you own it for enternity.

You honestly think that someone cares enough about a 18-year old Rowell saying that he expects himself to make the Hall of Fame to come back and hold it against him later? I think that's a stretch. I think if he would've said, "I'm the greatest player in the history of the universe, and not only am I going to make the Hall of Fame, but they're going to have to build a separate wing to celebrate my greatness," then that's one thing. All he said is that he expects to make the Hall of Fame. I'd prefer every player walk in with that attitude. At least I know they're going to work their tails off to get there, which is what Rowell seems to be willing to do.

Whatever. This has turned into a lot of . If you're so concerned about Rowell's "attitude," then there's really not a lot I can say to convince you to sit back, relax, and not worry so much about it. And there's certainly nothing I can say to JTrea and his "Rowell's going to fail because of his attitude" belief. All I can say, to summarize everything that I've said over and over and over again in this thread, is that if he wasn't working his butt off and wasn't performing, then I'd be worried about him. This perceived cockiness or attitude of his is, surprisingly enough, not an uncommon occurance. And it doesn't seem to hinder very many pro ballplayers.

[Mike B]

Boy I wish I had privileges to that crystal ball of yours!

You can look at the guy's past performance, stats, and more importantly the scouting reports on him to know why he's expected to make it to the big show.

There are, however, several things he needs to change/accomplish before his path becomes more clear. I don't think anyone is a sure thing, but I KNOW that players with much worse attitudes have made it to the Major Leagues.

Very well said. I have met a lot of altar boys that could not play a lick. The majors are full of cocky ball players. If we cut everyone who yelled at an ump we would not have anyone left. Rowell is 20 years old. Give him time to grow up.

[J.D.]

I'd like to use this thread to share a good Billy Rowell story.

Last Monday I was at Frederick, and as Billy was walking out to the field, I asked him if he wouldn't mind stopping to take a picture with me for a second.

He smiled and said sure and that it was no problem. After my cousin took the picture, he said thank you to me, and I quickly responded with, " Thanks Billy, you're the man."

To me he seemed like a very nice guy was just enjoying the priveledge of playing professional baseball everyday.

Now my observations of Billy Rowell, the baseball player:

I'm 6-4 and he had me by about an inch, so his listed height at 6-5 is correct, which I think isn't true for many of our prospects.

He looks like he has a lot of filling out to do, very tall and lanky. In 3-4 years when he is completely filled out, he could have some ridiculous power.

He looked solid at 3rd base, and went 1-3 at the plate with a double and a walk.

Thanks for sharing this story.

[JTrea81]

Very well said. I have met a lot of altar boys that could not play a lick. The majors are full of cocky ball players.

Name a player that came out of high school that had Rowell's cocky attitude that made it to the Majors and had a long career there without a serious attitude check/life altering event...

Bonds came out of college, so he can't be used as an example...

[J.D.]

Name a player that came out of high school that had Rowell's cocky attitude that made it to the Majors and had a long career there without a serious attitude check/life altering event...

Name some that didn't.

Off the top of my head, Dave Winfield would probably qualify. Alex Rodriguez had/has a rep for being cocky as well. Albert Belle did fine (although he was drafted as a collegiate player).

That's three off the top of my head. What about you? Can you provide players that didn't make the MLB out of high school soley due to their attitude?

[J.D.]

Name a player that came out of high school that had Rowell's cocky attitude that made it to the Majors and had a long career there without a serious attitude check/life altering event...

Bonds came out of college, so he can't be used as an example...

And sure he can, because he was a cocky SOB in college, too.

Wouldn't Rowell have MORE right to be cocky? I mean, he's in A-ball at 20. Bonds didn't do that.

[Big Mac]

And sure he can, because he was a cocky SOB in college, too.

Wouldn't Rowell have MORE right to be cocky? I mean, he's in A-ball at 20. Bonds didn't do that.

Not to nitpick but Rowell will be 19 all season.