“I love it,” said manager Kirk Gibson when asked about the addition of Grace to the coaching staff. “I called [general manager Kevin Towers] one day and said I’d like to invite Gracie to spring training. Obviously teammates need teammates sometimes and it’s just how I felt about it.”
After Grace’s second DUI arrest became public last August, the team relieved him of his broadcasting duties, and when the season wrapped up they decided not to renew his contract.
“We continued to talk as an organization what would be best for him and with his situation,” Gibson said Tuesday at Salt River Fields. “You know he has a lot of knowledge and wisdom. He’s been in the game a long time and he’s got a great sense of humor so we felt he had something to add.”
...A lot of organizations invite former players back to help out as assistant coaches or minor league coaches, but this case is a little different. Gibson had no problem acknowledging that this is also about helping out a friend in need.
“His friends are there for him, that’s the way I look at it,” he said. “It’s not like he doesn’t have ability or doesn’t have anything to add. So with those two things together it was a no-brainer.”
Repoz
Posted: February 13, 2013 at 07:12 PM |
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1. KT's Pot Arb Posted: February 13, 2013 at 07:44 PM (#4369157)Can't have him on TV, but can have him be a role model for minor leaguers?
"Okay, gather 'round. This is how you disconnect an ignition interlock."
Who better to learn the art of Slumpbusting from?
This.
In fact, if you want to take a lot of the whispers, suspicions, and logical deductions whole clothe, he could be a detriment.
#1 - Grace's reputation as a 'clubhouse guy' was always a function of his extraordinary ability to manipulate the local media. He gave good quote ON the record and was more than happy to dish against enemies OFF the record, so the media loved him... and was only too happy to regularly fluff him. In reality, Grace was the king of clique creation -- if you were his drinking buddy, you got to be in his clique... If you didn't, you'd best not do anything to annoy him because it would become a media story followed by a media narrative.
#2 - And I say this as someone that enjoys over-doing it at the neighborhood tavern myself, there are multiple stories about some young Cubs late in his career enjoying... let's say too many late nights too regularly... Captain Tightpants for one. I'm not blaming Grace - just saying getting young talented players too acquainted with the night life hardly qualifies one as a 'good clubhouse guy'. I suppose I don't know whether I'm a good colleague in my workplace or not, but I do know I'm not insisting that the 20somethings join me regularly for last call at a 4 AM bar.
#3 - Outside of those that joined the clique - he was at best, neutral, at worst - hostile towards plenty of up-and-comers during his latter Cub career. Hee Sop Choi being a prime example. I'm not saying that Grace should have been expected to just happily settle into a backup role or whatever - but he was on the record, plenty of times, openly mocking Choi, openly denigrating him the media, and generally making a kid -- regardless of how he turned out -- who WAS a top prospect and WAS already trying to make a cultural adjustment as miserable as he could.
Unless I'm horrifically wrong about an awful lot of things heard and read -- I wouldn't want Grace with a thousand miles of my coaching staff....
Who?
Nice. I had never heard this nickname before but still knew who you were talking about.
Wouldn't incompetence and cronyism be the simplest explanation?
It's probably just cronyism. I just find it odd that Mr. No-Nonsense Kirk Gibson would stoop to be buddies with such a slacker like Mark Grace. I bet Mark Grace would totally put chocolate cake in someone's glove...
Offhand, I think "incompetence & cronyism" suffices as a likely explanation for just about everything in existence.
As it happens, I'm about to leave the office to go pick up my lawnmower at the small engine repair place near my house. I suspect I'll be charged about what I could've bought a new one for, especially since it's not exactly top of the line to begin with. (I bought it for $50 a couple of years ago via Craigslist, which means that it paid for itself the first couple of times I mowed the yard, so obscene are mowers' fees these days. When I was a kid & mowed yards for pocket money, I would've been pleasantly surprised to get $3 for a yard the size of mine.)
Authorities will suspect incompetence (especially mine ... once upon a time I could work on cars to a certain extent, but I've never had any luck whatsoever with mowers & such) & cronyism are involved.
And, a fanatical devotion to the Pope?
"incompetence, cronyism & irrationality" would cover that one, I think.
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