[外電] Pujols Won't Find Unconditional Love .

[ARODisGod (娘子快出來看上帝)]

Pujols Won't Find Unconditional Love Anywhere Else

By George Vecsey
Published: October 26, 2011

How much is enough?

This is something Albert Pujols is going to have to figure out before he
decides whether he wants to remain a Cardinal or move on to a richer and,
dare I say it, more demanding market.

Pujols is possibly facing the last game of his contract in this grand old
baseball city after foul weather caused the sixth game of the World Series to
be postponed until Thursday.

Any way the Series ends, Pujols is sure to finish this week, this season,
with the roaring adoration of the fans in the only town he has known. He will
be ending his 11th season as a superstar who has hit three home runs in one
World Series game (Saturday) and been walked intentionally three times and
given the liberty to put on a doomed hit-and-run play (Monday).

Sometime in the next weeks and months, Pujols is going to have to choose
where he wants to play for the rest of his career. He has turned down a
contract said to be for nine years and about $200 million.

He is a logical man who has to know this one central fact: no town will ever
love him more as a great player and, by all appearances, a steadfast,
charitable and religious family man.

It will never be easier for Pujols to be the person he is — which includes
private, taciturn, perhaps even distant — than in this city, which adores
its heroes. St. Louis never demanded that Stan Musial be anything more than
the gracious hey-hey-whattaya-say superstar next door.

The legion of elders who saw Musial play from 1941 to 1963 maintain that he
would have higher recognition today as a career .331 hitter if he had played
in a coastal city like New York, Boston or Los Angeles. What is overlooked is
that the East Coast news media hectored Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams in ways
large and small — in a kinder and gentler time before the 24-hour gnawing of
the carpenter ants of blog land and Twitter land.

Pujols may not be prepared to be the $300 million savior of a rich franchise.
Who is? After a bad second game here, he vanished into the night without
dropping a few words to sate the news media. Later he said that he did not
know anybody would want to talk to him, which just does not calibrate. Derek
Jeter gives nothing away — nothing — but he shows up, says his controlled
piece, and moves on.

The crumbling Alex Rodriguez, serving out the last six years of the worst
contract in baseball history — as much as $300 million over 10 years —
 often makes things worse for himself in ways Pujols never would. After
taxes, Pujols would still be able to do wonderful things for children with
Down syndrome and all his admirable causes.

Pujols is a civic hero in St. Louis. Undoubtedly, Harry Weber, the sculptor
who made the 10 vital statues that bristle with life in the outdoor corner of
Eighth and Clark, has made mental sketches of how he would portray Pujols.
The poses vary — Cool Papa Bell, the St. Louisan who never got to the majors
because of segregation, is rounding a base; good old Red Schoendienst is
airborne, making the pivot at second base. Pujols surely would be depicted
with bat in hand.

I visited the sculpture area on Tuesday, when the temperature was still 80
degrees. (It was expected to drop about 40 degrees by Wednesday night.) James
Rooks from Myrtle Beach, S.C., who had a ticket for Game 6, was asked where
the eventual Pujols statue would be placed. 「Maybe in the bathroom,」 he
said. 「Depends on whether he signs with them.」

Rooks said he understood a great player would want to make as much as he
could, 「but he'll make more in one year than most of us make in a lifetime.」
 Asked about the free agency that ballplayers gained after the Curt Flood
suit (Flood is not included in the sculpture garden, oddly enough), Rooks
said, 「If I told my boss I was testing free agency, he'd say, 『Fine, don't
come back.』 」

Should Pujols move on? 「He should go to the Astros,」 said a woman who was
inspecting the statues. Turned out, she was from Texas, still smarting over
the moon shot Pujols hit off Brad Lidge in 2005.

The Cardinals management is playing the game its own way. On Monday General
Manager John Mozeliak said about Pujols, 「There's no doubt he's been the
identity of this organization for the past decade, and trying to push just
one button or try to say you're not going to feel that loss would be very
difficult to say, especially in this environment.」

Cardinals fans have been imploring Pujols with standing ovations and chants
and banners and probably even prayers. On Wednesday he was down to a game or
two. It was on everybody's mind.

Tony La Russa, explaining Tuesday why Pujols had the freedom to call the
hit-and-run that backfired in Game 5, volunteered: 「I think I've said over
and over again that for the 11 years that we've been together, Albert has
proven every year, virtually every day of the season and postseason, he is a
great player, not just a great producer. He's a very smart baseball player.」

Asked if it was on his mind that this could be the last game for Pujols as a
Cardinal, La Russa, himself unsigned, said: 「Well, yeah, you have a lot of
time to think about your team. And over the course of the rush at the end of
the season into the postseason, I have thought about Albert's situation
because he's a teammate, and I care a lot about him personally and
professionally.」

Pujols, true to his code, addressed his free agency when spring training
opened and has not revisited it since. Asked about his status the other day,
Pujols said: 「Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about baseball.」

Fair enough. But in weeks to come, Pujols needs to remind himself — if his
agents and advisers do not — that money is not everything.

來源: http://ppt.cc/yW~b

--------------------------

大意就是說  Pujols可能找不到比聖路易更愛他的城鎮?

--
信A-Rod者得永生

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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 114.34.186.108
→ dj6601:Pujols只要在每個城市都打那種火星成績 被當成神拜 都可能
→ x24627785:想太多
推 ThreeNG:球迷其實大都很直接啦,打得好就愛,打不好就罵
→ ThreeNG:當球員打不好時還願意支持他給他機會的城市才是真愛 XD
推 asd25:聖路易 應該會是那一個真愛 畢竟普神幫他們拿下WS過
→ DesertEagleX:開賭盤啦
推 abc12812:普神第六戰前逛大賣場被偷拍 http://yfrog.com/g0m8dssj
推 wuchianlin:小熊明年...
推 rie779:女球迷的手臂和普神一樣粗耶 真榮幸~
推 notmuchmoney:普神:我怕我比腕力會被秒殺
推 Asucks:這樣看普神真的有夠壯
推 skatekid:手臂比pujols還粗吧
推 ueu72312:聖路易是少數棒球比美足還受歡迎的城市，      公羊:幹!!
推 krajicek:公羊在聖路易的Franchise History跟紅雀還比差太遠
→ krajicek:公羊95年才從LA搬到聖路易的，雖然公羊也拿過超級盃
→ krajicek:（聖路易時代），風光過一陣子，但真的還是比不上紅雀
推 rssh0106:普神會不會說  花修哀督?
→ wtt168:公羊之前不是有個紀錄..只要與紅雀同天比賽..分數壹定比紅
→ wtt168:雀拿得少
推 pasaword:他去哪一個城市都嘛會被愛lol  來天使吧!!
推 jason12308:分數拿比棒球少……這隊會想自殺吧
推 error404joe:不知道NY和BOS也算不算棒球比美足還受歡迎的城市 不過
→ error404joe:至少不會差太多
推 Pennyjr:來水兵吧！！水兵迷會愛一輩子的
推 ueu72312:NY有噴射機跟巨人，BOS有愛國者跟NFL上季冠軍綜熊...
→ ueu72312:                              NHL
推 l60km:何止愛?真來西雅圖水兵迷直接高潮了吧
推 th11211:來西雅圖吧 水兵會永遠愛普神的
推 dd159:球迷有女巨砲的潛力!!!!!!!
推 funy98:Kurt Warner也很神阿~
→ pig:老實說我比較懷念 kurt warner 在紅雀(呃…)的時代
推 caesst85149:噴射機跟巨人實際上在紐澤西 不過離紐約很近就是了
→ saviora:來小熊吧 奪冠馬上成為芝加哥的神
推 gary5034:普神是右邊那個對吧XD
推 SatoTakuma:女球迷身材不亞於選手阿
推 krajicek:噴射機跟巨人球場在紐澤西沒錯，但市場還是整個大紐約
推 dewking:女球迷好像還寬一點...
推 chihow:沒有球團考慮簽下那隻女球迷吧 感覺威力不差XD
推 MongolSoul:女球迷有機會長成難得的大砲捕手耶 XDD
推 darksign:NY will always be a Yankees town~
→ Iori2010:普神:水兵主場__氣太重
推 GP03D:紐約都是洋基迷,NFL跟METS不太受重視
推 Swallow43:在紐約,梅子迷很多吧?
推 error404joe:其實可以從當地的紀念品店來判斷 曼哈頓街頭的紀念品
→ error404joe:店裡 運動方面的大概有六七成都是洋基的東西 而在BOS
→ error404joe:08年前大多是紅襪和愛國者 賽爾提克和棕熊是少的可憐
→ error404joe:後來塞隊贏了 店裡的綠色就多了 現在棕色也贏 黑黃色
→ error404joe:也多了起來 現在走進運動紀念品店 四支球隊剛好各佔
→ error404joe:1/4