The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss.
No, seriously. Today’s news that Rocco Baldelli is hanging up his spikes for good raises an interesting question. Who has it worse?
- Rock, a guy that had all the talent to be a long-time Major Leaguer, got a taste of big league success, and then had it all ripped away;
- Moonlight Graham, a guy that had a cup of coffee in the big leagues only to watch more talented guys soak up the limelight; or
- Me, a guy that could never have had a taste of big league life (outside of my time as a PR intern).
Moonlight and I are obviously just placeholders for all the ballplayers that had a cup of coffee in the show and for all the baseball fans that never had a prayer.
How great is the internet? The real Moonlight Graham!
I think you can make a case for all three. Rock knows the highs (remember the buzz in the park when he was a rookie? That might be the moment the tide started to turn for this club) so he knows what he will be missing out on. Moonlight and I just have to guess how good or bad it might be. On the other hand, Rock got his shot, something neither Moonlight or I ever got. (Well, in fairness, Moonlight got his shot when Ray picked him up as a hitch hiker. In fact, you could count Moonlight in Rock’s category as well since he got an AB at Ray’s farm before the brother-in-law sent Ray’s daughter off the top of the bleachers).
So, I put it you, who has it worse? Discuss.
I will discuss. From Wikipedia:
The peanut, or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), is a species in the legume or “bean” family (Fabaceae). The cultivated peanut was probably first domesticated in the valleys of Peru.[1] It is an annual herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm (0.98 to 1.6 ft) tall. The leaves are opposite, pinnate with four leaflets (two opposite pairs; no terminal leaflet), each leaflet 1 to 7 cm (⅜ to 2¾ in) long and 1 to 3 cm (⅜ to 1 inch) broad. The flowers are a typical peaflower in shape, 2 to 4 cm (¾ to 1½ in) across, yellow with reddish veining. After pollination, the fruit develops into a legume 3 to 7 cm (1.2 to 2.8 in) long, containing 1 to 4 seeds, which forces its way underground to mature. Hypogaea means “under the earth.”
Peanuts are known by many other local names such as earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas, monkey nuts, pygmy nuts and pig nuts.[
What are the odds we can convince the R.A.Y.S. vendors to walk around the Trop selling “goober peas.”
To qualify for this fantasy shouldn’t you have peaked somewhere after your all-star year at 13?? Just saying.