NewsFall Classic remains elusive dream for some
Many must wait 'til next year for first shot at World Series
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
09/30/09 2:00 AM ET
As sand seeps through the September hourglass, October on the horizon signifies different things to different baseball nobility. For players on playoff-bound teams, it is another shot at validation. But for veterans whose long Major League journeys have strayed off the yellow-brick road, it is the sound of another door being slammed in their faces. Another season gone. Another prayer unanswered. Another chilly offseason, wondering whether they'll get to look down from atop the mountain. Passing through a baseball life as a champion player without a World Series championship -- which has a certain ring to it -- is a helpless paradox. No batter has the power, or finesse pitcher the command, to make it happen. All Ken Griffey Jr., the current icon of missing out, will say about it is, "It takes more than one person to get a ring." Junior has played 21 seasons and more than 2,600 games without even a shot at that ring, which makes him the Ernie Banks of his generation. Banks' sentence with the 1953-71 Cubs is legend. A Hall of Fame career of 19 seasons and 2,528 games and no World Series. Griffey's denial has now exceeded that. Maybe Banks was just born too soon. Under modern rules, he and the 1969 Cubs would have made the postseason as the NL Wild Card while finishing eight games behind the Mets in the East in the first season of division play. But, for the most part, Banks kept some bad company; his Cubs were a cumulative 258 games below .500. Ditto for Griffey, who began this week minus-141 with his teams (Mariners, Reds, White Sox). In his hunger, Griffey is hardly alone. For every Cole Hamels, who was King Cole of the 2008 World Series at 24, there are many pitchers who have toed the rubber hundreds of times without being sized for the ring. For every Evan Longoria celebrating his 23rd birthday in the '08 Fall Classic, many players became classics without at least getting to take a swing in the World Series spotlight. For some, possible redemption: Alex Rodriguez, the most productive and highest profile player to never appear in a World Series, or Darren Oliver, a 38-year-old left-hander who delivered his first big league pitch at 22. For others hopelessly behind the postseason's velvet rope, only that familiar empty feeling. "All the individual stuff is already taken care of," said Lance Berkman, the first baseman swept out of the 2005 World Series with the rest of the Astros. "You're an established Major League veteran. The only thing left is the World Series and winning a ring."At least Berkman, 11 seasons and 1,500 games in, has been there.
Jason Kendall, the still-ironman catcher of the Brewers at 35, has not, after 14 seasons and nearly 2,000 games. Does he think about that? "Every day," said Kendall, whose postseason forays with the 2006-07 A's and '08 Brewers all dead-ended in the Division Series. "Please ... that's what you play the game for. "Getting to the playoffs is everything you think it's going to be, and more," added Kendall, "and obviously winning the ring is the ultimate. That's what you dream about when you're a kid and you go in the backyard to play Whiffle Ball. That's what it's all about. Hopefully, it [still] happens for me." Kendall had lost his rank as the Majors' senior player without a postseason appearance when he got there in 2006; it came after 1,545 big league games. Using that as a benchmark for position players (pitchers falling into another category), of the 11 actives who have played more games without reaching a World Series, six in addition to Griffey and Kendall won't be there this time either (games played through Sept. 28): • Carlos Delgado (2,035)• Miguel Tejada (1,865)
• Mike Cameron (1,823)
• Adrian Beltre (1,675)
• Carlos Lee (1,635)
• Carlos Beltran (1,558)
Of the seven others with comparable experience without rings, all are on playoff-bound teams with the exception of the only such veteran without as much as a postseason moment, Randy Winn (1,598) of the Giants. Guys like Winn don't get blessed people like Jason Marquis, who has pitched for playoff teams every season since his 2000 debut -- the '00-'03 Braves, '04-'06 Cardinals and '07-'08 Cubs -- and is on track to maintaining that record of perfect attendance with the Rockies. "I don't take it for granted, and I've enjoyed every moment of it," Marquis said. "I love to win. Every spring, I'm excited by the possibility of winning. "It's been the blessing of being put in the right position -- I've been on teams where talented people feed off each other's energy and pull in the same direction -- and a lot of hard work. It's been fun to be a part of, and I hope it doesn't end soon." Marquis' patron saint could be Kenny Lofton, the ultimate human talisman. The lithe outfielder appeared in 11 postseasons in the 13-year period from 1995 through 2007, in whatever uniform he happened to be wearing, which were plentiful. He ended those 13 seasons with 10 different teams and beamed each into October save for the 2005 Phillies -- who missed out on the NL Wild Card by one game to the Astros. So close to postseason perfection. The ring is elusive. Omar Vizquel, a two-time World Series runner-up with the Indians (1995, '97) gave it a good ride with Texas, but when the Rangers faded down the stretch, he was left without the jewelry 2,740 games into a career he hopes has at least one more season in it No active pitcher has appeared in more games than Trevor Hoffman (979) without winning the ultimate game. Does he think about that? "All the time," said Hoffman, who along with the other San Diego Padres made a cameo in the 1998 Classic -- they were swept out by the Yankees. "You want to at least check off, 'Going to the World Series.' Not that many people get the opportunity to win it. A runner-up ring isn't the same as a world championship ring, but it's something." At 38, Brian Giles can relate. He played in the 1997 World Series with the Indians, losers to Florida, at 26. Twelve years and 1,660 games later, the current Padres' veteran hasn't been back. "Once you get there, especially as a young player, you expect to get back there every year," Giles reflected. "Once you get a little older, you realize how difficult that is to do. That's why I think it's so hard to win even one. You win one, and I bet you can really appreciate it a lot. It takes 25 guys to make that happen." The postseason, not so elusive. Not anymore, with triple-tiered playoffs, which are far more lenient than the pre-1969 World Series-or-bust landscape. Joe Torre, a postseason managerial mainstay for the 14th consecutive season with the Yankees and the Dodgers, never got there during an accomplished playing career of 18 years and 2,209 games. So Banks' misery was not private. Getting there, however, often merely exposes modern players to the vagaries of the postseason, the "anything-can-happen-in-a-short-series" dictum. In 2006, the Cardinals won 83 games, then won the World Series. In 2008, the Angels won 100 then were one-and-done. "Getting to the World Series is not something you can plan," Tejada said. "I'm going to play this game to get to the playoffs and the World Series, but if I don't get there it's not a disappointment because many guys don't get to the World Series." "I'd love to win a World Series," said Berkman. "We'd all love to do that, and that's why we play. But if it doesn't happen ... ." In retirement, he wouldn't be endlessly haunted by that.
"I'm not going to feel like my career is a bust. If my career wound end today, I'd be perfectly happy with everything that's happened," Berkman said.
Pride indeed cometh before the Fall Classic. "[The commitment to play] is such an investment, that you can't say, 'I'm only in it to win the ring.' There's much more that goes into it than that," Hoffman said. "I play because I like the game, not necessarily just to stay in it to win a ring." "It's not a lost season," Kendall said. "You go out and play to the end because you're a professional, and see what happens." Mike Sweeney, a five-time All-Star and near-.300 lifetime hitter, has played 15 years and 1,400 games without tasting, feeling or hearing the postseason. Still, it is hard for him to think it has all been for naught. "I have played the game hard for my entire career and have tried to play with integrity my entire career," Sweeney said. "So if it's not in the cards for me to win a ring then I won't be a defeated person. "It is definitely something I would miss, but every time I would look in a mirror there would be a lot of satisfaction knowing I did it the right way. If my career ended today, I would be a very proud and happy man with or without a ring."Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
