The Talented Mr. Dobbins
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This is a weird one!
Last Sunday, Red Sox rookie starting pitcher faced the New York Yankees for the first time in his career. Before that start, he told reporters that he disliked the Yankees so much that he would rather retire than play for them.
It’s not unprecedented to quit rather than play for a team you don’t like. Jackie Robinson retired hours after being traded to the Giants in 1956. He told Giants owner Horace Stoneham he’d been planning to retire anyway as he already had a desk job lined up. But the fact remains he hung up his cleats rather than suit up for the team that has always been the Dodgers’ biggest rival. It’s a position any sports fan can respect.
Robinson, of course, was at the end of a Hall of Fame career, in the pre-free agency era where players were often forced to move teams via trade against their will. And he was 37 years old, an age when even today’s superstars weigh the cost of playing for an organization they don’t like just to stay in the game versus the benefit of retiring on a mountain of money and golfing every day.
Robinson walking away rather than play for the Giants is one thing.
A 25-year-old dude no one has ever heard of announcing he’d rather quit than play for the Yankees is another, and it made news for two reasons. The first is that Dobbins is in a category of players that probably shouldn’t unilaterally turn down future job opportunities.
“I love competitiveness,” Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm told Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “But to say that, being a rookie, is kind of crazy to me, to say that you’re going to rule out one out of 30 teams to be a professional athlete.”
Added Aaron Judge: "I've only heard Ken Griffey say that, so I was a little surprised.”
A few hours later, Judge hammered the first pitch he saw from Dobbins for a 436-foot opposite field homer that gave the Yankees an immediate 2-0 lead. It sure seemed like Dobbins had written checks with his mouth that his arm couldn’t cash.
But then he settled down and fired five innings of three-run ball, out-dueling Yankee veteran Carlos Rodón and earning the win.
Sunday was strange, but I wouldn’t be writing about Dobbins if that had been the end of it.
The second reason Dobbins made news was due to the question it provoked: why does this man dislike the Yankees so much?
When the Boston Herald first printed the story with Dobbins’ comments, Dobbins explained that the Yankees drafted his father twice, signed him after the second time, and then traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dobbins also said that Andy Pettite was the only Yankee he liked, because Pettite and his father “were really good friends.”
That all seemed reasonable enough. Then Joel Sherman of the New York Post searched MLB databases and could not find any reference to the Yankees drafting Dobbins’ father, Lance. He then called Andy Pettitte, who said he had no idea who Lance Dobbins was, either.
When asked about the Sherman’s reporting yesterday, Dobbins insisted he was telling the truth—as far as he knew.
"My feelings and all that are based on my personal experiences and nothing to do with growing up or family," Dobbins said. "The whole backstory is stuff I heard growing up and seen pictures of from my dad. At the end of my day, it's just from my dad and how I kind of grew my love for the game. But at the end of the day I don't go and fact-check my dad or anything like that."
I guess it’s wholesome in this day and age that these, uh, lies weren’t the result of a Chat GPT hallucination. The younger Dobbins is in essence saying that his dear old dad maaaaaaay have exaggerated a few things on his CV to impress his son, not knowing it would cause the family to be humiliated a few decades later.
I’m embarrassed for everyone involved, but this story gets even better: the Yankees and Red Sox are playing two home and home series’ this week. Which means Dobbins will face them again tomorrow night.
There’s only one way back from this for Dobbins, and that’s to win the Cy Young award. Nobody talks about the time Chris Sale snapped and cut up all his teammates’ jerseys before a start anymore. Why? Because he’s probably headed to the Hall of Fame. It won’t even get mentioned in his baseball obituary! (Even though it should, because, yikes).
I’m sure the famously restrained New York Post is done writing about this story. There’s no way they have a reporter staked out at Lance Dobbins’ workplace waitinf ro the exclusive interview, right? Right?
Oh dear. Oh no. Help.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE:
The Brewers Aaron Civale asked for a trade after being moved to the bullpen. Milwaukee accommodated him, trading him and cash to the White Sox for Andrew Vaughn earlier Friday.
Reds’ starting pitcher Wade Miley was accused of supplying drugs to the late Tyler Skaggs in court documents involving the Skaggs’ family’s lawsuit against the Angels.
After starting the season 9-50, the Rockies are 4-5 in their last nine games.
Mets’ ace Kodai Senga is back on the injured list with a hamstring strain after hurting himself trying to cover first base.
Pope Leo XIV wore a White Sox hat during an appearance at the Vatican.
Brewers top pitching prospect Jacob “Les Miz” Misiorowski made his debut yesterday and was excellent, tossing five hitless innings before leaving due to cramping in his leg.
Another brutal injury blow for the Diamondbacks. Closer Justin Martinez will undergo his second UCL surgery, Arizona skipper Torey Lovullo told MLB Network Radio earlier Friday.
The death of former Yankee Brett Gardner’s 14-year old son, Miller, is still under investigation.
The Angels are calling up top prospect Christian Moore, who they picked 8th overall in the draft last year.
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That’s all for today!
I just realized the games this weekend are at fenway, not in the bronx! I fixed the post
People don't talk about the time Chris Sale cut up the jerseys? I must not be people because I think about this all the time and tell non-baseball people the story at least once a year. It's simply an incredible thing that happened and I will not allow its memory-holing!