A Word Of Warning For Joe Mauer…

Just saw this story on Yahoo! News today…

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-knoblauch-assaultplea&prov=ap&type=lgns

First off, I hope that Chuckles gets his life put back together.  It’s always sad to me to see a former Minnesota athlete struggle like that, and my prayers go out to him.

That being said, his life story (at least as it relates to baseball) could be a sort of warning for Joe Mauer (who is perhaps considering a shot in the Big Apple himself, seeing as how he hasn’t signed a contract yet):

In 1991, Knoblauch was the spark-plug that helped drive the team to their World Series title.  He proceeded to become an elite lead-off hitter in the American League for the next 5-6 years, even on abysmal Twins teams.  He was a doubles machine, and could steal bases with the best of them.  However, he decided to opt for the big market of New York after “serving his time” here in Minny.

In the City that Never Sleeps, unfortunately Knobby didn’t get much shut-eye either. Under that big-time pressure, he never re-captured those glory years with the Twins, and suddenly developed an inability to throw the baseball from his second base position over to first.  The mental block got so bad that he eventually changed positions to left field, which led to this career path:

I don’t think I have to tell you how that turned out.

So Joe, before you even think about how playing in NYC is all playoff games and confetti showers, consider the sad story of one Chuck Knoblauch, a living example of what pressure (even leading to his being named in the Mitchell Report a few years ago) can do to a person.  The grass always seems greener (literally, in this case) on the other side, but only if you can enjoy the grazing.  Think about it.