Sports Illustrated seems to have a thing for Phillies' pitcher Cole Hamels lately. Shortly after was named the MVP of both the NLCS and World Series, Hamels appeared on the cover of the prestigious magazine.
The thing about that was there were no pop-out headlines or boxed photos to sully the austerity of Hamels in mid leg kick of a pitch while staring down the camera.
It's so nice you might want to hang it on your wall.
But big pictures and cover stories are superficial. They don't mean anything because if they did, Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton and a The Octomom would be the most meaningful people on the planet.
Alas, they are not. In fact, what do they do exactly?
Anyway, Cole is sort of a big deal in these parts. When he returned to Philadelphia last week for an MRI and an ultra sound of that precious, precious left arm, camera crews dogged him around town while he guided his wife's minivan through traffic. The Phillies even put out an advance warning to the media back in Philly that Cole wasn't going to talk to reporters when he arrived at Philadelphia International.
Apparently the ride on USAir was going to be stressful enough - you know with the lost luggage and everything.
But in Lee Jenkins' story about potential top pick in the June baseball draft named Stephen Strasburg, Hamels' name came up.
In a sidebar entitled, "Young Guns," Jenkins talked to long-time scout Al Goldis about the best pitchers he bird dogged. Guess what? Hamels was second on Goldis' list.
In his career with the Orioles, White Sox, Reds, Brewers, Cubs, Angels and Mets, Goldis put Hamels in his all-time top five of pitchers he scouted along with Dwight Gooden, Brien Taylor, Mark Prior and Mike Mussina. Not a bad list, though the pro careers weren't exactly the best for all of the guys on that list.
On Hamels, the scout told the scribe:
Of all the high school pitchers I've seen, he had the most poise. He knew how to pitch. He had a great changeup. He had everything.
Indeed he did. However, because of injuries and questions about his long-term health, Hamels fell to the 17th pick in the 2002 draft where Mike Arbuckle, Marti Wolever and Ed Wade were smart enough to make the pick.
Later, they were smart enough to hold onto him when all the other teams came around sniffing for prospects in potential trades.