Going back to Canada Day, there’s been a steady procession of special baseball moments at the Rogers Centre. There was the return of Roy Halladay, plus the excitement of the entire Phillies series, followed by the Yankees with Derek Jeter fresh off his 3,000th hit. A month later, there’s more subplots — the intensity and hype of Brett Lawrie’s debut on Tuesday and on Friday the return to Toronto of Vernon Wells, one of the most overrated yet at the same time underrated Blue Jays in club history.
“Not just what he did in the community was underrated, he was always doing something for Jays Care, his own foundation, the amount of time and money that he put out there,” Jays second baseman Aaron Hill said. “And the clubhouse — I never heard anybody say a bad thing about him as far as the kind of guy he was. He was always even-keeled no matter the ups and downs, no matter what it was. He was always happy, always approachable for the young players. Didn’t matter, young player or old player he was always there. There was a calmness about him that was comforting.”
Wells is easily among the top 10 position players to ever wear the Jays uniform. All-time with the Jays, he ranks first in at-bats, second in homers, runs, hits, doubles, extra-base hits, RBIs and total bases, and third in games played. Yet in his last couple of years he was routinely heckled by the fans. How did that happen? Part of it was that he made the game look effortless, and his hustle and heart were easily overlooked. Defensively, only this year when he was gone did fans realize how good he was.
Good article I think, only put in bits and pieces. I have to admit I was hard on V-Dubb the last few years, but he was a good guy and decent ball player.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... ers-centre
