This Sounds Painful

Have to credit TK in the Rattler front office for pointing this Brad Zimanek column in the Post-Crescent out to me.

Anything that is headlined, Foster steps up to the plate, then swings and misses should probably be read.

In truth, I saw the selection of former Reds slugger George Foster as the guest speaker at the NCAA Division III World Series Welcome Banquet and was a bit puzzled by the choice. I remeber Foster as a player who hit 52 homers in a season and was a big part of The Big Red Machine. I don't remeber him as being very friendly with the media or a go to guy for publice speaking.

Full disclosure: I bought a book called The George Foster Story from Dick's Market across the street from my house when I was a kid. It was an interesting story of growing up poor, struggling to become an everyday player in the majors, and becoming one of the most feared hitters of the 1970's. That book may still be in my parent's basement (They don't throw anything away.)

If Foster had read the entire book to those in attendance it might have gone better. But, he didn't. So, Brad got to write stuff like this:

An omen occurred prior to the dinner. Foster, never known
for his congeniality with reporters during his big league career, appeared in a hospitality room where The Post-Crescent approached him for an interview. He was, at best, disagreeable...

It didn't get any better at the podium, as Foster came unprepared.

Baseball is supposed to be a national language, but Foster didn't even understand the audience to which he was speaking.

Foster made comments that some of the players in Division III were playing there because they didn't qualify academically to play Division I. Actually, in many instances, Division III players have to meet much more rigorous standards just to get into the eight schools that were represented in this year's championship, much less graduate.

and this:

He also spoke of playing in the major leagues as being a realistic goal for the Division III players. In reality, playing in the major leagues is possible for only a small minority of Division III players, while being here this weekend — and possibly winning a national championship on Tuesday — could very well be the highlight of their athletic careers.

and this:

He gave away autographed photos of himself to all eight coaches of teams in the tournament. When he got up to speak, Foster said he was charging the coaches for them, and you couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Read the whole thing as the man says.