Albert Belle Stalks Girlfriend
Former Cleveland Indians slugger adds arrest to his history of bad behaviour.
Albert Belle's classic moment seems like a distant memory, now. After a majestic home run in the 1995 World Series, Belle aimed a steely glare toward the Atlanta Braves infield, bent his right arm and pointed to his flexed muscle, as if to say, You can't stop this.
Of course, by now, we all know World Series MVP, Tom Glavine, had the last laugh, completely handcuffing Belle and his Cleveland Indians teammates, giving the Braves the victory in six games.
Prior to that moment and certainly in most moments beyond, Albert Belle has been both spectacular and spectacle.
Belle started his Major League Baseball career by berating jeering fans, knocking over water coolers in clubhouses and allegedly corking baseball bats. Along the way, he averaged .295, 37 homers and 120 RBI in 10 full seasons. Whether he was launching baseballs into orbit or cursing the lovely Hannah Storm, Belle made the Indians fun to watch.
His career ended abruptly with a worn-out hip that was eventually replaced, shoving Belle away from Major League diamonds as mercilessly as he treated both opposing pitchers and reporters.
In spite of his always aloof demeanor, Belle would not go quietly into the good night. He has reappeared often in the past six years, since his 2000 retirement from professional baseball. Each time the boorish Belle resurfaces, he adds a blemish to his already spotted resume.
Most recently, Belle has admitted to stalking his ex-girlfriend. He now sits in a Phoenix jail, awaiting sentencing for a recurring crime. His vaunted muscles no longer cast imposing shadows over baseball fields.
Like other baseball greats before him, Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson, to name a couple, Albert Belle could have gone down in Major League annals as one of the greatest players of all time. Cobb stabbed opposing players; Jackson allegedly cheated. Belle's health problems hurt a potential Hall of Fame career, but his irascible nature and this ridiculous stalking episode have plunged a final dagger into any perception of greatness.
One time, Albert Belle was the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in one season. His 711 extra-base hits were more than any other player in the 1990s. He hit 381 total homers and knocked in 1,231 runs.
These sound like Hall of Fame numbers to me. In a day when character often means more than statistics to voters, though, Albert Belle's flexed muscles are too distant a memory and are overcome by his dishonorable behavior.
I was not a big Albert Belle fan, but I remember that memorable moment. And if I were a Hall of Fame voter, Albert Belle and his famous flexed muscle would get my vote, even if he had to deliver his speech from a county jail.
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