Everyone else worth their salt as a blogger has already written about washout shortshop Jose Offerman, now playing with the Long Island Ducks, going off on Bridgeport pitcher Matt Beech after Beech plunked him. Offerman hit a homer off Beach in his first at-bat, and liked making contact with the ball so much he decided to see how it would feel to make bat-to-pitcher contact.
In the wake of the ex-Dodger, Royal, and Red Sock facing second-degree assault charges for the incident (and posting $10K in bail), my only question is this: Offerman was voted onto an MLB All-Star team by the players; why don’t I remember this? I refuse to believe that actually happened, not with the number of weak ground balls and flirting with the Mendoza line he did.
Jose Offerman goes NUTS! [PopJocks]
Offerman arrested after attack with bat [Connecticut Post]
(Photo: Christian Abraham/Connecticut Post)
Filed under: police blotter, violence Tagged: | baseball, has-beens
Actually, offerman was always a pretty good hitter for a 2nd baseman… his hands of stone are quite another story
It depends on what you mean by “pretty good hitter.” Pretty good at being a singles and doubles hitter, yes. Pretty good at getting on base and slugging? Not really. Some bright spots here and there.
He had 4 seasons (of 15) where he finished with an OPS+ over 100 (a.k.a. above-average). Those were 112 (1995), 106 (1996), 116 (1998), and 107 (1999).
Offerman made two All-Star teams — 1995 with the Dodgers, and 1999 with the Red Sox. I don’t know how he made either of them. Maybe he paid someone off?