Quotes From "El Oso Astroman Blanco" + Atlanta Writer's Farewells to the People's Champ
While Houston welcomes a fantastic new addition to it's lineup, Atlanta is picking up the pieces of saying goodbye, including yours truly.
First, the Braves Country farewells, which the two I highlight were written quite well (Shoutouts to Talking Chop and Tomahawk Take):
From Talking Chop (My favorite of the two articles):
He may have only been in Atlanta for two years, but Evan Gattis's mark will last.
Do sports get better than that? A dad gets to literally call his son's first home run in his first game. It was moments like that home run which made a large section of Braves fans so despondent when the news was announced this week that Gattis had been traded. For a large swath of Atlanta Braves fans, Gattis was much more than a good but flawed player with a penchant for timely late inning home runs. Gattis represented something much larger to the people who could be seen in the stands at Turner Field wearing polar bear hats and waving bear claws on their hands.
You can tell Gattis is different just by looking at him. Gattis has the appearance of an American archetype, with his thick beard, large stature, and muscle-bound physique he looks for all the word like an 1800's frontiersman who came in from chopping down redwoods to have a couple of swings at the ball park. If someone said Gattis had fashioned his bat from an oak he just chopped down, you could be forgiven for believing that. Comparisons of baseball players to Paul Bunyan may as well stop forever since a more perfect example than Gattis will not be found.
Fans loved that timeless air that Gattis seemed to carry himself with all the way down to not wearing batting gloves as he smashed some of the longest home runs Braves fans have ever seen. More than just his appearance, Gattis was an inspiration for the way he overcame debilitating anxiety and depression to return from a self-imposed exile away from the game to eventually play in major league baseball. In an era where many sports fans feel increasingly alienated from the players they cheer for, Gattis was someone who managed to break through that barrier and connect with the average fan.
Disillusionment and cynicism have become increasingly prevalent in some quarters of modern sports fandom. Sports have always served as catharsis and escape for the average working stiff who wants to take a few hours to forget about their bills, their dead end job, their child serving overseas, their mother in the hospital and countless other stresses for which there really isn't an available solution.
Since the days of bread and circuses in the Roman Coliseum sports have been a way of making people forget even just for a moment that life is cold, dark and unforgiving.
Sadly, for many fans, the advent of commercialism in American sports and sky high salaries that pay even the worst underperformers in Major League Baseball more money in a year than many Americans will see in a lifetime, has robbed baseball of some of what made it special. Baseball is unique among American sports in the way the appeal of the game is so strongly tied to nostalgia for the past. Baseball more than basketball or football or hockey or soccer is about that black and white footage of legends from days gone by and what those players represented. Johnny Unitas may be remembered fondly by those who saw him, but he will never hold the mythic status in broader American culture that Babe Ruth has. Ruth's name remains synonymous with greatness in any area. People still refer to "The Babe Ruth of..." when they try to describe someone or something that is the absolute best.
Gattis, through his Bunyan appearance, barehanded 500 foot homers,and unique story of quitting baseball and becoming a sort of nomad before he reached the majors, managed to break through those barriers that have turned off some fans from modern day professional sports. Baseball is a generational sport where fathers bring their children to the game and teach their kids the basics of playing in their backyards. When a father teaches his child to throw a ball, catch pop flies or hit off a tee, he is collaborating with his child in helping his child grow and achieve goals. There is something beautiful about a parent helping their kid hit a pitch to the edge of the yard and them celebrating the accomplishment together. Compare that to basketball where a child has achieved something when his dad is no longer able to block the child's shot at will. The sports Americans play besides baseball are much more adversarial.
By having that first moment with his dad looking on, Gattis recreated on a grand scale the experience of your dad teaching you to play baseball. In this way Gattis connected with the fans in that most primal manner that lets people form an emotional connection to someone that doesn't even know they exist. For decades baseball has been about fathers and their children and stories of a time gone by where the players took on a mythical quality. Sure those halcyon days were never the sports Garden of Eden that old sportswriters will tell you they were, Babe Ruth after all never faced a black pitcher.
While the 1920s may not be a time worth trying to recreate, for many people Gattis seemed a larger than life figure who would have looked perfectly comfortable in black and white watching Gehrig from the on-tdeck circle. His appeal was very much in the way he seemed the answer to all the perceived wrongs with moderns sports.
There is something wonderful about a player like Evan Gattis who for many baseball fans became something akin to the people's champion and a reminder of the things that made baseball special at its inception. Gattis was a modern day Maximus, a plebe who escaped the mob to stand beside the emperor. Gattis gave the impression of a man who wasn't some separate class of athlete (though he obviously was) and was instead a man who came seemingly out of the crowd to cow the Stephen Strasburgs of the world. Sadly, American sports are widely devoid of chants and songs but if that was more our style it would not be difficult to imagine Atlanta fans chanting "Evan Gattis, he is one our own."
That is why so many Atlanta fans were crushed to see Gattis go. Gattis more than any other Atlanta player in recent memory was claimed by the crowd. Gattis was a 23rd round pick who returned to baseball after leaving the sport while battling anxiety and depression. Gattis dominated the minors while being older than the competition, leading most prospect gurus to downplay his achievements. Gattis was the underdog story who was doubted by the so-called experts and dismissed at every turn. Gattis was loved by the crowd because the crowd saw in Gattis what they wished to see in themselves, a scrappy underdog achieving his dreams in spite of always being told he wasn't good enough.
The objective rationale for trading Evan Gattis isn't hard to see. Gattis was a 28-year-old designated hitter playing in a league that doesn't have a designated hitter. The 2015 Atlanta Braves will not contend for the playoffs and trading Gattis for a haul of highly regarded prospects while Gattis was at the height of his value made too much sense not to do. Of course the people who give such high ratings to the prospects the Braves got for Gattis are the same ones who called Gattis a poor man's Jim Leyritz. Evaluating prospects is hardly a science. That being said, it was time for Gattis to go and the Braves will be better off for it. That doesn't mean there is something wrong with being sad to see him leave.
Sports are a magical invention that produce moments like a father commenting on live television as his son hits his first major league home run, in his first major league game. There may be some who are not moved by that moment, but such people consume sports in a way I don't really relate to. There are a million things to love about baseball and Evan Gattis represents many of them.
The truth is if Gattis had never hit another home run after that first one it would have been enough. In that one moment, a man overcame his demons and the crippling grip depression and anxiety hold over so many of us, to achieve what every child who has ever been handed a bat by his father in the backyard has dreamed of. Gattis is gone but he will always be loved in Atlanta because he represented so much more than a guy who was useful to the team. Of the Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Gattis trio that Atlanta traded this offseason, Gattis was the objectively lesser player. His warts and flaws were obvious.
That is okay though. For the fans who loved the man nicknamed El Oso Blanco, objectivity never really entered into it. Gattis was bigger than that. Gattis for many fans was the embodiment of everything that made them fall in love with the game during those nights where their dad kept them up past their bedtime for extra innings or to watch a pitcher chase a no hitter. He will be missed.
(HERE HERE! Well said!)
From Tomahawk Take:
And now, without further adieu, words from the People's Champion himself on his new home in Houston!:
From Crawfish Boxes:
From Fox 25 Houston:
Last, but most certainly not least, his conference call with Astros media from MLB.com (And boy, is it refreshing to hear his own voice on the matter):
I'm excited for Evan, but it may take a minute for me to get used to this: (At least he is wearing my favorite color, Orange, now.)
First, the Braves Country farewells, which the two I highlight were written quite well (Shoutouts to Talking Chop and Tomahawk Take):
From Talking Chop (My favorite of the two articles):
Evan Gattis, He Was One Of Our Own
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
He may have only been in Atlanta for two years, but Evan Gattis's mark will last.
Do sports get better than that? A dad gets to literally call his son's first home run in his first game. It was moments like that home run which made a large section of Braves fans so despondent when the news was announced this week that Gattis had been traded. For a large swath of Atlanta Braves fans, Gattis was much more than a good but flawed player with a penchant for timely late inning home runs. Gattis represented something much larger to the people who could be seen in the stands at Turner Field wearing polar bear hats and waving bear claws on their hands.
You can tell Gattis is different just by looking at him. Gattis has the appearance of an American archetype, with his thick beard, large stature, and muscle-bound physique he looks for all the word like an 1800's frontiersman who came in from chopping down redwoods to have a couple of swings at the ball park. If someone said Gattis had fashioned his bat from an oak he just chopped down, you could be forgiven for believing that. Comparisons of baseball players to Paul Bunyan may as well stop forever since a more perfect example than Gattis will not be found.
Fans loved that timeless air that Gattis seemed to carry himself with all the way down to not wearing batting gloves as he smashed some of the longest home runs Braves fans have ever seen. More than just his appearance, Gattis was an inspiration for the way he overcame debilitating anxiety and depression to return from a self-imposed exile away from the game to eventually play in major league baseball. In an era where many sports fans feel increasingly alienated from the players they cheer for, Gattis was someone who managed to break through that barrier and connect with the average fan.
Disillusionment and cynicism have become increasingly prevalent in some quarters of modern sports fandom. Sports have always served as catharsis and escape for the average working stiff who wants to take a few hours to forget about their bills, their dead end job, their child serving overseas, their mother in the hospital and countless other stresses for which there really isn't an available solution.
Since the days of bread and circuses in the Roman Coliseum sports have been a way of making people forget even just for a moment that life is cold, dark and unforgiving.
Sadly, for many fans, the advent of commercialism in American sports and sky high salaries that pay even the worst underperformers in Major League Baseball more money in a year than many Americans will see in a lifetime, has robbed baseball of some of what made it special. Baseball is unique among American sports in the way the appeal of the game is so strongly tied to nostalgia for the past. Baseball more than basketball or football or hockey or soccer is about that black and white footage of legends from days gone by and what those players represented. Johnny Unitas may be remembered fondly by those who saw him, but he will never hold the mythic status in broader American culture that Babe Ruth has. Ruth's name remains synonymous with greatness in any area. People still refer to "The Babe Ruth of..." when they try to describe someone or something that is the absolute best.
Gattis, through his Bunyan appearance, barehanded 500 foot homers,and unique story of quitting baseball and becoming a sort of nomad before he reached the majors, managed to break through those barriers that have turned off some fans from modern day professional sports. Baseball is a generational sport where fathers bring their children to the game and teach their kids the basics of playing in their backyards. When a father teaches his child to throw a ball, catch pop flies or hit off a tee, he is collaborating with his child in helping his child grow and achieve goals. There is something beautiful about a parent helping their kid hit a pitch to the edge of the yard and them celebrating the accomplishment together. Compare that to basketball where a child has achieved something when his dad is no longer able to block the child's shot at will. The sports Americans play besides baseball are much more adversarial.
By having that first moment with his dad looking on, Gattis recreated on a grand scale the experience of your dad teaching you to play baseball. In this way Gattis connected with the fans in that most primal manner that lets people form an emotional connection to someone that doesn't even know they exist. For decades baseball has been about fathers and their children and stories of a time gone by where the players took on a mythical quality. Sure those halcyon days were never the sports Garden of Eden that old sportswriters will tell you they were, Babe Ruth after all never faced a black pitcher.
While the 1920s may not be a time worth trying to recreate, for many people Gattis seemed a larger than life figure who would have looked perfectly comfortable in black and white watching Gehrig from the on-tdeck circle. His appeal was very much in the way he seemed the answer to all the perceived wrongs with moderns sports.
There is something wonderful about a player like Evan Gattis who for many baseball fans became something akin to the people's champion and a reminder of the things that made baseball special at its inception. Gattis was a modern day Maximus, a plebe who escaped the mob to stand beside the emperor. Gattis gave the impression of a man who wasn't some separate class of athlete (though he obviously was) and was instead a man who came seemingly out of the crowd to cow the Stephen Strasburgs of the world. Sadly, American sports are widely devoid of chants and songs but if that was more our style it would not be difficult to imagine Atlanta fans chanting "Evan Gattis, he is one our own."
That is why so many Atlanta fans were crushed to see Gattis go. Gattis more than any other Atlanta player in recent memory was claimed by the crowd. Gattis was a 23rd round pick who returned to baseball after leaving the sport while battling anxiety and depression. Gattis dominated the minors while being older than the competition, leading most prospect gurus to downplay his achievements. Gattis was the underdog story who was doubted by the so-called experts and dismissed at every turn. Gattis was loved by the crowd because the crowd saw in Gattis what they wished to see in themselves, a scrappy underdog achieving his dreams in spite of always being told he wasn't good enough.
The objective rationale for trading Evan Gattis isn't hard to see. Gattis was a 28-year-old designated hitter playing in a league that doesn't have a designated hitter. The 2015 Atlanta Braves will not contend for the playoffs and trading Gattis for a haul of highly regarded prospects while Gattis was at the height of his value made too much sense not to do. Of course the people who give such high ratings to the prospects the Braves got for Gattis are the same ones who called Gattis a poor man's Jim Leyritz. Evaluating prospects is hardly a science. That being said, it was time for Gattis to go and the Braves will be better off for it. That doesn't mean there is something wrong with being sad to see him leave.
Sports are a magical invention that produce moments like a father commenting on live television as his son hits his first major league home run, in his first major league game. There may be some who are not moved by that moment, but such people consume sports in a way I don't really relate to. There are a million things to love about baseball and Evan Gattis represents many of them.
The truth is if Gattis had never hit another home run after that first one it would have been enough. In that one moment, a man overcame his demons and the crippling grip depression and anxiety hold over so many of us, to achieve what every child who has ever been handed a bat by his father in the backyard has dreamed of. Gattis is gone but he will always be loved in Atlanta because he represented so much more than a guy who was useful to the team. Of the Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Gattis trio that Atlanta traded this offseason, Gattis was the objectively lesser player. His warts and flaws were obvious.
That is okay though. For the fans who loved the man nicknamed El Oso Blanco, objectivity never really entered into it. Gattis was bigger than that. Gattis for many fans was the embodiment of everything that made them fall in love with the game during those nights where their dad kept them up past their bedtime for extra innings or to watch a pitcher chase a no hitter. He will be missed.
(HERE HERE! Well said!)
From Tomahawk Take:
Losing Oso Blanco
This is a little weird, this feeling. It’s like we’ve lost a folk hero from our midst. In some ways it feels like the time I heard that a crazy zoo-keeper and crocodile wrangler from Australia named Steve Irwin had been killed. Gattis was that nutty kid next door growing up before our eyes and doing extraordinary things. It’s like Charlie Brown growing up to be a senator. It’s Chauncey Gardener becoming President. It’s the skinny girl in math class becoming a United States Marine.
Someday there will be a movie. (What a coincidence, I have a screenplay draft on it all ready to go!) A homeless guy wandering around America gets pulled off the street to play baseball, excels at it, and develops a cult following. That just doesn’t happen. Americans celebrate that kind of story and embrace it as their own… and it doesn’t even matter what uniform is being worn. It’s a baseball story. Heck, I’d root for Gattis if he was wearing Philly pinstripes. Okay, that would be tough to do, but I think I still would.
But if we had to trade him anywhere, it had to be to a team from Texas. We rescued a boy (albeit a really big boy) and are sending him back home as a man. A bear.
I don’t know how long his career will last (Ye of little faith, much?!), but the Astros are now my favorite AL team.
And now, without further adieu, words from the People's Champion himself on his new home in Houston!:
From Crawfish Boxes:
On Houston's future:
"We are on the rise. I think potential is there and then, you know, it's just a few extra games of margin - the difference is so small between a really good team and a . 500 team . ... I'm anxious to talk to (Jose Altuve) about hitting and just kind of figure that guy out a little bit."
On growing up a Rangers fan:
"I hate to say, I was a Rangers fan. Astros back in the day, they weren't doing too much, so it was easier to be rooting for your home team. But I've never been a big fan of teams. I've always just liked good players, I liked to watch baseball. That never really changed."
"Outfield, defense is below average, or it has been in the past. I've been working on trying to improve that. I think that's a weakness, and defense in general is average or less than average. But I think I can make up for it with our lineup, and I'm just eager to get better. I think I work our pitchers well. I always felt like I did my homework and I'm underrated as a catcher. But I don't know if that's true or not."
More on a transition to left field:
It's really too early. We'll see how it shakes out and see where our pieces end up at the end of spring. I think it's too early to say what I'll be playing more of. I'm not really worried about positioning and stuff like that right now. I'm just ready to get after it, you know? I was prepared to go play left field with the Braves situation, too, so it's not like anything will really change on my end.
On the lineup's thump:
And it kind of feeds off each, too. It's contagious, especially in the lineup. We've got back-to-back-to-back-to-back guys that can hit, hit for power. It could be scary, especially when you mix in guys like [Jose] Altuve and Dexter Fowler. They're getting on base all the time and there's going to be a lot of RBI potential, a lot of run-scoring potential.
From Fox 25 Houston:
Evan Gattis: 'Glad to be an Astro'
HOUSTON (FOX 26) -The newest member of the Astros, catcher, left fielder Evan Gattis, is thrilled to bring his powerful
bat and versatility to Houston.
The Astros acquired Gattis Wednesday in a trade with the Atlanta Braves.
"Glad to be an Astro," Gattis said in an interview with FOX26 Sports. "Great to be wanted."
"It does feel great to be wanted. To be brought in and considered a guy that's going to help, that's the ultimate respect."
Gattis has hit 43 home runs in 213 games during his first two years in the big leagues.
And he looks forward to seeing what kind of damage he can do in Minute Maid Park.
"It's a good hitters park, deep to center, but good porch in left," Gattis said. "A gorgeous ballpark. I love that park.
"We've got a lot of power hitters in our lineup. I think we'll be a big, powerful team that should score a lot of runs."
While Gattis can catch, he has also worked in the outfield, and in the American League he can be the designated hitter as well.
He said he is versatile because he is open and willing.
"I'm not afraid of other positions," Gattis said. "(I've) been trying to get better at left field and there's the DH.
"Just want to be able to play. It doesn't matter which position."
Gattis is still getting his arms around being traded for the first time.
"It's different," Gattis said. "It's weird. It's not like anything on the field. It's a great moment in my career.
"I'm super excited, excited to play for a team that's ready to compete."
bat and versatility to Houston.The Astros acquired Gattis Wednesday in a trade
with the Atlanta Braves."Glad
to be an Astro," Gattis said in an interview with FOX26 Sports. "Great to be wanted.""It does feel great
to be wanted. To be brought in and considered a guy that's going to help, that's the ultimate respect."Gattis has hit 43 home runs in 213 games during his first two years in the big leagues.
And he looks forward to seeing what kind of damage he can do in Minute Maid Park.
"It's a good hitters park, deep to center, but good porch in left," Gattis said. "A gorgeous ballpark. I love that park.
"We've got a lot of power hitters in our lineup. I think we'll be a big, powerful team that should score a lot of runs."
While Gattis can catch, he has also worked in the outfield, and in the American League he can be the designated hitter as well.
He said he is versatile because he is open and willing.
"I'm not afraid of other positions," Gattis said. "(I've) been trying to get better at left field and there's the DH.
"Just want to be able to play. It doesn't matter which position."
Gattis is still getting his arms around being traded for the first time.
"It's different," Gattis said. "It's weird. It's not like anything on the field. It's a great moment in my career.
"I'm super excited, excited to play for a team that's ready to compete."
From the Houston Chronicle Blog (chron.com):
Evan Gattis eager to trade in childhood fandom for fresh start with Astros
Fans trying to come up with a nickname for new Astros slugger Evan Gattis will be hard-pressed to beat the Spanish one that followed him from Atlanta to Houston: El Oso Blanco, or The White Bear. (Pouya Dianat / Atlanta Braves / Getty Images)
Evan Gattis, the Astros’ new Dallas-raised power hitter, used to sit on the other side of the fence.
“I hate to say, I was a Rangers fan,” the 28-year-old said on a conference call Thursday. “Astros back in the day, they weren’t doing too much, so it was easier to be rooting for your home team. But I’ve never been a big fan of teams. I’ve always just liked good players, I liked to watch baseball. That never really changed.”
Gattis came over from the Braves in a five-player deal Wednesday that sent away three well-regarded Astros prospects: lightning-armed Mike Foltynewicz, third baseman Rio Ruiz and righty Andrew Thurman. The Braves are rebuilding under new leadership, and Gattis is the latest established name to be dealt in the offseason, following outfielders Jason Heyward and Justin Upton.
There were rumors about Gattis moving throughout the winter, but the righthander with 20-plus homer power said he didn’t buy into the chatter until a move was finalized. Funny enough, if the Astros didn’t finalize a deal for Gattis, he well may have ended up on the Rangers. They were talking with the Braves, too.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get traded, believe it or not,” Gattis said. “I think with four more years under club control (because I can’t become a free agent until after the 2018 season), I think that was kind of big. So it kind of surprised me until I found out.
“Even though I heard all the rumors, I figured something would have gotten done a lot earlier, there’s so many rumors out there. And that’s what I kind of chalked it up to: it’s just rumors. So I didn’t really take it seriously, and it didn’t really sink in until it happened, right now, yesterday.”
Gattis is built like a lumberjack. An arm-wrestle match between Gattis and Chris Carter would open spring training with quite a spectacle. But if the former instead told his life story, he’d capture more attention. It would take a while.
While his catching days are likely behind him, recent Astros addition Evan Gattis still brings plenty to the table. (Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images)
Winding doesn’t quite describe his path to the Astros. Arduous and wild come probably closer to the mark.
Gattis battled alcohol and marijuana usage in his senior year of high school, went to a rehabilitation center and tried his hand at junior college instead of Texas A&M, the school he would have gone to had life followed the planned route.
He didn’t last. He took odd jobs for four years, including working as a car valet in Dallas and a janitor in Plano, before eventually finding his way back into baseball.
The constant in Gattis’ career has been strength, and it’s fair to say that includes the mental as well as the physical. His nickname is El Oso Blanco: The White Bear.
“Power has obviously been my strength, and hitting’s been above average,” Gattis said when asked to give a scouting report of himself. “Batting, above average — not as good as just my power.”
Gattis’ days as a primary catcher are seemingly behind him. Left field, designated hitter and first base are more logical spots for him to play on the Astros, and no matter where he is, he won’t bring much to the table as a fielder. He’s aware of that, but he’s not complacent in that regard.
“I think I work our pitchers well,” Gattis said. “I always felt like I did my homework and I’m underrated as a catcher. But I don’t know if that’s true or not.
“Outfield, defense is below average, or it has been in the past. I’ve been working on trying to improve that. I think that’s a weakness, and defense in general is average or less than average. But I think I can make up for it with our lineup, and I’m just eager to get better.”
There was concern about Gattis’ health heading into the trade, specifically his right knee and back. He said Thursday feels good, but, it would be a rare situation when a player said otherwise as he’s introduced to a new club.
Gattis’ goal, he said, is to play a full slate of games, and he started working out early this offseason to do so. Not to be overlooked: switching to the American league could help his health.
“There’s a lot more DH games,” Gattis said. “I’m not saying I’ll DH a lot. I have no idea and it’s not my decision. I think with the DH mixed in there, I think it shouldn’t be a problem whether I’m playing left or catching or somewhere else.”
Gattis has some familiarity with Astros pitcher Brett Oberholtzer, who used to be in the Braves system. Paul Runge, the Astros’ minor league field coordinator, was Gattis’ first minor league manager five years ago.
As for the organization on a whole, Gattis has heard of the progress made. A 3-4-5 of George Springer, Carter and Gattis — or whatever the order may be — could be fearsome. Gattis said the multitude of power hitters “should be really good for all of us.” Gattis is in a similar mold to the other two, in that he doesn’t get on base at a great rate and can strikeout big. When two or three of them are off, it’ll be a long night.
But when two or three of the boppers are on, watch out.
“We are on the rise,” he said. “I think potential is there and then, you know, it’s just a few extra games of margin — the difference is so small between a really good team and a .500 team. … I’m anxious to talk to (Jose Altuve) about hitting and just kind of figure that guy out a little bit.”
I'm excited for Evan, but it may take a minute for me to get used to this: (At least he is wearing my favorite color, Orange, now.)
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| Photoshoped by a Houston fan somewhere, obviously. Whomever did, kudos on the detail! It will be interesting to see what his real number with the club will be. |
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