WHY HE'S STILL JOHNNY BRAVO

Being a Yankee fan, I was always envious of any team that had Johnny Damon. Before the Red Sox had him, I thought for sure the Yankees were going to snag him. I think it was around the time when he was with the Oakland Athletics. I always loved the way Damon worked, his speed and his grit in the field. It was clear to me he wanted a win more than anyone out there.

When he came to the Yankees, it was beautiful the way it unfolded, taking him away from the evil Red Sox, and the New York sports media rubbed it in the Boston fans faces nicely with terrific headlines, but the reality was, it was quite a few years later and who really knew if Damon would contribute successfully in pinstripes. Well, he did, and I loved him as a New York Yankee and for him to get a championship with us in 2009, it was icing on the cake.

So,2 nights ago when Johnny Damon slid into second base, he stole his 400^th base. 400 isn’t easy. It proves 2 things, he’s old as dirt and has been around for a long time (that’s a bad joke), and he’s still got the speed, a valuable tool in baseball. Stolen bases have always been my thing. I remember growing up in awe of Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines as they dominated back in the 80’s and all I wanted to do in Little League was break the stolen base record and hold up second base like Rickey did. Little did I know that Little League did not compile stolen base stats at the age of 9 back then. It was however fun to compile them in my head. The point is, speed fascinated me because if players like Rickey, or Brett Gardner or Johnny Damon are able to get on base, eventually they could get around to score. I knew that because I did and I learned from the best.

Damon is now on the list of players that have compiled 400 stolen bases and 200 home runs in 1 career. Let's be honest, I didn't know they had such a list but I like that they do. Damon currently has 229 home runs. The list includes players like Joe Morgan, Craig Biggio, Rickey Henderson, Roberto Alomar, Marquis Grissom, Paul Moliter, Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonds. Pretty nice company.

This post is to congratulate a great player and a great Yankee. Congrats Johnny Bravo. Keep going pal, keep going.

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