PROFILES IN SUCCESS SERIES: Luis Palonia (UPDATED: Polonia)
Friends, on occasion, we will highlight a less-than-holy man that we regardless admire, as a "Profile in Success" baseball player. These are men who possessed talent but also were poisoned by some weakness or addiction- men like Pete Rose (sports gambling) and today's entry, Mr. Palonia(Polonia) (playground tail).Acquired by the Yanks from Oakland in the famous Ricky Henderson trade, Luis Palonia (Polonia) was a sparkplug. He hustled and came up with that big hit when you needed it the most. He played for several teams, but as a Yankee he made his mark. Luis also had an appetite for 15 year-old girls, and that would mar an otherwise honorable and clean reputation. But Luis was a man of his word, and he pleaded no-contest to the charges and did his 60 days of jailtime during the offseason. Look at his face... jail must have been rough! But think about this (and this ought to make you feel old as dirt), that girl Luis was convicted of statutorily raping, she'll be 31 years old this year. Wow, how time flies.
Anyway, the speed, the fast bat and the heads-up play of Luis Palonia (Polonia) deserves our recognition. Vaya con Dios, Luis!
posted by TheJackSack at 9:06 PM
5 Comments:
Shit, man! You spelled his name wrong! "Little Louie" deserves a little better than that.
P-O-L-O-N-I-A. Wow. I'm sorry Louie. I'm still not changing it.
I'll always remember him for having the biggest glove in baseball. I'm not sure what that says about him (or me for that matter), but I always thought it was cool.
What it said about him is that he was one of the worst defensive outfielders in the game. He could hit, though. Singles hitter. He and Dion James hit a lot of singles for the Yankees during the dark years.
The man played small ball. (sigh) But defensively he was inept. Sure, he could run to the ball with his trademark speed, but after getting there he had no clue what to do next. He also once hit an inside-the-park Grand Slam!
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