Sometimes it's determination that brings two sides together, like digging a tunnel through a mountain starting on opposite sides. Amd Sometimes it's opposite effects, like the positive and negative charges of magnets. But sometimes it's just a feeling, like how everybody who saw "Forrest Gump" for the first time just knew that Forrest and Jenny would end up together in the end, no matter how different their lives may have been.
For whatever the reason may be, Cliff Lee was born to wear Phillies red.
But it turns out that Lee was looking for something a little more than money.
When news broke of a third-party "Mystery Team" entering the discussions, I think everybody in New York and Texas cringed a little, and I'm willing to bet that most sports fans in America had that 'feeling' that it was the Philadelphia Phillies getting ready to make an offer.
Lee turned down more money, more years, more publicity, and probably more playing time to rejoin the team that he helped reach the World Series in 2009. As always, the respectful Lee was classy about the situation and called Rangers GM Jon Daniels to break the news himself.
"People rag on players for following that last dollar. Cliff didn't do that. I have a lot of respect for him." Daniels said after the phone call. (1)
Chalk that one up for one of sports' good guys.
With Texas out of the way, it was clear the Philly was the only other option, because, lets face it, after the way Yankees fans treated Lee's wife during last year's ALCS, I don't think New York stood a chance. Fans spit, threw beer, and cursed at her while she sat with other family members of Rangers players.
"The fans did not do good things in my heart," Lee's wife, Kristin, told USA Today. "When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it's hard not to take it personal." (2)
I bet those fans are kicking themselves now, huh? If you Yankees fans are looking for somebody to blame over this, I'd say don't look to crucify Lee, look at whoever is sitting next to you the next time you visit Yankees Stadium.
The bottom line in the story is that Lee wanted to be in Philadelphia. You heard weeks of talks with the other two, and then after one day of speculation in Philly and he's signing a contract. That's not a coincidence, that's a man that knows what he wants. And that's exactly why Lee belongs in Philadelphia. He relates to the people, the die-hard fans of the team who probably would have given a year of their paychecks to have him come back to us. But Lee didn't want our money. He wanted our hearts. He wanted exactly what we gave him during that 2009 playoff run, where the entire city was behind him in a way that no other city has shown him since then. And Thanks to Ruben Amaro Jr. showing up fashionably late to the Lee sweepstakes, us fans can give him exactly that for the next 6 years of our lives.
So I say this to all of you true Phillies fans; Embrace it. By signing this contract, Lee is telling each and every one of you personally that there is nowhere else on the planet that he would rather be. He wants you to tailgate games that he's starting and wear Cliff Lee jerseys and shirts. He wants you to make signs that say "Cliff Banga!" and stand behind him for each pitch. He wants you to be loud, and wave rally towels, not gay pom-poms like San Francisco did in the NLCS and World Series. In other words, he wants you to be the way that Philadelphia fans have always been, because he's personally telling you that he feels you are the best at what you do.
I agree with him, and think there's not a chance in the world that we'll let him down.
Quotes were used in this blog from
(1) MLB.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101213&content_id=16311236&vkey=news_nyy&c_id=nyy&partnerId=rss_nyy
And
(2) ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5729471
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