Patron Saint Doug Glanville Gets Praise

As you all know, this site is named after the one and only Doug Glanville. The reasons are personal, but not too personal to share.



While it's true that Glanville had a pop-gun arm, loved to pop up and lacked any sort of power, he was a great guy, very good at tracking down balls in centerfield and had his bright spots. In 1999, Dougy Fresh had a career year with the Phils, batting .325 with 204 hits, 38 doubles, 73 RBIs, 34 steals and .457 slugging percentage, all career highs. He also scored 101 runs, the second most of his career (106 in '98) and had 11 home runs, also good for his second best total (14 in 2001).

Even though the Phils traded fan favorite Mickey Morandini for Glanville, he became a well-liked guy. And when the Phillies announced they were building a new stadium, naturally I dubbed it as The House that Glanville Built as a running jokes with my friends. After all, Glanville was the anti-Ruth when it came to baseball. The Babe was big, fat, powerful and a awe-droppingly talented. He was bigger than baseball and larger than life. Glanville was small in stature, skinny, fast and a guy who could go unnoticed just about anywhere.

So when I decided to start this site, the name was a perfect fit. And now, Glanville's name has emerged yet again, thanks to Rob Neyer of ESPN, via Deadspin:

Unless Jones remains in baseball somehow, I'm not sure how interesting his column will be. Jones always has written from the perspective of the white, American-born, veteran player, and I've always gotten the impression that he's sort of the archetype: spends his offseasons hunting and fishing, loves the American flag, doesn't really want to know whether he has any gay teammates. Probably a good guy to have a beer with. I know guys like that, and I like them.

That doesn't make Todd Jones a great writer, though. Frankly, I learn more from one Doug Glanville column than from all the Todd Jones columns I've read.

And you know what? Neyer is right. Glanville, a graduate of Philadelphia's own prestigious University of Pennsylvania, has written very insightful things (here, here and a bunch here). Doug is clearly an intelligent guy, and it's good to see fellow writers give him props for his chosen profession in life after baseball. Keep on keepin on Mr. Glanville.