So Long, Sal

Today, Tribe fans must bid adieu to one of baseball’s more popular characters.  I say “character” thanks to the fact that Sal Fasano seems to be embody the more popular role for his facial hair than the bat he swings.  After all, the fact that the career reserve catcher has played for 13 organizations in 15 years gives him a bit of a Damon Jones flavor.  Regardless of why Fasano continues to be a legend in the eyes of you or I, those that have become attached to the catcher will have to follow his career as the trail leads elsewhere.

Donning the ever-popular Fu Manchu, Sal was with the Indians from June until season’s end.  But while Fasano was more than serviceable after Victor Martinez suffered a myriad of early-season injuries, the fact that VMart and Kelly Shoppach are ahead of him on the roster leaves little reason for the Tribe to re-sign the veteran.  A career .221 hitter, Fasano was in good spirits after filing for free agency.

“If it was up to me, I would have only played on one team, not 13,” he said with a laugh at the end of the season. “I should be getting at least 10 percent [pension] from every organization I’ve been with. Then I could retire.”

Sal Fasano is a man that Jeff Pearlman called a first-ballot Hall of Famer – if the only criteria would be “class and decency.”  Spence Kyte hit it square on the head with this blurb in his Iron Ref bout on Hugging Harold Reynolds.

All-Stars are not fan favourites, despite what the fan voting may lead you to believe. The true Fan Favourite is that special someone who reminds you of you and helps to convince yourself that if you had just been two inches taller, hadn’t quit Little League or could throw a spiral to save your life that maybe you too could have earned a living as a professional athlete.

They’re the guys who could just as easily be your auto mechanic as a backup catcher, fourth line grinder or last man off the bench who dances like my Uncle Walt and that is why they’re our favourites.

And believe it or not, there was a point in the season where Fasano was one of our team leaders in batting average and OPS.  Obviously, this is a baseball move that will ultimately find Fasano catching for another team, however he is one of those guys that I wish we could have had around a lot longer.  Something tells me that he would have fit in really well with the team in the late 90s that had guys like Alvaro Espinoza and Omar Vizquel sticking bubble gum to other teammate’s helmets.  

A long post for a guy that had only a handful of at-bats with the Indians?  Sure.  But also one about a player that fans of baseball will be glad to root for, wherever he may end up.