Youk No More

Photo from USAToday.com

We all knew it was coming. We knew it was coming soon too. But the shock that Kevin Youkilis is no longer a member of the Red Sox still hasn’t worn off. Kevin Youkilis is now a member of the Chicago White Sox.

Ever since Kevin Youkilis went on the disabled list earlier this season and Will Middlebrooks took 3rd base by storm, I think most fans could agree it may have been time for Youkilis to go. Everyone knew there were problems between Youkilis and Valentine, and Youkilis had been oft-injured the past few seasons (he’d missed 132 of the past 396 games, exactly a 1/3). Youkilis is only 33 though, which shouldn’t be considered “old.”

Kevin Youkilis was nicknamed “The Greek God of Walks” (long before “Moneyball” came out too). He was a “dirt dog,” always playing with grit, scrappiness, and a dirty uniform. He was one of two remaining members of the 2004 World Series team (David Ortiz being the other). On September 7, 2007, he played in his 179th consecutive game at first base without committing an error, breaking the record previously held by Mike Hegan (Youkilis’s record of 190 games was eventually broken by Casey Kotchman, however). In 2008, he game in third in AL MVP voting (behind Dustin Pedroia and
Justin Morneau).

Some of my favorite Youkilis moments and accomplishments:

On August 8, 2005, Youkilis, Adam Stern, and Gabe Kapler set an American League “record” for the most Jewish players to take the field for the same team during the same game. He was also one of three, Jewish players in the 2008 All-Star game (Ryan Braun and Ian Kinsler were the other two); and in 2009, he was one of three players to play on the USA WBC team (Ryan Braun and John Grabow beingt he other two).

On being called “The Greek God of Walks,” Terry Francona has this to say: I've seen Youkilis in the shower, and I wouldn't call him the Greek god of anything.

In June of 2008, Manny Ramirez apparently took a swing at Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, and the two had to be separated. When asked about the scuffle, Youkilis’ reply was: We have two different approaches to the game. Winning and losing isn’t life and death to Manny. The next month, Ramirez was traded.

And probably my favorite Youkilis moment was from last year was during the 13-inning, rain delayed game in 2011 against the Angels when we got the great moment of a bunch of Red Sox fans, who we can assume were drunk, at 2:30AM, serenading Youkilis with Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” Unfortunately, MLB has taken down the video on youtube. But, you can click on this link to watch a fabulous commercial featuring Youkilis and the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq7O_C8edy8

Yesterday, I went to Scheel’s with some members of my family. On the way home, my brother told me that he wanted to take all the Youkilis shirts to the front of the store and tell the manager they might want to sell them at a discount. Less than an hour later, Youkilis was officially a member of the Chicago White Sox. (For the record, my brother owns a Youkilis shirt, though he had given it to his girlfriend).

I didn’t get to watch the game yesterday (though GameDay and WEEI’s radio broadcast were pretty much on during the whole drive/shopping experience yesterday), but I did find Youkilis-last-game highlights on youtube, courtesy of NESN. Please click on this link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWP4smEFt1k

The Red Sox needed to get younger, which was evident from the beginning of the season. Will Middlebrooks is clearly the better choice for this Red Sox team at 3rd base, but it’s still a shame a major player of the Red Sox for the past 8 years had to be moved to accomplish this. On Friday’s Twitter-Mania post, I’ll have tweets regarding Youkilis’s departure from the Red Sox.

Even though the Chicago White Sox are my least favorite team (yes, even below the Evil Empire), I might just have to suffer through some of Hawk Harrelson’s commentating to watch Youkilis play one of these days. And for the record, the White Sox go to Fenway in three weeks for a four-game series. I’m guessing Youkilis gets a standing ovation in his first at-bat.