royalsandcelebs

Now batting sixth for your Kansas City Royals of the Damned, the designated hitter… Ozzie Canseco, er, I mean, Jeremy Giambi.

Ah, Jeremy Giambi.  The other Giambi.  Just to clear things up for those of you at home who might be mixed up.  I know we’ve traded a lot of talented players to the Oakland A’s over the years, so you might not be sure which Giambi we had.  You see, there’s Jason Giambi and there’s Jeremy Giambi.  Jason Giambi has over 1200 career RBIs and plays first base for the New York Yankees; Jeremy Giambi had over 200 career RBIs and plays cashier for the Hy-Vee on the bad side of Des Moines, Iowa (it’s technically called “Drug Town”).  We had the latter.

Jeremy was yet another of our highly touted prospects who just never really lived up to his potential in the big leagues.  He hit for a high average in the minors with good power, but was really only there for a couple of seasons.  The organization spoke very highly with him, and was thrilled to hear he was coming up.  I was a teenager at the time, and I use that as an excuse for my enthusiasm.  I thought “Hey, his last name is Giambi.  He must be pretty good, right?”  I was incorrect.  A familiar last name doesn’t guarantee quality.  For proof of that, you can ask Billy Ripkin, Ozzie Canseco, Craig Griffey, or anyone who shopped at that store owned by Sam Walton’s brother.  I think it was called “Bud’s” (it had a triumphant one-year run in Blue Springs).

The organization did a pretty good job talking about the kid, and he eventually came up to do absolutely average for this team.  His most extensive time was in 1999 when he had about 288 at-bats for the team, hitting .285 with 3 home runs and 34 RBIs.  After than season, we traded him to Oakland, and he was reunited with his brother Jason.

After leaving the Royals, Giambi achieved a little more success and playing time, but became notorious for two reasons.  First, he helped get his Oakland A’s eliminated from the playoffs.  In case you don’t remember, he was the guy running home when Derek Jeter made that brilliant, millisecond quick barehanded throw to Posada in Game 5 of the Division Series in 2000.  That play is remembered as one of the most incredible defensive decisions of all time.  The reason that it happened?  Jeremy Giambi failed to slide.  He ran STANDING UP into home, despite the fact that the ball was only going to be a couple of feet off.  Horrible instincts, especially in comparison to Jeter’s ridiculously heads-up play.  His yin melded perfectly with Jeter’s yang to create a perfect balance (I’m not sure on my yins and yangs.  Giambi had whichever one was the bad one).

Giambi is also very well-known for telling a BALCO grand jury he did human growth hormones, but only because his brother Jason took them.  The leaked transcript of that day in court is telling, and shows more about the younger Giambi than he probably cared to share.  The impression I gathered was that, throughout his whole life, Jeremy Giambi was just trying to be his older brother, and couldn’t quite keep up.  Jason Giambi was a stud in Oakland; Jeremy was a dud in Kansas City.  Jason was the superstar on his team; Jeremy was the 25th man on his big bro’s club.  As soon as Jason left, Jeremy did, too, only not to sign a huge payday with the Yankees, but, instead, to bat lead-off for the Philadelphia Phillies (and could have been, quite possibly, the roundest 200 pound lead-off hitter in Major League history).  Jeremy couldn’t even get attention when it came to admitted to using performance enhancing drugs–Jason was the first to “admit” (”I’m sorry for something I may or may not have done, that you all know about, but that I can’t say, and I’ll never do what I might not have done, because, if I did, though I’m not saying I did, that was extremely wrong, but, no, I’m not saying I did anything”).  All Jeremy could get was a Sunday feature in The Kansas City Star that eventually was reduced to supporting evidence for The Mitchell Report (And, for those of you keeping track, that’s 3 out of our 6 All-Time Sucky Royals who have shown up on The Mitchell Report, with more on the way…).  That interview did provide Jeremy one thing that has always eluded the older Giambi–a direct admittance of guilt.

That said, Jeremy Giambi was astronomically bad.  He’s not on here because his numbers were dismal, because, hey, they weren’t.  It’s because the Royals rushed a guy through the farm system due entirely to his last name, at least I believe.  He could have waited a year.  He might have been better off.  It’s like passing off the robot from “Small Wonder” as “Punky Brewster.”  Jeremy Giambi spent his whole career trying to be Jason Giambi, and the Royals failed to see who he truly was until it was too late.  If they’d have kept him in the minors maybe one more year, he might have known to slide at home when there’s a play at the plate.

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