The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote an interesting column for the paper today; he took on the role of the Orioles front office as they “came clean” about the calamity that has been the last decade-plus in franchise history. In all honesty, it’s a nice but harmless piece – the kind I have come to expect from The Sun. It takes few jabs at the O’s and their management, but largely avoids criticism with any backbone. You can read the piece here.
But it was one, short, half-attack that really caught my eye. Again, these are the words of Van Valkenburg, as if Andy MacPhail or Peter Angelos were saying them… “Despite what we said publicly, it’s clear we took you for granted. Did we ever officially apologize for Albert Belle? If not, we should have.”
There’s a lot of things to say about Albert Belle. Now 10 years after his retirement, he is still a man that everyone in Baltimore has an opinion about. When his name comes up, eyebrows raise across the town. I get it, he was certainly a character.
But what I have never fully understood is why people here despise Belle so much, as if he destroyed this team and its legacy.
I come, time and time again, to this question: Why would the Orioles ever apologize for Albert Belle?
Read more: http://extremeravens.com/orioles/2010/04/05/a-few-words-on-albert-belle
Original Story:
http://extremeravens.com/orioles/2010...
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