LoHud’s excellent Yankees blog has this great little vignette about Jason Giambi. He’s a mixed bag, but stories like this make you love him.
Yankee rookies were forced to dress as the Village People as part of an annual hazing ritual.
LoHud picks it up from there:
Heard a great story today. After the rookies dressed up in their Village People outfits on Saturday and went back to the hotel, Jason Giambi invited them all to the hotel bar. After a few drinks, he paid for a bus to take all the rookies, a few other players, some staff members, assorted friends and a security guard to the Capital Grille for dinner. The Big G hosted a dinner for about 25 people, including the bus driver who he insisted join the group. He paid for the whole thing and dropped a huge tip on the wait staff.
On the way back to the hotel, Jason told the kids that he wished them a long and happy career and to always watch out for the rookies on their team.
Giambi told the other players he didn’t want any publicity for what he did. Tough break, Jason. People should know you’re a good dude.
Adios, Giambi. It’s been fun.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
From what I’ve read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Shadows), Giambi has A LOT more bad karma to make up for in his life than just picking up the check for a night on the town….
October 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am
To be fair though, Giambi was the first player to come out and try to apologize to the fans for what he did. He showed true remorse and came as close as he could to admitting it without indicting himself and getting himself into possible legal trouble. I like the man.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
He might be a good guy at heart, but I don’t buy his apology. He’s got it both ways. If one’s REALLY gonna apologize, do it FOR REAL, IN FULL, and take whatever heat comes down on you. Not “i’m gonna apologize for what I did, but not tell you what that was.” BULLSHIT. “True remorse” is actually admitting WHAT YOU’VE DONE. He didn’t do that. He’s better than most (Shef, Bonds, LoDuca, Clemens), but not good enough for me. He’s a cheater, and admitted it too vaguely to be punished. That’s crap. His AL MVP in 2000 and his all-star appearances in ‘01 and ‘02 are tainted and should be revoked, ala Pete Rose. You can come back after you’ve served your time - paid your due - whatever that may be. Admit it all, Jason - Barry - Gary - Paul - Roger, and let the healing of baseball begin….