The Red Sox signed Mark Kotsay today as insurance if J.D. Drew’s back continues to act up. A Kotsay moment:
My family went to a Red Sox, A’s game in 2006 at Fenway. It was unbelievably hot and the ushers were passing out free sunscreen. We were sitting in the center field bleachers. There was no escape from the sun except for brief moments we’d duck into the concession area.
Kyle Snyder started the game for the Red Sox, and being Kyle Snyder, we would go on to lose. Kotsay was playing center field for the A’s and, this being Fenway, we were close enough to hear him sneeze.
Right before the start of the game a very tan, very skinny 20 something guy and a chubbier friend sat in the front row. The skinny guy took off his shirt and immediately started yelling at Kotsay (the chubby friend rarely spoke). Every few minutes:
Kotsay, you suck!
Every inning:
Kotsay, you suck!
It never stopped. It never changed. He never got dirtier, he never sounded particularly angry. He simply hated Kotsay and wanted him to know how much he sucked. Only one time did he yell anything different at Kotsay.
Kotsay, how was the all-star game?
*5 seconds of silence*
Yeah, that’s what I thought!
With the heat zapping the energy of the fans and the game not going Boston’s way there’s no doubt Kotsay heard that he “sucked” the entire game. For most of the game, that’s all anyone could hear. He never acknowledged the taunts, however, except once. Sometime late in the game, perhaps the 8th inning, he slowly turned around to face us and gave us a slow, deliberate, thumbs up sign.
No bird, thumbs up.
I became a Kotsay fan at that moment. It’s not that I’ve followed his career, but his name brings a smile to my face. Two years later and if I tell my mother that Kotsay hit a home run to win a game she’ll say:
Kotsay, you suck!
After the game the skinny guy put his shirt back on and quietly left; mission accomplished.
FYI, Kotsay apparently has a very attactive wife. She even has her own page on the Sons of Sam Horn wiki.