Posted on 12/27/2011 3:23:29 PM PST by doug from upland
R.A. Dickey will go forward with his charitable plan to ascend Mount Kilimanjaro next week, despite the Mets' objections, multiple sources said Tuesday.
A person close to Dickey confirmed the Mets sent a "procedural" letter to agent Bo McKinniss "just to cover themselves legally" over the summer, when the knuckleballer first began publicly discussing the excursion.
Dickey is scheduled to earn $4.5 million in 2012 in the second year of a two-year $7.8 million deal. The letter stated the Mets reserve the right to void Dickey's contract if he is injured as a result of the climb.
A Mets PR person said that GM Sandy Alderson would not elaborate on the situation beyond what he was quoted as saying about it in a story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.
"If we thought it was a good idea, we wouldn't have sent the letter," Alderson told the Journal. "Beyond that, have we tried to dissuade him from going? It seems to me that the letter is enough of an effort to dissuade him, and he intends to go on nonetheless."
The 37-year-old Dickey is scheduled to leave Nashville for Tanzania on Jan.4, along with Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello and Rockies pitcher Kevin Slowey, a former teammate with the Twins.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain on earth, more than 19,000 feet above sea level. Dickey is hoping to raise awareness and money for the Bombay Teen Challenge, a charity that helps victims of sex trafficking.
On the other hand, Clinton took donations from trafficker of women
Slowey will probably whine the whole way and Rick Anderson will have to come talk him down off a ledge.
As a pitcher, he’ll probably have a sherpa finish the climb when he gets near the end.
Just like the Mets to take some potentially very positive PR and make a mess of it. The Wilpons are clueless.
the standard route on Kilimanjaro is just a hike to the top. There’s nothing inherently risky about it besides altitude, and that’s manageable by being in shape and taking it slow. I don’t know what the Mets would be objecting to.
Most athletes have a clause in their pro contracts that voids the remaining value if the athlete is injured in some sort of risky behavior, which mountain climbing probably qualifies since you could get frostbite and potentially lose limbs or digits.
The Mets are well within their rights to remind Dickey of this and Dickey is well within his rights to take the risk anyway as long as he knows he is potentially jeopardizing his career.
Good luck to him.
If I remember correctly, RA Dickey is the guy who was supposed to go high in the baseball draft sometime in the 90’s (96 or 97...not sure) when teams scrutinized a picture of several high profile pitchers that were featured on the front on Baseball America. They noticed that his arm didn’t hang right or something and after it was looked into, they found out he didn’t have a ligament....I think. He didn’t go high in the draft BUT he’s still pitching when he wasn’t supposed to be able to pitch this long! So happy for RA Dickey! Enjoy your trip! I remember this because my son was also a college pitcher at the time. But then again...I could be thinking of someone else!! LOL
He could throw the world’s longest knuckleball from up there; might not dance too much due to the thin air, but it would have a helluva lotta drop.
Freegards, good luck RA!
Apparently the employer of this “reporter” doesn’t require his workers to do research. ....Mt. Everest and several other mountains in Nepal and just North are in the mid-20s in thousands of feet ASL.
Orange... I don’t think they have Sherpas in Southeast Africa, although I agree with your thoughts of the possibility of the climbers needing help.
The article reminded me of a movie I saw, probably in the 1950s that starred Jeff Chandler (I think)... “The Snows of Kilamanjaro”.
You didn’t get my joke that starting pitchers in baseball rarely pitch complete games anymore (although Dickey is one of the better ones) and are usually taken out for a “closer” who finishes the game for him. Therefore, if a baseball pitcher were mountain climbing, he’d probably stop 70% up the mountain and have somebody else finish it for him.
lol...
I’m sorry you had to explain the joke to me. I had been awake too many hours and I missed the joke.
The Mets are well within their rights to remind Dickey of this and Dickey is well within his rights to take the risk anyway as long as he knows he is potentially jeopardizing his career.
Good luck to him.
The contract clause started back in the late 60s because of an off season skiing accident involving Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg. In 1967, Lonborg had the best season of his career, winning 22 games and was instrumental in the Red Sox reaching the World Series that year. In December of 67, he went skiing, and tore up the ligaments in his knee, For a while, it was not known if he would be able to pitch again. As it turns out, he did pitch for several more years, but never achieved the same level of success that he had previously enjoyed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.