NBA Finals: The Cavs Will Win If…
June 2, 2015Know Your Foe: Harrison Barnes, Unanswered Prayer
June 2, 2015On Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies formally announced the release of outfielder Grady Sizemore, derailing the latest comeback attempt of the former Indians All-Star. Still just 32, Sizemore is barely two years older than LeBron James—his former professional next-door neighbor during some exciting years in downtown Cleveland. The two athletes made their pro debuts within months of each other and quickly became the faces of their respective franchises during the mid-aughts. But while the King now finds himself on the verge of carrying the Cavaliers to the promised land, Sizemore is without a team, facing an uncertain future and a past rife with “what ifs.” As it’s turned out, Sizemore’s closest parallel in local sports lore isn’t LBJ, but another popular Cavalier from two decades earlier.
The Center and the Center Fielder
A superstar. A golden boy. The heart and soul of the team. In Cleveland, even this normally shatterproof archetype has proven mighty fragile over the course of a 51-year championship drought. Sometimes, they leave and come back. But, more times than not, they’re left to a miserable fate somewhere between the extremes of burning out and fading away. The road from budding basketball superstardom to NASCAR commentator, for example, shouldn’t be this short. But, as some unsympathetic bastard one said, “dem’s da breaks.”
Grady Sizemore and Brad Daugherty both joined the pro ranks at the age of 21 and played their final games in Cleveland at age 28. That’s eight seasons a piece in a Cavaliers/Indians uniform, following remarkably similar career trajectories that carried the eventual fates of their franchises right along with them.
Of course, it wasn’t Father Time, or “diminishing skills,” or any easily identifiable on-field tragedy that pushed these popular stars out of the limelight. It was the slow, gradual betrayal of their own bodies—the same muscle and bone that they’d each spent their lives crafting into machines of their trade. Once the pictures of durability, Sizemore and Daugherty wound up as Cleveland’s unlikely poster children for how fleeting athletic success can be—and how damaging the loss of a central star can prove to be for a team.
The Bright Beginnings
For his part, Daugherty certainly came to town with the higher expectations of the two players. While Sizemore was a former third round pick and a toss-in of sorts in the unpopular 2002 trade of Bartolo Colon to Montreal, Daugherty garnered instant name recognition when he became not just the Cavs’ first pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, but the No. 1 selection overall. He was a legit, broad-shouldered 7-footer, and his feathery touch and wide array of post moves came with the UNC / Dean Smith stamp of approval. For a Cavs team that had gone just 29-53 a year earlier, Brad was now in-arguably The Man.
As it happens, that year was the same miraculous draft in which Cleveland also added future all-stars Ron Harper and Mark Price. Still, it was well understood that Daugherty would be the instant difference-maker and the focal point of any future playoff runs the team hoped to enjoy. And true to form, he didn’t disappoint. The Cavs improved to 31 wins in 1986-1987, then 42 wins in 1987-1988, with Daugherty averaging 16 and 19 points per game, respectively. By age 22, he was already an All-Star and widely regarded as one of the elite centers in the league.
At the exact same age, Grady Sizemore rapidly entered similar conversations about baseball’s finest young center fielders. After a cup of coffee with the Tribe in 2004, Sizemore took over center field for good in 2005, and, as no coincidence, the rebuilding Indians started turning the corner as well. Appearing in 158 games, Grady posted a 5.6 WAR (7th in the league) with a .289 average, 22 home runs, 81 RBIs, and 22 steals. The Indians won 93 games, narrowly missing the postseason.
If Daugherty had Price, Harper, and Hot Rod Williams to grow beside, Sizemore seemed to have some impressive young running mates of his own in Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia, and Travis Hafner. The sky was legitimately the limit.
Peak of Their Powers
The Cavaliers finally put it all together in the 1988-1989 season, winning a then franchise-record 57 games. Daugherty again was the model of consistency, appearing in at least 78 games for the third straight year, and averaging 19 points and nine rebounds. Unfortunately, Michael Jordan’s now eponymous “Shot” cut Cleveland’s postseason short. And a year later—at just 24—Daugherty found himself on the injured list for the first time. All told, the Cavs’ postman missed 41 games in the 1989-1990 season recovering from nagging back problems. To his credit, it seemed like nothing more than a brief setback.
Over the next three years, Brad played through the pain and actually took his game to another level, appearing in at least 70 games each season while averaging 21 points and 10 boards. The high point was 1992, when Daugherty—fresh off another all-star season—helped lead the Cavs all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Again, Brad’s former North Carolina teammate Michael Jordan was there to ruin the party, as he would a year later, as well. But at just 27, Daugherty still had plenty of reasons for optimism. Word was His Airness was leaving the Bulls to play baseball; opening the door for the Cavaliers to finally take their next step. Daugherty had his opportunity…and time on his side.
As for Sizemore, it’s easy to forget now, but from 2006 to 2008, he wasn’t just considered one of the top center fielders in the game. To many he ranked among a handful of the best players in the league at any position. Equally popular with Peter Gammons and your girlfriend, Sizemore didn’t miss a single game in 2006 or 2007 and only sat out five in 2008. He made the all-star team all three seasons, led all position players with a 6.6 WAR in 2006, and added a pair of Gold Gloves to his mantle for good measure. His unique combination of power and speed was also drawing him some scary historical comparisons.
Based on numbers put up through the age of 25, Sizemore’s closest statistical equivalents—according to baseball-reference.com—included Carlos Beltran, Jack Clark, Andre Dawson, Duke Snider, and a couple of fellas named Bobby and Barry Bonds. It was no exaggeration whatsoever to say that Grady Sizemore had Hall of Fame caliber talent.
By 2007, his ballclub had some pretty historically significant potential of their own. Carrying over the momentum from a 24 homer, 33 SB season, Sizemore hit .375 against the Yankees in the American League Division Series, leading the Indians into the ALCS. Things went agonizingly south against Boston in that series, of course, but as a rising star still in his mid-20s, Sizemore had to feel confident he’d have many more playoff at-bats ahead of him.
Shelf Life and Life On the Shelf
The word “injury” actually comes from the Latin “injuria,” which—along with meaning “hurt”—also means “wrong,” “unjust,” and “insult.” Probably safe to say that Sizemore and Daugherty wouldn’t argue with any of those readings. Before their numerous battle scars robbed them of their promise, each man was the centerpiece of two formidable clubs—the Cavs of the early 1990s and the Indians of the middle 2000s.
In their first three full seasons, neither Sizemore nor Daugherty spent any time on the disabled/injured list. By the age of 27, they were almost exclusively in street clothes.
On February 23, 1994, Brad Daugherty took a seat after scoring eight points in 11 minutes of action against the Washington Bullets. His ever fragile back was acting up again. At first, he was day-to-day. Then, he wound up sitting out the remainder of the 1993-1994 season.
Still just 28 years old, Daugherty did the only sensible thing—he rehabbed, thoroughly believing he could come back as he had several years earlier. As time passed, however, it seemed to Cavs fans that the updates on Daugherty’s condition came fewer and farther between. And as 1994 turned into 1995 and 1995 into 1996, it finally became clear that the long awaited return of No. 43 had become nothing but a pipe dream for the now rebuilding Cavaliers. After the 1995-1996 season, Daugherty officially announced his retirement. Even in a career half as long as it could have been, he walked away as the Cavs’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder (only James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas have passed him since).
Unfortunately, Grady Sizemore didn’t get the chance to puncture the much lengthier Cleveland Indians record book quite as we all imagined he would. Like Daugherty, it was eventually severe back problems that hobbled his rehab efforts. But long before that disastrous final season as an Indian (five million dollar contract for zero games played in 2012), Sizemore had already become a disturbingly injury prone animal. The former Tribe iron man played just 106 games in 2009 (groin injury, elbow surgery), then 33 in 2010 (left knee surgery), and 71 in 2011 (right knee and sports hernia surgery). In the latter campaign, he showed flashes of his old brilliance after coming off the disabled list in mid April. But an unlucky slide at second base put him right back on the DL, yet again.
On September 22, 2011, Sizemore—back after two months on the shelf with the aforementioned knee injury—went 1-for-4 in an 11-2 Indians win over the White Sox at Progressive Field. He wouldn’t appear in another Major League game for over two years.
To his credit, Sizemore accomplished more than many thought possible when he caught on with the Red Sox last season and the Phillies this spring. His ineffectiveness, however (a .654 OPS in 2014 and a .584 OPS in 39 games this season), reveals the lamentable truth. At his full power, Grady was a potentially once-in-a-generation kind of player–Mike Trout before Mike Trout. Today, his release by the Phillies was reserved for the back pages—a reminder of how even a sure thing isn’t guaranteed.
Aftershocks
In the same year of Sizemore’s first surgery, the disappointing Indians eventually held a fire-sale, closing the window on the title hopes of the Sabathia/V-Mart/Hafner era. It didn’t help that Travis Hafner’s own career followed a similarly injury ravaged course. But all things considered, no departed player—not even Sabathia, Martinez, or Cliff Lee— proved to be a more damaging loss for the Tribe than a man they still actually had on the payroll through 2012: Grady Sizemore.
As for the Cavaliers, it would take more than a decade for the franchise to finally recover from the premature demise of the Daugherty squad, as another No. 1 overall pick arrived on the scene in 2003. Today, it’s widely agreed that LeBron James, at the age of 30, is still in his prime. Had Brad Daugherty reached that age, during those crucial years when the Eastern Conference was wide open in Jordan’s absence, who’s to say if the Cavs might be playing for a second or third championship right now, rather than a first.
10 Comments
Fan Clubs: Edge to Sizemore. “Grady’s Ladies” totally crushed the not-so-fashionable “Brad’s Lads”
The Cavs weren’t 100% honest w/ Brad on his back situation; he pushed through some discomfort and made it much worse and it probably cost him a # of years on his career. To his credit he didn’t throw this around.
Daugherty is now one of, if not the, best NASCAR commentators (hate that word) in the business. I really hope Grady is able to find similar passion and success post-baseball.
Well, thanks for this depressing look back. And it’s raining out here in CT. Awesome.
Interesting side by side analysis I never would have contemplated. To me, they were such different players: Sizemore could take over a game, Daugherty had so many skills but never seemed to dominate so much as perfectly mesh with teammates in his unselfish and technically proficient way. I mean, try to remember once when you said “Daugherty won that game!” I would pay to see Grady. But there never were many Daugherty jerseys in the crowd. When Ron Harper was traded it was a fan tragedy. Brad’s slow-motion absence was much more “meh.” His good teammates were already faded or gone and no one expected a healthy Brad to keep it interesting so much as just keep it from being awful.
Brad probably won a lot of games in ways our ’90s eyes didn’t fully realize. He was very Tim Duncan-esque, in terms of his game, how he carried himself, and his tendency to fly under the radar. He definitely got hit with the “soft” tag a lot, which didn’t help his rep. Nance was the better rim protector. Price (and Harper briefly) were flashier. But Daugherty was the number one reason those early ’90s teams got as far as they did.
Only bad thing about his NASCAR work (besides the fact that i have never watched a nascar race) is that I really liked his NBA analysis. ESPN has roped him back into some playoffs segments on Sportscenter this year, so maybe he’ll be doing more double duty from here on out.
Let your first NASCAR race be one that you see in person. But whatever you do, go see a NASCAR race in person at some point in your life.
Daugherty was Tim Duncan before Tim Duncan was. So sad.
I don’t remember which year it was, but my Dad was once on a plane and on walked Daugherty. My dad made some comment along the lines of “rough way to end the season, but next year will be better”, to which Daugherty grunted unhappily. Apparently he’d just been told he’d either be out a year or needed to retire. Whoops.
My favorite Daugherty move was as a kid, against the Knicks in I think the playoffs, Ewing would constantly back him down as much as he could be putting all his body weight leaning backward against him. Daugherty simply stepped aside on one play, letting Ewing fall brilliantly, but somehow got called for a foul while the announcers praised the greatness of the move.
Duncan-esque: good description. Agree with all but the last sentence. Daugherty played passively or badly in a lot of big games. They suffered most when Nance would go down, but the number 1 reason for their success was Lenny. Those teams developed quickly and played so fundamentally sound because of how he taught the game to young players. I put him up there with Larry Brown as a teacher.