The Crafty Vet

Kole Calhoun, savior of the 2023 Guardians playoff run? Maybe. Kole Calhoun, a crafty veteran folk hero who's trying to prove he deserves a bit more time in the majors? After Wednesday, definitely.To crossover with basketball, the crafty vet is like the old guy in the gym who can't jump off the ground and is slower than molasses, but has enough post moves and bounce passes to get a YMCA double-double whenever he wants. Think of the last ten years of Andre Miller's NBA career, for example. Old and slow even when he was a young man with the Cavs, he set his career high in scoring at age 33 with 52 points for the Portland Trailblazers. The next highest-scoring game of his career was 37. That's the key with these crafty vets: They can pull out all the stops at any time, but it can't last forever. Father Time catches up, or the magic runs out, but it's fun while it lasts.The first baseball crafty veteran that comes to mind, for me, is Lee Stevens from the 2002 Indians. He wasn't the oldest on that team (They had a lot of players born in the 60s that year, led by rubber-armed Terry Mulholland at age 39) and he didn't start the season with the team (instead coming over with the future-star prospects in the Bartolo Colon deal), but he served a purpose as a veteran presence in a lineup that lost most of its star power from the 2001 division winner. He didn't hit well in Cleveland, but he showed leadership by accepting playing time in the outfield corners because the team still had a little guy named Jim Thome manning his native first base and Ellis Burks was limited to only DH. That would be Stevens' last showing in the majors, but it left an impression on a young fan from Youngstown about what being a veteran ballplayer really meant: doing whatever is best to help the team.That's where the big gun comes in: 2013 Jason Giambi. Coming in as an afterthought in the biggest free agent class Cleveland has had since 2001 featuring Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn It's probably fair to remember him that year for just this hit. However, the crafty veteran move I remember him most for was this play. Up 12, he's 42 years old, and Giambi hustles up the first base line to slide headfirst for an infield single. It's an even better play because it wasn't pretty. He was never fast and his helmet ended up at the tip of his nose, but Giambi showed his teammates with his effort that it was worth whatever it took from his body to get the job done. Rajai Davis's home run in the 2016 World Series is the extreme version of this trait: Having a key moment of success is essential to earn the title of Crafty Vet.Producing some kind of success outside of themselves is the last trait required of these vets to be truly crafty. It's the Bryan Shaw in 2022 passing down the splitter he learned from J.J. Putz to Trevor Stephan and that led to more strikeouts for him. It's Orlando Cabrera in 2011 telling Asdrubal Cabrera to swing away and harder when the time is right, leading to more power production from his bat. It's Mike Napoli in 2016 having his last good season, but also bringing leadership out of Jason Kipnis and being the inspiration for my favorite Cleveland sports t-shirt. And most importantly for the current team, Juan Uribe showed José Ramirez how to walk with a swagger that led to superstardom. You can't have a legacy as a veteran non-star without a proper protégé.How Kole Calhoun is remembered years from now is yet to be decided. If the Guardians squeak into the playoffs this year, Calhoun will most likely (and unexpectedly) be near the center of that achievement. He's already shown the young players how to come to the ballpark ready to play in his short time with Cleveland. Maybe someday we find out he gave a guy like Andres Gimenez or Steven Kwan the last piece of the puzzle to become a full-fledged star. If we want to dream even bigger, maybe Wednesday was just the start of more big moments to come from Kole this season. Somehow, he shows no signs of slowing down, to the point that some fans on social media are already talking about bringing him back for next year. At a low price, there are worse decisions to make. We've seen on social media that the team has adopted *him* as their #TeamFather.The Cleveland baseball organization, with its financial constraints, often dives into the pool of one-last-job vets hoping to find diamonds. Hanley Ramirez and Carlos Gonzalez attempted this in 2019, but it was too late for their careers and Cleveland asked too much of them. 2014 Giambi was not nearly the magic man he was in 2013. Same with 2018 Rajai. Trot Nixon didn't have enough left in the tank in 2007, and the return of Kenny Lofton was tarnished by a hold sign at 3rd that same year. Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe were both released before the end of August in 2012.  Marlon Byrd got busted for PEDs in 2016 then vanished. and Juan Gonzalez couldn't keep his hamstring together after one at-bat in 2005. The tricks don't work every time or for long with the crafty veteran, but when they do, they are the best magic in sports. Kole Calhoun has proved his worth, and now we watch how far it goes.