MLB | Chooch, you were the best ... not really, but thanks for memories

The Phillies traded catcher Carlos Ruiz to the LA Dodgers on Thursday. A fan favorite, "Chooch" was part of a World Series championship team, a National League title squad and five playoff clubs all told in Philly.

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

He was the cute and cuddly character.

Though lacking the leading-man qualities to headline the show, he was so lovable, and dependable, that, for many, he became their most favorite of all, stealing their hearts … and, apparently, their minds as well.

Carlos Ruiz, do they really know ye?

Not for nothing, Phillies fans, but can you dial it back a notch or 20 on the “Chooch, you were the best” blubbery as the team’s glory-days catcher heads to the West Coast to finish out his days as a major-leaguer?

Sheesh …

Hey, the guy was a nice player. A solid performer whose value couldn’t just be measured strictly by statistics. A steadying, calming presence in a clubhouse filled with MVP-caliber talent and ego to match.

He fit … perfectly.

But the best?

The best what …?

Philly athlete for taking a post-game pie in the face and never breaking an ear-to-ear smile?

Misshapen-looking figure to handle the tools of ignorance behind the plate with shocking aplomb?

Misshapen-looking figure to bat .325 and earn an all-star nomination, his one and only, in 2012?

No argument with those. But to suggest he was the key cog at any juncture of arguably the organization’s most successful stretch in history is beyond ludicrous.

Yo, he cracks the top 10 on importance because Brad Lidge and Jonathan Papelbon were relief pitchers, Hunter Pence blew through town on an abbreviated 155-game stint and the team didn’t have a standout third baseman.

Otherwise, you got no shot claiming him to be better, or more impactful, than Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino or even Pat Burrell and expect to see a straight face staring back at you from anyone thinking straight.

Yep, Ruiz was there for the whole run. He was involved in all the big games, regular season, playoffs, World Series, in every picture captured from those big game. Got it. Awesome.

That says the guy had impeccable timing and good fortune. It does not place him on a pedestal above, or even on a par, with those other nine – and, please, just stop trying to push him as being the Phillies’ best catcher of all time. That’s an insult to Mike Lieberthal, a two-time all-star and Gold Glove winner, and Darren Daulton, a three-time all-star and Silver Slugger winner, far superior players who didn’t need “intangibles” to curry them favor in any voting.

Bob Boone? Debatable. Repping the other World Series champ for Red Pinstripe Nation, he was a four-time all-star and seven-time Gold Glove winner, but, frankly speaking, he was pretty lame at the plate.

Chooch’s averages (.266, 10 homers, 61 RBIs, 59 runs scored) per 162 games blow away Boone’s (.254, 8, 59, 48), but not nearly as much as Lieberthal’s (.274, 20, 82, 71) and Daulton’s (.245, 19, 82, 71) do his.

Seems perspective out there gets wildly skewed due to personality and emotion and the passage of time. With Ruiz being so likable and the fan base so attached to the 2008 championship team and the 2011 squad that won a Phillies-record 102 games, and, obviously, Ruiz being part of both, he is seen as a far better player than he actually was.

People tend to forget that Burrell hit 33 of his not-too-shabby 292 lifetime homers in 2008, that Werth still managed to register 27 bombs, 85 RBIs and 106 runs scored in his “disappointing” 2010 campaign, that Victorino was a three-time Gold Glove winner in center field with the Phillies, and all were much better run-producers year in and year out than Chooch, and that Lee was a better-than-Halladay, better-than-Hamels ERA dynamo during his five-year stint in Philly, not to mention the author of the most dominating, single-game World Series pitching effort in team history.

The others? Not even worth stating their cases. Strong enough with no words needed for support.

Hey, wish Chooch well in LA, alongside Utley, and will remember the good times he was a part of here.

But, gotta keep it real. No matter how cute and cuddly the guy was.

To suggest he was the key cog at any juncture of arguably the organization’s most successful stretch in history is beyond ludicrous. Yo, he cracks the top 10 on importance because Brad Lidge and Jonathan Papelbon were relief pitchers, Hunter Pence blew through town on an abbreviated 155-game stint and the team didn’t have a standout third baseman. Otherwise, you got no shot claiming him to be better, or more impactful, than Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino or even Pat Burrell and expect to see a straight face staring back at you from anyone thinking straight.