Ubaldo Jimenez keeps getting bigger, but somehow his ego gets smaller.
I’m not the kid’s dad, uncle, agent or P.R. man, but duty requires that I tell you how special No. 38 is. Not as a pitcher. Anybody can see where he’s gone on the mound.
I’m talking as a man.
Every day, Jimenez does something to amaze me. He’s making $2.8 million this season. That’s a ton of money to us 9-to-5ers, but it’s tip money in the big leagues. Yet Jimenez has never complained and never will.
He signs more autographs than anyone else in a Rockies uniform, and he works tirelessly to try to help the team’s young Hispanic players. Then came today’s latest Ubaldo story.
I picked up a copy of Baseball America in the clubhouse and there he was, on the inside cover, in an ad for New Balance spikes.
The first thing he said?
“It’s nice.”
The second thing?
“They spelled juego wrong.”
OK, so the ad reads “Cambia el jeugo,” as in change the game. The amazing part came when I asked Jimenez how many dozen of pairs of spikes and running shoes he gets from New Balance.
Trust me, I’ve been around enough athletes to know they have a blank check when it comes to freebies from their shoe companies. And how many pairs of shoes does Jimenez get?
“Just a few,” he said. “I only ask for what I need.”
Part of me says enough already with the Ubaldo stories. But then the funniest thing happens. The sun comes up and the kid amazes me again.
Until tomorrow then