"I don't like throwing things! Look at the sadness in my eyes!"Wow. Matt Karchner, eh?
Well, we've already done past WTHHT's with the Sox, Bulls, and Bears, so you've got to give the Cubbies their due.
Karchner is an interesting case -- he started his career with the White Sox as a relief pitcher that couldn't get angry or throw with intensity. I know it sounds weird, but look at this photo:
The poor guy looks like he's going to cry! He wasn't cut out to be a pitcher -- he always wanted to work as a masseuse. As he worked long nights of relief through endless sobbing, he eventually managed to compile one good season with the Sox in 1997. The Cubs, who needed major-league-ready relief pitching, made a move when Karchner was struggling in 1998, trading Jon Garland for Karchner (thanks, by the way).There's just one problem -- Karchner wasn't struggling: he was just bad. When I went to do my Google search for Karchner images, 90% of the images were of other batters and titled "...hit the game winning home run off of Cubs pitcher Matt Karchner." Yes, Karchner was the arsonist out of the bullpen when the Cubs needed him most, providing the complete opposite of the word "Clutch" at any given moment.
After the 1999 and 2000 seasons were limited by injuries (and helped by a particularly abysmal 2000 campaign), the Cubs sent Karchner to AAA Iowa in late July of 2000. He was never called up again.
What the hell happened to Matt Karchner?
Matt took his tissues to the Yankees' Spring Training camp in 2001, but failed to make the team after apologizing to Jorge Posada for throwing the ball so hard. He was out of baseball for the 2001 season, and spent the 2002 season reconditioning to try and make a comeback. After being inducted into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003, he ultimately decided that he just wanted to drink a warm glass of milk and call it a career, hanging up his spikes for good.
In late 2003, Karchner was hired by Susquehanna University for the position of interim baseball coach. For those of you that don't know, Susquehanna U is located in, um, well, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Not important. Karchner was hired to replace the old coach of the Susquehanna Crusaders, and it looked like a happy ending was in store for Love-A-Lot Bear.
Unfortunately, it would seem that Karchner didn't pan out, as Denny Bowers will be starting his third consecutive season as head coach of the Crusaders in 2008. Karchner "resigned" (was fired) as a result of introducing "cuddle time" with his star players, or it might have had something to do with his 16-52-1 record over two seasons as head coach (that's more games than he won with the Cubs).
Yet, in an unusual twist of fate, someone in WTHHT is actually relevant TODAY -- Karchner mentioned in the Mitchell Report that he had seen two Cubs players play "inject steroids in your ass" at his apartment.
"Karchner said that during spring training in 1999, he observed two of his Chicago Cubs teammates inject themselves with steroids in an apartment that Karchner was sharing with them...one of the players brought the steroids to the apartment but was afraid of needles and therefore asked the second player to administer the shot. The second player injected the first player with steroids in the buttocks and then injected himself. Later that season, Karchner was offered steroids by certain of his Cubs teammates."
Karchner refused to name names, but let's take the information one step further, shall we? In 1999, Karchner was rumored to be sharing a spring training apartment with Kyle Farnsworth and Rod Beck -- and I can already name one additional person who had a prolific homerun total in 1999.
Hmmm....I wonder if Sosa needed a translator to say, "Me Scared of Needles."
9 comments:
yes, who threw that pitch that broke sosa's helmet huh?
Matt Karchner may not be the best baseball player, but he was an awsome teacher. Baseball isn't everything anyway. So don't try and down his life with things you hear from other people. It is better to help others, Matt Karchner has helped me when I was at school. He helped influence every student to achieved their goals and to persevere.
Horrible baseball player, okay yes, but an inspiring person!
Matt Karchner is a great person. actually, he's my father. he's one of the funniest people you'll ever meet and is the best dad anyone could have. He taught me and my brother to pursue our dreams and reach for the stars.
you and your brother get spoiled rotten
And you both are big brats and get whatever you want
Karchner was a career 21-13 with a 4.21 ERA which is no where near considered horrible. Besides he played 5 years in the big leagues and not many people on the earth can say that.. Sports are like church many attend but very few truely understand..
He was nice enough to throw bp to me when I was a 16 year old visiting my sister in Virginia back in 01. They were neighbors and I will never forget it
Matt, I think was a real home town guy, like Mike Mussina. When my son wrote to him and told him about his Shelhamer family roots near Berwick he got a nice reply. Brad put together a nice collection of Matt's cards which he still has.
Dave Siloox
Shillington, Pa.
what was your Major League career like smartass?
Post a Comment