Do this, the baseball card photographer said one warm day in Florida during spring training. And so, sure enough, Troy Tulowitzki did it.
Kicked his left leg. Balanced on his right. Reared back, came forward and, arm extended and baseball in hand, struck a pitcher’s pose.
Clickclickclick!
Sigh.
Time was, Tulowitzki would not have been a victim of mistaken identity. He arguably was the best shortstop in the majors. His first five seasons, it looked as if the guy might be on a collision course with Cooperstown.
Then his pure awesomeness collided hard with a spectacular array of injuries. And Tulowitzki began spending more time wrapped in ice bags and Ace bandages than covered in nike nfl jerseys for cheap glory.
Now, all that’s left are the long-ago echoes of sold-out Denver crowds roaring “Tu-Lo! Tu-Lo!”…and veteran photographers who can’t recall who he once was.
“You see the work he puts in to try to get his body right,” said third baseman Nolan Arenado, Colorado’s second-round draft pick in 2009, the summer Tulowitzki played 151 games for the Rockies and slammed 32 homers. “… I talk to him a lot, and to see what is happening to him is pretty sad.”
What could have been has fractured into what is: nfl jerseys cheap nike Tulowitzki, 33, is back on Toronto’s 60-day disabled list, having had surgery April 2 to remove bone spurs in both heels. It is his 10th trip to the disabled list in the past 13 seasons. He was cleared to resume “light baseball activities” the last week of April, but his 2018 debut awaits. Still.
He played along with the baseball card photographer during spring training, following instructions to the letter even though through 1,286 career major league games over 13 seasons, covering 5,402 plate appearances and five All-Star Games, he had never pitched in a game. Not once.
Not even in college at Long Beach State.
“Not since high school. But in high school, I think everyone pitches,” Tulowitzki quipped.”I like the fact that people can say what they want to say. Does he still have anything left? Anything in the tank? That’s cool. Rightfully so. That’s their job. But I appreciate that because it nfl nike jerseys cheap gives me the feeling to keep on wanting to go.”
He didn’t play in a Grapefruit League game during spring training because of the bone spur in his right heel, which started giving him problems as he rehabbed this winter, trying to come back from surgery to repair ankle ligaments torn in a game in July. That injury occurred as he crossed first base while attempting to beat out a ground ball. On the play, he stepped on the foot of the Los Angeles Angels’ C.J. Cron.
It was the latest in a remarkable string of frequent and jaw-dropping injuries that started in 2008: Torn tendon in left quadriceps. Right hand laceration. Fractured left wrist. Strained left groin muscle. Fractured right rib cage. Left hip injury. Strained right quadriceps. Cracked left shoulder blade. Chip fracture in right thumb.nike nfl jersey cheap
Somewhere along the line, Tulowitzki became more like a med school lab project than a major league shortstop.
The people who know him best, those who have lockered next to him or played against him, simply shake their heads in disbelief.cheap nfl jerseys nike
“In the past couple of years, I just can’t believe it’s the same guy, really,” said Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon, who debuted with Colorado in 2011 as Tulowitzki was hitting .302 with 30 homers and 105 RBI. “After playing with him, he was the best player, like, ever. He was the best player on our team. He was so productive. An incredible talent.”
