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One and only Belle will remembered for temper as much as homers
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Albert Belle generated feelings of awe, fear, anger, contempt and begrudging respect. Now that he has been forced out of baseball by a degenerative right hip, the brooding slugger has stirred another emotion: pity. He played the game on his own terms, but left through no choice of his own. "It's sad, because he's got a lot of baseball left in him. He's a competitor," said Frank Thomas, who played with Belle for two seasons in Chicago. Belle drove in 1,099 runs during the 1990s, more than any player in the game. Yet on any given night, he was just as likely to let loose with a profane tirade or an obscene gesture as hit a home run. There will be no more home-run trots for Belle, who is now incapable of running 90 feet or sliding into second base because of his arthritic hip. After a futile struggle to stave off the inevitable, Belle literally limped into retirement at age 34. "You never want to see a guy still in his prime have his career cut short by an injury," Orioles catcher Brook Fordyce said. "I feel for him because you know how bad he wants to be out there. He has Hall of Fame numbers." Maybe he does. Belle and Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx are the only players ever to record eight straight seasons with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. And in the strike-shortened 1995 season, Belle became the first player to record 50 homers and 50 doubles in the same season. He hit 381 career homers and drove in 1,239 runs in 12 seasons and was picked to play in the All-Star game five times. But there was more to Belle than just statistics. There were the scowls, the cursing and the anger. Belle was fined in 1994 for using a corked bat and suspended after instigating a brawl by elbowing Milwaukee second baseman Fernando Vina in the face. In 1991, he threw a baseball into the chest of a fan taunting him. Years later, he tossed a ball at a photographer. His antics extended beyond the playing field -- Belle once drove his SUV after some Halloween pranksters outside his house and knocked one of them down. He rarely spoke to the media, and when he did it was often in harsh, threatening tones. In 1995, a profane dugout tirade directed at NBC's Hannah Storm before a World Series game earned Belle a $50,000 fine and mandatory anger-management counseling sessions. A year later, he angrily confronted a television reporter in Chicago. His relationship with the fans was no different. In 1997, Belle was fined $5,000 for making an obscene gesture to fans in Cleveland. In 1999, his first season in Baltimore, he made an obscene gesture to a fan at Camden Yards and received a stern lecture from Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Albert Belle: Bad boy or prolific slugger? In a word, both. "Despite what people think of him, I had a tremendous relationship with Albert," said White Sox manager Jerry Manuel, who relied heavily on Belle in 1997 and '98 and insists that personality -- or lack of it -- should be a factor in Hall of Fame voting. "All I know is he played hard for me and played every day. If his numbers justify that, I don't see why not," Manuel said. "Everybody in the Hall of Fame is not a saint, anyway." Belle will receive $39 million for the remaining three years on the $65 million, five-year deal he signed with Baltimore in 1999. He probably would have preferred to earn the money on the field, but that's not going to happen. Chris Richard, who will take over right field for the Orioles, would have liked to get the job under different circumstances. "Albert loves this game. He's been playing his whole life," Richard said. "You want to go out on your own terms, and when you don't, it's real heartbreaking. Your heart goes out to him." Many fans and sports writers have a different view, but those who played the game knows how difficult it is to be forced out by injury. "You think of Kirby Puckett and some of the others who still had a lot to give, and for whatever reason, a body part lets you down," said former Oriole Mike Flanagan, now an unofficial coach with the team. "It's sad, because Albert compiled some pretty impressive numbers." Puckett, who was forced from the game because of glaucoma, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He had less homers and RBIs than Belle, but the Minnesota Twins outfielder was a fan favorite and collected two World Series rings. Belle hit .222 in his only World Series appearance, a losing effort in 1995 with Cleveland. Sandy Alomar Jr., who played on that team, knows Belle wouldn't walk away from the game unless he simply couldn't run on the field anymore. "I've seen him get hit with pitches on his hands and elbows and go out there and play," Alomar said. "Even when probably another player wouldn't be able to play, he just goes out there and plays." Not anymore.
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