Some milestones deserve a ring; batting for the cycle is not one of them. Yet, that is what White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf did for Jose Abreu on Thursday – there was also a pregame ceremony and video tribute to amplify his achievement.
Earlier today, Jerry Reinsdorf presented José Abreu with a ring to commemorate his cycle. Congrats, José! pic.twitter.com/SX8FYPkRXV
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 28, 2017
I’m not saying that Abreu doesn’t deserve a gesture of some sort. He has etched himself among legends with his first four seasons of 25+ home runs and 100+ runs batted in while posting the first cycle by a Cuban-born player, but a ring is an out-of-bounds gesture.
There have been 300 cycles in Major League Baseball since 1880 and seven this season alone. As Blake Shuster of Yahoo! Sports points out, it’s not like he pitched a perfect game, of which only 21 have been hurled in the modern era.
“It was a very special accomplishment in my career for three reasons,” Abreu wrote for MLB.com. “First, the difficulty of hitting for the cycle. Second, being able to do it despite all the adversity my family was facing. And third, I could do it with this great organization that gave me the opportunity to fulfill my dream of playing in the Major Leagues and having success. This organization has always supported me.”
That Abreu legged out a cycle while his family faced death under hurricane Irma’s wrath is nothing short of remarkable. His humility, gratitude and loyalty to the White Sox franchise are noble and admirable qualities.
Does this feat deserve recognition? Of course. Does it deserve a ring? Not in my opinion. Does it deserve jewelry? Perhaps a watch would be much less conspicuous and dubiously cumbersome. Imagine what will happen once Cubs fans catch wind of this silly trophy and the deluge of diatribes they will sling about the South Siders trying to reclaim a ring after their World Series victory.
Another alternative could have been mounting all four bases from that game in a frame of some sort for Abreu to take with him. And if Reinsdorf wanted to really kick it up a notch he could have bought Pito a car and joked about how he could have used it while stumbling around second on his way to third.
Either way, a ring overshoots the target by miles.
