Bartolo Colón

(work in progress, tying in to the Baseball entry)

Overview

Bartolo Colón (born May 24, 1973) is a Dominican-American professional baseball pitcher currently playing for the New York Mets. He has recently become popular among baseball fans and internet fans for his age (42, much older than most other players in the game), his large and un-athletic body, and his awkward batting methods.

Background

Colón made his Major League debut in 1997 with the Cleveland Indians, and throughout his career has played for 8 different teams. He spent most of his career in the American League, where he was an All-Star 3 separate times and won the 2005 Cy Young Award for being the AL’s best pitcher that season.^[1]

After 17 years in the AL, Colón agreed to a contract with the New York Mets in the National League prior to the 2014 season. Due to the Designated Hitter rule in the AL where pitchers do not have to bat for themselves, Colón very rarely had to come up to the plate in the AL. But now with the Mets in the NL he has to bat for himself… and the results have been spectacular.

Colón’s awkward batting stance and wild swing (which often knocks off his helmet or spins him around) has led to many media outlets such as Deadspin^[2] posting photos and writing articles about Colón, some to laugh at him for his ineptitude and entertainment at the plate, and some to praise him for the times he gets a hit or does something else good. Despite Colón’s unorthodox batting, he has 6 hits (as of this entry’s creation) in the 2015 season so far.^[1]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References