Rod Beck August 3, 1968 – June 23, 2007Not all great men show their greatness with their profession. Rod Beck showed his greatness on his face. I know “Shooter” wasn’t the best relief pitcher later in career, he always had a few extra pounds, his mullet scared children, and he sure didn’t get the job done for the Sox in his 1999-2001 stint in Boston…
But look at the man. That was one amazing mustache. Sal Fasano wishes he could carry that a stache like that. He can’t. Beck was one of a kind.
Beck, who died Saturday at his home in Phoenix, was a Red Sox “character” and not just a baseball player. There aren’t enough real “characters” left in baseball and the passing of Beck really makes me furious at guys like Johnny Damon who squandered their gifts.
Besides hall-of-fame facial hair, Beck was an all around good guy, too. I am just trying to imagine the chemistry of that pitching staff in 1999. Beck, Sabes, Wake, Wasdin, D-Lowe, El Guapo, Pedro and his brother Ramon? Can you see the unlimited possibility for hilarity and hijacks?
Remember when Pedro, Beck and El Guapo got Pat Rapp drunk, shaved off all his body hair and shipped him to Cancun in a box labeled “Giant Hairless Chihuahua” while D-Lowe robbed his locker and banged his wife?* Those were the golden days of baseball.
So, Godspeed Rodney Roy Beck. You’re going to facial hair heaven with Salvador Dali and President Taft. You’re among the hairy angels now.
*event may not have happened
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