Before the baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas began, I read many Orioles message boards, from MLB.com, to ESPN.com, to the daily updates in publications of the Baltimore Sun.
The fans seem divided on Mark Teixeira. They want him to come home, but they are leery that he would actually accept their offer.
I've written about it. Many fans doubted (and for good reason) that Teixeira would consider coming home, so rather than go through that heartache, many chose to write him off to the Yankees, Angels, or another perennial big spender like the Red Sox.
Current Angels slugger Mark Teixeira is a native of Severna Park, Md., approximately 29 miles from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
He attended Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore. Rumors have it that owner Peter Angelos has been following the career of Teixeira from this point forward and basically fell in love with the player.
Mark grew up an Orioles fan and attended Cal Ripken's record-breaking 2,131st game. Keep in mind, that was back on September 6, 1995 the day this record was broke Teixeira would have been 15 years old.
While I understand that a ticket to this game was probably the hottest in town, the fact he made the effort to attend the game, and delivered, should say something.
Something tells me if there is one player who would consider going home despite his team's 10-year track record at missing the playoffs its Teixeira. You can't put a price on playing in front of the home crowd, something he'd be able to do for the rest of his career.
In taking some poster's arguments from visited message boards:
1. If he'd wanted to sign an extension in Texas or Los Angeles, he'd have done so already.
The fact that he didn't should prove noteworthy in the eyes of O's fans. I'd also like to add the same can be said for the Atlanta Braves whom I heard the same "hometown" arguments as a graduate of Georgia Tech, many fans in Georgia thought for sure he would sign there.
2. If he re-signs with the Los Angeles Angels, he's basically telling his family that for the rest of his career, they better be able to stay up until at least 1AM to watch his games on the West Coast.
You also have to consider the distance factor. Sure at $160 million to $200 million or whatever he gets, he could fly them cross-country to nearly every game. He could buy them a house or two in Orange County for them to use at their leisure.
But that's inconvenient and not the same as being able to watch the team they all grew up watching at home and going to sleep in their own bed or fraternizing with their lifelong friends.
(You don't think they've been talking to him for the past year or so about this? What about his childhood friends, teachers, community leaders all of whom would love to see him come back home?)
3. Teixeira has a chance to be an Oriole legend rather than just another Yankee or Red Sox who, when he retires, no one will remember, at least not as fondly.
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