On Tuesday, it's Johnny Damon whose amazingness defies description.
"Not that I've been thinking about this, but players who can get on the field every day and score 100 runs, how many guys do that?" Boras told told the New York Daily News. "Johnny just plays, and he's got the body type that allows him to do that."
It's hard to argue with that point, as Red Sox and Yankees fans can attest. Damon's spent the bulk of his career jumping into walls and diving on his shoulder (and throwing like a Little Leaguer), yet he's averaged 149 games per year. Mike Timlin once sketched Damon's body outline on the bullpen wall after Damon threw himself into it the night before. A high-speed collision with Damian Jackson couldn't keep him off the field.
The man is durable. So much so that Boras thinks that even the man's DNA should net him some cash.
"If stem-cell research were around, you'd want to tap into that gene pool," Boras said "He's [35], but has a 30-year-old's body. He plays much younger."
He played a bit younger on Monday in Game 3 of the ALCS, as he homered in the fifth inning to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead over the Angels. He was later replaced in left field by Jerry Hairston Jr. due to Damon's lack of arm strength.
That didn't stop Boras from comparing Damon to one of the most dynamic players to ever put on a pair of spikes.
"Look at how many times Rickey Henderson scored 100 runs after he turned 35," Boras said.
As the Daily News points out, Henderson did so twice. But he also played until he was 44 years old. And he was Rickey Henderson.
Still, Boras' praise ended with a near guarantee that Mr. Damon will one day have his face on a plaque in Cooperstown — just as long as someone gives him a contract.
"Basically he's got four years to [reach 3,000 hits]," Boras said. "You get to 3,000 hits with a [World Series] ring on your finger, and you pretty much get the red carpet."
Damon won't talk about his future until his season with the Yankees is over, but that won't stop Boras — the man who interrupted the clinching game of the 2007 World Series to shift the attention to Alex Rodriguez's decision to opt out of his contract. It just how Boras operates, and if his main goal was generating attention, it's hard to argue that it doesn't work.
