Sometimes Sexual Innuendos Write Themselves

The town of Liberal, Kansas is a small slice of rural Americana. The population of just under 20,000 make their living farming wheat, corn and beets, or by working at the town’s largest employer, the National Beef Packing company. But when the hard day’s work is done, and it’s time to unwind, the good people of Liberal share one love: BeeJays ... I’m talking about the baseball team, you sinner.

Aside from their name -- which surely has brought plenty a lonely farmer to the ballpark filled with excitement only to be left confused and unsatisfied -- the team has another reason to pique interest: They’re being coached by former big league manager Mike Hargrove.

Yes, this is the same Mike Hargrove who had a fine 12-year major league playing career with the Rangers, Padres and Indians. The same Mike Hargrove who managed big league teams for 16 years and led the Indians to two World Series. The same Mike Hargrove who puzzled the baseball world by announcing his resignation as Mariners manager last July when the team was about to win its eighth consecutive game. The same Mike Hargrove who grew up in the Texas panhandle, only 45 miles south of Liberal, and played for the BeeJays for part of the 1972 season.

"I'm just a kid from Perryton (Texas), and I'm here to help these guys learn the game," Hargrove says. "It's all about the players. I'm no big deal."

In the latest issue of the mag, there is an entire piece on Hargrove and his return to the Liberal BeeJays. The only thing I found more amazing than the fact that Hargrove is being paid $1 to coach the team for the summer is that John Rawlings, the author of the piece, managed to write a 2,500 word article without once making reference to the glaring sexual innuendo that is this team’s name. That would’ve been the first thing I’d have asked Hargrove, or, I don’t know, every single person in Liberal about. But that’s why Rawlings is a real journalist and I – all together now – still live in my parent’s basement.

[/Deep sigh.]

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.