Dalton Rushing draws apt comparison to reviled former SF Giants catcher

The Dalton Rushing Villain Tour has cooled down a little bit, but a recent article in The Athletic made a very apt comparison between Rushing and the former catcher that SF Giants fans love to hate, A.J. Pierzynski.

The authors of the article even reached out to Pierzynski about the similar villainhood that has accompanied Rushing so far in his career and here is what he said: 

“Do I see some similarities? Absolutely. [Rushing] doesn’t bother me. I mean, I think he might bother some other people. I think it’s great. He plays the way he has to play. He just plays with passion. You can tell that he loves to play. He wants to win. He shows that. I don’t know why that is a bad thing.”

Of course he’d say that.

Dalton Rushing may have a long-lost doofus father in A.J. Pierzynski

For those who need a refresher on why Rushing has become the front runner for baseball’s Biggest Doofus Award over the last few weeks, here’s a brief recap: he accused the Colorado Rockies of cheating, said something vulgar after Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee got injured at home plate and became a true villain, retaliated for getting drilled in the ribs by trying to take out Willy Adames with a dirty slide at second base, called a player on the Chicago Cubs fat using NSFW language, and acted like an immature child over a called timeout that wasn’t granted. There’s probably a few other things he did too but those are the big ones.

Giants fans certainly think of him as a villain for the way he behaved in that series a few weeks ago. At this rate, the Giants taking two out of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers may end up being the highlight of the year but that series will be remembered for Rushing’s actions.

Now, for a refresher on why Giants fans detest Pierzynski. San Francisco acquired the catcher from the Minnesota Twins for Joe Ryan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser, who simultaneously sounds made up and also sounds like my first attempt at saying "Barry Bonds" as an infant.

Joe Ryan went on to be a phenomenal pitcher with the Twins and Liriano went on to have a solid career. Researchers are still looking into whether Bonser actually existed but those who think he is not just a figment of our collective imaginations believe he had a pretty forgettable MLB career.

It would be one thing if the Giants gave up two really good pitchers for a guy who went on to be a great player in San Francisco, but that’s not what they got. Instead, Pierzynski didn’t have all that great of a season for the Giants in 2004 and they got rid of him. Not only was he not that great, he was also just a bad teammate who guys didn’t like. One teammate even went so far as to call him a cancer in the clubhouse.

There are a lot of stories out there floating about him, some true and some not. It seems the one about him kneeing a Giants trainer in the crotch is not true but it’s unclear whether he flipped off Giants fans who booed him. He got booed basically everywhere he went and it wasn't because he was good, he was just that universally disliked by baseball fans.

Usually one wants the myths about them to be positive ones like people decades from now saying Barry Bonds once hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium, but Pierzynski is almost like if baseball had a Doofus Paul Bunyan who fans could say almost anything about and people would believe it.

"Remember how Pierzynski onced pushed Lou Seal down a flight of stairs?" Heck, I'd believe it.

It seems like Rushing is very much on the Pierzynski trajectory. While at least publicly his teammates have not turned on him the way Pierzynski's Giants teammates did, it’s clear that Rushing has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in an very short amount of time.

For some competitors, maybe they know no other way. Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green only knows how to play basketball his way and that’s as a boisterous pest who throws opponents off their game and uses his anger and antics to his advantage, at least most of the time.

Maybe Rushing is simply wired to annoy. That article in The Athletic digs into how he didn’t have the best reputation in the minor leagues so maybe the guy is just a bad egg.

Well, it worked out alright for Pierzynski so maybe Rushing has a doofus idol he can look up to and follow in the footsteps of. 

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