Worth It

Jason Giambi hobbled to the plate on a sore foot and hit a homer to win the game.

There were two outs and Giambi was down two strikes to one of the games toughest closers – B.J. Ryan – but those were just props in this drama. It came down to one swing that plastered thousand of smiles across the Bronx.

Giambi’s smile was the biggest. Maybe it’s because he knows that a ballplayer only gets so many smiles.

Earlier this year a reporter asked if he’d thought at all about retiring.

“This is the greatest life there is,” Giambi shot. “Why would I want to retire and be a normal person?”

Normal people don’t play leading roles in baseball dramas and they can’t make thousands of people smile on a beautiful afternoon. But they also don’t have to deal with the pain and preparation and travel and incredible scrutiny that are such a big part of: “The greatest life there is.”

It certainly seems worth it on days when you hit a ball out and win a game and can cover everything with a smile.

Giambi knows it’s worth it every day.