The baseball world is finally rid of Albert Belle, who was a poster child for spoiled, self-indulgent athletes. But what made Belle probably the worst behaved professional athleted of the 1990s was that on top of spoiled and self-indulgent, Belle was just plain mean. How mean?
Who can forget the 1995 World Series in which Belle directed a string of obscenities at NBC reporter Hannah Storm. Storm was waiting in the dugout for a prearranged interview with Kenny Lofton, but that didn’t stop Belle from taking offense and trying to throw Storm out. Later he actually tried to excuses his behavior by saying he thought Storm was Leslie Visser.
How mean? In 1996, Belle was leading in home runs when he belted his 21st out of the park. Belle requested a meeting with the fan who caught the home run. It’s customary in that situation for the fan to give the home run ball back in exchange for an autographed ball. Belle proceeded to cuss out the fan and told him he wouldn’t be getting sh– for the home run ball (and the fan left the park with the ball).
The same year he threw two baseballs at a Sports Illustrated photographer (he once beaned a fan with a baseball during a game after the fan taunted Belle about his much-publicized bouts with alcoholism). In another infamous incident, after a couple kids threw eggs at his condominium because Belle refused to hand out candy. Belle got in his car and came darn close to running down one of the kids. He was charged with willful disregard of safety and fined $100.
And of course any number of teams would gladly pay his ridiculously high salary at the drop of a hat if it weren’t for his arthritic hip. Lets be honest — if by some miracle Rae Carruth were released from jail this spring, there would be several teams lining up to pay him good money.