He’ll melt your heart. And your lady’s.
Rich Garces ruled. “El Guapo,” the handsome one, was always fun, whether he was merely good (several years there), great (1999) or washed (2002). He was roly-poly and wore it well, had a cool nickname and for the most part actually kicked some ass for a while once he made the majors for good in 1995:
For a guy who pitched 9.2 big league innings between 1990 and 1995, that’s quite a career, and he later went into coaching in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Of course he’s mostly known for the nickname. One day in college a couple of friends invited to me to a doubleheader at then-Comiskey (delineated from its sponsored era by the swap of almost pastel blue seats for dark green ones, still one of the wildest stadium transformations I’ve ever seen, mostly because no one goes to the games, so the seats take center stage), during which the Sox could clinch a postseason berth with one (1) win. And, of course, we’d abandon our seats for the bullpen bar, which was separated from the visiting players by a plain-old wire fence.
I couldn’t go. I won’t get into it, but believe me, this was the platonic idea of a game I was put in Chicago for college to attend, and I couldn’t go. So the Sox clinch after the first game, and the second game means basically nothing, Derek Lowe and other pitchers just start yakkin’ with fans. Specifically, my friends, one of whom asked at one point if the El Guapo nickname was ironic, which I think we all sort of believe(d), but obviously not entirely. Without missing a beat, and being coolly serious, Lowe just said “… nope” and that was that.
He seems like a really good guy, as you can glean from this video that calls him “a nose tackle of a pitcher.”
Fun fact before we move on: Garces gave up the first of David Ortiz’s homers against the Red Sox:
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Guapo’s Grilled Cheese
I’m sure Guapo loves a grilled cheese or two, as does my son, who’s also very handsome. Actually he only ever wants two. Probably the same for Garces.
- Bread
- Olive Oil or butter
- Cheese
Bryan’s Notes
I tend to use olive oil because, again, my son eats these in pairs, as often as I ask if he wants them. I have to ration it because he never says no. And no you don’t need anything else, not even salt and pepper. Whatever flavors you want, get it from the cheese.
- Coat the pain with olive oil and get the faces of both slices of bread rubbed in it before you start (i.e., you should be looking at an oiled piece of bread before you flip)
- Put sandwich there on medium-low heat for two to four minutes, making sure not to burn it
- Flip it and cover at some point so the cheese melts
- Do it again because your son wants another