As my friends down south say whenever they encounter a misguided person: bless his heart.
Or at least bless his intentions. I’m sure Matt Kemp wants nothing more than to make a great impression in Atlanta and revive a career that, well, got him sent to Atlanta. But Matt: you and I are men of action. Lies do not become us:
Matt Kemp: "I've never really played in a baseball town before. So, I am excited about that."
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 2, 2016
Atlanta is a lot of things, but “baseball town” is not something it gets accused of being very often. At least not credibly. I think the knock on Atlanta for not selling out playoff games and things is a bit overstated -- the Braves have a ton of fans, they’re just a lot more geographically dispersed than most teams thanks to TBS and their regional, as opposed to merely local appeal -- but no one really thinks of Atlanta as a baseball town. College football? Boy howdy. Pro football? Sure. Folks in Atlanta like the Braves well enough, but it ain’t what people think of when they think “baseball town.”
Maybe, though, this isn’t Matt Kemp being misguided. Maybe he’s throwing shade at San Diego or Los Angeles. L.A. would be hard -- they draw amazingly well, always -- but it could be one of those “L.A. fans arrive late, leave early” things. Which is itself overstated in my experience, but that’s what people say. San Diego people don’t really turn out in droves for the Padres, but it’s not like they’ve been given much to turn out for over the years. Hard to blame them. It gets cold in that park at night.
Wait! I got it! The Braves head to St. Louis to play the Cardinals this weekend! He must be excited about the road trip. You can say what you want about the Cardinals and their fans, but you can’t say St. Louis is not a baseball town.
There. That’s it. Phew.