Lima Time forever
Years from now, novice baseball historians will look at Jose Desiderio Rodriguez Lima’s 89-102 lifetime record and his career 5.26 ERA and assume that he wasn’t much of a ballplayer. Just another journeyman pitcher bouncing around the big leagues for a few years before fading into obscurity.
On that, they’ll be completely wrong. Jose Lima, who died today at the age of 37, was anything but just “another journeyman pitcher.”
In a sport with a rich history of interesting characters, Jose Lima stands out as one worth remembering. He’s certainly the most flamboyant personality to wear an Astros uniform (and this is a team that once had Charlie Kerfeld on the roster). In a day when athletes go out of their way to stay anonymous and give memorized stock answers in post-game interviews, Jose Lima was breath of fresh, insanely energetic air.
He pumped his fists and gyrated on the mound after striking out opponents. The vast majority of time, his glove was on his head instead of his hand. He was a fanatical believer of the power of the rally; if his team still had an out left, he’d be rallying his teammates even if his side was hopelessly behind. He dyed his hair to break up losing streaks. He loved music and would sing for anyone at the drop of a hat. He said that every time he took the mound, it was “Lima Time” and exhorted everyone around him to “Believe it!” Win or lose, Jose Lima was the epicenter of everything going on in every clubhouse he entered.
He loved fans, especially kids. He’d chat anyone up before or after a game and never, ever refused to sign anything for anyone. Every ball I brought back from Astros games during his time with the team had his signature on it. Every single one.
Not everyone appreciated his antics. When he was winning, his detractors said he was an attention-hound doing anything he could to keep the spotlight focused on him. When he was losing, they said he didn’t take the game seriously enough. Those people just didn’t get Jose Lima.
He was a Tiger (twice), an Astro, a Royal (twice), a Dodger and a Met. When the majors didn’t have a place for him any longer, he played in the minors, in independent leagues and overseas – in his native Dominican Republic, Mexico and Korea. He loved baseball and the people around it. He wore his heart on his sleeve in both good times and bad.
Admittedly, his major league career had more of the bad than the good. After breaking in with Detroit, he enjoyed a flash of greatness at the Astrodome – winning 37 games in two years, striking out over 350, grabbing an All-Star nod, and collecting enough Cy Young votes to finish fourth (all while giving up a ton of hits and home runs to the opposition). When the Astros moved to their downtown bandbox, Lima’s career imploded, he was traded back to Detroit and ended up giving up 48 home runs in a single season. His career never really recovered after that, with the exception of a charge towards the postseason and a night of playoff brilliance for the 2004 Dodgers.
Despite all that, his attitude never changed. He always loved being at the ballpark and he made everyone else love being there too. He was one of those guys that no matter how bad he pitched or what uniform he was wearing, you always rooted for him.
I’ll miss Jose Lima. Houston will miss Jose Lima. Baseball will miss Jose Lima. But somewhere in the afterlife, it’s Lima Time.
Believe it.
Great tribute post to Jose Lima. Did you ever see the Casa Ole commercials that he did? I tried to find a link to it, but couldn’t. It was full of his personality. Very “him”.
I was hoping to find one that I could include here, but I couldn’t find any online either. I wonder if Casa Ole had them all removed for copyright reasons or something.
Well said!
I know he has one of the Astros records too… Most consecutive at bats with a strike out…
True.
Very cool tribute.
Nice tribute Nicholas! I shared the link on my facebook. I hope you don’t mind. Just let me know if you do. Well said!