We come here today not to bury Brush Prairie’s Richie Sexson, because the Seattle media already has taken care of that. With bulldozers.

There was Steve Kelley in The Seattle Times: “Sexson, 33, never was a good clubhouse guy. He wasn’t a leader. He wasn’t tough-minded. Most of all, he wasn’t clutch. He was the king of the three-run home run when his team was down 8-1, but when the Mariners needed a long ball, they usually got a whiff.”

And there was Jerry Brewer of the Times: “Goodbye to the dunce of a first baseman. Go throw your helmet at a mirror, Richie. You’re the only one to blame for getting cut. The sooner you realize that, the better chance you have at resuming a lost career.”

And there was a YouTube roast to the tune of “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake: “Every dayyyy, he’s really gritty and he comes to playyyy; but all he does is strike out anywayyyy; why do you have to make me feel this wayyyy?”

All of which is a little harsh and more than a little unfair. But it illuminates just how much venom had built up before the Mariners released Sexson last week.

The reasons are obvious. While being paid $15.5 million this year, Sexson was batting .218 with 11 homers and 30 RBI. His performance was a catalyst in the firing of a general manager, a manager, and a hitting coach, and it was one of the reasons the Mariners rank among baseball’s worst teams this year.

This followed a 2007 season in which Sexson batted .205 with 63 RBI in the third year of a four-year $50 million contract.

Even worse were the stories about Sexson not working hard during spring training or sulking when he was on the bench. As manager Jim Riggleman said upon the first baseman’s release:

“He wants to be in the lineup every day, and you want to see that. When he wasn’t, it showed. It was a negative. And what I thought was that this wasn’t going to work.”

Sports fans are a forgiving bunch. They will embrace criminals and thugs and misanthropes, as long as an athlete professes remorse and can help a team win. But the fans will not overlook the perception that somebody isn’t earning their salary or is being a detriment to the team.

That might or might not have been true in Sexson’s case. But in a world where perception becomes reality, truth is secondary.

So, where does Sexson go from here? The New York Post has reported that the Yankees are considering signing him, and you have to wonder how a player who chaffed under criticism in Seattle will react to the lion’s den that is New York.

But, as Sean Kolloen pointed out in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article earlier this season, Sexson has made a career out of defying expectations.

Sexson was drafted out of Prairie High School in the 24th round of the 1993 major-league draft, and he has gone on to hit 305 home runs.
According to Kolloen, since the draft was instituted in 1965, a total of 63 drafted players have hit 300 homers. Of that group, only Mike Piazza was drafted later than Sexson.

From the 24th round to two All-Star Games to the 300-homer club. It has been quite a ride for perhaps the best major-leaguer to come out of Clark County, a journey that deserves better than becoming the target of all the blame for the Mariners’ shortcomings.

Greg Jayne is Sports editor of The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4531, or online at greg.jayne@columbian.com. To read his blog, go to columbian.com/Sports/GregJayneBlog/