Does this check out? Did this guy named Desi Relaford actually play for the Phillies? He’s ranting and raving about how awful fans treated him during his “playing days” for the Phillies on some podcast, but god damn that name is not ringing a bell.

Does anyone remember this guy? Sure, those were some lean years for the Phillies, but the name Desi Relaford isn’t bringing anything to mind. He has to be lying, nobody could ever be THAT forgettable, or have been THAT worthless of a player to completely have dissipated from the ether of all Philadelphia sports fan conscious, right?

Let’s get to the bottom of this mystery.

Hold on a second, according to Baseball-Reference.com he played FIVE SEASONS for the Phillies? From 1996 to 2000? That cannot be right….five years for this team, nearly 1,200 plate appearances, 320 games, and he was the starting shortstop for two years?! WHAT?! Was he any good?

Phillies totals (5 seasons)

• .234 batting average
• 9 home runs
• 104 RBIs
• 22 stolen bases
• .315 OBP
• .328 slugging
• .643 OPS
• A -0.5 WAR OVER HIS 11 SEASON CAREER?! Why, it’s as if he never even existed in Major League Baseball!

Ok, so he decidedly was NOT a good ballplayer, but there’s no way he said anything TOO awful about the city? Right? RIGHT?!

Let’s check out his comments on the Jake Brown Show after the jump.

“Yeah, if a player deserves to get booed, boo his ass, give it to him. But there’s a time and place and it shouldn’t just be for any and everything, and especially your home team.”

Desi, your career numbers were so awful I booed baseball-reference.com when I looked them up. You deserved every ounce of hatred this city gave you.

I’m glad you finally got the courage to come forward 18 years later (or someone finally decided to interview you for the first time in 18 years) and trash the city, but you were garbage, plain and simple.

Nobody has given one iota of thought to you or your whereabouts since the day you stepped off the Veterans Stadium turf.

I would have believed anything I heard about Desi Relaford. He opened up a wildly unsuccessful chain of car washes in the Midwest after he retired? Sure, sounds about right. He ran a horrendous election campaign for Congress in Iowa? Seems plausible. He passed away in 2009 after an unfortunate run-in with a rabid beaver in his backyard? I could have guessed it would come to that.

Desi, you’re just one of the HUNDREDS of rotten ballplayers that have strolled through the Phillies clubhouse over the years and thought the fans owed you something. We didn’t. You never earned our respect.

You join a long list of players that fans have enjoyed squishing out of their memory banks.

I’m not upset at your comments, I’m more upset that I had to give you one more ounce of thought in my life.

Go back to your shanty and let us never speak of you again.

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