'The Mystery of Barry Zito'

Baron Von Zito: The man, the mystery

If I had to make a list of my all-time favorite baseball players, Barry Zito would be top 10. Top five, maybe.

I don't know why. I do love pitching. Good pitching. And I love pitchers who are too good -- mechanically -- for their own good. Tim Lincecum is like that. Zito, too. His curveball is a work of art.

Then there's the peripheral stuff. The actresses and models. The guitar playing, free living, new agey and free thinkin' baseball pitcher. He was such a gigantic change of pace not only in baseball but in all of sports. Guys like him do not come around all the time especially in the vanilla world of professional sports.

Then the money happened.

Before the 2007 season, Zito signed a gigantic seven-year, $126 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. He had set himself up for ridicule. I knew it was going to not work out. Why? Despite his fantastic years in Oakland (including a Cy Young), I never felt he was the ace of the staff. Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson were much more of the leaders, of the guys you knew could come in every five days and get a win. Zito's numbers also faltered from 2003 (the year after the Cy Young) through 2006. His ERA was OK and he was still a workhorse, but opponents started hitting him better, which only compounded the amount of walks he's always allowed. Plus, I would never feel comfortable with giving a curveball pitcher that much money. Curveballs are a different breed of pitch unlike the slider and fastball that are or at least look like strikes and go out of the zone. Curveballs start out of the zone, get in the zone then leave it. 90 percent of the curveball's life span is spent outside of the strike zone.

The money came. His game imploded and the speculation began. Some say the money changed his attitude and life style. Others have said he's changed friends.

The New York Times published a fantastic feature on Zito today -- it details the mechanics of pitching, his life style, the myth of the free wheelin' Zito, his family and much more.

If nothing else, I finally get the feeling that 90 percent of what Zito throws out is bullshit. I mean, when you get the feeling he's telling the truth, he's coming clean, you still feel like he's feeding you a line. As good as Zito is for his own good, he may also be too wacky for his own good.

I'll continue to root for the guy if nothing else to relive those moments in college catching his games when I could.