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It’s somehow a footnote that, on the way to the 2019 title, Kendrick won MVP of the National League Championship Series. That’s what happens when one homer buried the favored Dodgers in the NL Division Series and another pushed his team ahead in Game 7 of the World Series. The first was a grand slam off Joe Kelly in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. The second, off current Nationals reliever Will Harris, sliced into the foul pole at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The championship may never have happened if both balls hadn’t cleared the fence.That’s Kendrick’s legacy in Washington — a professional hitter who, when it counted most, lifted a city with his swing. He was under-recruited in high school, under-scouted in college, then underappreciated in the back half of his career. But after becoming a postseason hero, Kendrick had multiyear offers from American League teams last winter. They wanted to make him a designated hitter. It seemed like a logical way to go out.Instead, in a faithful act to Washington, he rejoined the Nationals on a one-year, $6.25 million deal for 2020. It’s tough now, for him and the fans, that there was never a chance to send him off, that the coronavirus pandemic kept them out of the stands and shrunk his last act to 25 games. His final career line includes 6,421 plate appearances, 1,747 hits and a .294 batting average. And nothing will reverberate like those two October blasts.
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Topic: Howie Kendrick Appreciation Thread (Read 1744 times)
