Jim Colony Talks With 'Big' Brad Lincoln
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - Covering Spring Training the last 2 weeks, it finally dawned on me. It's gonna drive me to drinkin' ... to try to write a new song about my buddy Brad Lincoln.
The concept was born in 2010 when the Pirates were not good, but Lincoln was good – in AAA. So, as some may remember, it started out like this – "The Bucs are going to drive us to drinkin if they don't hurry up and recall Brad Lincoln" –to the tune of the Commander Cody classic Hot Rod Lincoln.
He finally was called up from Indy so through that season and into 2011 there were about 5 of these dittys that followed the ups and downs of Lincoln's career until he finally blossomed as a mid-to-late inning reliever. Then, in July, the Bucs drove us to drinkin' when they up and traded Brad Lincoln to the Blue Jays for Travis Snider (who ironically enough ended up being traded in the off-season just as he had blossomed).
Now, after bouncing between the majors and minors with Toronto followed by a lost 2014 due to injury with the Phillies, Lincoln is back in familiar surroundings hoping to resurrect his once promising career.
"Just going back to when I was successful in the bullpen in 2012," Lincoln says, "watching video (with pitching coach Ray Searage and his staff) and getting my mechanics back to the way there were when I was successful."
But the competition is much stiffer than it was 2-and-a-half years ago.
"It's tough," Lincoln says. "There are a lot of good arms here and everyone in here can bring it and compete. Their decision is not my choice, but I do have the choice of working hard and being the best I can be. If it doesn't fit here maybe it can fit someplace else."
As for Lincoln's lyrical suggestions, "There's my time away with Toronto and Philly, the injury and I'm living in an RV this spring." Shouldn't be too hard … I'll get to work on the flight back to Pittsburgh.
Now sit back and enjoy one of Jim Colony's tributes to "Big Brad Lincoln" dating back to his first tour with the Pirates.
