Sad to hear.

Say it aint so Chuck

Are you kidding? One of the biggest jerks I ever saw playing baseball at A&M. Awesome talent, but I saw him embarrass his coach & team on more than one occasion while at A&M.

He & Clemens are cut from the same mold. Awesome God-given ability & prima donna attitudes

I gave up on him when he came back to Aggieland after the World Series and charged his fellow Aggies $5 an autograph.

Ditto spivey.

I always was glad an Ag did well in the bigs, but I would have rather it would have been Livingstone. Or Byington. Or...

whats the whole story with chuck at ATM? i'm a little too young for that time. Why was he considered arrogant?

Subpoenowned.

He displayed little respect for his coaches. He would embarrass them in front of the fans in games. My perception, not all Aggies. I sat 2nd row behind the on deck circle for the 89 season. Again, like I said, awesome talent. Not knocking that whatsoever. Do I think he used? I have no clue & don't really care. He was a great player fo A&M but IMHO he didn't represent the good characters of being an Ag.

Completely gave up on him when he went to the Yankees. I'm a Red Sox fan, so that should be expected...

Click on "Forums", then click on "A&M Baseball".

[This message has been edited by Faded Izod (edited 1/23/2008 8:41a).]

I stopped following him when he sat in the Hilton and charged people for his autograph. I think it was for charity, but it still bothered me.

I figured he had done something when he could no longer throw a ball from 2nd to 1st.

Sheesh talk about turning on your own...Some of yall must be those fans that only got as far as regular season little league...Lots of ballplayers are arrogant - it's a defense mechanism that gets built up from being "successful" only 3.3 out of 10 times and watching someone jack a 400 ft HR off you.
TexAg940: Chuck was a solid hitting and fielding fiery CF/SS with speed to burn that knew how to win on Olsen Field. He brought Olsen Magic with him to every game along with Big Bad John Byington and Terry Taylor and the boys. That 58-7 1989 season will forever be etched in my mind. Even though LSU beat A&M for a trip to the CWS..even Cliff Gustafson had it right that year when he said the best team didn't make it to the CWS - Texas A&M. Play ball!

ABD: You might want to check that Gus quote. Your memory of that event is wildly inconsistent with the facts.

checked it and he still said it

I don't understand all the Chuck angst either

When the Yankees came to KC..I would take my kids early and we would watch batting practice...I'd holler at Chuck and he was the same old Chuck from college that I drank many of beers with. Signed a few balls for the kids...chit chatted for about 5 minutes..pretty cool...I think playing for the Yankees ruined him...alot of pressure up there.IMO

I rememeber Gus' quote quite well. After A&M lost to LSU and Texas advanced to Omaha, he said "Where are the Aggies now?" He later said that he regretted that comment.

On a sad note, his son Darren (who was involved with his unfortunate firing from tu after a lengendary career) died a few weeks ago from liver failure.

Just because your are subpoenad to appear before Congress does not mean you are guilty, or even suspected of, committing a crime. They simply subpoena people who think may be able to provide valuable information.

What Chuck has been (and I think admitted to doing) was legal at the time and he may have knowledge of other people doing the same thing, or things not as permissable.

how did A&M manage to sign Knoblauch? and why is it that aggieathletics history only goes back to 1995

anyone have any stats on that 89 team


having only seen pennington play, how would you guys compare the two

Byington was the most talented, Chuck was probably second of that team.

Across teh board, that team was stacked.

well back in those days,.if texas wanted a player, they got him. so how did we get such a stacked team?

was it just the fact that that yr had a huge talent pool

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having only seen pennington play, how would you guys compare the two

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There is no comparison..Pennington was a good player buy Knoblauch was just on another level..as most of the 1989 team was..just something about them and the chemistry they had..they brought out the best in each others ability..The team had its studs..Knoblauch, Byington, Taylor,Scott Centala, Keith Livingston. But everybody else was a good player who just played great in '89..Thompson, Albright, Easily, Duke, Neuman, Pat Sweet, Anthony De La Cruz (spelling?) Ronnie Allen, Travis Williams..all came together that year..still cannot figure out how they got beat?

could have he gone pro out of high school, or atleast had the chance to

[This message has been edited by jimrogersjr (edited 1/25/2008 1:42p).]

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how did A&M manage to sign Knoblauch?

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Chuck would never have played college ball if he hadn't broken his leg pretty badly his senior year of high school. It caused the pros to back off him in the draft. MJ signed a great class that year, with Knoblauch, Byington, and Taylor being the core of a group that carried us from '87 through '89.

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Byington was the most talented, Chuck was probably second of that team.

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Byington was the most valuable. Chuck was the most talented...for the next level.

If memory serves, Big John had 30 or so game winning hits that amazing season in 1989.

Byington was a good hitter, but he only DH'ed the preceeding 2 years (of course, he was behind Scott Livingstone at 3rd, so he had an excuse). Chuck's numbers weren't great in '89 primarily because he started the season in an 0-26 slump. Everyone was hitting but Chuck.

Now, I've tried to stay out of the bashing Chuck/defending Chuck mess up to this point, but I do want to provide one example for why Chuck is perceived as being more of a "me" player than a team player. Chuck wasn't even on the field for the most exciting moment in Aggie baseball (Byington's game winning slam off Dressendorfer in game 2 of the '89 series against the Horns) because he had been ejected a couple of innings earlier. Texas was batting and had at least a runner on first when some play went awry. The runner on first was out at second on a semi-close play, but we either failed to get the batter or to make a play at the plate (can't remember where we screwed up) and there was an argument about that. Well, the Horn player who was out at second, just stood on second like he was safe, and Chuck thought the umpires had called him safe. Chuck had an absolute meltdown, got ejected, then as soon as everything calmed down, the umps took notice of the guy at second and told him to head to the dugout. Had Chuck kept his cool, he'd have been in the game at the end. As it was, Jason Marshaall had to finish, and, I believe, drew two walks (one intentional, to set up Byington's one out slam) in the course of our 9 run 9th.

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Chuck would never have played college ball if he hadn't broken his leg pretty badly his senior year of high school. It caused the pros to back off him in the draft. MJ signed a great class that year, with Knoblauch, Byington, and Taylor being the core of a group that carried us from '87 through '89.

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exactly right..If Chuck had not broken his leg in HS..he would of gone straight to the big leagues
and yes MJ had a big recruiting year signing all those guys...but Texas was not exactly thin on talent either
the likes of Kirk Dressendorfer, Arthur Butch, Scott Bryant, Chris Gaskill, Clay King and David Tollison were not exactly chopped liver

that 1989 season was one hell of a ride...to this day still cannot believe that LSU beat us back to back games to win the Central Regional at Olsen field

Sunday April 16, 1989 still ranks at the top of my list for greatest days in Aggie sports history...I think the only thing that will knock that day from its perch would be a national title in either of the big 3 sports

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If memory serves, Big John had 30 or so game winning hits that amazing season in 1989.

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he had a few but not 30..not many games during that '89 season were even that close

I thought Chuck was the best player from the 89 team. He was cocky, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I don't see how Chuck protesting a call too much is an example of him not being a team player. He took it too far and was tossed - stuff like that can happen. I do remember the guy being intense on the field and his attitude carried over to the team. He was a quiet guy off of the field though. I am disappointed that he hasn't taken more of a visable role in the A&M program since he left. I hope Childress brings him (and all of our good former players) back into the fold.

Spivey, tell me he did not really do that!

it seems like a lot of aggies resent chuck. when was the last time he was up in aggieland for a game,..or the texas series.

i saw gustafson a few yrs ago up at olsen

I knew Chuck very well and he was what he was. He was a very talented player and somewhat arrogant. He was self centered so as long as you were doing things to benefit him or things that he liked you got along fine with him. I enjoyed hanging out with him and watching him play. Did he lead his life the way I would have? No, but I know for a fact that I did things that p*ssed him off. You knew where you stood with Chuck. When you did something that he didn't like he would tell you about it and that happened on a few occasions. I took a roadie with him to Austin one time to watch the wHorns play somebody. They treated us (mostly him) like royalty when he got there. When we got there they walked us down to first row behind the home dugout seats. He still owes me a tank of gas from that trip btw. With interest that tank of gas is getting pretty lucrative. I, like alot of friends of Chuck, was very saddened when Alzheimers claimed the life of his father. Not coincidentally his troubles with his game started after his father passed.

As I've been reading this subpoena saga I just hope that he does the right thing and goes and talks to the congressional committee.

Chuck is a good ag!

erathag

nicely put