Sizemore’s superstar-dom

Grady Sizemore appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week in an issue that hits newsstands on Wednesday.

The cover appearance is a first for Sizemore, a player who generally likes to keep a low profile but who will now have his image plastered on more than three million copies of the national magazine.

“It’s cool to be a part of it,” Sizemore said. “I knew they were doing a story on me, obviously, but I just found out a couple days ago that I’d be on the cover. It’s a good feeling.”

Sizemore, who posed for the cover while swinging his bat and giving the camera a menacing glare, is the first Indians player to appear solo on the front of the magazine since Albert Belle did so on May 6, 1996.

Hopefully this doesn’t cause Grady any cover jinx. He’s currently only hitting .254 on the season, which is not particularly good for a leadoff hitter, but he has 5 homeruns already as well as 11 stolen bases, and has played in every game and every inning in which the Indians have a 20-10 record to lead the AL Central division.

This guy is my favorite Indians player. He plays hard and he’s a catalyst for this young team. The face of the franchise. He was my pick for the AL MVP. It’s pretty scary that he hasn’t even started hitting yet and his numbers are not exactly in the toilet. When Sizemore does get hot and go on a bit of a run; which I remember him doing vividly in each of the last two seasons during the summer months, he could really catapault his numbers and star status, especially if the Tribe is still playing well.

The other thing I really enjoy about Grady is although he’s all-world, he’s very humble and not the least bit cocky. He has not let his immense success (which includes scoring a 123 runs in a single season) go to his head to this point. He mentiones in the article that he does not enjoy the spotlight, and doesn’t want the benefit of having his “mug” all over television sets and magazine covers.

Basically, this guy could have whatever woman he wanted, and I do mean anyone. If you’ve got a girlfriend and she met Grady Sizemore in bar, or at church-either which are as likely as the other, she’s all his. However he wouldn’t do that to you. He wouldn’t steal whats yours because he’s a good guy. He’d smile, sign whatever or wherever she wanted, and politely walk away.

Glad to see that Sports Illustrated is ‘with it’ and has given this guy his first cover appearance of their magazine. I would predict this won’t be his last. With the three main superstars in Cleveland of Brady Quinn, Lebron James, and Sizemore, Grady is easily the most likable due to his personality. Now there’s only one thing left to do: go get that MVP award and take the Indians back to the World Series. No pressure; of course.