I think you’re looking to deep into the location and not enough at the fact that he bought his wife a cow for their anniversary!!!.
Also worth noting, after that gift, she didn’t leave him.
That should say gallons about them as a couple and is everything you need to know about whether or not he’d have signed in Boston for that same money...
Exactly. He broke his throwing arm then had an oblique strain trying to come back from the stretch run. He is also 34 and was posting his lowest velo of his career after those first five games. To be fair, though, he didn't have the dog days of summer where a lot of pitchers gain velo as the arm breaks in and the weather is nice
Hal sucks
I think it takes a special type of man to look at a cow and think "I wonder if my wife wants one." This is not a gamble I would take, even if I could afford it. But these are North Carolina country farmfolk flush with cash that we're talking about..
Also, apparently one reason he signed with the Diamondbacks was that he already keeps his horses in the Phoenix area and apparently loves it there. Which is why the money was less than anticipated and why it would have taken more (possibly a lot more) to get him to go to Boston...
Probably. There is an old saying in Tarheel Folklore, dating back a couple centuries - “Anyone who would buy his wife a cow for her anniversary present should also provide AC to his horses’ stables.”
The meaning is probably somewhat vague and possibly outdated, but it might apply here...