Much has happened in the two years since controversial remarks by then Colorado Rockies reliever Todd Jones catapulted the baseball drama “Take Me Out” from a New York stage to center stage in the court of public opinion.
When asked to comment on the story of a young superstar announcing his homosexuality at the peak of his career, Jones told The Denver Post he wouldn’t want an openly gay teammate and that in real life, opposing pitchers would likely throw at such a player’s head. His statements brought quick condemnation from around the world and sparked angry debate in newspapers, on radio talk shows and the Internet.
Jones immediately went into the worst slump of his career, was released and has since been bandied among four teams. Despite his vagabond ways, he is making $1.1 million this year at age 37 with the Florida Marlins.
Much has changed in the world, as well, but not toward tolerance and acceptance. A presidential election was seen by many as a national referendum against gay-marriage initiatives, and the pope’s death became another opportunity for the Catholic Church to reinforce its stated condemnation of homosexual activity.
Which may help explain why in the past two years, nothing has changed in America’s locker rooms. Among the four major pro team sports, no one has come out as homosexual while still an active player.
“We don’t seem to have gotten very far,” said “Take Me Out” playwright
Richard Greenberg, whose Tony-winning play will be performed for the first time in Colorado by the Curious Theatre Company starting Saturday.
“What’s happened in the last couple of years politically and culturally has exacerbated things so much that we are probably further from it at this point than two years ago,” he said. “There has been so much demagoguery on this issue; it’s all been ginned up so much that it would even be harder for a player now than it might have been in 2003.”
What Jones said was this: “That’s the problem: All these people say he’s got all these rights. Yeah, he’s got rights or whatever, but he shouldn’t walk around proud. It’s like he’s rubbing it in our face. ‘See me, hear me roar.”‘
He also said the player better be good “because if (the team) thinks for one minute he’s disrupting the clubhouse – if he doesn’t hit 50 homers or win 20 games – they’re not going to put up with that.”
Some defended Jones as the victim of a baiting media. But the Georgia native is a columnist for several publications, and it turned out he had written a far blunter condemnation of homosexual players for his hometown newspaper two years earlier.
Jones apologized not for his remarks but for making them public. His reaction is eerily similar to the attitude shown by the play’s redneck antagonist based loosely on John Rocker, who made racist comments about New Yorkers and, in a bit of delicious irony, now pitches for the Long Island Ducks minor-league team.
When Greenberg was writing “Take Me Out,” New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was calling a press conference to announce he wasn’t gay in response to a New York gossip column that didn’t even specify him by name. Greenberg was determined to get the play done quickly because he was convinced it had such a short shelf life. Now it’s looking more like a half-life.
“I really did think, well, I’d better get this play out there fast because it’s 2002, and it’s absolutely about to happen,” he said. “And when it does, the play will have to be retired until it becomes a period piece. Instead, here we are in 2005, and we’re unlikely to see anything change soon.”
As the play moves from New York to the heartland, it is only causing more controversy. A councilman sought an injunction to prevent its performance by the Charlotte (N.C.) Rep, a company that has since folded. A Kansas City production drew fire for its suggestive advertising.
It seems, Greenberg said, our national pastime mirrors our national hang-ups.
“I am isolated living here in New York, where no one is shockable,” he said. “I’m always surprised, partly because I keep thinking everyone has cable. This is a reminder to me this really isn’t one country.”
The furor over the play hasn’t been limited to its homosexual content. It’s that so much of it takes place in the New York Empires’ locker-
room shower. Even in New York, eight lathering men, fronts fully exposed to the audience, created a stir. Greenberg was accused of titillation, and the play’s reputation for skin began to overshadow the meaning of its violent climax.
Rather, centering the action in the shower was brilliant. Most players, Jones included, are hardly threatened when fully dressed and playing baseball before thousands of fans. The shower is the absolute nerve center of the issue of homosexuality in sports. That’s where masculinity, testosterone, machismo and sexuality collide.
It’s telling that while baseball teams invest millions of dollars turning locker rooms into country clubs, most of the showers are indistinguishable from your local penitentiary’s. It never occurred to teams to consider private shower stalls.
“The whole culture of the communal shower in sports is fascinating to me,” Greenberg said. “Don’t you think there is some considered psychology to that? It’s not because they are being cheap. The shower is considered a bonding thing, a continuation of the ‘team dynamic’ all the way until they leave the ballpark.
“So what does it mean when suddenly there is a different kind of watching going on? A different kind of presence? When something that was never questioned gets questioned? What does it do to team chemistry?”
Though “Take Me Out” is new to Colorado, Greenberg has moved on to his latest play. His farce, “The Naked Girl on the Appian Way,” has created its own problems.
“We had to put out a disclaimer: ‘This play contains no nudity,’ because it was
confusing people,” he said with a laugh. “After ‘Take Me Out,’ I didn’t want to disappoint people.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
