Baseball has always glamorized crime. It’s just that it used to refer to Rickey Henderson and Lou Brock stealing bases. For a sport trying to reshape its image, last week’s scoreboard looked like Etch-A-Sketch gone wild.
Is it too much to ask for law-abiding citizens who don’t act like Archie Bunker?
At one point last weekend, ESPN’s top baseball headlines involved Phillies pitcher Brett Myers allegedly assaulting his wife, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen getting fined for insensitive comments, Victor Conte’s role as source in the BALCO leaks, Red Sox players rebutting Paxton Crawford’s steroid claims and an update on the woman charged with stalking Brewers announcer Bob Uecker.
It makes you wonder when Jerry Springer is going to take over as commissioner.
Yes, baseball is a reflection of society where people cheat their employers, display unhealthy tempers and collide with trouble. But fans of the sport deserve better. I am not asking major league’s uniformed personnel to be held to a higher standard – just a standard.
It starts with Guillen. Commissioner Bud Selig must suspend him. When are leaders of sports going to learn that fines don’t work?
Selig reacted to Guillen’s slur of a Chicago columnist by taking money out of his pocket and ordering him to attend sensitivity training classes. Guillen mocked his sentence, saying he would have to learn English first, before saying late Friday he planned to show up for the classes.
If you want to punish the privileged, take away their passion. Had NBA boss David Stern wanted to get Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s attention, he wouldn’t have fined him $250,000 for criticizing refs and using inappropriate language. He would have banned him from the arena for Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
In the course of a week, Guillen went Mark Cuban, picking fights with Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan and Astros manager Phil Garner, then calling Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti a derogatory term.
Guillen’s distaste for Mariotti has been building for nearly two years. He clearly wanted to challenge the columnist’s credibility, pointing out that the writer blasts the team, yet never talks to the manager or goes into the clubhouse. That’s a valid point. But not one properly made with slurs. Talk like that in the workplace and you’re meeting with human resources for an exit interview at worst and taking some paid leave at best.
Which brings me to Myers. He’s innocent until proven guilty. But it shouldn’t have precluded the Phillies from taking the ball away from him Saturday just hours after he was arrested and charged with hitting his wife in the face. “Of course, it’s embarrassing,” Myers told reporters after the game.
One GM told me last week that putting together a clubhouse of 20 good guys is an ambitious goal. Most Rockies’ teams I have covered have easily reached that number. That’s why I believe intolerance for those who can’t take responsibility or stay out of the police blotter should grow.
No summer of glove
The two most disappointing teams this summer are the Indians and Angels. The Indians came within a press-on nail of sneaking into the playoffs last season, their young talent-laden roster the envy of the industry. A year later, everything is different. They can’t dream of catching the Tigers and White Sox because they can’t catch.
A team strength entering the season with Aaron Boone, Jhonny Peralta and Ronnie Belliard, Cleveland’s infield defense has sabotaged the season and accelerated the departure of groundball pitcher Jason Johnson.
“It has been bad and I don’t have an explanation for it,” Indians GM Mark Shapiro said.
Don’t be surprised if Boone and Belliard are dangled in trades, particularly Boone, who has a ready-made Triple-A replacement in Andy Marte. As bad as the Indians have been, at least their outfield defense is solid. The Angels have been shoddy throughout their lineup, yielding a major-league high 53 unearned runs.
Tex mess
It’s hard to decide what’s more impressive about the Rangers’ flirtation with first place in the AL West: that their rotation is composed of three members acquired in trades at the end of spring training (John Rheinecker, John Koronka and Robinson Tejeda) or that they are winning without a star contribution from Mark Teixeira.
What began as a murmur has folks starting to wonder: What’s wrong with the first baseman? Teixeira is hitting .277 with seven home runs, none in June. He blasted 43 last season and has never hit fewer than 26 in his career. Teixiera is a grinder.
So when he falls into a slump, his biggest challenge is clearing mental hurdles.
“There’s very little doubt in my mind that he will right the ship,” said Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine. “Like Todd (Helton), Mark contributes with his glove and has gotten some timely hits. He’s struggling and he’s frustrated, but he will get out of it.”
Footnotes
David Segui’s admission that he used HGH could be the loose thread that causes the entire Jason Grimsley episode to unravel into a revelation of names. Those bracing the most include the Orioles, Yankees and Twins. … To his credit, Arizona GM Josh Byrnes doesn’t blame Grimsley for his team’s nose dive. “I am not sure how much the Grimsley episode caused our funk. It certainly didn’t help, but we just haven’t played that well for two weeks.” … It’s not too early to give Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon the AL rookie of the year hardware. He has converted 23-of-24 saves and in his lone misstep, the Red Sox rallied to win the game. … Look for the Brewers to be sellers around the all-star break, making a move with either outfielder Carlos Lee or Geoff Jenkins and reliever Danny Kolb.
