Odds and Sods

Buster Olney reports in his blog for ESPN.com today that Major League Baseball to survey teams about their club alcohol policy, in the wake of Josh Hancock’s death.  Hancock, a 29 year-old reliever for the St. Louis Cardinals, was killed in an automobile accident last week, when he crashed into the back of a tow-truck that was parked.  His blood-alcohol level was deemed to be  .157 (nearly twice the legal limit of .08 in Missouri).

The survey seems to be a prelude to banning alcohol in MLB clubhouses, which Bud Selig could presumably do by unilateral action.  An unnamed baseball executive in support of such a ban stated the desire of baseball to “eliminate any chance baseball is in the loop of some terrible accident.”  Not eliminating a terrible accident, but eliminating baseball’s culpability.

The Mets, Pirates, Yankees, and Astros all currently have an alcohol ban in home clubhouses, though not for the road team.  The Oakland A’s have a ban on alcohol being supplied by clubhouse personnel in both home and away clubhouses, though not a ban on actual possession.

Banning alcohol in the clubhouse doesn’t really solve anything.  Having a post-game beer with the food spread is far different than getting tanked in a bar and then getting behind the wheel of an automobile.  Banning players from having a beer in the clubhouse after the game does not keep the players from drinking.  Instead of drinking at the ballpark they will all hop in their cars and move to some other establishment, where they would get caught up in the atmosphere and undoubtedly drink more than they otherwise would have, which in fact would create a greater risk.  The difference, MLB could not be held responsible.

There are far more constructive measures that could be, and should have already been taken.  A simple one would be to punish players and personnel for off the field transgressions, including drunk driving charges.  Alcohol education could be mandatory for players who have any off the field problems relating to intoxication.  Teams could also simply have a car service available on standby, should any of the players need it.

It should not have taken someone’s death before baseball took any action over alcohol abuse and drunk driving.  Dontrelle Willis was arrested in the off-season, with MLB simply brushing it off with the old “he’s a good guy who made a mistake routine.”  Nothing happened to Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa who was arrested after falling asleep drunk at the wheel of his car.

On a side note, this is the second Cardinal player who has died during Tony LaRussa’s tenure in St. Louis, Darryl Kile being the other one.  Though Kile’s was due to a heart attack, both players were found with marijuana on them.  LaRussa was also the manager of the Oakland A’s of the late 1980’s who remained blissfully unaware that Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire (whom he later had in St. Louis as well) were shooting each other in the ass with steroids and ballooning to the size of Buicks.  For a man who is so meticulous that he wears sunglasses at night so that the other team can’t see what he is looking at or thinking and gain any knowledge from it, he obviously must have known something was going on in both cases.

Baseball and Booze have a long and mutually beneficial tradition.  It is no coincidence that the Cardinals are owned by the Busch family, play in Busch stadium, and trot out the Budweiser Clydesdales every time that they make the World Series.  Major League Baseball takes in millions of dollars in advertising revenue from beer companies.  Even after an umpire was attacked on the field by a fan, they still allow buffoons to gorge themselves on 8 dollar miller lites until the 7th inning before driving home (because that last half hour of the game is really enough to sober up).

The movement to ban alcohol in clubhouses has nothing whatsoever to do with alcohol abuse or drunk driving.  It solves nothing and fails to attack the root of the problem or change what appears to be a dangerous and pervasive culture of substance abuse.  It’s sole purpose is to protect MLB from a lawsuit in the event that another player dies, which is ok as long as baseball isn’t legally responsible.  What a great way to trivialize a young man’s tragic death!