Odds and Sods

In honor of Jackie Robinson day, I felt that I should reiterate some of my earlier points about why Major League baseball’s celebration is an outrage.

Jackie Robinson was a great person.  He showed astounding strength and performed a necessary service for both baseball and society.  There is nothing wrong with celebrating his legacy or having a day to honor him.

For the 50^th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1997, MLB retired his number 42.  This was seemingly well intentioned, but, as with many Selig institutions, it has become an overblown farce.  The act shifted the emphasis to his number, 42, something that was entirely trivial, rather than the player himself.  He is no longer a civil rights hero, but a bombastic blue plaque in every ballpark.

Last season for the 60^th anniversary, baseball allowed Ken Griffey Jr. to wear 42, followed by every team having a designated 42, followed by all the Dodgers wearing 42, followed by an eventual free-for-all with no individual or team wanting to be out 42-ed.  This year they will do the same.

The original gesture was cheap.  The secondary one is a mere gimmick.

The worst part is, it has ruined the only legitimate tribute, allowing an African-American player to wear 42 every day, in his own solitary tribute. 

Baseball and the MLB Players’ Union are trying to reach an agreement to impose some of the Mitchell Report’s recommendations.

The players are amenable to a strengthened year-round testing program, to supplant the current two test minimum.  Neither side wants testing turned over to an independent agency.

The sticking point, it seems, is punishment for players named in the report.  Retro-active punishment could only be meted out to players found guilty after 2004, which is fewer than a dozen of the eighty-plus players named in the investigation.

The Union wants players to receive no sanction, as suggested by Mitchell.  Selig wants some formal punitive measure, in the form of either counseling or fines – basically nothing.

Teams of lawyers paid thousands of dollars an hour are beating each other senselessly, with nerf bats.

And you wonder why it can cost $200+ to take a family to a game?

Congratulations to Marlins fans, all seven of them.

The pathetically payrolled franchise was openly shopping itself to potential suitors who might actually care, but the team struck a last second deal to stay in Miami, according to the Sun-Sentinel.  The councils for the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County are expected to meet on Thursday to finalize the deal.

The preliminary indications are that the City will contribute $360 million, from mainly tourist taxes, as well as a $50 million bond payment that taxpayers approved in 2004 to renovate the Orange Bowl.

The Marlins would then contribute an additional $155 million to finish the project, probably taken from the money they have been stealing from baseball’s revenue sharing system the past few years.

The team would move from Dolphin Stadium to the new venue upon its completion in April 2011.

The deal affords the Marlins the opportunity, that they didn’t take initially, to forge a connection with the city of Miami.  Hopefully, they will have the sense to appeal to the Cuban community by providing a Spanish-friendly environment and low ticket prices.

However, something in this reeks of Bud Selig ramming another ill thought out stadium plan down unsuspecting taxpayers’ throats.

If winning two World Series titles can’t garner support for the team in that city, it’s hard to see how a retractable roof and a re-branding can really help.

Congress is expected to summon Bud Selig and Donald Fehr to a hearing on steroids on Jan. 15, but, according to ESPN, it remains undecided about whether or not to invite the players.

“We don’t want this to turn into a circus,” Rep. Tom Davis said to USA Today.  “We just want to know what Major League Baseball plans to do about their problems. We understand the collective bargaining agreement complicates matters, but we’d like to see if they agree with Senator George Mitchell’s recommendations, and move on.”

The last congressional hearings engendered a tougher policy on performance enhancing drugs in baseball.  The enduring and most effective images were not the words said, but a rattled Mark McGwire refusing “to talk about the past” and a sanctimonious Rafael Palmerio wagging his finger.

The only way to get any true assessment of the steroid problem is through the players, and, as their actions have shown, coercion proves the sole way to elicit a response.  If this is merely a forum for politicians who are baseball fans to pontificate and admonish Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, why bother?

If Congress wants these hearings to meaningfully impact baseball, neither Congressmen nor Baseball executives should be the focus.  To truly “move on” as Davis said, the spotlight must be on Roger Clemens.

Major League Baseball is set to announce revenue of over $6 billion, the largest amount ever. It is an increase of 11% over last season.

Baseball suffered numerous drug scandals this season. Steroid Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s home run record. Numerous players were either suspended for amphetamine usage or linked to HGH through pharmacies. The specter of the Mitchell investigation and its “scandalous” revelations haunts “OCTOOOBER.”

Fans have once again proved that, despite the voiciferous moralizing of Mike Lupica and his little buddies, they don’t care.