It's pretty much understood, as well as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that players from the present era will be dogged by the envy and jealousy of players from bygone eras. I call it "The Grumpy Old Men syndrome". It's like that in life as well. Parents and grandparents always question how young people are doing things and reminding them of how much better things were in their era. And the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, doesn't it?
In baseball, the phenomena has been taken to higher levels IMO ever since Marvin Miler and Curt Flood broke down the walls of the Reserve Clause and escalated salaries to levels never before dreamed of by players. Every prior-era player has been dogged by feelings of jealousy and envy ever since.
Then the memorabilia craze monetized autographs to insane levels. The value of having the coveted initials H.O.F. to put after your signature--on stuff that would have been garage sale material in prior eras--widened the divide even further.
Money and power corrupt. That may never change.
Combine all that with the growth of media into a huge monolith, more interested in protecting its position and place in the food chain than doing anything to elevate the game, and you have the toxic PR stew that we see continuously playing out in baseball today.
The media had the narrative WRONG in the past when they bashed the union and players about how Marvin Miller and Curt Flood challenging the Reserve Clause and bleated incessantly about how it would "Destroy the Game". WRONG!!! And what do we leave for posterity? Marvin Miller and Curt Flood are not in the Hall of Fame, and Bowie Kuhn--who is to Commissioning (is that even a word?) what Gilbert Arenas is to the Wizards basketball team, a non-entity--is in the Hall of Fame.
HOW ABOUT THAT!!!
The media, en masse, were late to the steroid story. And WRONG!!! At virtually every stage of the story as it developed, CONSISTENTLY WRONG!! Especially the beat writers who were closest to the situation. Imbedded daily in the team's locker rooms!!
And they will be late, missing or wrong to cover the next big controversy. Can you say steroid use in the Dominican Republic?
So the track record of the media has been this--they were WRONG in the past, for the most part WRONG today, and they will be WRONG in the future. I say that because they will act in the future as they have always acted in the past. They do not have a track record that can be relied upon. Zero credibility on the issue.
And when you understand that the media is the mouthpiece of the owners, you can understand why perhaps the narrative is framed as it is.
Why does this cycle continue? Who knows? Self preservation is my guess. Protection of turf. Some CYA. Finger-pointing. The Blame Game. All of it really, which also includes the shifting of blame and the rewriting of history by some. We see the same thing on a larger level being played out as a result of the economic/financial mess we are in as a country. A lot of eerie parallels.
So, as we see time and time again,--from A-Rod to the McGwire admission tour and coming soon to a theater (of the absurd) near you, the Rocket's red glare and the Bonds "face the media/face the music" fiascoes--the same tired band of media vigilantes who want to drag these guys through the streets of the village electronically--as Italy did to Mussolini--to be figuratively pilloried, spat upon and kicked. They turn loose an angry lych mob to extract its pound of flesh.
That's bad enough and getting more and more tiresome each time it occurs. One of the more absurd things we get from these news cycle events is the comments of "The Grumpy Old Men of Baseball".
Whether it's Goose Gossage or Ferguson Jenkins (embarrasing) hard-line comments or the newest thoughts from Carlton Fisk and Jack Clark, along with healthy doses of WRATH, we find many of its companions in the team picture of the Seven Deadly Sins, ENVY, PRIDE, GREED AND GLUTTONY. Not so much LUST and SLOTH, and trust me I was looking for lust, just didn't find it. But folks, it dawns on me as I hear these comments, that we certainly have at minimum 4-5 of the seven deadly sins in there. That's not good. Not something you want to hang your hat on.
from Wikipedia - The Seven Deadly Sins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins
So maybe, for the good of the game and all, it's time to give it a rest.
For all these grumpy old men and all the Johnny-come-lately moralists with their holier than thou attitudes, my main question is this:
If you replace the word "cheaters" with the word "sinners" in any of the debate about sins against the "hallowed Hall of Fame" or "sanctified records", then who in your mind is worthy enough to gain entry?
Answer: Only one, And to my knowledge He never played in The Game. And as I understand it, His take on this might be something along the lines of,
"All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment" - Isaiah 64:6
"for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" - Romans 3:23
Maybe guys like McGwire should have been more in tune to what "the Man Upstairs" expected and not simply taken advantage of the "gift of hitting" that he was given. And perhaps some of the baseball moralists should be getting their morality and Truth from something other than the back of a bubble gum card.
In the future the narrative may be changed to include some real truths, not what we perceive as truth. The maybe we can make some progress. I kind of doubt we will, there is too much money, power and glory to be had in the making and breaking of false idols.
Perhaps I'll change my mind when I see the fans and current players (like Holliday and Pujols) join the vigilante crowd. The Cardinals owners are still supporting McGwire or he wouldn't be on staff. That's telling.
But by and large, the fans continue to give McGwire an ovation. That's telling. They know and accept that he has done wrong, they are just forgiving. That is where the dichotomy exists between fans and the media on this issue. Fans also seem to understand that we can't have a culture where "it's OK if my guy is doing it, but woe to guys on the other team".
That's not right and it is part of the reason we are where we are in the first place. "The Cone of Silence" and all. Yes, I invoked the "Cone of Silence". It didn't work in the "Get Smart" episodes and it hasn't worked too well in this fiasco.
The Cone of Silence from Wikipedia - So if you don't know, now you know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence
CONE OF SILENCE - from YouTube - CLASSIC!!
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This is at the heart of how baseball got so far off the tracks. This Cone of Silence. I just think the media should step up and accept some blame as well. They took to the road of denial even as late as to protect "the product" from contamination by Jose Canseco when his first book was published.
My synopsis of the failing of the media can best be summed up by the mournful wailing of Bruce Springsteen at the end of his epic song "Jungleland" when he sings:
Outside the streets on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all,
They just stand back and let it all be
WOW!!! A "Get Smart" and a Springsteen reference in one post. Now that's AWESOME.
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TIME NOW FOR A CONVERSATION WITH CARLTON FISK (AND THE SLAV aka CS)
CARLTON FISK INTERVIEW WITH THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE'S Fred Mitchell with my comments (CS) added.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-0120-mitchell-fisk-mcgwire--20100119,0,1301492.story
"I didn't just find this out, I worked hard in the gym to look like I did and feel like I felt. (Catching) took a toll on me, too. A lot of people knew. Nobody wanted to really address the issue.
"But when you have some of these obscene numbers being put up by people who shouldn't even be there. … I mean, you know what's going on. … The people it should have been most obvious to are the people who covered it up by not addressing it."
CS - That is so right!!, Here we agree. Too many, who stood idly by and could have done something early, but didn't. They didn't because they were ALL profiteering as a result of it. To leave this out of the equation and scapegoat others is a bit repugnant. And now the silent majority are struggling with their own feeling of GUILT. "Why didn't I come forward?" GREED would be my guess. GLUTTONY perhaps. Times were good, everyone was getting fat and happy. Don't worry Carlton, you're absolved. What's that quote about 'all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to remain silent'. We saw similar feelings of guilt rise in Germany after the Holocaust.
The jails are filled with guys who acquiesced, remained silent, profited from or were complicit in crimes that were committed and did little or nothing to stop them when they could have. They call them accomplices.
"You don't blame people for not ratting them out; you blame the people who abused the pharmaceutical world," Fisk said. "It's not like you are taking a couple of aspirin and you don't know what's going on. (Non-prescription steroid use has been) a federal offense for a long time, regardless of whether baseball was recognizing it and putting rules into place. The people who did it … they were breaking the law to start with. It doesn't have to be a baseball law. They knew what they were doing and the reason they were doing it. Now they are sorry because they are getting called out."
CS - So exonerate your own and other players "complicity by silence" by using the pejorative term "ratting them out" instead of "doing the right thing". All the while you ALL were cashing the checks. Exonerate MLB for "doing nothing" instead of "doing the right thing" ALL the while they were giddy that the turnstiles were humming and the cash registers were ringing. GREAT!!!
That probably will not play well in Peoria. Or with anyone having an IQ above room temperature.
"(McGwire) says, 'Well, it doesn't help eye-and-hand coordination.' Well, of course it does. It allows you more acuity physically and mentally and optically. You are going to be stronger and you are going to be better," said Fisk, who starred for the Red Sox and White Sox.
CS - Jury is still out on this one in the scientific community. Bigger, stronger, faster does not always equate to better in baseball. If it were that easy, guys would have been in the weight room a lot sooner, with or without PED's. And they would still be there today.
We only see the guys who PED's allegedly helped. The tip of the iceberg. There is not much attention paid to those who tried PED's and and failed miserably. I don't know why I just thought of seeing Lenny Dykstra in the 1986 World Series on ESPN Classic last night, but I just did. Was his career aided or set back? Hard to say because you cannot prove (or disprove) the counter-factual. Everyone is relying on their gut instincts in this regard, which implies a high level of emotion thrown into the mix, which is gasoline on the fire of reasoned thinking.
"Some of these numbers that are out there are really warped. Should they be considered? You saw how McGwire was viewed in the Hall of Fame voting. If you take the length of time that (steroid abusers) use that stuff and subtract 15 or 20 home runs a year for those guys, where are their numbers then?"
CS - This is what it is really all about for these guys, glorify me but nobody else. What these guys have done does not diminish what happened in the past, if anything it enhances it. Again, most fans with IQ's above room temperature can consider all the facts and all the numbers and make their conclusions accordingly. Let it go, dude. The numbers are not the be all and end all to the discussions. Probably never have been or Phil Rizzuto would not be in the Hall of Fame.
"That's a crock," Fisk said. "There's a reason they call it performance-enhancing drugs. That's what it does — performance enhancement. You can be good, but it's going to make you better. You can be average, but it is going to make you good. If you are below average, it is going to make you average. Some guys who went that route got their five-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can't use (steroids) anymore, they can't play anymore.
"And steroids, during that time, probably did as much to escalate players' salaries as did free agency, as did arbitration, and all of that stuff. It did more than just put home runs up on the board or money in the guys' pocket."
CS - A rising tide lifts all boats, my man. Which means you benefited as well. If average salaries went up, and they clearly did, and you were a players during that period, which you were, then you benefited as well. You and your ilk had your chance to come clean and nip this thing in the bud as well and you did not. I do not have to think long and hard to come up with a reason for the collective silence. The checks cleared, right?
Be the first one to suggest that players give back a portion of their salaries that were paid to them and that owners give back some of the profits to be paid into a fund to reimburse fans who purchased tickets during the era. That would be an interesting meeting to attend. Trying to figure out the respective payouts. As a fan, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a refund.
"Try having your knees operated on and catching for 30 years," Fisk said. "Do you think you feel good when you go out there? (McGwire) had to stand around and play first base. So excuuuuuse me.
CS - Come on, give me a bucket, Carlton
"The reason he (Clemens) got let go from the Red Sox was because he was starting to break down," Fisk said. "His last couple of years in Boston just weren't very productive, a la 'The Rocket.' Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards (in '97 and '98). Come on, give me a bucket.
"It's obvious to players. You notice that stuff. You know how hard it is to play the game. You know how hard it is to be productive at any age, but especially at an older age. You see guys who are as productive later on as they were early (in their careers). It offends guys that stayed clean. But (the abusers) set their great, great, great grandchildren up for the rest of their lives.
CS - If it was so obvious to players at that time, and you were so aggrieved by the OBVIOUS behavior, then you should have been more confrontational at the time. Speak to your union rep if you didn't want to confront guys individually.
Given how you confronted Deion Sanders in the batters box one time about his "behavior"--I believe he was drawing a $ sign in the box or some other such nonsense that went against the unwritten baseball "code"--one would think that you would be bold enough to be confrontational about this issue of such greater importance.
No shit about Clemens, Sherlock. I was down with that when all the clown-asses were holding up Bonds as the only criminal in baseball. You can look that one up, as Casey Stengel would say. It's about time everyone took the blinders off.
Don't worry, we know ex-Red Sox players were all clean. The Mitchell Report told us so.
"Guys are bigger, guys are stronger, granted. Strength and conditioning and all of the knowledge that goes into being a bigger, better and stronger athlete is at everybody's disposal right now. Guys are bigger and stronger. Better? I don't know about that. But there is more stuff available to guys today.
CS- "Better? I don't know about that?" Do I detect a bit of envy/jealousy in your voice Carlton? Better is clearly in the eye of the beholder and it seems as if the fans voted with their dollars and their fannies and said "Yes, better". Baseball was catapulted to a position where it was beginning to reclaim it's rightful position from football as America's past time. And everybody was on board. EVERYBODY in that era benefited in some fashion. Users, yes. Higher numbers, higher salaries. Non-users, yes. You forget about the economic theory of a rising tide lifting all boats. EVERYBODY'S salary went up on average. The owners clearly did not discriminate between users and non-users when doling out salary. And I don't see ANYONE giving the money back. And I don't see many, if any, fans asking for their money back. Of lesser crimes have class-action lawsuits been made. Especially when fraudulent behavior is involved.
"I think back to when baseball was scuffling to recapture the passion of the American fan after the '94 season. I think baseball and everybody involved in the decision-making at every level just turned their head and said: 'This is good for baseball, look at the prosperity of the game. It's growing and growing and growing.'
"And now it's (in bad shape) because it wasn't addressed back when the rest of us knew. How did that guy (using steroids) outgrow his uniform?"
CS - You are correct sir. So we should weep for all of these Johnny-Come-Lately moralists who had the opportunity to, as you say "rat these guys out" and DID NOT? And now you are struggling with your own guilt feelings of "why didn't I stand up and say something?" and instead of owning up to why you DIDN'T stand up you guys want to lash out, scapegoat and point fingers.
Great way to move forward.
Come on, give me a bucket Carlton.
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A CONVERSATION WITH JACK CLARK AND ANDY VAN SLYKE (AND THE SLAV aka CS)
from espn.com
Ex-Cards slugger says ban McGwire
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4828816
Jack Clark's time in the spotlight fell mostly in the years before the so-called steroids era.
That didn't stop the former Cardinals and Giants All-Star slugger from revealing an extreme distaste for players who might have availed themselves of a performance-enhancing drug during their time in the big leagues.
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CS - Hey Jack, loved you when you were with the Giants. Sorry you came along before salaries really exploded to the level they have today. But it seems like when you played guys from the 60's and 70' thought you guys were overpaid jackasses too.
"All those guys are cheaters -- A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez]. Fake, phony. Rafael
Palmeiro. Fake, a phony," Clark told the newspaper. "[Roger] Clemens, [Barry] Bonds. [Sammy] Sosa. Fakes. Phonies. They don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
CS - I wonder if the people you left holding the bag when you declared bankruptcy would feel the same about you, but I digress.
"Steroid abusers and suspected users "are all lucky they didn't end up in jail. It's all comical to a certain point. It's a three-ring circus. It really is. From [commissioner] Bud Selig to Tony [La Russa] to A-Rod to Manny Ramirez to Palmeiro ... What a joke."
CS - Now, now Jack. You know that law enforcement rarely if ever falls hard on users, only dealers. Agreed on what a joke it is and how it extends to the highest levels in baseball. Still waiting for my apology from there. I won't hold my breath waiting because they must be afraid that they may have to give money back to fans due to perpetuating a fraud.
"[McGwire's] own manager never knew that [Jose] Canseco and McGwire and anybody else ever had taken steroids? Trust me, from [a former player], I have a lot of insight into who did what and when but I'm not even going to talk about it. It really doesn't matter."
CS - Now, now Jack. You know player silence (your own included) was part of the problem. Agree with you again on how it also infected managers, strength coaches, trainers, GM's and owners. All the way up the line. Seems like just like at Abu Gharib however, the folks on the lowest level of the food chain take the blame. The higher ups give speeches on the issue and make more money and power and fame, the lower level grunts go to jail.
"This thing stretches a long way back and it's really ugly and just really shocking."
CS - Somebody should have spoken up.
"These guys are playing the game for their own benefits and it's really disgusting. ... They go up there and shed a tear and they think all is forgotten. Well, it's not forgotten and it never will be."
"He should not be in baseball. He should be banned from baseball more than ever.
CS - Because we are such a forgiving country and junk, right Jack? Are you sure some of this anger doesn't revolve around the fact that McGwire is the current Cardinals hitting coach and you are the ex-. Sucks to be the ex- anything I suppose, but I know ex's aren't supposed to like current's. I just have to ask the wives. Thanks for your time, Jack.
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from the same espn.com story, Andy Val Slyke's comments on McGwire
"There's a lot of finger-pointing by Mark McGwire," Van Slyke continued. "He blames it on not being tested and he blames it on the era. Why would you blame baseball for taking steroids?
CS - There's also a measure of accountability, something that has been lacking from "baseball" meaning the MLB and ownership.
"That's like me saying the reason I was drunk-driving was because I knew that on this particular highway, they didn't have anything for me to blow into."
CS - Just like a ballplayer to mess up an analogy. Actually it's interesting that you bring up the DUI analogy because there are analogies to the DUI problem in this country and how it was handled and how it changed. But it doesn't fit the narrative the media wants to portray. They have , for the most part, summarily dismissed the "cultural argument" because it forces them to accept "some" accountability. They would rather accept none.
Back to the DUI analogy. At one time drinking and driving was considered somewhat socially acceptable. Like smoking at your desk at the office, that has gone the way of the dinosaur. If it were not for the persistence of vocal "outsider" group like MADD (Mothers against drunk Driving) its doubtful if those in power would have addressed the problem.
What I liken it more to is when a STOP sign is taken down at an intersection, people will unknowingly violate the law. As we see, even when there is STOP signs posted, and this is the key--LITTLE OR NO ENFORCEMENT--people will violate the law. Look at the enactment of seat-belt laws for a parallel.
Pointing to a Fay Vincent memo in 1991 that had no enforcement or penalties attached is rather meaningless, with all due respect to the former Commissioner. I'm not saying it's right. It is however, a matter of human behavior and as long as the rosters are filled by humans.....well you know where I'm going with this conclusion.
Anyway, I am happy as always to have been of service. Thanks for your time, Andy.
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