Friday, March 31, 2006
Jeffrey Loria is a SCUMBAG
(this was written exclusively for Zisk #12, which hit the newstands in time for opening day, let me know if you want a hard copy)
Jeffrey Loria is a greedy scumbag, a lying rat and a cancer to all of baseball. I know many baseball fans hate George Steinbrenner, and consider the money he spent on the Yankees to be unfair, uncompetitive, etc. At least King George was loyal to the Yankees and did all that he could to put the best product on the field for the fans. You may argue with his tactics, which were all within the rules, but the results speak for themselves.
Loria has demonstrated his selfishness repeatedly and has driven two franchises into the ground in just over a half a decade. He obviously has no value for the fans of his teams, the franchise itself or the local taxpayers. He also has no clear understanding of the term loyalty. He holds teams and communities hostages to his whim and makes the entire baseball community worse off because of his actions. If any of these constituents are unable to meet his demands to make more money for him then he simply picks up his marbles and moves somewhere else, leaving behind a trail of destruction that takes years to clean up.
First a little history lesson to refresh our memory about Loria courtesy of the Baseball Library.
“Loria was outbid for the Baltimore Orioles by Peter Angelos in 1993 but spent $75 million for a controlling interest in the cash-strapped Montreal Expos in 1999. Although he allowed the club's purse strings to open slightly in order to sign free-agent reliever Graeme Lloyd and trade for starter Hideki Irabu, the decisions were not wise ones and the Expos continued to struggle.
At the time Loria purchased the Expos, he promised that he was going to make every effort to keep the Expos in Montreal, and build them into a contender. The NY Times article, New Montreal Owner Is Swinging With His Checkbook by Murray Chass on December 26, 1999. Loria is quoted as saying:
''I want to strengthen this team in as many areas as I can,'' Loria said. ''As the new owner here, I feel I have an obligation to move things forward. No more business as usual.''
''First of all, I think they have a terrific organization,'' he said. ''Player development there has always been first rate. The city's a beautiful city. They've had a history of strong fan support for baseball. One of the problems in recent years was the team wasn't a winning team. They weren't a strong club, and players were in flight.''
''By establishing stability, commencing a new marketing program and bringing in a winning attitude and winning players,'' Loria said, ''we can build this franchise to where it was in the 80's and the early 90's. In '94 they were on track to win the pennant when the strike came.''
Besides giving (new GM Jim) Beattie more money to work with and Manager Felipe Alou better players to work with, Loria is intent on selling Montreal and Quebec on a new ballpark. ''We're working on it right now with the government,'' he said. ''I'm always optimistic.''
It seems he is only optimistic when he gets what he wants; my four year old is the same way. The Baseball Library continues its history.
Cynics suggested that Loria had no intention of keeping the Expos in Montreal; speculation that was fueled in June 2000 by his tactless response to an Air Canada flight attendant who asked him to turn off his cell phone before takeoff. "No wonder everybody wants to leave Canada," Loria grumbled.
Loria made waves on the field, as well. He invited Maury Wills and Jeff Torborg to spring training as instructors in 2000 without consulting manager Felipe Alou, and a year later he hired Torborg to replace the popular skipper.”
May 30, 2001: The Expos fire manager Felipe Alou, their skipper since May 1992. Owner Jeffrey Loria says the team has been under performing and needs a change. The new manager is his long-time friend Jeff Torborg, who is also an old friend of Alou's. The 66-year-old Alou, with the Expos organization for 27 years, turned down the job of managing the Dodgers after the 1997 season to stay in Montreal. A year later he called that a big mistake.
December 6, 2001: Major league baseball reportedly gives John Henry permission to sell the Florida Marlins to Montreal Expos owner, Jeffrey Loria. The Expos are expected to be either contracted or taken over by Major League Baseball, which would buy the team from Loria in case contraction is aborted, leaving him an opportunity to own the Marlins.
February 11, 2002: Major league baseball owners approve the sales of the Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos. Florida owner John Henry is selling the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria for $158.5 million, while Loria is selling the Expos to Baseball Expos LP, a limited partnership owned by the other 29 teams, for $120 million. The sales won't officially close until later this week.
February 16, 2002: The sale of the Florida Marlins to a group headed by Jeffrey Loria becomes official.
The whole Expos-Marlins-Red Sox ownership fiasco looked awfully fishy at the time, and it still remains a bit putrid, except for the AL Boston franchise. Loria failed to build a decent franchise in Montreal as he promised to do. Then, Bud Selig and the 29 other MLB teams bought the Expos. Loria, was then given the keys to another franchise, the Florida Marlins, in spite of the fact that in 3 short years he had driven the Expos from a team on the brink of relevance, with a grand history, to the brink of near destruction and contraction. Let us not forget that the minority owners of the Expos also sued Loria as Wikipedia says:
This transaction prompted a RICO lawsuit by minority shareholders of the Expos. The suit accused Loria and his staff of conduct "that effectively destroyed the economic viability of baseball in Montreal (that) included removing the Expos from local television, subverting well-developed plans for a new baseball stadium in downtown Montreal, purposefully alienating Expos' sponsors and investors, abandoning agreed-upon financial plans for the franchise, and undermining a planned recapitalization of the franchise that would have added new Canadian partners.
In December 2001, Selig said the Expos and the Minnesota Twins, (whose owner Carl Pohland is another greedy scumbag) were no longer worthy of existence in MLB and decided that the best thing to do was to get rid of these two franchises through contraction. After the contraction experiment failed, the Expos ultimately became nomads for the next three years (we all remember a Canadian team playing home games in San Juan PR) as they wandered North America and the Caribbean looking for home, trying to determine if they were going to be contracted, without a real owner and unable to make personnel moves without the explicit written approval of its 29 other competitors. Talk about a shitty legacy that is exactly what Loria left in Montreal. Finally, the Expos moved last year (2005) to Washington DC and became the Washington Nationals, though they are still owned by MLB and are still looking for a permanent stadium in the DC area. There future is beginning to brighten, and hopefully better times are ahead for this franchise.
Meanwhile, Marlins owner John Henry takes his $150 million-plus chunk of change to buy a piece of the Red Sox. Which coincidently enough, was not even the high bid for the Red Sox, but was the “winning” bid because Henry was a friend of Bud, and the commissioner influenced the Yawkey family to sell to insiders rather than the highest bidder. This obviously turned out well for Red Sox Nation as the finally broke “The Curse of the Bambino” by winning the World Series in 2004.
How about the other franchise involved in this transaction? The Florida Marlins were now Jeffrey Loria’s team. They were born in 1992 and began play in 1993. They were newer than the Expos and played in south Florida, what should be a hot bed of baseball fans. He was no longer in cold, hockey happy French speaking Montreal. The National League franchise from Florida already had a winning history, having won the World Series in 1997. Though owner H. Wayne Huizenga quickly dismantled the World Series champ in a shameless fire sale and sold the franchise to John Henry in 1998.
So what does the new owner think about his new team? Here is a quote from the Baseball Prospectus from the weeks of Jan 28 – Feb 17, 2002:
"I don't see any reason why this club can't compete for the division and win It." - Jeff Loria, Marlins owner, on his new team
This certainly seemed to be true a year later in 2003. The Marlins made the playoffs as a wildcard then beat the Giants, the Cubs (Bartman!!!) and the Yankees to win their 2nd World Series Championships in 6 years. Was this the beginning of a new dynasty? Were the Marlins going to be a lasting force in major league baseball, and make Miami, a great and true-blue (teal) baseball town? No, of course not. Loria was unwilling to rest on his team’s success to build up the franchise’s brand and develop a long-term fan base within the community who would help fight for a new stadium and revenue sharing and everything else associated with a well run professional sports organization.
From the time he bought the team in 2002, he almost immediately began demanding South Florida residents to build and pay for a new stadium (sounds amazingly familiar to the Montreal experience, minus the World Series victory). Now once again, Loria is saying if he cannot get a new stadium his way (by the taxpayers building and paying for it) he is going to take this franchise and move to another community.
During this off-season, Loria received permission from MLB to begin seeking out other communities to which to relocate the Marlins. I am sure he will hold an auction and those communities that are willing to line Loria’s pockets and are considered the closest friends of Bud (sorry Las Vegas) will wind up with the hopefully renamed Marlins franchise (Utah Jazz?) Meanwhile, what has the off-season wrought for the few fans of the Fish that are left? Another Fire sale!!
Joe Girardi was hired away from the Yankees to be their manager, replacing the aged Jack McKeon. On October 19, 2005, the day Girardi was hired, I hope he had no idea what lay ahead. After the season Todd Jones (CL), AJ Burnett (SP), Jeff Conine (U), Alex Gonzalez (SS), Lenny Harris (PH), Ismael Valdez (SP) and Juan Encarnacion (OF) all file for free agency are not retained by the Marlins for the upcoming 2006 season.
On November 21, the Marlins traded World Series MVP Josh Beckett (SP), Mike Lowell (3B) and Guillermo Mota (RP) to the aforementioned Red Sox for prospects. On November 23, they sent Carlos DelGado (1B) to the Mets for prospects. On December 2, they trade Luis Castillo (2B) to the Twins for prospects. On December 5, they trade Paul Lo Doca (C) to the Mets, for prospects. On December 7, they trade Juan Pierre (OF) to the Cubs for prospects. On December 16 they trade Ron Villone (RP) to the Yankees for prospects.
So the starting Catcher (LoDuca), First Baseman (DelGado), Second Baseman (Castillo), Shortstop (Gonzalez), Third Baseman (Lowell), 2 outfielders (Pierre, Encarnacion), 3 starting pitchers (Beckett, Burnett, Valdez), 3 Relief Pithers (Jones, Mota, Villone) and 2 premier bench players (Conine, Harris) are all gone. This essentially leaves CY Young runner up Dontrelle Willis, and Miguel Cabrera as the only remaining stars on this franchise. This essentially makes the 2006 version of the Marlins a AAA franchise playing against major league talent, very similar to the Kansas City Royals of the past few years.
It is sadly ironic that for as bad as the Royals or the Pirates have been recently, that these teams have not seriously discussed or entertained the notion of moving the franchises to another location. I think this is because both KC and Pittsburgh have long healthy relationships with their communities. The owners are local, and the fan base is strong. That seems like a winning combination. Once these teams get back on track, the fans will return to the stadium. It is a fact that fans will never pack a stadium if the team is lousy and not worth watching but whenever a team that has established a solid relationship with its fans and its community, they will return when the product on the field is worth watching and spending hard earned income on this entertainment venue.
The fans in Miami have been both lucky and unlucky. They have won as many World Series Championships as the cities of Boston and Chicago since World War One ended in 1919. They have also had to witness the destruction of these teams almost as fast as they won. I realize the first example was not Jeffrey Loria’s fault, but when you look at the Expos and the resurrected Nationals, you see his fingerprints all over that debacle. Baseball is a great sport. It transcends time and true fans become attached to a team for a variety of reason. But it is impossible for a fan to build this attraction if the owner keeps standing you up, and demanding more from the fan. It is a too two-way street, and the fans will only respond positively when the owner treats them with respect. Jeffrey Loria is unable or unwilling to do this, since he is only interested in his own wallet, and that is a black mark on the world of baseball
Sources:
Baseball Library
Baseball Prospectus
ESPN Greediest owners in sports
Gainsville Sun: Girardi’s reaction:
Miami Herald - Marlins can’t win in South Florida
Miami Herald - Déjà vu
Miami Herald- Marlins Get Approval to leave South Florida
Miami Herald - Keeping Marlins Baseball
Wikipedia
Yahoo- Marlins future a big question
Jeffrey Loria is a greedy scumbag, a lying rat and a cancer to all of baseball. I know many baseball fans hate George Steinbrenner, and consider the money he spent on the Yankees to be unfair, uncompetitive, etc. At least King George was loyal to the Yankees and did all that he could to put the best product on the field for the fans. You may argue with his tactics, which were all within the rules, but the results speak for themselves.
Loria has demonstrated his selfishness repeatedly and has driven two franchises into the ground in just over a half a decade. He obviously has no value for the fans of his teams, the franchise itself or the local taxpayers. He also has no clear understanding of the term loyalty. He holds teams and communities hostages to his whim and makes the entire baseball community worse off because of his actions. If any of these constituents are unable to meet his demands to make more money for him then he simply picks up his marbles and moves somewhere else, leaving behind a trail of destruction that takes years to clean up.
First a little history lesson to refresh our memory about Loria courtesy of the Baseball Library.
“Loria was outbid for the Baltimore Orioles by Peter Angelos in 1993 but spent $75 million for a controlling interest in the cash-strapped Montreal Expos in 1999. Although he allowed the club's purse strings to open slightly in order to sign free-agent reliever Graeme Lloyd and trade for starter Hideki Irabu, the decisions were not wise ones and the Expos continued to struggle.
At the time Loria purchased the Expos, he promised that he was going to make every effort to keep the Expos in Montreal, and build them into a contender. The NY Times article, New Montreal Owner Is Swinging With His Checkbook by Murray Chass on December 26, 1999. Loria is quoted as saying:
''I want to strengthen this team in as many areas as I can,'' Loria said. ''As the new owner here, I feel I have an obligation to move things forward. No more business as usual.''
''First of all, I think they have a terrific organization,'' he said. ''Player development there has always been first rate. The city's a beautiful city. They've had a history of strong fan support for baseball. One of the problems in recent years was the team wasn't a winning team. They weren't a strong club, and players were in flight.''
''By establishing stability, commencing a new marketing program and bringing in a winning attitude and winning players,'' Loria said, ''we can build this franchise to where it was in the 80's and the early 90's. In '94 they were on track to win the pennant when the strike came.''
Besides giving (new GM Jim) Beattie more money to work with and Manager Felipe Alou better players to work with, Loria is intent on selling Montreal and Quebec on a new ballpark. ''We're working on it right now with the government,'' he said. ''I'm always optimistic.''
It seems he is only optimistic when he gets what he wants; my four year old is the same way. The Baseball Library continues its history.
Cynics suggested that Loria had no intention of keeping the Expos in Montreal; speculation that was fueled in June 2000 by his tactless response to an Air Canada flight attendant who asked him to turn off his cell phone before takeoff. "No wonder everybody wants to leave Canada," Loria grumbled.
Loria made waves on the field, as well. He invited Maury Wills and Jeff Torborg to spring training as instructors in 2000 without consulting manager Felipe Alou, and a year later he hired Torborg to replace the popular skipper.”
May 30, 2001: The Expos fire manager Felipe Alou, their skipper since May 1992. Owner Jeffrey Loria says the team has been under performing and needs a change. The new manager is his long-time friend Jeff Torborg, who is also an old friend of Alou's. The 66-year-old Alou, with the Expos organization for 27 years, turned down the job of managing the Dodgers after the 1997 season to stay in Montreal. A year later he called that a big mistake.
December 6, 2001: Major league baseball reportedly gives John Henry permission to sell the Florida Marlins to Montreal Expos owner, Jeffrey Loria. The Expos are expected to be either contracted or taken over by Major League Baseball, which would buy the team from Loria in case contraction is aborted, leaving him an opportunity to own the Marlins.
February 11, 2002: Major league baseball owners approve the sales of the Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos. Florida owner John Henry is selling the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria for $158.5 million, while Loria is selling the Expos to Baseball Expos LP, a limited partnership owned by the other 29 teams, for $120 million. The sales won't officially close until later this week.
February 16, 2002: The sale of the Florida Marlins to a group headed by Jeffrey Loria becomes official.
The whole Expos-Marlins-Red Sox ownership fiasco looked awfully fishy at the time, and it still remains a bit putrid, except for the AL Boston franchise. Loria failed to build a decent franchise in Montreal as he promised to do. Then, Bud Selig and the 29 other MLB teams bought the Expos. Loria, was then given the keys to another franchise, the Florida Marlins, in spite of the fact that in 3 short years he had driven the Expos from a team on the brink of relevance, with a grand history, to the brink of near destruction and contraction. Let us not forget that the minority owners of the Expos also sued Loria as Wikipedia says:
This transaction prompted a RICO lawsuit by minority shareholders of the Expos. The suit accused Loria and his staff of conduct "that effectively destroyed the economic viability of baseball in Montreal (that) included removing the Expos from local television, subverting well-developed plans for a new baseball stadium in downtown Montreal, purposefully alienating Expos' sponsors and investors, abandoning agreed-upon financial plans for the franchise, and undermining a planned recapitalization of the franchise that would have added new Canadian partners.
In December 2001, Selig said the Expos and the Minnesota Twins, (whose owner Carl Pohland is another greedy scumbag) were no longer worthy of existence in MLB and decided that the best thing to do was to get rid of these two franchises through contraction. After the contraction experiment failed, the Expos ultimately became nomads for the next three years (we all remember a Canadian team playing home games in San Juan PR) as they wandered North America and the Caribbean looking for home, trying to determine if they were going to be contracted, without a real owner and unable to make personnel moves without the explicit written approval of its 29 other competitors. Talk about a shitty legacy that is exactly what Loria left in Montreal. Finally, the Expos moved last year (2005) to Washington DC and became the Washington Nationals, though they are still owned by MLB and are still looking for a permanent stadium in the DC area. There future is beginning to brighten, and hopefully better times are ahead for this franchise.
Meanwhile, Marlins owner John Henry takes his $150 million-plus chunk of change to buy a piece of the Red Sox. Which coincidently enough, was not even the high bid for the Red Sox, but was the “winning” bid because Henry was a friend of Bud, and the commissioner influenced the Yawkey family to sell to insiders rather than the highest bidder. This obviously turned out well for Red Sox Nation as the finally broke “The Curse of the Bambino” by winning the World Series in 2004.
How about the other franchise involved in this transaction? The Florida Marlins were now Jeffrey Loria’s team. They were born in 1992 and began play in 1993. They were newer than the Expos and played in south Florida, what should be a hot bed of baseball fans. He was no longer in cold, hockey happy French speaking Montreal. The National League franchise from Florida already had a winning history, having won the World Series in 1997. Though owner H. Wayne Huizenga quickly dismantled the World Series champ in a shameless fire sale and sold the franchise to John Henry in 1998.
So what does the new owner think about his new team? Here is a quote from the Baseball Prospectus from the weeks of Jan 28 – Feb 17, 2002:
"I don't see any reason why this club can't compete for the division and win It." - Jeff Loria, Marlins owner, on his new team
This certainly seemed to be true a year later in 2003. The Marlins made the playoffs as a wildcard then beat the Giants, the Cubs (Bartman!!!) and the Yankees to win their 2nd World Series Championships in 6 years. Was this the beginning of a new dynasty? Were the Marlins going to be a lasting force in major league baseball, and make Miami, a great and true-blue (teal) baseball town? No, of course not. Loria was unwilling to rest on his team’s success to build up the franchise’s brand and develop a long-term fan base within the community who would help fight for a new stadium and revenue sharing and everything else associated with a well run professional sports organization.
From the time he bought the team in 2002, he almost immediately began demanding South Florida residents to build and pay for a new stadium (sounds amazingly familiar to the Montreal experience, minus the World Series victory). Now once again, Loria is saying if he cannot get a new stadium his way (by the taxpayers building and paying for it) he is going to take this franchise and move to another community.
During this off-season, Loria received permission from MLB to begin seeking out other communities to which to relocate the Marlins. I am sure he will hold an auction and those communities that are willing to line Loria’s pockets and are considered the closest friends of Bud (sorry Las Vegas) will wind up with the hopefully renamed Marlins franchise (Utah Jazz?) Meanwhile, what has the off-season wrought for the few fans of the Fish that are left? Another Fire sale!!
Joe Girardi was hired away from the Yankees to be their manager, replacing the aged Jack McKeon. On October 19, 2005, the day Girardi was hired, I hope he had no idea what lay ahead. After the season Todd Jones (CL), AJ Burnett (SP), Jeff Conine (U), Alex Gonzalez (SS), Lenny Harris (PH), Ismael Valdez (SP) and Juan Encarnacion (OF) all file for free agency are not retained by the Marlins for the upcoming 2006 season.
On November 21, the Marlins traded World Series MVP Josh Beckett (SP), Mike Lowell (3B) and Guillermo Mota (RP) to the aforementioned Red Sox for prospects. On November 23, they sent Carlos DelGado (1B) to the Mets for prospects. On December 2, they trade Luis Castillo (2B) to the Twins for prospects. On December 5, they trade Paul Lo Doca (C) to the Mets, for prospects. On December 7, they trade Juan Pierre (OF) to the Cubs for prospects. On December 16 they trade Ron Villone (RP) to the Yankees for prospects.
So the starting Catcher (LoDuca), First Baseman (DelGado), Second Baseman (Castillo), Shortstop (Gonzalez), Third Baseman (Lowell), 2 outfielders (Pierre, Encarnacion), 3 starting pitchers (Beckett, Burnett, Valdez), 3 Relief Pithers (Jones, Mota, Villone) and 2 premier bench players (Conine, Harris) are all gone. This essentially leaves CY Young runner up Dontrelle Willis, and Miguel Cabrera as the only remaining stars on this franchise. This essentially makes the 2006 version of the Marlins a AAA franchise playing against major league talent, very similar to the Kansas City Royals of the past few years.
It is sadly ironic that for as bad as the Royals or the Pirates have been recently, that these teams have not seriously discussed or entertained the notion of moving the franchises to another location. I think this is because both KC and Pittsburgh have long healthy relationships with their communities. The owners are local, and the fan base is strong. That seems like a winning combination. Once these teams get back on track, the fans will return to the stadium. It is a fact that fans will never pack a stadium if the team is lousy and not worth watching but whenever a team that has established a solid relationship with its fans and its community, they will return when the product on the field is worth watching and spending hard earned income on this entertainment venue.
The fans in Miami have been both lucky and unlucky. They have won as many World Series Championships as the cities of Boston and Chicago since World War One ended in 1919. They have also had to witness the destruction of these teams almost as fast as they won. I realize the first example was not Jeffrey Loria’s fault, but when you look at the Expos and the resurrected Nationals, you see his fingerprints all over that debacle. Baseball is a great sport. It transcends time and true fans become attached to a team for a variety of reason. But it is impossible for a fan to build this attraction if the owner keeps standing you up, and demanding more from the fan. It is a too two-way street, and the fans will only respond positively when the owner treats them with respect. Jeffrey Loria is unable or unwilling to do this, since he is only interested in his own wallet, and that is a black mark on the world of baseball
Sources:
Baseball Library
Baseball Prospectus
ESPN Greediest owners in sports
Gainsville Sun: Girardi’s reaction:
Miami Herald - Marlins can’t win in South Florida
Miami Herald - Déjà vu
Miami Herald- Marlins Get Approval to leave South Florida
Miami Herald - Keeping Marlins Baseball
Wikipedia
Yahoo- Marlins future a big question
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Conduct Detrimental to the Game of Baseball
So acting for life commissioner Bud Selig has decided to open an investigation into the steroid era of baseball. He has appointed former Senate majority leader George Mitchell to the role of investigating presumably Barry Bonds, and other players implicated by steroids in the recent past. Mitchell is an excellent choice, as he will be impartial and he should be respected and far enough removed from the situation to be able to make an unbiased assessment of the situation.
The biggest names involved besides Bonds are current Yankees Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield and presumably former players Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro should also be investigated. This investigation could have a significant impact on this years pennant races and could alter the record books by possibly adding an asterisk (or syringe) in the records books next to players found to be guilty or explicitly implicated by the forth coming “Mitchell” Report. This could have a wider reaching scope than the Dowd report, which sunk Pete Rose in 1989, primarily because this has the potential to affect many high profile players both past and more importantly the present.
Some say, even if Mitchell confirms what the general public already thinks about this situation, then Selig’s hands will be tied, because prior to 2003 steroid use was not explicitly prohibited by Major League Baseball. Others are saying that even if Selig suspends players based upon the findings of this investigation, the players union will step in and fight to the death to protect the implicated players, and get them back into the game as soon as possible. They will argue that steroids were not illegal at the time, they will take the league to arbitration, they will threaten to strike, and they will say the next CBA negotiation will be incredibly difficult. In the end none of this matters. Selig must act strong and decisively, or else his legacy will be worthless.
However there is one possibility that I would strongly recommend but doubt Bud Selig is willing to consider. The lifetime ban. The precedent has existed since 1920 and the commissioner can make his mark on the game in a most positive way by invoking the ghost of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
For those of you forgot, one of Landis’ first acts as commissioner was to ban the eight Chicago White Sox accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. He took this action even though they were never convicted of any crime, as the court case was left with a hung jury, nor was their enough circumstantial evidence to actually prove that the eight threw the games. What Landis did was state that the eight were banned for conduct detrimental to the game. The players were obviously and complicity associating with gamblers, whether they actually fixed any games did not matter to the Judge. The integrity of the game was what mattered to new commissioner, and showing the public that baseball was serious about putting this incident in the past and disassociating itself from the seedy underworld. That would be considered a nuclear option today, but I think that is what is necessary to restore the integrity of the game.
I have not read the Game of Shadows by Mark Fainura and Lance Williams, but I have read the excerpt in the March 7, 2006 edition of Sports Illustrated. If Bonds did 10% of what was alleged in the excerpt, then Selig has no choice but to ban Bonds for life. Without having the benefit of the investigation yet, I cannot determine who else should receive this sentence, but in order to restore the integrity of the game, a serious and permanent penalty must be imposed on all those involved. If Sheffield and Giambi are implicated, then they deserve to be reprimanded or banned as well, depending upon the depth of their transgressions. As a Yankee fan, this recommendation poses a huge risk. But as a baseball fan, the integrity of the game and knowing that the league is serious about keeping the playing field level is much more important for the long term health of this sport.
Good luck Senator Mitchell
The biggest names involved besides Bonds are current Yankees Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield and presumably former players Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro should also be investigated. This investigation could have a significant impact on this years pennant races and could alter the record books by possibly adding an asterisk (or syringe) in the records books next to players found to be guilty or explicitly implicated by the forth coming “Mitchell” Report. This could have a wider reaching scope than the Dowd report, which sunk Pete Rose in 1989, primarily because this has the potential to affect many high profile players both past and more importantly the present.
Some say, even if Mitchell confirms what the general public already thinks about this situation, then Selig’s hands will be tied, because prior to 2003 steroid use was not explicitly prohibited by Major League Baseball. Others are saying that even if Selig suspends players based upon the findings of this investigation, the players union will step in and fight to the death to protect the implicated players, and get them back into the game as soon as possible. They will argue that steroids were not illegal at the time, they will take the league to arbitration, they will threaten to strike, and they will say the next CBA negotiation will be incredibly difficult. In the end none of this matters. Selig must act strong and decisively, or else his legacy will be worthless.
However there is one possibility that I would strongly recommend but doubt Bud Selig is willing to consider. The lifetime ban. The precedent has existed since 1920 and the commissioner can make his mark on the game in a most positive way by invoking the ghost of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
For those of you forgot, one of Landis’ first acts as commissioner was to ban the eight Chicago White Sox accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. He took this action even though they were never convicted of any crime, as the court case was left with a hung jury, nor was their enough circumstantial evidence to actually prove that the eight threw the games. What Landis did was state that the eight were banned for conduct detrimental to the game. The players were obviously and complicity associating with gamblers, whether they actually fixed any games did not matter to the Judge. The integrity of the game was what mattered to new commissioner, and showing the public that baseball was serious about putting this incident in the past and disassociating itself from the seedy underworld. That would be considered a nuclear option today, but I think that is what is necessary to restore the integrity of the game.
I have not read the Game of Shadows by Mark Fainura and Lance Williams, but I have read the excerpt in the March 7, 2006 edition of Sports Illustrated. If Bonds did 10% of what was alleged in the excerpt, then Selig has no choice but to ban Bonds for life. Without having the benefit of the investigation yet, I cannot determine who else should receive this sentence, but in order to restore the integrity of the game, a serious and permanent penalty must be imposed on all those involved. If Sheffield and Giambi are implicated, then they deserve to be reprimanded or banned as well, depending upon the depth of their transgressions. As a Yankee fan, this recommendation poses a huge risk. But as a baseball fan, the integrity of the game and knowing that the league is serious about keeping the playing field level is much more important for the long term health of this sport.
Good luck Senator Mitchell
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Things you have to believe to be a Republican today.....
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
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