Braun Free Pass on Technicality Is Bad for Baseball

Article first published as Braun Free Pass on Technicality Is Bad for Baseball on Blogcritics.

So now we know how it goes in regard to Major League Baseball testing a player for a PED (performance enhancing drug). You get a really good lawyer, you find a loophole, and you get away with it. If Commissioner Bud Selig doesn't realize that this is bad for baseball, then he is hiding behind a curtain somewhere like the Wizard of Oz, hoping that people will fear his altered voice and the smoke and mirrors about there being zero tolerance for drugs that make one hundred pound weaklings into sultans of swat. Yeah, right.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun professed his innocence during a press conference after reporting to spring training in Phoenix on Friday, February 24. Braun said that MLB's testing program is "Absolutely fatally flawed." He also blamed the media, the process for collecting urine samples, the guy who collected it, and everyone else except the most glaringly obvious person: himself. He said, "I would bet my life this substance never entered my body." Okay, Ryan, don't go near Vegas anytime soon.

The problem here is not that a guy got past the process for the first time after being ruled a violator, but with the guy who got the pass. This isn't just a lowly shortstop playing for any team, but rather the National League MVP and star of the Milwaukee Brewers, a team which Selig once owned. If these things start to make you uncomfortable, think about how Selig was going to make steroids and other PEDs a big issue, but somehow allowed the Barry Bonds drama to stay on the back burner until Bonds hit his record breaking homers.

The question is in essence what is good for baseball? Guys pumped up with drugs hitting homers, winning championships, and filling the seats, or MLB taking a stand and shutting them down? Now, with Braun's free pass, I think the answer should be obvious.

Braun is a poster boy for the feel-good image Selig wants baseball to project. He is good looking, talented, and knows how to play the game. He is not the angry Barry Bonds, the press unfriendly guy who ballooned into a swollen home run god. So the press didn't like Bonds and then it seemed to be that he was going to go to jail. That was it. Baseball couldn't or wouldn't protect him or any violator of the drug policy - until now.

I am certain Braun will have his defenders, and there are a lot of young ladies in Milwaukee (and elsewhere I imagine) that are relieved that he won't be suspended for 50 games. His team needs him; Milwaukee needs him, MLB needs him, right?

The sad part is that this opens a door, and Selig - that Wizard behind the curtain - is not going to be able to use any tricks to get it closed. One guy got away with it. Yes, he says he is innocent - as did Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and too many others to mention. They always say they are innocent. Always.

So forget talk about asterisks on Bonds' record. Forget talk about keeping guys out of the Hall of Fame because Braun doesn't miss one game. Either there is a policy and zero tolerance or there is not. At this point, other players are thinking about their home run totals, batting averages, earned run averages, and prospects for the Hall of Fame. They have options and now an open door. What happens next, Mr. Selig?

Photo Credit - Getty Images

Joe Paterno - An American Tragedy

Article first published as Joe Paterno - An American Tragedy on Blogcritics.

"The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones."
- Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In Shakespeare's great play, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar is brought down by some of his former friends, including BFF Brutus. Of course, had Caesar only headed the warning from others around him, he would have been in his palace eating grapes instead of dead on the Senate floor, but then we wouldn't have the tragic story Shakespeare told so well.

I recall reading Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy back in college, and it seemed to me to be one of the most solemn works, the heft of which weighed on me long after I had read it. The quick summary could be something about the main character, Clyde Griffiths, coming from a modest family and working his way to the top, only to be brought crashing down by his own desire for wealth and success.

When we think of Joe Paterno now after the horrific Penn State scandal that brought him down, it is not as the winningest coach in college football history. Sadly, he has been vilified for (if nothing else) lacking the discernment to report Jerry Sandusky to the authorities after his efforts within the Penn State system brought no action. Of course, Paterno's famous line that he should have done more echoes ominously now, as he has passed on and left a fractured legacy in his wake.

What exactly is a tragedy? People regularly misuse the word, but if you look at Aristotle's definition of it, tragedy has to do with a fall that was inevitable. Tragic heroes are noble in some way, have great ability, and they are admirable for the great things they do, but one thing stops them along the way: they have a deadly (tragic) flaw.

People who study these kinds of things will tell you all about tragic heroes like Hamlet, who could not decide what to do until it was too late to do it. If procrastination got Joe Paterno, it was undoubtedly after the fact. Paterno did report the incident involving Sandusky and a young boy to university authorities, but this went nowhere. Years and years passed and then the truth finally came out. One can question what Paterno was thinking all that time, and either the incident was forgotten or conveniently put aside in his thought process.

We all know the rest of the story, and Paterno ended up getting fired even after he decided to quit, so much for a quiet life of retirement. Then we learned that Paterno had lung cancer, and three months or so later he is dead. Today a private funeral was held for the man, with a public memorial set for Thursday with thousands of people expected to attend. We can wonder if Paterno died more from a broken heart than from lung cancer, but there is no explaining the unexplainable.

So many of his former players have spoken about their love for "JoePa." We hear from them that Paterno was a good - even a great - man. To me he seems more like a King Lear type in a sense, perhaps more sinned against than sinning, another tragic figure who misjudges people and their intentions. He only understands the truth about good and evil too late; alas, this seems to be the case with Paterno as well.

We cannot debate with those who knew the good man Joe Paterno was, but it would be difficult to not see the other side of those abused boys or their family members, who view Paterno's inaction as a sort of evil. Now, those who knew Paterno loved him and probably will never see what he did (or didn't do) as evil, yet most of us would see sexually abusing children as something quite evil, and a failure to report that as being like an accessory to the crime.

How Joe Paterno will be seen in sports history is yet to be determined, for in sports the infamous and the legendary often stand side by side. Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame, but someone who was known as a racist (Ty Cobb) is in there. While I am not certain how "evil" gambling is (they play Bingo in churches all over the country don't they?), I am sure that racism is an ugly and evil thing, and yet plenty of people forget about the dark side of Cobb as the years go by.

Right now Joe Paterno can be seen as a tragic figure, and perhaps the best thing to come out of this mess is that college football has been changed forever by what happened at Penn State. People in colleges and universities all across the country must face what happened there and learn from it; otherwise, there is a good chance this could happen again somewhere. When even one child suffers unnecessarily, all children (and their parents) suffer as well. If we allow things like this to continue to happen, then we are not part of the solution but part of the problem, and that will indeed be an American tragedy.

Photo Credit - AP

Former Mets Catcher Gary Carter Has Cancer Scare

Article first published as Former Mets Catcher Gary Carter Has Cancer Scare on Blogcritics.

It was reported this weekend that former New York Mets catcher Gary "Kid" Carter has been diagnosed with four small brain tumors. Carter released a statement in which he bravely discussed the situation and asked for respect for his family as he waited to learn more about how he will handle the situation.


This is sad news indeed for Mets fans - and all baseball fans - for Carter surely epitomized the type of play we would want all players to embrace in sports. He was always a very positive influence in the clubhouse during his five years with the Mets (and his overall 19 year career), and his effervescent smile and "we can win" attitude was certainly an important part of Carter's appeal.

As one of the central figures of the 1986 Championship Mets, Carter loomed as a strong and stable personality. In a turbulent clubhouse with many larger than life players, Carter's steady nature was needed and the other players knew that. He hit 24 homers, drove in 105 runs, but it was his handling of the pitching staff (and sometimes other personal clubhouse matters) that made him a leader on that team.

People may remember some big moments from the 1986 Series, and one image usually stands out (the ball that went through Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's wickets). Still, it was Carter who knocked in 11 runs in that seven game series and provided a key hit against Boston's closer Calvin Schiraldi when the game was down to the final strike. No Carter hit - no championship. It's that simple.

Carter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, and he has always been respected by Mets fans (and other fans of the game too) for his "Kid" persona. He has seemed eternally youthful in his attitude about the game and loved playing it in a way just like his nickname suggests. Major League Baseball is a man's game, but Carter always made it look like he was having fun. Maybe that's his greatest legacy of all.

So while we wait and hope to hear good news about this baseball legend's condition, let's all remember what kind of player Carter was: he never gave up, even down to the last strike in the World Series. That should tell us something about how the "Kid" will handle what lies ahead.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Hell of Fame: Manny Ramirez "Retires" From Baseball

Article first published as Hell of Fame: Manny Ramirez "Retires" From Baseball on Blogcritics.

Word that Manny Ramirez was "retiring" from baseball (after a 1-17 start with Tampa Bay) didn't send shock waves through the land. After news leaked that he had a problem with drug testing - that could land him on 100 days suspension - Ramirez opted for the relatively easy way out.

Of course, Ramirez has never been easy to figure out, but he helped the Red Sox win two World Series titles and has been seen as one of the most talented players in the game, certainly considered by many as one of the truly gifted hitters. His potential for an explosive bat that could lead a team to the crown always seemed to outweigh his penchant for wearing out his welcome.


Just looking at his statistics - Career: 555 HR, .312 BA , 1831 RBI - the twelve-time All-Star would have seemed to have been a shoe in for the Baseball Hall of Fame but, now after this latest drug test, it is more likely his retirement will be seen as forced and the likelihood of his earning a berth in Cooperstown will be highly doubtful.

This happens as the jury in the Barry Bonds Trial deliberates his fate out in San Francisco, and this summer we have the Roger Clemens Show waiting to come to a TV screen near you. The steroid era is certainly coming into a new place in our consciousness, and is it possible that Ramirez thinks that by retiring that he sweeps the problem under the rug? The truth is he - and probably other big stars - will have their own dates in court in the future, and they have no one to blame (not the trainers, the drug dealers, Major League Baseball, the owners) but themselves.

If the whole thing were a Shakespearean play, The Steroid Era would most definitely be a tragedy, and those once highly respected and idolized are going to end up like most of the characters in Hamlet or other such plays in the end, but in this case they are being taken down by their own swords (in a sort of baseball hara-kiri). So now Manny can join a growing list in a Hell of Fame of their own creation, where something decidedly more dark than flights of angels will sing them to anything but rest.

Photo Credit: bostoncondoloft.com