Keep the Right away from baseball
Madame Cura suggested I was becoming too predictable. That by listening to the echo chamber of lefty blogs and Air America, I was just joining the din and becoming a caricature. Moi?
So I took her advice and searched out some righty blogs. And what do I find? Things like this:
"Selig, in my opinion, has done an awful job. A strong commissioner would've settled the egregious state of limbo that the Montreal Expos exist in by now, whether the team is moved to D.C., Monterey (my choice), or Puerto Rico. The crippling 1994 strike, a season in which the World Series was cancelled, is on his watch. So was the politically correct punishment of then-Atlanta Brave John Rocker, who made the mistake of making offensive remarks about New York City to an eager Sports Illustrated reporter. Rocker, at the time a dominant relief pitcher, was forced to attend sensitivity training sessions and became a whipping boy for elitists in the Northeast and California. His career was ruined."
While I agree with New Partisan that Selig has been a terrible comiss. and that Wills would be an even worse one (add pomposity to an innate ability to consistently do what's wrong for baseball), bringing John Rocker in to it is a typically false argument the Right uses to combine two disparate issues.
Just so's I'm clear, was it the sensitivity training or the elites who ruined his career?
For the record. Rocker was not driven from baseball because he was a racist jerk. Baseball is famous for successful jerks. Does Ty Cobb ring a bell? How about Pete Rose? Granted his teammates didn't like him, but if he could continue to get guys out in key situations I think they'd have gotten over that. No, this is why John Rocker is no longer pitching in the major leagues.
2000 IP: 53
2000 era: 2.89
2001 IP: 67
2001 era: 4.32
2002 IP: 24
2002 era: 6.66 (appropriately)
2003 IP: 1
2003 era: 9.00
The guy was a closer who lost command of, first his mouth, then his emotions, then his sanity, then his fastball.
Closers who lose that kind of command don't last long.
So I took her advice and searched out some righty blogs. And what do I find? Things like this:
"Selig, in my opinion, has done an awful job. A strong commissioner would've settled the egregious state of limbo that the Montreal Expos exist in by now, whether the team is moved to D.C., Monterey (my choice), or Puerto Rico. The crippling 1994 strike, a season in which the World Series was cancelled, is on his watch. So was the politically correct punishment of then-Atlanta Brave John Rocker, who made the mistake of making offensive remarks about New York City to an eager Sports Illustrated reporter. Rocker, at the time a dominant relief pitcher, was forced to attend sensitivity training sessions and became a whipping boy for elitists in the Northeast and California. His career was ruined."
While I agree with New Partisan that Selig has been a terrible comiss. and that Wills would be an even worse one (add pomposity to an innate ability to consistently do what's wrong for baseball), bringing John Rocker in to it is a typically false argument the Right uses to combine two disparate issues.
Just so's I'm clear, was it the sensitivity training or the elites who ruined his career?
For the record. Rocker was not driven from baseball because he was a racist jerk. Baseball is famous for successful jerks. Does Ty Cobb ring a bell? How about Pete Rose? Granted his teammates didn't like him, but if he could continue to get guys out in key situations I think they'd have gotten over that. No, this is why John Rocker is no longer pitching in the major leagues.
2000 IP: 53
2000 era: 2.89
2001 IP: 67
2001 era: 4.32
2002 IP: 24
2002 era: 6.66 (appropriately)
2003 IP: 1
2003 era: 9.00
The guy was a closer who lost command of, first his mouth, then his emotions, then his sanity, then his fastball.
Closers who lose that kind of command don't last long.
posted by John at 5:46 PM
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