THIS JUST IN
My friend Ron Swoboda has some thoughts on the steroid-era players. Now a broadcaster in his long-time home in New Orleans, Swoboda admits that he and other players from the 60’s have no idea what decisions they would have made if the stuff had been available back then. If I was the new commish coming in the front door I'd try to figure out how to bring all of God's wayward children into the Hall. Even if it meant admitting that baseball was lax on steroids when Sosa and McGwire were bringing fans back to the game after the stupidity of 1994. Of course, the players would all have to own up to their transgressions as well. Then after the truth has set us all free, we have the players in the Hall who belong there and a good set of rules and blood checks to go forward with. Since I'm not in any danger of becoming commish, these musings come cheap. Your thoughts? (Comments Below) PREVIOUS POSTING I couldn’t wait for a baseball game so I popped in a DVD for one of my favorite baseball movies. I love “Eight Men Out” for the Dixieland music and vintage suits and funky hotel lobbies and ball parks – also for the loving look at the game even in a dirty time, the Black Sox scandal of 1919. Well, I guess all times are dirty. Baseball currently has two separate scandals hanging over it. One involves Pete Rose, who bet on games while managing, and then lied about it. I am conflicted about Rose, a total knucklehead who gave me a great amount of enjoyment as writer and fan. I think Pete played honest, although we all knew he had a major gambling jones and ultimately broke the major rule of baseball – No Gambling. I wish Rose the player were eligible for the Hall of Fame – but I don’t know I would make that decision if I were commissioner. Then there is the whole steroid generation, when the union fought testing, for reasons I am sure the union leaders understood. No player identified or suspected as a steroid user has later been voted into the Hall by the writers. Some come back as coaches and guests at old-timers’ games and some just vanish with bloated home-run and strikeout totals. Now Alex Rodriguez, the ghost of scandals past, is haunting Yankee camp, yawning his way through first-base practice. What a chump. But the Yankees and baseball are legally stuck with him, no doubt hoping he breaks a leg taking grounders, and the insurance kicks in. What are we going to do with all those specters? A friend of mine says baseball writers of the past generation will never vote for suspected users because of guilty consciences for not breaking the story. Fair enough. I do not vote because the Times does not want its writers making news; I also never had proof of anything, except what my eyes told me about body sizes, and what common sense said about union stonewalling. Apparently, some writers did suspect some White Sox players were throwing the 1919 World Series. I love “Eight Men Out” because I am a huge John Sayles fan but also because I was there when they were filming it – in Indianapolis, an old ballpark – and also because I wrote about how D.B. Sweeney learned to hit left-handed to portray Shoeless Joe Jackson. I love the movie for the portrayal of a cheapskate owner and a hanging judge turned commissioner who channeled eight players of varying guilt into a lifetime ban. I love the image of the great David Strathairn as a pitcher, Ed Cicotte, who is cheated out of a bonus, and John Cusack as a tormented infielder, Buck Weaver, who plays it straight, but will not squeal. The gamblers and thugs and cynical sportswriters and innocent wives are all part of a beautiful American period piece. Today, would Shoeless Joe Jackson (.375 in that Series) and Buck Weaver (.324) be included along with the core fixers? I do not feel any sympathy for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and A-Rod, great players who got in deep, as far as I can see. But the game goes on. I helped myself to a seasonal preview in “Eight Men Out” – dirt, grass, finger signals, wood on ball, clunk of ball on an outfield fence, and a Dixieland band. Hang in there.
Brian Savin
2/28/2015 01:18:51 pm
Great column that hit it a nerve. So, I guess there is nothing pure and holy in this baseball world stripped of self discipline. I don't blame Baseball, because the game is beyond the ken of the average humans who run it. But I don't need to contribute my dollars to it, either. I will not go to a Yankee game as long as A Rod is on the team. I may see the Mets this year if the Manager can inspire whatever he gets and they gives fans some confidence of caring about teamwork. If not, I'm happy enough with this last year of the New Britain Rock Cats, or whatever they will call themselves.
George Vecsey
3/1/2015 02:08:29 am
Brian, it's a different style, for sure. The most inside commissioner yet, a business guy. Selig was a fan, an owner, a car salesman. He grew on me...well, except for the steroid era.
John McDermott
2/28/2015 02:04:31 pm
I love this film too. I'm a big Sayles fan, and Strathairn is one of my favorite actors. The portrayal of cheapskate Comiskey was terrific. And there was even a real newspaperman, Studs Terkel, playing the real newspaperman who blew the whistle on the whole scandal. What's not to like?
G
3/1/2015 02:15:19 am
John, not only that but Eliot Asinof, who wrote the book, has a brief appearance as Heydler, NL president.
John McDermott
3/1/2015 01:43:30 pm
I loved Brother from Another Planet(mostly due to Joe Morton, and of course the great script). And then Matewan and Sunshine State. Sayles' films have exposed us to a lot of really terrific actors before they were really well known.
bruce
3/2/2015 02:58:58 am
George,
George Vecsey
3/2/2015 03:29:30 am
I remember a rain delay, regular season, and we were allowed to stay in Sparky's office and Pete wandered in, swinging a bat, and just started talking baseball....it was so much fun for those of us who love talking baseball and miss it now because managers and players are afraid to talk with all the electronic devices recording their candid moments.
bruce
3/2/2015 03:54:13 am
George,
George Vecsey
3/2/2015 04:58:30 am
you think?
bruce
3/2/2015 05:02:28 am
George,
KL Bob
3/3/2015 12:19:00 am
I hate the steroid guys for how they robbed a generation of kids from growing up on baseball stats, the .367s, 714s and 755s, the 60/61s, and so on. How does one explain to an eight-year-old why nobody got too excited about Bonds, let alone how big Aaron was to congratulate him.
George Vecsey
3/3/2015 02:02:31 am
Thank you so much. I agree, I was a young reporter in 1961 and got to see Maris quite a bit. And I love Ruth. So I am a 60/61 fan., Given the sour look on Selig's face the day Bonds broke the record, I know he is an Aaron man, too.
KL Bob
3/4/2015 01:29:41 am
Thanks to you both - and agreed. Not sure where it's all headed, but more kids on fields and fewer on social media couldn't be a bad thing.
bruce
3/3/2015 04:37:48 am
kl bob. I agree. i'm guessing tho that eight year old boys, per capita, are way less interested in baseball than they were when I was a kid.
George Vecsey
3/4/2015 02:34:30 am
KL Bob: You mean where he went after jerks who picked on his daughter on line? Got one fired, apparently. (Heard it on the radio.) I'm not a fan of his, but I agree with anybody who protects his daughter in an ugly social time. Lot of weird people with over-active thumbs.
bruce
3/4/2015 02:40:35 am
George,
KL Bob
3/4/2015 11:29:55 pm
Yes, that's the one. Amen.
Haruko Hasumi
3/6/2015 09:48:51 pm
If I will be named a commish, I'm going to.......
George Vecsey
3/7/2015 08:47:18 am
Dear Haruko: You are much tougher than our friend Ron. I think you would make a very good commish. You could tell the story about being at the Nolan Ryan no-hitter. GV 3/17/2015 05:41:09 am
George, Comments are closed.
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