What’s Wrong with Baseball

As we prepare to continue this series here is a review of numbers 7-10 of the list. Click on the titles to read the articles. Number 6 to appear soon.

10: Wimpy Pitchers

9: The Designated Hitter

8: Cheating

7: The Concept of the Closer

Man Swallows 60 Condoms, Feels Sick … Duh

In Bangkok, Thailand a man was brought to a hospital by friends who said he was complaining of stomach pains. Doctors discovered 60 condoms in his stomach … filled with hashish. Some of the condoms had burst.

51-year-old Australian John Paul Jones is in critical condition … and his friends have disappeared.

If he recovers, Jones will face drug trafficking charges.

Talk about dumb crooks.

Mitchell Report Fingers Players

Click here for the full report.

Here is the list of 88 players, active and retired:

Manny Alexander
Chad Allen
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Mark Bell
Gary Bennett
Marvin Bernard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Ricky Bones
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Alex Cabrera
Jose Canseco
Ken Caminiti
Mike Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Paxton Crawford
Jack Cust
Chris Donnells
Brendan Donnely
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jay Gibbons
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Mark McGwire
Cody McKay
Kent Merker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Armando Rios
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Derrick Turnbow
Ismael Valdez
Randy Velarde
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Todd Williams
Steve Woodward
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

Consequences Escalate for Marion Jones

Marion Jones is already infamous … and a possible jail term looms. The International Association of Athletics Federation voided all of her results since September 2000, including her Olympic and world championship titles. They also told her to return her all the prize money she won for those events … some $700,000.

Jones claims she is broke.

(Read the original story.)

Sports Soaps Top 5 of the Week

The U.S. sports scene has been providing a bumper crop of soap operas.

1. Barry Bonds: Finally indicted.
2. A-Rod: Mr. Not-October slinks back to New York.
3. O.J.: Is America ready for another trial?
4. Stephon Marbury: AWOL egoist pays.
5. Ricky Williams: Desperate Dolphins tap sober former-superstar.

Dishonorable Mention:

Joe Glenn/Kyle Whittingham: Coaches prove they can be less mature than the students they coach. [story]
Michael Vick: Continuing saga.
Belichick/Patriots: The coach fans love to hate.

Bonds Indicted: Career Over

Barry Bonds has been indicted for multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice four years after his testimony before the grand jury that he did not knowingly take performance-enhancing drugs. The baseball world is wondering, Why now?

Did they wait for him to break the record? What do they suddenly have now that they didn’t have before?

Regardless, his career is certainly over. A debatable value as a DH, most likely in nearby Oakland for the A’s, Bonds has lost his options. No g.m. is going to want to add a circus to their 2008 schedule. And, of course, he may not be at liberty to play anyway.

It’s a sad day for baseball. Some fans, mostly in San Francisco, were holding out hope of his innocence. And while those hopes have not been entirely dashed—he could still be found innocent—most expect a guilty verdict to be inevitable.

Now we can look forward to months of news dominated by the Bonds and O.J. cases. Remember when sports were what mattered in the sports world?

Is the NFL Ready for Ricky Williams?

“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has decided to reinstate Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams after a suspension that lasted 18 months because of Williams’ violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, sources told ESPN.”

Is the football world ready for this?

Will Williams have anything left in the tank?

What’s Wrong With Baseball #8: Cheating

Cheating would come in at No. 1 if I were currently doing a series on What’s Wrong With Football. And there would be something about Belichick and video tape. But baseball is far from being above the cheating fray. And it never has been. While Bill Belichick has taken cheating to a whole new level of sophistication, similar things have been done in baseball for a long time, though not quite in such a refined manner (e.g., binoculars in the scoreboard stealing signs).

The cheating that stands out right now … I mean right now … is steroids, and related substances. I really hope there is a way Paul Byrd can be found innocent. (See “Byrd Revelation Casts Pall Over Indians-Red Sox Game 7.”) Barry Bonds is still on the hook, though nothing has yet been proven. Then we have Giambi.

Perhaps the most disappointing is Mark McGwire, who has disappeared since his sworn testimony evaporated.

Let’s be honest about cheating. It has been part of the national pastime in more ways than can be enumerated from memory.

There was the out-in-the-open dirty play … Ty Cobb sliding into the bag with his spikes high.

Gamblers fixed games … whatever one believes about the Black Sox … perhaps the worst form of cheating.

There was one that was so universally used that they had to create a rule to prevent it … the spitter. Gaylord Perry, where are you now? We even hear about little edges that Hall-of-Fame greats like Whitey Ford used to get … digging a wedding ring into a ball, for example.

My goal is not to list all the types of cheating in baseball. You can stretch the whole ethics issue here. How about a catcher framing a pitch to try to fool the umpire? I remember once playing first base in a pick-up game. One of our infielders tossed me a ground ball, which arrived at about the same time as the runner, but clearly beat him. I had to come into the line to get the wide throw and the runner slammed into me. I went sprawling, tearing a brand-new pair of pants (in the days before rips became desirable).

The runner jumped off the ground. “He didn’t touch the bag,” he yelled repeatedly. Everyone considered him out. I was the only one who knew he was right. But I was ticked about the pants. I didn’t say I did touch the bag, but I didn’t say I didn’t either. So he was out. That was unethical … and now it’s finally off my chest.

My point is … even little forms of cheating, like trying to get an edge with the umps, are cheating.

We would all love it if we could free the game of the big cheats and forms of cheating. But how about we just expect adults who play baseball to be honest. Now, wouldn’t that be refreshing?

Byrd Revelation Casts Pall Over Indians-Red Sox Game 7

I have said that game sevens are heaven—seventh heaven if you will—for baseball fans. It is unfortunate when anything takes away from those magical games. But a blog called Sports and Ethics can’t ignore the current revelation about Cleveland starter Paul Byrd.

“Byrd, whose win in Game 4 of the ALCS moved the Indians within one victory of the World Series, bought nearly $25,000 worth of human growth hormone and syringes from 2002 to 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.” (Read the full report here.)

Baseball doesn’t need this. One normally associates steroids with power hitters, like the accusations against Barry Bonds. But a non-superstar-type player seems to have the most to gain from such use. Byrd has denied the accusations in the past. The timing of this revelation seems political, like something that would happen near election time. Game 7 is the closest to election time in baseball there is. It is a shame to see this now. It is even a worse shame if it is true.

No matter what happens, we will be hearing a lot more on this. If the Indians pull one out tonight, it will become front and center until the end of the World Series.

“World’s Fastest Woman” Can’t Outrun Steroids Scandal

She’s been called “The fastest woman on Earth, and arguably the best female athlete in the world.”[1] But Marion Jones’ long-distance run against steroid accusations ended in defeat earlier today.

The AP reported:

Marion Jones’ … words rang out in the silent, stately federal courtroom.

She was a liar and a cheat, she told the judge….

And so ended years of angry denials by one of the world’s most celebrated athletes.

The owner of three Olympic golds and two bronze medals, Jones came clean Friday and admitted she used steroids. She pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, then announced her retirement in a tearful apology outside the U.S. District Court.

“It’s with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust,” Jones said, her voice cracking as her mother stood behind her, a strong and supportive hand on her shoulder.

“I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down,” she said, pausing frequently to regain her composure.

Time, one of many to put Jones on their cover, said:

You wanted to believe her. She made you believe. She was good like that. Marion Jones, TIME cover girl, winner of five medals — three gold — at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and now an admitted steroid user, sat in a sweltering press tent at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials in Sacramento, and put on an Oscar-worthy show.

Five Olympic medals are history. In a dark day for athletics of any kind, much less the Olympics, Jones takes her place in the Olympic Hall of Shame alongside Canadian Ben Johnson, whose 1988 malfeasance was discovered much more quickly.

Yes, Marion, you have let your country down. In a day when we need all the positives we can get, you tied the name Cheater, not just to Marion Jones, but in the eyes of many around the world, to the U.S.A. Of course, Ben Johnson’s cheating didn’t make Canada a cheating nation. We know it was Johnson alone and not his team or country. And we know our country is not a cheating nation either. We don’t want to win that way. But that won’t stop others from saying it.

Honesty and ethics in sports go far beyond the individual. This case shows that someone who cheats for herself can reflect poorly on an entire nation.

Let the light of truth shine. The U.S.A. wants no wins it doesn’t deserve.

Endnote:

1. Infoplease.com, “Marion Jones: The first woman to win five medals at one Olympics”

Vick Digs a Deeper Hole

Oh, man, what is in this guy’s mind? Now we find that, while under court supervision, Vick tested positive for marijuana. Deeper problems with the law, harder for him to ever get back into the NFL. What else have we yet to learn?

At least this increased scrutiny should guarantee he won’t be able to kill or torture any dogs for a while.