C.: Well, I finished reading the Sunday paper, but I still must get ready for a full week of twelve-hour shifts. I also must get my fourteen rotten kittens motivated to get up at four a.m. and go to work with me for training for their new jobs. I do not have time to help d.c. write his blog today, so I will ask him about his least favorite person on the face of the Earth! (Ring) Hey, d.c. I heard Major League Baseball is trying to make your boy, Rob, commissioner for life. What do you think about that?! (That should get me out of talking about anything else today).
d.: I have not seen anything about that, Cal.E., but the owners ARE making a mockery of the position by not demanding his resignation, in my opinion. "The biggest cover-up since Watergate'' should be the key to Rob (he is NOT a)Man,Fred's ouster. Him trying to hide the fact that he sent a letter about their cheating to his favorite team, the self-righteous New York Yankees, and tried to have it permanently sealed is ludicrous. He should be in the unemployment line by now!
But seriously, folks, this is not "the biggest cover up since Watergate," just as the Astros' sign-stealing scheme was NOT the biggest scandal since the 1919 Black Sox fixing that year's World Series. That incident necessitated the need for a commissioner of Major League Baseball. Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned every player included in the 1919 Black Sox scheme from ever playing the game of baseball again. It was reported, afterward, that "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was spotted playing minor league baseball under an assumed name. An excellent movie, "Eight Men Out" was made about this incident, hinting that those rumors may not have been unfounded. "Shoeless Joe," though, never made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame after it was inaugurated in 1936, because he was placed on a list of players; along with the other seven involved in the scheme, to be banned from baseball for the remainder of their lives. Neither "Shoeless Joe', nor any of his teammates were inducted posthumously, either. The stench of the cheating scheme kept the voters from acknowledging Jackson's greatness.
The all-time hits leader in Major League Baseball, Pete Rose, is also on that list. Whether or not he will be inducted after his death is questionable, as is Barry Bonds' placement in the Hallowed Hall. Rose admitted he bet on baseball, but Bonds never tested positive for steroids. Hmm. The all-time home run king not in the Hall of Fame? Why?
If the Astros' sign stealing scheme was so horrendous, why are Alex Bregmen, Carlos Correa and Alex Cora not on the same list? Because then the commissioner would be obligated to include Aaron Judge and many of his teammates on that list, along with many of the Red Sox players. These teams make too much money to anger them, in the commissioner's opinion. Yes, folks, the almighty dollar IS at the heart of the commissioner's decision. Surprise? Probably not.
If a student at a university is caught cheating even once, and even "a little bit," (as the commissioner said about the Yankees' cheating) s/he can be permanently banned from that institution of higher learning. S/he can also be put on a list that is put into a database to let other colleges know that the student is not trustworthy. Why is the same not true about baseball players? Because it is Major League Baseball's fault that any of this happened. The NFL, the most profitable American Professional sports league, routinely tests players for banned substances. Baseball only did that when the public demanded it. Seeing Bond's hat size increase two sizes was one tell-tale sign that he was using steroids, along with many other players. The "powers that be" also let players watch their at-bats DURING a game they were playing. As I have said before, if a player notices that, on a certain set of signs the catcher flashes two fingers and the pitcher throws a curveball EVERY TIME, should he not try to take advantage of this knowledge? To (again) quote Jim Rome, "It's baseball. IF you ain't cheatin', you aint tryin'." and most (if not all) of the major league baseball teams ARE trying.
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