Speaker-Rose

You're like the thief who isn't the least bit sorry he stole, but is terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail.- Clark Gable (as Captain Rhett Butler)

Tris Speaker played baseball in the Major Leagues from 1907 - 1928.  While he played a majority of his time in the shadows of Ty Cobb, he holds the record for most career doubles: 792.  He also played during the infamous Black Sox Scandal.  While Mr. Speaker is a Hall of Famer and his lifetime batting average was .345 producing 3514 hits would you allow him in if he had bet on baseball during the scandal that plagued baseball during the 1919 World Series?

Of course not.  Yet for some reason, there seems to be a near constant clamoring for Pete Rose to be reinstated into baseball so that he may be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Twenty five years ago Pete Rose agreed to be suspended from Major League Baseball for his involvement in betting on the game.  Fay Vincent, the baseball commissioner who replaced Bart Giamatti was eloquent in a recent opinion piece:

"...another person who misses that point is Rose himself. The Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver once asked me the killing question:

"Look Commissioner, if Rose is allowed into the Hall of Fame, does that mean a pitcher like me with over 300 wins can bet on baseball?"

He answered himself by pointing out there cannot be two standards for players — with great players being able to gamble and know the honor and other rewards of the Hall of Fame will still accrue."

Mr. Vincent is right here and it can not be overstated.  It appears again and again that it is Mr. Rose who does not get it.  He did play in more winning games (1972) than anyone else.  Yes, he did have more career hits (4256) than anyone else.  However, the provisions of Major League Baseball Rule 21 on Misconduct is clear:

Any player, umpire, or club official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform shall be declared ineligible for one year.

Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the better has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible.

Permanently ineligible.  What exactly is the problem Mr. Rose?  Pete Rose can be found every July in Cooperstown hawking autographs in front of local stores while campaigning for being allowed back into baseball, yet it was his autograph that adorned the agreement letter between he and Commissioner Giamatti.

Beyond the rule itself, John Dowd, the man who investigated the situation and wrote the infamous report named after him said "Rose probably did bet against the Reds."

Even if he did not bet against his team, by betting on some games to win and other games he did not bet at all, he indicates to his bookies that the game might be a probable loss.  He might manage differently.  As Ryan Rodenberg's explains in his recent Atlantic piece, Pete Rose would likely burn through his pinch runners, hitters, bullpen, and even lineup to get a win if he were betting on them.  What message does it send about his confidence if he bets $100 per game?  How about $1000?

As noted in the Dowd Report, gambling on your team creates the "ultimate conflict of interest in which the individual player/bettor places his personal financial interest above the interests of the team."

As is now clear for all of us, Mr. Rose bet on baseball.  No matter how much he loved the game, he tarnished it by his own selfish actions and it is his actions that keep him out of the Hall of Fame.

Are You Finished Or Just Starting?

As we head into Super Bowl Sunday and the drama of whether or not Peyton Manning will take home a second title ring I heard a recent discussion about Michael Young and whether or not he belongs in the Ranger Hall of Fame or even the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.  (The quick answers to those two issues are who cares and absolutely not.  I can't even believe a "journalist" would refer to Michael Young as a borderline Hall of Famer with a hits total of under 2400 and home run numbers under 200.  Perhaps ESPN 103.3 doesn't believe in drug testing its employees.)

The primary discussion centered around does Young belong in the Rangers Hall of Fame since he went to the Phillies and then the Dodgers.  The absent mindedness of the fact that the Rangers traded Young to Philadelphia is somewhat disheartening, but what was Young to do?  Stop playing?  Simply because he wasn't a Ranger anymore?  You have to be kidding right?

The discussion then moved to how the Dallas Metroplex was unhappy with Emmitt Smith continued to play football after the Dallas Cowboys no longer wanted him.  I realize the picture of Smith playing in a Cardinals jersey had to horrify Dallas fans back in the day, but as I recall he started fifteen games for the Cardinals and nearly ran for 1000 yards in 2004.  Why is it he should give up playing just because Jerry Jones wasn't smart enough to want to keep him around?

Right now, the Cowboys would kill for a guy who was a consistent 1000 yard rusher and a quarterback smart enough to hand the ball off to him.  (Given DeMarco Murrary's injury history I am not ready to pronounce him a true heir apparent to Mr. Smith, but he might be, though I doubt with Tony Romo and his five offensive coordinators, he will ever get to show it.)


Another great example of a guy who didn't know he was supposed to quit was Nolan Ryan.  I know it's a scary thought, but you will remember, even the great Texas Ranger Nolan Ryan wasn't a Ranger.  Not until the END of his career.  Before that he played for the Mets, Astros, and even the California Angels.  Was he supposed to stop playing because the team he started with no longer wanted his services?

What about Willie Mays?  Some say he was the greatest ball player of all time.  I argue that because I never saw Mr. Mays pitch, but having started his career in New York with the Giants, he ended it in New York also...as a Met.  Remember that?

I don't bring up all these examples, not to mention Mr. Manning, for any other reason than this is a child's game that adult men get to earn a living playing.  In general, their careers are short lived, perhaps four or five years if they are really good.  That being the case, why would anyone begrudge a player for taking those extra contracts to play a game?

There is a lesson for the rest of us in their pursuit.  When you find that which you are passionate about...run after it.  Go get it...seize that day.

Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society was dead right...make your lives extraordinary:

Now I would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past. You’ve walked past them many times. I don’t think you’ve really looked at them.

 

They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen. Do you hear it?

 

[whispers] Carpe.

 

[whispers again] Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

 

 

What are you waiting for?  Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.  Go get it.

 



The Dynamic Duo And The Big Hurt

Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Wednesday.  Craig Biggio fell a very short two votes shy of election himself.

First, the good news.  Each of those who were elected were obviously deserving.  Maddux and Glavine, team mates with the Atlanta Braves, were literally a dynamic duo.  They combined for 660 wins.  Each having 300 wins is an almost automatic in for the Hall of Fame, especially in the live ball era, but these two were masterful coming from both the right and left, hitting spots against opposing batters with their reliance on location, more than power.

On the other side of the positive news, Frank Thomas, was a monster.  His only obvious flaw or imperfection as mentioned in his cameo appearance in the baseball movie Mr. Baseball, kryptonite.  The guy could just plain hit.  Thomas who ended his career with 521 home runs and a .301 career average also seemed to have two automatic ins for his bid into the Hall of Fame.

One more positive from the Baseball Writer's Association were the lowered percentage of support for known PED users.  Roger Clemens (37.6 percent in 2013 to 35.4 percent in 2014), Barry Bonds (36.2 to 34.7), Mark McGwire (16.9 to 11.0), Sammy Sosa (12.5 to 7.2) and Rafael Palmeiro (8.8 to 4.4) all lost votes despite their game stats which they imbrued with the stench of anabolic steroids.

While Clemens still pulled in over two hundred votes, it is pretty clear that the voters do not intend to reward player's bad behavior with trips to the idyllic New York countryside.  I consider it a positive development that Palmeiro will now drop off the ballot for failure to receive the required five percent of votes to remain there.

On the other side, Biggio, in his second appearance on the ballot, was at 427 votes and 74.8 percent.  This works out to two votes short of getting into the Hall of Fame and matches Nellie Fox in 1985 and Pie Traynor in 1947 for the smallest missing margins.  I suspect he will get in within the next three years, but again, crowded ballots could be an issue.