Isn't it Time?

There was a story this week, quickly shot down by the Commissioner's office, that Pete Rose's reinstatement was imminent.
I say it's time and the Commissioner should do it.
It has been 20 years since Rose was banned "for life" from baseball. I don't think anyone really thought it would be a lifetime ban. Some stories were that he would be out one, maybe two years and then reinstated. Then Bart Giamatti, the Commissioner who imposed the ban, died. Many of his allies blamed the stress of the Rose situation for his fatal heart attack. It began to appear that only Giamatti had the power to reinstate Rose and with Giamatti gone...
Rose certainly has not helped himself over the past 20 years. First, his insistence on his innocence despite all evidence to the contrary. Second, he only made the admission of guilt in a book and gladly accepted the receipts from book sales. Third, he continued to taunt baseball by showing up and selling memorabilia near the Hall of Fame on induction weekend. Yes, Rose managed to make himself an unsympathetic figure.
But he has served more time for his "crime" than many have for far worse. Gambling on baseball is the unpardonable sin due to the 1919 White Sox fixing a World Series. There has never been a charge that Rose bet against his team or tried to fix games. It appears that he bet on his team, when he was a manager, to win. Yes, if he had money riding on the game he may have managed differently. He might go to his closer earlier than normal. He might adjust his strategy to try and get that win today without regard for the rest of the series or season. Still, it does not appear that he ever tried to throw games. I think that is a distinction worth noting.
By banning Rose however, baseball has tried to pretend he does not exist. Those 4256 hits make that impossible. Any highlight reel from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s has to include Rose. An All Star at five different positions, leader of the Big Red Machine and member of a Phillies championship team (and who can forget that memorable half season in Montreal?). He was baseball's biggest star for 20 years. Baseball cannot pretend it never happened.
The Hall of Fame voters, now limited to the Veteran's Committee, should have the chance to vote on Rose. Give him a limited reinstatement. Ban him from major league clubhouses. require him to do community service work on behalf of Major League baseball and include a notation on his Hall of Fame plaque (should he be voted in) about the 20 year ban for gambling.
That Rose broke baseball's cardinal rule should not be expunged from the history of the game, but neither should he. It has been 20 years. It is time.

Baseball Odds and Ends

As we near the end of July and the trading deadline approaches, a few thoughts on the 2009 season.

First, boy was I was off on the Oakland A's. I had them picked to go to the World Series. They are locked on last place in the A.L. West and just made the inevitable trade of their best player to a contender. I said it was an "odd hunch". Frankly it was just nuts.

I seem a little off on the A.L. Central where I had Minnesota. While not dead yet, this race looks like the Twins watching the Tigers and White Sox battle it out.

I seem to have the A.L. East and N.L. West right (Dodgers and Yankees). I clearly underestimated the Cardinals in the N.L. Central, but this is still a good four team race.

Now on to the trading deadline. The big players is Roy Halladay. As of tonight the Blue Jays G.M. says he is not going anywhere which means he'll be traded tomorrow. I don't like the idea of the Dodgers ripping apart their roster to get him. Minor leaguers, fine, but when I start hearing Billingsley, Martin or Loney, I get nervous. The Dodgers are in first place by eight games, don't try to reinvent your lineup and clubhouse in late July.

The Blue Jays however, may be overplaying their hand. Yes, they don't have to trade him. They can have this same auction next July and still do pretty well, but by waiting they risk injury to Halladay and a dropping price tag. A few years ago the Washington Nationals tried to gut several teams' farm system in a trade for Alfonso Soriano and ended up blowing all of their leverage. The Blue Jays might do that here.

Speaking of big time pitchers (well, former big time pitchers) Jason Schmidt returned to the mound for the Dodgers. Schmidt, with his $47 million contract, has not pitched in the majors since 2007. He had a reasonably effective start first time out, then got knocked around today.

I will say this for Schmidt, it would have been real easy to coast through rehabilitation and collect the checks. The guys has worked his way back and pitched at such outposts as San Bernardino and Albuquerque. I tip my hat to him for staying with it. He will never be the pitcher he was, but he did not just take the money and mail it in.

Finally, Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice went into the Hall of Fame today. Two great players, one great quote machine (Rickey). Congratulations.

All Stars

The baseball All Star game is still the best of all professional all star games. The Pro Bowl in football is glorified touch football which mostly serves as an excuse to use the remaining nachos and beer left from Super Bowl Sunday. The N.B.A. all star game is certainly flashier, but the ridiculously high scores and lack of defense make it a dunk exhibition.
The baseball All Star game is real baseball. Yes, they probably don't go as hard into second base to break up the double play and, Pete Rose excepted, they don't take out the catcher on a play at the plate, but the pitches are real and the swings are true.
Last night baseball really scored. They got the President to throw out the first pitch. As an aside, I admire his willingness to wear his favorite team's (White Sox) colors. Some politicians seem to lose their allegiance in the name of "broadening their base". The President seems willing to lose the votes of Cubs fans to stay true to his team.
Baseball also got a tight 4-3 game played in two hours and thirty one minutes. Yes, some kids on the East Coast probably still had to go to bed before the final out, but I bet more kids across the country got to see the whole game. That is good for baseball.
The game also showcased a lot of good young talent. As we leave the steroids era, the shadows of Bonds, Clemens and Sosa seem to fade, at least from the All Star game. Also, while it is nice to see guys nearing the end of their careers get one last turn in the midsummer's classic, it is better to see the rising stars of the game and last night featured a lot of them. The vets who were there, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera come to mind, were there on merit. Otherwise, fans get to see Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Chad Billingsley, Ryan Braun and a host of others who should rule the game for the next 5-10 years.
The winning run scored in a fashion that a true fan loves. A triple by a speedy Curtis Granderson and a sacrifice fly to bring him home. Classic baseball. A game decided not by a 450 foot blast setting off fireworks, but by a guy doing what needed to be done to get the run across.
Baseball had a good night last night.

Ditching work, Part 2

And the other shoe fell.
Turns out Governor Sanford was not just playing hooky, he was off visiting a "dear friend" i.e. girlfriend in Argentina. He and his wife are sort of separated, although it is hard to tell from their public statements where things stand. We seem to have another of those ironic situations where the Governor has moved out of the Governor's mansion. He may not be back until his successor unveils the official portrait.
Running for President is out of the question. The question I have is: did he think he could break it off with the mistress, reconcile with the wife and then run for President of the United States and nobody would notice? I do not know whether that is arrogance of the highest degree or sheer cluelessness. Either way, those "Sanford for President" buttons are now officially collector's items.

Ditching Work

I admit it: I have occasionally slipped out of the office to go play golf or maybe just hang out with the kids. When I do that however, I still have my cell phone with me and I usually check for messages a couple of times. The really important thing is however: I am not the governor of an entire state (or any part of one for that matter).
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford apparently took a five day "break" from his duties to go to South America this week. He did not tell anyone where he was going. His wife and family apparently did not know where he was, nor did his staff or security detail. Poof, the Governor was gone.
Most states have provisions for the temporary transfer of power when the governor is out of the state. Usually the Lieutenant Governor can exercise power and run the show, but what if nobody really knows the governor is gone? In South Carolina the trip became a story when people started to realize that they had not seen the Governor in a few days. His staff initially said he was hiking here in the U.S., but that has turned out to be untrue. His wife said she did not know where he was.
Stories started to emerge that he likes to "get away" at the end of the legislative session. Fair enough, but it is not too much to ask that the Governor let his staff and security detail know where he is going. Just disappearing is a little strange at best, erratic at worst.
Governor Sanford has been talked up as a potential presidential candidate in 2012. Before he runs, somebody better explain that the President doesn't get to just ditch work for a few days at a time. He cannot go off to clear his head and leave the Vice President in charge. He cannot hop on a commercial flight to South America to hang out for a few days.
Public service is admirable and I am certain it is trying at times. Having reporters follow you around 24/7 has got to be stressful. Still, it is no secret when you run for office that this is the way it is. You don't get to ditch work for a few days.
Next time I take off to play golf however, I might leave the cell phone behind.

Dave v. Sarah

I have always found David Letterman to be quite funny. His original 12:30 show was new, inventive and incredibly funny. He has been a little more tame since moving to 11:30, but generally still a pretty funny guy.
Unfortunately his spat with Sarah Palin over inappropriate jokes at her daughter's expense reveals a certain arrogance, but it is not just Dave. Many entertainers seem to be of a mind that they just elected a President and now, having saved the country from George W. Bush and the Republicans, they can do and say no wrong. In their minds, their values and tastes have prevailed and the rest of us just need to get used to it.
I believe that is what led David Letterman and his writers to think that sexual jokes about a 14 year old, or even an 18 year old, were funny and appropriate. It was not so much the content of the joke that they approved of, but the idea that because Sarah Palin is a strong conservative, anything about her is fair game. Before you disagree with me, take a step back and ask yourself what would be happening if a talk show host made any joke, sexual or otherwise, about either of the Obama daughters or suggested that the First Lady looked "slutty"? How many hours do you think it would take before that person was fired?
This is all about what Sarah Palin stands for and the arrogance of those public figures who supported Obama (even as they pretended to be "objective").
Now for Sarah Palin. As a parent she should be outraged at her teenage daughter being the object of crude jokes on national television. As a woman she should be offended by the commentary on her appearance. That said, she should not overplay it.
Remember the Dan Quayle-Murphy Brown debate? While then Vice President Quayle was making a valid point about lifestyle choices and the de-emphasizing of the importance of fatherhood in some circles, it got lost in the fact that he was having the debate with a fictional character.
David Letterman is at least a real person. That said, he is an entertainer and a comedian. He tells jokes for a living and interviews movie stars. Nothing wrong with that, but when you are a political figure trying to build credibility for a possible presidential campaign, a drawn out debate with Letterman, while keeping the Governor in the news, does little to convince everyone that she can handle North Korea and Iran. Those two countries are lead by individuals who are a lot wackier than David Letterman (although not as funny).
Sarah Palin's supporters also do her no favors by perpetuating this controversy. It seems to be a way for a few folks to get themselves interviewed on the Today show and/or Fox News, but what it is doing is elongating a debate between a would be presidential candidate and a comic.
Sarah Palin needs to be talking, in depth, about the runaway growth of government in this Administration, about how extending a hand to these regimes has only emboldened them to continue their mischief and what she thinks ought to be done about it. That is how you get people to see you as a potential President, not by scoring points against Letterman.

Inexact Science

Major League Baseball held its draft yesterday. The baseball draft is the least watched of all of the major sports. Fans do not paint there faces and go the arenas to watch the draft on television (that is probably a good thing) and the draftees do not appear on stage wearing $5000 suits in colors never before imagined.
The main difference is it will still be two to three years before most of the players drafted are playing in the majors. Assuming they sign in the next few weeks, they will likely go to a rookie league level team or possibly Class A ball, then begin working their way up. One, maybe two, of the high draftees may make a major league cameo in September, but that is rare.
The baseball draft is the most inexact science of all sports' drafts. In football, many of the players have already played on big stages against big time competition. Although basketball has had a flirtation with taking high school kids, seven feet tall is still seven feet tall no matter your age. In other words, football and basketball can reasonably project performance in the league. There are some busts and some late round surprises who have success, but for the most part success can be forecast on draft day.
Not so with baseball. Baseball drafts many more players. The N.B.A. draft is now two rounds. The N.F.L. draft is eight. The baseball draft is many more rounds. A bigger pool of players turns professional in a given year.
When they turn pro, there are big changes. For the position players they go from hitting with aluminum bats, to wood bats. Suddenly those 420 foot bombs on the high school or college field are long fly balls. Hitters struggle with the transition, and confidence gets shaken as a player goes from hitting .600 in high school ball to hitting .240 in the minors.
For the pitchers, suddenly they are facing the equivalent of their high school or college opponents clean up hitter every at bat. Some pitchers, especially at the high school level, find they can rely on one overpowering pitch to get through a lineup. Once they turn pro they have to start learning how to hit spots and out think the batters, something they have not had to do before. College pitchers have often spent years pitching away from contact (to avoid those rockets off of aluminum bats) and have to learn not to be afraid of contact.
Then there is the lifestyle change. Often the players are now far away from home with a group of new teammates. They are not the big man on campus that they were in high school or college. Unlike the N.F.L. or N.B.A., they are not flying first class and staying in five star hotels. It is long bus rides and motels. If they played for a big time college program, or even some high school and/or travel programs, the travel and accommodations of pro ball can be a step (or several) down.
With all of these factors working against success, the money payed high draftees is approaching the early salaries of N.B.A. and N.F.L. draftees. Teams are taking great risks. They are being asked to invest $5-10 million or even more in a player who may never see a big league stadium except when he buys a ticket. It is the most inexact science of all sports.