Remember the days when you looked forward to being the first in the family to grab the Sports section from the Sunday morning paper and devour it from start to finish?
Well, perhaps you aren’t of that generation, but I was. Here in baseball’s off-season (unless you live in New York or Philadelphia), there is still a good quantity of interesting and quality writing that pops up on the traditional day of rest.
Here are a few articles of interest to me as a St. Louis Cardinals watcher.
TLR unsure on passing McGraw
With Tony La Russa home in California for the winter, the local scribes have better access and as such, are writing about him. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle deals softly with the manager and the Mark McGwire issue, exploring it from a risk perspective taken by La Russa as his career nears its close.
Shea suggests 2010 will be the manager’s last season in that role and asked him point blank about the importance of overtaking John McGraw for the second-most managerial wins of all time.
“La Russa is open to a front-office gig after he’s done managing. He said moving up the wins leaderboard isn’t a priority. With 2,552 wins, he needs to manage into the 2012 season to catch John McGraw (a 211-win difference). He’s nearly 1,200 behind leader Connie Mack.
“’Passing John McGraw is not everything,’ La Russa said. ‘You want to assess that fire in the gut, because it takes that fire to do the job properly. I’ve seen players skate for their final couple of years. You could see them losing the competitive edge, and they took the money because they’re going on their past. There’s a line of integrity there. I don’t want to do that.’”
What’s ahead on the labor front
The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo is one writer I often check out. His pieces typically indicate a greater depth of thought and seem less rushed than the many deadline-driven snippets that seem so common in today’s click-driven world.
In his Sunday column, Cafardo reviews the current status in the ongoing standoff between the Players Union and ownership. New Players Association executive director Michael Weiner, who is replacing outgoing Don Fehr next month, discusses the current concerns over contract collusion.
Further, Cafardo considers several factors that may be on the table during the next collective bargaining period. They include the length of the schedule, off days and travel days, draft pick compensation, international draft and small-market payroll subsidies.
A number of these issues need to be addressed. Here is hoping the new Weiner regime is able to work with the owners to make progress in these and other areas.
Team of the decade
Another writer whose work I care for much less is the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers and it is not just because he covers the Cubs. Yet, there are times he deserves a nod. Today is one of those days.
Rogers puts forward a compact, but compelling case for the Cardinals to be labeled as MLB’s “Team of the Decade”, noting their payroll efficiency as a differentiating factor.
Bud welcoming Bonds?
William C. Rhoden of the New York Times is one of the many scribes concerned by Bud Selig’s different stance taken over McGwire compared to other accused steroids users of his era, including Barry Bonds.
“Asked about Bonds’s future in baseball if he is acquitted on perjury charges, Selig said that if a club wanted to hire him as a player or a coach, ‘I don’t think there will be an issue.’”
Bud seemed to down a healthy serving of Sunday breakfast waffles when he qualified his statement.
“’Every case is different,’ Selig said. ‘But as we move forward in the future, every case is different, that’s all I’ll say.’”
Rhoden raises what I think is a good question when he wonders why those from the steroids era aren’t dealt with in a consistent manner, welcomed back to the game. By potentially playing favorites and establishing a “double standard”, Selig risks undermining his credibility and that of Major League Baseball.
McGwire/La Russa/Selig hardliner
Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan is representative of the many critical of the Cardinals’ hiring, coming down hard on the returning slugger/hitting coach, the manager and the commissioner.
“Tony La Russa is a sad enabler, a steroid denier whose legacy is entwined with that of a cheater. At least we can understand his motivation in bringing Mark McGwire back to baseball. But Bud Selig should say no, not happening, until we hear from the man who deceived us to such an astonishing degree.
“Mark McGwire owes an explanation to the (Roger) Maris family, if no one else.”
Bob Ryan says MM owes the Maris family an explanation. What he really means is a public explanation. If MM has already spoken privatly to them, Ryan would feel cheeted, just as I think he and others felt cheeted when it surfaced that Mr. Hooten was not fuming because MM had been generously, and privatly, supporting his foundation. It is the ritual Mr. Ryan values, not the reality.
It is relatively quick and painless for a multi-millionaire to slip a few $25K checks to quiet a squeaky wheel. That is far different than becoming a national spokesman against steroid abuse. Some people wash away that pledge as having been made under pressure. Others consider it another example of being less than honest, in contrast with those who believe being “not dishonest” is good enough.
I still think you are off a bit on this Brian. I agree that we don’t consider contrition genuine unless it involves pain. But it is only public pain that is counted. No one knows, or cares, what private pain MM or any of the others have endured. It may well be far greater than the pain extracted for public consumption, but it doesn’t satisfy our voyeurism, so it doesn’t count. Pain which is private is no less genuine, nor is it any less ‘honest’. Those who suggest dishonesty are just upset that their own need to see the pain has not been met. In other words, to them, it really isn’t about MM, or respect for the game, or the kids, or Mr. Hooten or the Maris family, its all about satisfying them. Mark could blow that off without offending me.
I might not use BB’s words, since everyone has their own voice, but I like his wisdom. I do not need to hear some expression of contrition out of McGwire for something being done by so many others of his generation and that I do not think has caused physical harm. Intstead, PEDs have seemed to influence statistics among older players, extending their careers. It easy to see why the Union wanted to look the other way, because salaries tend to be highest for the longest serving players.
If Roger Maris were playing in the 1990s, it is quite possible he would have pumped PEDs, in keeping with his times.
For his service to the Cardinals, Maris was rewarded with a Busch beer distributorship. There are many studies that document that alcohol causes health problems, especially at high doses. Maris could be said to have been a purveyor of a substances that injured health. Was Maris a spokesperson against the perils of over-drinking?
Nice BB. Nice article Brian. There is some moralistic altruism in the Bush administrations campaign against steroid abuse……………………….. Its about as genuine as the invasion of Iraq. There is a profit motive. The Saudi’s, using Haliburton specialists, will be drilling in S.W. Iraq in 3 years. They are laying pipe as we speak.
Let’s not overlook those bigs chaws of addictive carcinogen. How many kids emulated that to their detriment. How many ‘heros’ in the HOF are to blame for how many deaths. How many families are owed an explaination. Where is the rage Mr. Ryan, where are the hearings.
Does Ryan know whether Maris used PEDS – possibly amphetamines that were in vouge at the time? No he doesn’t. Nuff said.
CC, your comment inspired me to check Bob Ryans d.o.b., 1946, putting him in his 60’s. His childhood heros fall squarely in the Maris era. The younger generation’s vices are always an order of magnitude worse than those of our own, and always represent a denigration of values, erosion of character, etc.
Nice for the establishment sportswriters to have something to write about during the scheduled off days of a World Serious held in November.
Actually I am surprised MLB didn’t object to the timing of the McGwire hiring announcement, there were so many rumours tho and it is just a hitting coach hire!
It will be good if MM talks and answers questions as soon as possible (later in November) so that the issue will not be hanging around come Opening Day 2010.