As most St. Louis Cardinals fans are aware, Ryan Franklin and his team received a considerable amount of notoriety over the past few days. The subject was the closer’s remarks over the posting of Major League Baseball’s “Weapons-Free Workplace Policy” in Florida and Arizona clubhouses this spring.
The 36-year-old, who grew up in Arkansas and now lives on a 500-acre ranch in Oklahoma, told the Post-Dispatch this:
“There are a few guys that screwed it up for everybody,” Franklin said. “If it wasn’t for the NFL guy a couple years ago bringing a weapon into a nightclub … you’ve just got to be smart.”
Franklin was undoubtedly referring to former New York Giants star Plaxico Burress, whose unfortunate self-inflicted wound led to the loss of his job and his freedom. The former wide receiver is currently spending two years behind bars.
Some writers have incorrectly assumed MLB’s action was a knee-jerk response to an incident in the NBA this season involving Gilbert Arenas. The Washington guard has been suspended indefinitely and faces criminal charges as a result of a gun-related episode. The difference between this one and Burress’ was that it played out inside the locker room rather than in a nightclub.
An MLB official told the AP that their policy had been put in place last July following the Burress incident, but was just now being formally posted. Union head Michael Weiner acknowledged the issue was negotiated with the players in advance.
The policy, which applies to players and employees alike, states that MLB “shall prohibit the possession or use of deadly weapons in any facility or venue owned, operated, or controlled by it.” Deadly weapons are defined as “any instrument designed primarily for use in inflicting death or injury to a human or animal.” Included are “firearms, explosives, daggers, metal knuckles, switchblade knives, and knives having blades exceeding five inches.”
While Franklin’s comments seemed out there, now that a couple of days have passed, I decided to look around to see if his position had any seconds from corners of the baseball universe.
If there are any, no one is speaking up.
The New York Yankees, a team never short on controversy, were remarkably quiet on the issue. Andy Pettitte and C.C. Sabathia shrugged their shoulders, saying they have never seen a gun in their clubhouse or any other. Spring training instructor, gun owner and Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, who played from 1972 to 1994, agreed and added that he has never even heard a story about one.
A story out of Pittsburgh noted that several of the Pirates players enjoy bow-hunting and brought their high-tech devices to the park. The quote offered was a joke from outfielder Brandon Moss, who had practiced his hobby at PNC Park on occasion.
“I guess I’ll have to switch to rubber tips (on arrows),” Moss said.
Players are competitive by nature and have long periods of downtime, which explains interest in varied hobbies such as golf, video games and even those involving weapons. Yet there seems proper a time and place for everything.
Perhaps there are a few who believe their fame and wealth also offer a level of entitlement beyond that of the average citizen. Yet there seems no doubt that the vast majority of Americans save those in law enforcement would face serious repercussions if they carried weapons into their workplace.
San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young may have been speaking for the silent majority as he sees MLB’s policy simply formalizing standard practice.
“I think every clubhouse had the no gun policy before,” Young said. “They’re just making it official. But anybody with common sense knows you shouldn’t be carrying guns in most places.”
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Up at the top you’ve got “Catagory: Ryan Ludwick”.
The rules, in clubhouses or anywhere else, are not in place because of guys like Franklin. It’s the Plexicos and Gilberts that cannot be counted on to act responsibly. Unfortunatly, they are the ones least likely to abide by the rules.
Why in the world would anyone need to bring a gun into a locker room, or any other place of employment? It amazes me that anyone would need to be told this.
Lou the cardinals have on their squad a handful of guys who are poster boys for the NRA. And getting to the park at 1:00 every day allows for alot of down time and those good ol boys clean those guns, and clean those guns, and clean those guns. They just love laying their hands on that weaponry as often as possible.
I believe it is more an issue of this being allowed for a long time and now someone telling them they can’t do what they’ve been doing for years. I think this is the reason you actually heard someone voice their opposition to the new gun rules.
You know, a democrats in office and he’s taking away our right to bear arms
kind of stuff.
bb, thanks. Apologies to Mr. Ludwick, who to the best of my knowledge has not registered a position on the issue.
I will amend my previous post, the obsessives are kinda scary too. Seems like there might be some kind of issue there somewhere that maybe shouldn’t mix with firearms, shouldn’t mix with firearms in the workplace.
Its really a definition of “Club House” as RC pointed out. Players spend allot of down time there, especially pitchers. I would guess a number of players keep a piece in there car for obvious reasons. Especially players with family and young children. St Louis is hardly one of the hostile zones in the baseball world…………………………… A down side. Half the fools on this team spend their off time, especially late night, in the digital domain. To suggest that this isn’t a violent and hostile environment would be naive. With the stress that these guys fined themselves in often enough, seems wise to have a few rules……………………………… An aside on this topic. I’m seeing a direct correlation between video habits and competitive drive on a few ball clubs. These modern games are very engrossing and I would guess as a result that adrenal fatigue in starting to show in the baseball environment. I’ve run a few experiments that show a very negative result. It might be better than carousing the groupie bars, but aside from STD’s that isn’t as debilitating as 3 or 4 late night hours of shooting at people and being shot at. Frankie is one of the heavies in that domain.
This seems like MLB and the Union making sure the players are informed, no guns on team property. If a few players thought they could handle their firearms in the Clubhouse, now they are advised, they cannot do so.
Players are celebs and there are some kooks out there. I can understand some players keeping a gun at home, for protection against hostile intruders.
Teams should have armed security guards for protecting the Clubhouse and the Ballpark.
Jumbo said….
“Teams should have armed security guards for protecting the Clubhouse and the Ballpark.”
Jumbo should have said…
“Teams should have armed security guards for protecting the Clubhouse, the Ballpark and Mark McGwire.”
link
I missed the joke, sorry. IMO, teams should (and presumably do) have some armed security guards for the twin and serious purposes of protecting fans and their employees.
I had to add the link above. Big Mac and little cop, presumably to protect him from the media. Check again.
I can certainly get behind the idea of cops protecting precious Big Mac.
I am happy Mac is back and the team is mustering down south. Albert says its a strong team and JS cannot disagree.
What a great off-season. We outbid 29 other teams for Holliday. Who would have thunk it. Dropped some money on a good old boy, Penny.
I even like the way we re-hired Mitchell Page to instruct hitters at Quad Cities. If he was good enough to teach in the majors, Page is good enough for low A ball.