Monday, October 23, 2006
you gotta cheat, cheat, no reason to play fair:
OK. Kenny Rogers, discussed below, cheated. His pitching hand was covered in pine tar. True to form, MLB says it's not going to investigate the matter -- and, truth be told, what could Bud Selig do? Order a do-over of Game 2?

What it could do is publicly humiliate Rogers. Bill Plaschke observes, insightfully, that baseball is acting like an "ugly fraternity," scorning outside scrutiny and insulating its guilty brothers from the scorn they deserve. Does it need to be said that this attitude is what led to the steroid scandal?

George Mitchell should call a press conference. He should humiliate Rogers, and then humiliate the players' union if it comes to his defense. Rogers has to do much, much better than to plead a clump of dirt. His locker should be flipped. Rarely has another profession hid so deeply behind the presumption of innocence. This washout has now tarnished yet another World Series.
--Spencer Ackerman
posted 3:57 PM |
Mr. Ackerman, I believe you have the wrong attitude here.

When it comes to things like wars and elections, cheating matters. It matters a lot. Florida 2000? I share your outrage. Iraq 2003? Two-third of the country does as well. But cheating in baseball? Oh, no, not here: cheating in baseball is not only expected, it is (if you get away with it) admirable.

Moreover, if you want to "tarnish" any world series in which a player used [pine tar|amphetamines|steroids|vaseline|saliva|his spikes|the opposing team's signs] in a way that is [against the rules|against the unwritten rules|vaguely unethical] then I am afraid 1919 will have a whole lot of company.

FD: as I mentioned in the previous thread, I am a Gaylord Perry fan. The man was often better when he didn't cheat but made the opposition think he did than vice-versa.
Blogger wcw | 5:56 PM

Yankees fan, I take it?
Blogger Xhevahir | 6:30 PM

Actually, baseball was doing a pretty good job of humiliating Rogers just by putting him in post season games. The difference is that this year he seems to have lost his case of the yips.
So, the question, which won't soon be answered, is which was the true Kenny Rogers, the pitcher with electric stuff who pitched a perfect game or the hapless loser who got yanked from every big time game he ever started(or does it just SEEM that way?)

Either he always junked the ball during the regular season and then stopped during the post season because of the heightened scrutiny--which would explain the differential. Or, more likely, he learned to deal with the terrors that kept him from winning. The fact that Kenny Rogers can pitch isn' t something new--what is out of character is that he is now doing it in a big spot. You prefer to judge any one who evolves as a cheater--but that's because YOU can't imagine a world where people overcome their hobgoblins. I prefer to wait till there's enough evidence to even begin to make a case.
Blogger carwinrpc | 2:51 AM