text:
Student expelled for high school Counter-Strike map
A Texas high school that suspended and then expelled a student for creating a map of his school for the PC shooting game Counter-Strike has released new details of the incident. The 17-year-old boy's trouble started when the school received a phone call from a parent, one day after the Virginia Tech murders who complained her …
I used to want to make a map of my high school to play Quake DM in. It doesn't mean I actually wanted to kill anyone (though I thought it would be funny to have the teachers as monsters on the map for a single player version..). This is really sad, punishing the guy for something that should be encouraged - making 3D maps/models is a useful skill that he could use/develop to get a decent job.. I can see the mum getting worried though, if he's always sitting by himself in a darkened room shooting people in a virtual high school, with swords on his walls etc.. but :/ still pretty retarded to expel him for this!!
Obviously, this is ridiculous beyond belief. It's a terrible terrible shame that this child's life is being ruined by the ignorance of adults who should know better - and are clearly ashamed to defend their arguments in a public forum.
"More stuff"
"They got more stuff that doesn't look too good," Smelley told the website.
Doesn't look too good for which side? The seemingly-innocent student, or the overzealous school board? Face it, when people want to create maps for games, they will likely base those maps upon familiar territory, buildings they have been in. It's much easier than creating a large map from only your imagination. And gee, a Chinese person who has an interest in swords? Color me shocked. Unless the police find blood and guts on the swords, they are irrelevant (you know, unless you want to use their existence to spread FUD about someone's innocence).
I empathize with the student's mother, who had a genuine concern. Like most parents, she is probably not very active in her son's life (and in her defense, her son probably likes it that way). That's just the typical relationship between a parent and a teenager. So I understand her concern (especially in the wake of recent events), and I can understand her reaction. I do, however, find serious fault with the police and the school in their response.
Modern-day witch hunts may go by different names and methods, and may use modern technology, but the game is always the same. Whether it's long hair, skin color, sexual preference, religion, musical preference, hobbies/interests, etc, it's always the same -- if you don't look, act, and think like us, we don't trust you.
Boycotting the meeting
As for those school board members that decided to boycott the meeting, they should be expelled from the board for failing to do their jobs. You can bet your ass that if it was their child, they would have been there. No one forced them to join the board, they did so voluntarily. So be a man/woman (whichever the case may be) and accept the responsibility that you wanted so badly.
I do understand, and even sympathize a little, with the authorities.
A little. They REALLY don't want to be the next school to hit the news. Bad for the heart, you know.
But look... if they found five swords, he's a fairly standard 'armory geek'. That means he either has no interest in learning to use them (and thus, they're about as dangerous as a cooking knife... less, since they're probably showy and fairly blunt) or he's an aspiring fencer or SCA person... in which case he's probably not going to go on a school shooting spree.
Counterstrike maps of the school? Geez... that's hardly the same level as calling in a friggin' BOMB THREAT. And he posted the maps online, so it would appear to be done more for the challenge than for his own private satisfaction.
Even WITH all those factors, let's say he modded in faces of people he disliked at school and shot them over and over. So? It harms nobody and, if he's got a lot of built-up pressure, it gets released without said news story about some kid who cracked and went after his teachers and fellow students. It's called C-A-T-H-A-R-S-I-S.
And the boycotting of the meeting? Childish, simply childish.
Bigger problems appear...
Imagine you are a recluse. A young adult with raging hormones, no friends and no outlet. You feel the world doesn't understand you and hide in your room with two padlocks sitting behind a computer playing shooter games and watching Japanese crime-porn movies.
Then you read about this kid who got expelled for creating a map and feel scared. They are now out to get you. You don't feel safe and feel you have to protect yourself...
Imagine now putting more effort into reaching these young people and let them understand that they are not alone. Won't the padlocks come off?
I think Marylin Manson said it best in Bowling for Columbine.
Oh and... 60w+ P.A. (public announcement) over E-mail (the newest snail mail) anytime...
Love and peace to all,
How dumb.
I was making a map of our high school back when I was about that age. Was originally planned as a Halflife deathmatch map, but when we found the max map size too small we decided to start a single player level pack involving a fire in the school. Never got anywhere other than creating a few rough test maps and some plot ideas though.
On the other hand... A teacher at the same school made a Quake map based on the school library. We even played it at school.
Quick question.... Did the student in this article play as a terrorist or counter-terrorist? ;-)
You think this is a bad sign?
You think this is a bad sign? I've seen games where there are REAL signs of being indicative of tendancy towards WMDs, genocide, mass killings, etc.
I mean, only the other day I saw a game that had "accurately" depicted a map of Europe and encouraged you to attack it using a variety of WMDs and subjugate the local populace, dealing with the insurgents (freedom fighters or terrorists, take your pick on the name). Disgusting I tell you. And all this *without* a mod of any form, this kind of offensive content came straight out of the box.
If Only
If only he'd created a Day Of Defeat Map..................
Students of the world - Put down your your AWP's and go beat some German's to death with a shovel - it's far more politically correct these days.
Let's be honest. Stole. They weren't illegal, there was no indication he was going to use them for anything illegal, so there was NO reason to take them away. Is it any wonder the police are commonly disliked when they go around doing stuff like that?
Police & Society
I dont think its wise to blame the cops, they are just doing their job (responding to concerned citizens).
I suggest this is possibly the unfortunate inevitable negative outcome of multiculturalism.
Great! Shutting the *bedroom* door after the horse has bolted.
Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
"I dont think its wise to blame the cops, they are just doing their job (responding to concerned citizens).
I suggest this is possibly the unfortunate inevitable negative outcome of multiculturalism."
Exactly. The clear result of interracial mixing is the sort of, um, terrorististic terrorism of terrifying terror that results in, er, the modding of western games-from-mods into terrifying theatres of death depicting battles between fully grown adults which is of course completely against everything perpetuated by both the media and foreign policy of these, ummmm, wholly peaceful and not atall give-us-oil-or-we'll-beat-you-up-attituded countries. Why, you'd never see a western country declare war on another or even use swords - the notion of a good old caucasian having a sword, gun, or engaging in fisticuffs was unheard of before, er, Bruce Lee introduced the ICBM to the new world.
(c) The Daily Mail
My University
At the university at which I study, one of the more popular courses is Computer Games Design, and for the first year one of the assignments is to create a Counter-Strike map based on the university campus.
As Chris said, when you're setting out to create maps (and especially if you're a little inexperienced) it's far easier to base them on locations with which you are familiar, and for students the most likely candidate by far is your school/college/uni.
This story is outrageous and I really hope it doesn't traumatise the boy too much.
Don't read my dreams!
It's just as well they couldn't read my dreams when I was at school, cos I had a tendency to fight invading aliens with balls of rolled up paper. Sometimes I donned a dinner suit and uncovered foreign powers plotting to use the school as a base to take over the UK after brainwashing the pupils. Once I was even part of a new generation of superpowered beings and me and my classmates stood up against scientists who drove black sedans and wore black suits and sunglasses and wanted to abduct us for scientific experimentation.
If they'd known that, I would have been expelled for sure.
Anonymous writes:
"I suggest this is possibly the unfortunate inevitable negative outcome of multiculturalism."
On the contrary, I would argue that mindless bigotted racism is entirely "evitable" and that multiculturalism is the cure, not the disease.
Time for another Grand Theft Auto suit?
I mean, you know the original game used a map of Dundee in Scotland, right?
Blaming the cops
The police's job is not "responding to concerned citizens". It's to make sure the law is enforced. "Responding to concerned citizens" is one of the elements of doing that job, but "allaying their fears and making sane judgements about what to do about those concerns" is another. One which they patently failed to do by, as Silas says, stealing his decor.
You wave your biases, Mr Anonymous, by blaming multiculturalism.
Fun place they sent him...
Simply LoL
"Sword ownership rights have been under heavy fire since they were determined to be the leading cause of death during the Siege of Acre in the third crusade."
I really have to state : ROFLMFAO
there are far worst things than a boy's CS map out there.
Just open the television and you may encounter just a few
Sue the school!
How long until the parents find a lawyer and sue the school for mental anguish, unfair dismissal, racial prejudice and anything else they cand dig up for megabucks...
Reminds me of a political rally in France with Charles de Gaulle: When asked about what policies his government should implement, a heckler shouted "eliminate the idots" - To which CdG responded "a vast program..."
In anycase, maybe the GWoT should be called GWoF (for Freedom?)
Over-reacton, the only reaction!
Some kid made a map of his school for a game... big deal...
I keep a postmans uniform and bag in my armoury and sit there polishing my machine gun in my boxers and a pair of army boots waiting for the day the boss goes to far ...
It would be more disturbing if he was making maps of someone elses school....
Building such a CS map probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in this day and age. He shouldn't have been expelled tho.
Take the owners of this site. http://www.fragnetics.com; In the late 90's they banded together to build a CS map of their school, with the blessings of their computer club teachers.
They expanded on the experience and now they run their own EA-recognized gaming services firm. Incidentally the maps they built can be downloaded from the downloads section.
Shame to see a young man's creative expression being misinterpreted in this fashion. And, in this context, I do mean "shame" in its truest sense.
Land of the free? Pfft.
Pictures of the map he made
So to prevent this dude turning into a "terrorist", they stopped him playing a game in which the whole objective is to lay some whoopass on a bunch of terrorists, and instead expelled him and stole some of his stuff, to make sure he had the required level of bitterness to hate his mother and teachers?
Nice going, guys. It's stuff like this that makes me scared of an American-designed future.
Where are all the land sharks?
While I read this I was waiting for the punchline.
I followed the link to the local papers and read their reports and comments, still looking for the punchline.
I cannot understand why the local landsharks aren't offering the sue the sh*t out of the school board for his treatment over something that was of peripheral (and dubious) concern to the school anyway, and the police for 'confiscating' decorative swords. Why?
As for the comments by Mr Smelley ("They got more stuff that doesn't look too good,"), well due process as you Amuricuns say. If anyone has an allegation against the boy the they should go through the proper chanels and 'due process'.
I don't think that this lad has to worry about graduating or college etc. The money he should make out of this should set him up for life.
Amurica - Land of the free
(provided that you're not Asian; Iranian, Iraqi, Black, Catholic, Computer game player, etc etc etc)
How fascinating !!
"Sword ownership rights have been under heavy fire since they were determined to be the leading cause of death during the Siege of Acre in the third crusade.
School officials determined, due to the violent nature of the video game, the iron-age WMD (weapon of mass decapitation) and other undisclosed information, the matter should be classified as a "Level 3" situation."
And all that happened at a period in history when all good Americans were bashing each other on the head with stone axes !! Perhaps the police should arrest everyone in possession of a lump of WMD (Weapon of Mass Disablement) stone !!
RE: Chris
"And gee, a Chinese person who has an interest in swords? Color me shocked."
Um, blatant stereotyping much? Maybe if you had said "anyone with an interest in history, history of warfare, other cultures or martial arts could have those swords" you wouldn't come across as stereotyping.
No worse than me
Does anyone remember Skool Daze on the (recently turned 25, belated Happy Birthday wishes!) ZX Spectrum? You could change the names of the characters. I defy anyone who has played that game to tell me they never used names taken from their own school for the characters. OK, the strongest weapon was a catapult, but it was still refreshingly naughty to knock down the headmaster from behind and have him give some other hapless kid lines.
I once created a text adventure game for the BBC Model B, set in my old school; the twist was that I had turned it into a special school for sexual perverts. It included such nonsense as eating curry in order to burn a hole in a wooden panel with your fiery breath (must've been where they got the idea for Dhalsim in Street Fighter), an "emergency reset button" in one of the classrooms (pressing it restarted the game from scratch) and a drinks machine (don't select the white or black coffee); not to mention a series of clues to a password which had to be entered in the correct location and a running gag involving some AA batteries and a faulty recharger.
Some people just take themselves far too seriously. IT'S A GAME, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
It has nothing to do with multiculturalism
...unless you're implying a racist element to the boy's treatment?
It's ignorance, plain and simple. Anyonw who plays FPshooters thinks how cool it would be to map a real world environment that they and other players know. To assume that leads to murderous thoughts is like assuming that someone who eats a doughnut wants to eat all the sugar in the world.
all the sugar in the world
Oh Dear
Creating a map of a location you visit or use regularly is fun seeing a place you know well in a film or in a computer game is weird and fun. You can let your mind run free and enjoy it. I love watching the Americans napalm Canary wharf and London in the film "28 weeks later" this doesn't mean I have any plans to do the same.
As mentioned above there are university courses where this is a requirement. The best map I ever played in a game base on a real world location was for Doom and it was Cambridge University. It was epic in scale and design turning a real world environment into a 3d representation in a game is no small task and the student should have been commended for his talent and creativity.
I have and did attempt to make a map of my secondary school as I thought it would be interesting and challenging but I eventually gave up due to lack of artistic talent.
Sadly this was a knee jerk reaction to the tragic events in at Vtech.
Baffling to see part of the US, even Texas, go straight towards the fanatic mode, in such a unified move. Being tasteless may apparently cause you to be locked-up, in this other planet ...
Is a matter of time before they burn books, crucify the
heretics again, and generally go into crusade against
""They got more stuff that doesn't look too good," Smelley told the website."
Oh, dear, you mean, .... naked women ????? Geez, death is
too darn good for him !
Hey, Smelley, I take it you believe those heretics have fluorified water, in order to poison your bodily fluids *.
* from "doctor strangelove" by Stanley Kubrick
What idiots
I mean, really.
On their website (link below), next to their "mission statement", they have a picture of 4 people, at least two of which are carrying rifles over their shoulders.
I think they should have expelled these people, who were walking around their REAL campus with REAL guns.
Sword ownership
I just checked the Texas state law, which says its illegal to give, sell, or offer a sword to someone under 18, except with WRITTEN parental consent... so technically at least in this case the swords were evidence of a violation of law that may have taken place. Even though it defies common sense its still within the technical power and responsibility of the law.
Such a stupid incident... its not paranoia, just political correctness gone berserk. I'm sure no one in authority is literally scared by this kid, just worried that someone else (parent, teacher, other kid) might be *gasp* OFFENDED by his actions and threaten their job security. The first comment I invariably get from "non-sword" people who see my sword collection (of functional, historical reproductions) is something along the lines of "I can't believe you can have that stuff! You could scare people". The next thing I almost always hear though is "Can I hold one" : )
Me Too!
You can add me to the list of people who tried to make a map of their school. In my case I used the doom2 engine but gave up when I found the view distance wasn't long enough.
Like peple have said - it's easier and more interesting to use a location you're familiar with. I had plans to have secret passages that where true to life too. The school had several areas that few people knew about: the basement, behind the stage of the theatre, the old bomb shelters. It would have been great fun to play on.
Did I subsequently terrorise the school? Well 8 years since I left it's still doing fine.
I also own a decorative sword. It'd be completely ineffecitve as a weapon though. It's relatively blunt and would snap if you swung it violently. The knife I use in the kitchen however...
So out of context
My god people get a grip. I swear, it does not matter if something has anything to do with race, people want to turn it into something racial.
I was reading this article and didn't read till halfway down that the kid was chinese. Hell, the kid sounded pretty much like me when I was a kid, and I'm a standard white american.
Facination with swords is not really something limitted to the chinese. Hell, I had decorative swords then and still do. And don't tell me that as a kid you didn't sword fight, no matter what race you were.
All this is really is about a school system flipping out because of a recent tragedy. They went to far, but if you read anything with video game news, you'd know that this has been a pretty common occurance since Doom.
Really, this wouldn't matter what race the kid is, people just want an excuse to flip out.
5 minutes turns these up
The fact is that when children start to make computer game maps they begin with maps of buildings they know well to get to grips with using the design tools. Expelling them for doing so just serves to broaden the them-and-us divide.
Shades of Doom
When I'm bored, I like to browse through old user-made levels for Doom, which are archived at Doomworld.com. There's an entire directory devoted to "university / school" levels, designed back in 1994/5, which are usually dull tosh. Most of them predate even Columbine, and so they have a spooky feeling. They are relics from a bygone age. The textfiles that accompany them are usually more entertaining, in a nostalgic way, than the maps. Some of the them are architectural exercises that attempt to circumvent Doom's single-story 3D engine, but there are several slaughter-style maps where you have to kill students, teachers etc. I only point this out as an example of how the times have changed; back in 1994/95 this kind of thing was funny in a sick way, and now it has a horrible grown-up serious air, the fun has been sucked out of it.
I am so making a map of my school...
Definitely. I am going to make a map of my school.
And charge around with a machine gun, or RPG.
Or a tank...
Of course, this doesn't mean I'm actually going to go postal on my school. Although... NO!!!
Heh heh heh...
On the other hand...
Let's be fair:
If the school and town knew about this kid and his counter-strike map, did nothing, and then the kid did in fact go on a rampage, killing a bunch of people, there would be outrage from the American public that such "obvious signs" were overlooked or ignored.
They really can't win in this situation. Expelling the kid? Too far -- but in all fairness, they couldn't just ignore it either.
Specialists say: 40% of school murderers wrote/talked beforehand
Really, Time (and others) wrote just that after the VTech massacre, that "telling signs" are: writing about it in essays or plays or talking to classmates about it, because it has been documented for 40% of the perpetrators.
Right, and some 95% of perpetrators have been documented as male (exception: the girl from the "I hate mondays" song). Soo... ban all males from school --- it's an even better indicator!
Obviously what you need is the opposite information, *given* that someone talks/writes about it, what is the chance that he does commit such an atrocity? Its obvious that most people will not be able to put their finger on the problem/difference, but if a reporter cannot/doesn't want to point this out this is tragic.
So if the chance of pandemonium is significantly higher *given* that he has made a map, fine, they need to take steps. If not, shut up. There's hundreds of these maps made up to now, none are known to be from murderers (AFAIK), so definitely not enough ground to take steps. That the police has helped with stealing his stuff --- well, given that sheriffs are elected in american towns, this kind of macho bullying is what the population votes for.
Bloody America
I know it is in their rights to 'bear arms', but my god, if only they had better firearms control people wouldn't need to get paranoid about some kids map for CS.
In the wake of the latest murders I am surprised not to see on the news an outcry from middle amercia asking for handguns to be banned.
I live in a country where it is illegal to own a handgun or automatic weapons, and all we get in our schools are kids punching other kids. (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4045568a7694.html)
Alot easier to take someone down when they dont have a 9mm in their hand...
Who Cares...
This news will blow over and be forgotten about by the rest of us, but this child has probably had their life destroyed.. it's great that humans are so apathetic and fall in to line so easily :)
P.S. I totally disagree with the political correctness gone mad, I just dont think anyone will do anything about it. The parents should be slapped for not knowing their own child as well... In fact the child is the only person I think hasn't done anything wrong...
What a fantastic idea
I agree completely with pretty much everyone else. Familiar ground is much easier to draw out than making something up out of the blue. Besides, think about your school that you go to...Ours had a huge courtyard with concrete planters, 4 or 5 buildings around the courtyard, with balconies overlooking it, and 2 staircases to come up. What about that WOULDN'T make a good CS map or whatever you play. Everyone's just being so paranoid that they're resorting to harassment just to make sure. If this kid didn't want to shoot up some school board members before this, I'm sure he does now.
The world is going mad!
how can they be allowed to get away with things like this? how long is it before people are locked up in jail for being different, like long hair on boys, or listening to 'bad music.' i think the world has gone too far from being "p.c" as they call it, now we are being racismist, as in , arresting anyone who seems to be slightly odd, or different in any way. i think this student could have been fine if the police and the mother would actually listen to the kid and not assume things about counterstrike or the people who play it. like me, i certainly hate a few people, but i always considerd it better to imagine im kiling them rather then going out with a knife and killing them. i make maps all the time and im planning on making an rpg on warcraft of my surrounding area, mayb the locals will find this horrifying and lock me up, who knows. And about the sword, has anyone been to disney land? the place for tiny kids? well i have, and i remember a giant decorative sword for sale there for 150 euros. i wanted to get it but my mum didnt think we could get it back to britain, ah well, probably saved me some trouble with being p.c or whatever. remember everyone, mind mapping, not brain storming. apparently brain storming is insulting to mentally challenged people(mayb calling them thats not pc either) i dont see the difference between the two ways of saying it.
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It might seem odd for a band without a full-length to enjoy this sort of praise. But ESCORT is definitely not your typical band. Escort is big. Literally. The seventeen-member "disco orchestra", founded by producers Eugene Cho and Dan Balis, and fronted by lead singer Adeline Michèle, features an incredible cast of musicians who have played with everyone from indie-rock titans Arcade Fire to avant-classical luminaries Alarm Will Sound.
TIRK070 - Morten Sorensen - The Burn Down EP
After his recent excursion remixing Groove Armada, Morton Sorenson returns to the fold with a stunning little release for Tirk titled 'The Burn Down EP.'
For those that don't know, Morten is in his early twenties and hails from a small fishing village in rural Norway. His Dad probably spent many years in New York and the records that he brought back encouraged a love of American house and disco on the impressionable Morton.
Pias warehouse fire
Our thoughts go out to the employees of our distributor Pias. The warehouse holding all the stock for many great independent labels was burnt down on Monday evening, the result being that all the stock held there has been lost.
Please bare with us if you are ordering from our website, we may not be able to fulfil your order as our stock levels in the office aren't massive.
TIRK069 - Free School - Ranting And Raving EP
Next up on Tirk we have a brand new act, named Free School. Hailing from Birmingham, shoegaze duo Andy and Steve bring the sunny Balearic sounds of summer and the icy kosmiche sounds of winter all in one sweeping hit. Free School are maximalist and minimalist all at once.
TIRK067 - Molly Wagger - Flambeaux
Here at Tirk we are really pleased to be putting out our first band album in quite a while (...since we started off the Fujiya & Miyagi train back in 2005). Molly Wagger are a Scottish 4 piece consisting of lead singer Charlie Denholm, brother James on Guitar, David Ayre on Bass and Edward Hulme Guitar. The quartet write melancholy but thoughtful songs with a streak of cold Edinburgh winter running through them.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Claire Smith: Baseball Around the Horn
Stroll through the summer game with a reporter who has covered Major League Baseball since 1982.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Slick: A Good and Noble Man, By Fay Vincent
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Claire Smith: Baseball Around the Horn: A great and good man passed today
A great and good man passed today
It is likely a name you're not familiar with, so it is my great privilege and pleasure to introduce you to this brave, kind man who epitomized The Greatest Generation.
Slick, born in Arkansas in 1922, served his country without fail, on the battlefields of Guadalcanal, on the assembly lines of Ford Motors for over 60 years.
Slick also played pro ball, teaming with some of the greatest players to ever toe a mound or swing a bat.
Slick was a member of the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro Leagues player who called Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson teammates, and Buck O'Neil "Skip."
Slick, like most African Americans of his era, bore the pride of having survived in the Jim Crow south, but never hid the scars caused by that spirit-rending segregation. He lost a brother because no hospital in rural Arkansas would treat a black child with a burst appendix. Slick apologized to no one for his limited education. You see, unless you could attend the one high school dedicated to African Americans in the Arkansas of the 30s and 40s, your schooling came to an end after sixth grade.
It was the law. It was a way of life best left in the dregs of history. Yet, as Slick said, these slights did not break him. As he liked to say, the license plates in Arkansas proclaimed that start "The Land of Opportunity and the first opportunity I had, I got out."
Slick became a member of an all-black unit within the Army'c Corps of Engineers, drove a bulldozer that helped build an airfield while under bombardment on The Canal.
Slick survived the war, and the indiginities of a segregated military. Then he came back to a country that once again tried to pigeonhole him as a second-class citizen. It failed.
Instead he proceded to carve out a career at Ford that lasted over 60 years. He played ball with a passion and joy in the leagues that would have him.
He could bunt, run, hit. If a grounder hit by him bounced more than once, he joked, you might has well put it in your hip pocket. It was a hit, pure and simple.
Slick's fondest memories involved his two-man barnstorming tours with Paige, the "money" player teams would bring in to boost the gates across America. Slick often drove the back roads of the nation as Satchel's chauffeur and companion.
Oh, the stories that emerged from those trips. Slick's fear at being pulled over by a country sheriff only to see that lawman step back in wonder as Satchel won him over with one of the autographed baseballs the pitcher kept in the glove compartment. the sheriff got the ball and Satch and Slick got a police escort all the way to their destination as sheriff after sheriff cleared traffic for these baseball VIPs.
Paige's love of speed - and Surratt's reluctance to temp fate, again - often led to Paige relentlessly teasing Slick as he asked again and again why wheel barrels kept passing them by.
Speaking about Satchel always made Slick laugh. Those who had the privilege of having heard their telling no doubt are smiling at their memories today.
I met Slick when we became members of the Fay Vincent Fellows, a merry group that included Joe Black and Larry Doby. The former commissioner and his band traveled from college campus to campus, speaking to students about The great contributions black America made to the Greatest Generation. Today, Fay and I comforted each other in that our trio of friends are now all gone. Then came the laughter, the gratitude and the love of our friends as we remembered the memories left us.
Slick's lessons were models of grace, tolerance and love of a country that often didn't love him back, but could not shake him in his belief that things would always get better.
Slick often spoke about working in the Ford plant when the news of Jackie signing with the Dodgers broke. Slick cheered as loudly as his fellow workers. It was like a holiday, he said.
Slick would never get that call. But he never let go of that day, because, in his heart, Jackie's victory was always his victory, as well.
In the end, how Slick lived, how this most patriotic, optimistic society within a society lived, was their gift to us all. What Slick, what Larry, what Joe Black, what my parents and my parents' parents taught me was this: The burdens borne, the wrongs suffered do never relieve one of his or her duties to country, family, self.
Thank you for reminding me of that each and every day spent together, Slick. Thanks for the opportunity to know you, to be your friend. I will miss you. Travel well ... and let not one wheel barrel ever pass you again.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Viva C. Viv
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Twisting In The Wind In The Bronx
NEW YORK _ Let the fallout begin.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman knew it had already begun before the ink even dried on the obituaries being written today about the American League wild-card winner's quick demise in the 2007 postseason.
So, too, did Joe Torre, whose quivering voice and request for privacy around his home spoke volumes about the death-row vigil that is now officially under way when it comes to his 12-year run in the most thankless managerial job in baseball.
Torre and Cashman may not want change. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will insist on it, though, especially since he so publicly and humiliatingly tied Torre's future to the success of the American League Division Series now since lost to the Cleveland Indians.
This time around, though, so, too, may some of Steinbrenner's veteran players will have a say in that change. A-Rod can opt out. Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada can test the free agent market.
And as Rivera said dispassionately in the quiet of the Yankees' clubhouse following the team's 6-4 loss, "this is business." And if it is the business of the Yankees to do things such as dismiss a Torre, the all-star reliever and future Hall of Famer said, then it will be his business to explore his options, too.
"They had a chance and they didn't do nothing with me," Rivera said of his failed efforts to enter negotiations with the team on a new contract during the season. "So let's see what's out there."
Nothing personal, Rivera insisted. And yet ... just ask him about the team's decision on Torre and what that might do to his own thought process.
"Like I said before, I'd have to sit down and think about that," Rivera said. "I'm proud of my teammates. I'm proud of my manager. I thank God for the opportunities I've had here. But we will see. Nothing against the organization. Nothing against the New York Yankees. But this is a business."
Yes it is. It is also a business Steinbrenner obviously feels has stopped giving him worthwhile return on his billion-dollar investment over the last half-dozen years. For while the Yankees kept their playoff run alive for a dozen years on Torre's watch, the team has not won a world championship since 2003, a lifetime in Yankees years.
Winning but one game in the best-of-five series against the Indians won't salve the owner's angry mood. Cashman's dour mood suggested as much.
"Cleveland earned the right to go forward," said Cashman said. "At the same time, we earned the right to go home," he said of the team that proved so potent during the regular season but hit only .228 in four games in the series.
Now the rebuilding not only will begin, but, in many cases, must.
Will that begin with Torre's ouster?
"I don't know why they would [dismiss Torre]," Rivera said quietly, obviously a man too young to remember the bad old days prior to the Torre era when Steinbrenner changed managers like other owners changed socks.
Torre, for one, tried to put the best face on his thankless situation.
"I'm not going there," Torre said when asked to speculate on his fate. "This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I mean, I'll look back on with great, great pleasure."
Cashman was non-commital, befitting his place in an organization where the real power resides in the Boss's Tampa headquarters.
"All decisions about next season we're going to have to focus on a lot sooner than we'd hoped," Cashman conceded. But as to whether any have been made he would not say. "I've not started ... we've not started on '08."
Not with the wounds of a disappointing end to 2007 still so fresh.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Rocket Exits, Perhaps For Good
Today, Torre, for a second straight day, graciously and openly faced questions about the ultimatum from George Steinbrenner that coldly greeted him Sunday. You know the one: down 0-2 in the best of five division series, Torre was publicly, bluntly told he needed his team to defeat the Cleveland Indians in three straight games or his job was gone.
Not surprisingly, Torre's first concern was his players. No, he said, he did not think that the ultimatum had upped the pressure on the team, or provided the motivation that led to an 8-4 victory in Game 3 Sunday night.
"It's tough enough to win when you're all pulling the same thing in the same direction," Torre said prior to Game 4. "But when you have people saying, 'well, we have to win this game because the manager's job is in jeopardy' - that's nuts.
"Now you're trying to make something that's important more important and that shouldn't be the case."
As for his feelings on Steinbrenner, Torre remained in character, as he has for a dozen years in baseball's toughest venue. "The first thing you have to understand is he's the boss," said Torre. "I think that when you come in and understand that, then it;s a matter of understanding he's entitled to say what he wants. He owns the team. He can be as critical or as complimentary as he wants to be any time he wants to be that."
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Winning One for The Skipper
NEW YORK - It may look trite in print, but there was no mistaking the sincerity when Johnny Damon, the hitting hero of the Yankees' 8-4 playoff win over the Cleveland Indians, said the winning was done to stave off the firing of a beloved manager.
"We all love Joe Torre," said Damon of the Yankees' skipper who awoke this morning to the news that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he'd be fired if the Indians defeated Torre's team in the best-of-five AL Division Series. "we'd all love for him to win another championship."
Damon's three-run home run, pivotal in the win, kept that possibility alive as the Yankees pulled back from the brink in a series they now trail, 2 games to 1.
"We all get to play for him at least one more day, and hopefully long after that," said Damon.
Torre, somewhat bemused by the attention brought by Steinbrenner's threat before the game, seemed more emotional - and grateful - after the victory. "It's an emotional day because losing is no fun in the post-season," said Torre. "... As for Mr. Steinbrenner, I don't want to say you ever get used to it. But you work here, you understand the pressure everybody's under to win all the time.
"The only thing I try to do is allow my players to roll the dice out there and play. because every time we go to the postseason there's nothing that's going to satisfy anybody unless you win the World Series. And that's very difficult. Those are very difficult situations for the players to play under.
"I understand the requirements here, but the players are human beings and it's not machinery here. Even though they get paid a lot of money, it's still blood that runs through their veins. And my job is to try to get them to be the players they are by, you know, allowing them to understand that the best effort you can give is all you can do."
For Hughes, Future is Now
NEW YORK - The present giving way to the future was planned as an off-season ceremony by the Yankees. Then and only then was The Empire supposed to ready for the likes of Roger Clemens and, who knows, Mike Mussina, to give way to Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain.
Last night, The Rocket took perhaps his most serious obvious step towards Cooperstown and away from a leading active role in the Bronx when he broke down after lasting only 2 1/3 innings as a starter in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against Cleveland.
Clemens gutted it out as long as he could, testament to his Hall of Fame makeup and pedigree. But he allowed two runs before he left and cast in doubt any further assignments coming his way should the Yankees continue on in the postseason. By departing when he did, Clemens also allowed Hughes an opportunity to seize the moment.
The kid did. After allowing the one run he inherited in the third to score on a Jhonny Peralta double in the third, Hughes bowed his back completely. He wound up stranding Peralta by inducing the previously sizzling Kenny Lofton to fly out. Then followed scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth, a dazzling performance that took the frenzied home crowd the rest of the way in terms of envisioning how bright this young man's future might be.
For Hughes came on and provided the salve the Yankees desperately needed - 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only two strikeouts and striking out four. In that span, the Yankees awoke, overcame a three-run deficit and went on to win their first game of the series, 8-4.
Not bad for a guy who's used to plying his living as a starter, and one who's got all of 72 2/3 regular-season innings in at the big-league level.
"That kid's got a live fastball, tough breaking ball, started mixing in a changeup a little bit," impressed Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Posada did a good job with him. (And) if you talk about the difference between Roger and him, and just the way they pitch threw us off a little bit. But the kid showed a lot of poise. He did a good job."
"He looked like a seasoned pro out there," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I can't say more than that. He was happy to give you the innings, and when you looked into his eyes, it wasn't a surprise."
"My job was really just to keep the damage to a minimum, to try to keep us where we were at," said Hughes, 5-3 in 13 games as a starter for the Yankees this season.
Joba Rues
NEW YORK - A funny thing happened on the way to the Yankees' first postseason win of 2007 - Joe Torre acted not only like a man fighting to save his career, but also like a manager freed of the weight of protecting a precious asset, freed to let it fly, tomorrow be darned.
How else can you explain Torre's absolute shredding of whatever was left of the so-called Joba Rules, the commandments chisled in stone by Yankees management during the season once phemon prospect Joba Chamberlain was called to the majors?
You remember the rules: kid pitches an inning, gets a day off, pitches two, gets two off, and so on and so forth. Tonight, not only did Torre bring Chamberlain into the seventh inning of a game the Yankees led by a comfortable five runs. He left the kid on the mound for two full innings, something you figure fries the kid for at least one more game - the critical Game 4 the Yankees will need to win to keep their pennant hopes alive.
The good news for Chamberlain is that his first inning was a breezy 1-2-3 frame. The next, though, was a puzzlingly long, arduous three-hit, one-run, six-batter adventure that infused a laugher with mystery and some mild discomfort among Empire citizentry.
Oh, Torre warmed up a couple arms in the eighth, including that of the venerable Mariano Rivera, who, like Chamberlain, had previously pitched in Game 2 on Friday in Cleveland.
But no one came to rescue Joba, or spare his arm. Quite obviously, this outing wasn't about saving Joba. It was about saving the team from the stark possibility of turning to pitchers of lesser talent, something that bit the Yankees badly in the first two games - losses - of the best of five series.
So, Joba, and the rest of the Empire got a taste of a different reality. Chamberlain is here to take care of today. Tomorrow, Torre will think about, well, tomorrow.
As for next year, heck, that will likely be some other manager's concern, anyway, if Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is true to his threat to fire Torre should the Yankees wind up with anything less than a pennant.
Sounds of Silence
NEW YORK - The silence was deafening, even before the full house at Yankee Stadium went silent with each run scored by the Cleveland Indians tonight.
For the mellifluous voice of Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer who's calls of the lineups in over a half century of Fall Classics at the Ballpark in the Bronx did not greet the faithful tonight when the Yankees hosted Cleveland in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
Sheppard was absent due to a broncial infection. So, for the first time in 122 Yankees' post-season home games, someone other that The Voice manned to P.A. mike.
Sheppard's phenomenal run, which included 62 home games during 22 of the Yankees' World Series appearances, was as familiar an October fixture in the Bronx as Yankees' pinstripes.
A combination of eloquence, class and precision, Sheppard chronicled the Series appearances of the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn, to name but a few Hall of Famers.
Sheppard, in his 57th season as the Yankees' public address announcer, began his postseason streak on Oct. 4, 1951, in Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Giants. That debut followed by one day the Giants' famed playoff game victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in which Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard 'round the world" off the Dodgers' Ralph Branca.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Here's the catch
PHILADELPHIA - The Colorado Rockies, winners of 15 of their last 16, including Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, don't think it a coincidence that Yorvit Torrealba has backstopped the winning streak.
"He's got a real good feel for our staff," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said of Torrealba after the catcher anchored a 4-2 victory thrown at the potent Phillies by starter Jeff Francis and three relievers.
"Every time he comes out to the mound, he's got something good to say," said Francis, who needed a pick-me-up visit in the fifth after yielding consecutive home runs to Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell, shrinking a three-run lead to one. It's not always serious, but that's the kind of catcher he is, a good leader. (And) he does our homework more than we do."
"He's very efficient with a pat on the back or a smack on the backside," Hurdle said of the catcher who's now started 11 of Colorado's last 13 games. "There's only a three-foot difference but a whole lot of dynamics change when he goes out there. It's not always giggles when he goes out there. A lot of times it is a smile, a reassuring hand. Other times he'll just go out there and bite a little bit and get their attention."
The Learning Curve
PHILADELPHIA - Neither the Colorado Rockies or the Philadelphia Phillies boast much playoff experience, so there was a lot of learning on the job in evidence in Game 1 of their National League Division Series today.
Cole Hamels, the starter and losing pitcher in the Phillies' 4-2 defeat, admitted to absorbing a couple needed on-the-go lessons, especially in a pivotal three-run Rockies' second inning.
"Going out there, I know I can throw either off-speed or fastballs, but they were laying off the off-speed stuff when I had two strikes on them and swinging at them the first two strikes," said the lefthander, who was among eight Phillies in the starting lineup playing in their first post-season game.
Hamels, 15-5 this season, saw the major blows in the second inning come on a leadoff triple by Todd Helton and a followup RBI double by Garrett Atkins.
Much of the remaining damage was self-inflicted. For Hamels, very much out of character, issued three walks later in the inning, one of which was drawn by rookie of the year candidate Troy Tulowitzki with the bases loaded.
"That's what I learned a little too late to my liking, to go after them with a fastball, and it showed in the third (scoreless), fourth (scoreless) and fifth inning (scoreless) that I was capable of doing that. ... But I need to do it a little bit sooner," said Hamels, who went on to retire 15 of the last 16 Rockies he faced in his 6 2/3 innings of work.
Lesson No. 2? Well, let's just call it a wardrobe malfunction.
Hamels shed a sweat soaked sleeve from his left arm, but not until after the fateful second inning. "I don't want to use that as an excuse," Hamels said. "... (But), you know, it's just something where it was definitely hot out and having, just that preparation, with the understanding that when it gets hot, I'm going to sweat a little more and when I was throwing my changeup, the sweat was dripping down in my hands ... I wasn't able to get a good grip."
Hamels proceeded to change the sleeve that protects his tender arm often after the second inning. Next time he'll be even better-prepared, he vowed.
"I talked to some guys about it. They explained to me whey with outfits that stretch and fall down a little bit more, that's why they cut them so short," he said, a wee bit sheepishly.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Happy Birthday, Emery
Monday, May 14, 2007
Hammering Hank Is A Low Blow
Bonds, the man most baseball fans see as the embodiment of all that was wrong with the steroid era, is a living, breathing controversy in spikes. With 745 home runs, the San Francisco Giants legend, has pulled with 10 home runs of Aaron's record.
He has also pulled along with him, the stench of the steroid era, its resulting debate on issues such as cheating, the degree to which we celebrate, snub or sneer at the new hallmark if and when Bonds passes Aaron.
The debate over Bonds' deservedness is raging, an inevitable outgrowth of a steroid era that keeps on giving Major League Baseball a black eye and many a fans an anger-filled reticence.
That is not to say that Bonds does not have his supporters as well as his detractors.
But why do those supporters feel a need to prop up their case for Bonds at the expense of Aaron?
Henry Aaron has done nothing wrong. Nothing!
Yet once again, Aaron, this quiet, humble man of few words and even fewer airs, finds himself on the scathing side of a baseball controversy not of his making. And once again, his discomfort emanates from pros and cons tinged with racial overtones.
Talk about being slapped back to a era best left forgotten. To borrow a quote from the great Yogi Berra, it's deja vu all over again for Aaron as the home run king once again finds his crown filled with thorns.
Lest we forget, back in 1974 - the year Aaron seized the home run crown from Babe Ruth - Aaron found his life turned into a living hell simply because he, a black man, had the timidity to pursue Ruth's hallowed mark of 714.
Aaron was not only hounded, belittled and insulted. He was threatened by anonymous white supremacists who thought that in order to "honor" Ruth they had to try to scare off Aaron. How? By using the ugliest racist epithets, by resorting to tactics which would have made only the lowest form of vermin proud.
Aaron endured that trial with little or no support of Major League Baseball which, in the person of then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn, treated Aaron's pursuit with icy disdain.
Most of the nation would go years, even decades, before being made aware of just how lonely and, yes even dangerous, a road Aaron walked in order to surpass Ruth's then-magical 714 milestone.
In retrospect, Aaron's ability to soldier on was nothing short of heroic, having turned in a performance not only nuanced by his plentiful baseball skills, but also by his dedication, perseverance and strength of character.
Apparently too, too many of us have forgotten the combination of personal and professional traits that made Aaron the Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame person he is.
For here we are, in 2007, and Aaron is again being torn at by critics who possess all the subtlety of a pack of pit bulls as he finds himself labeled a coward, an Uncle Tom, a sellout after making a decision not to be present if and when Bonds breaks his record.
Sadly, astonishingly, what makes this turn in Aaron's story so galling is that this time he is being ravaged by many of his fellow African Americans, some with powerful voices.
For why else, this school of thought has it, would Bonds be so hectored by the masses?
Got to be race. Just got to be ...
That rationale, of course, stops just short of the point where one could say, what about Aaron - a black man - who's about to lose a record built on talent and his own blood, sweat and tears as opposed to, say, the best efforts of your local neighborhood chemist.
So Aaron twists slowly as Bonds' inexorable drive hones in on him and his record. His silence is being berated more and more. His planned absence is being dissected and rejected cavalierly. By those who assume they better understand the predicament Aaron's been swept up in than does he.
No one, from the debaters in the barber shops, baseball stands and sports bars,, can ever truly know the depths of Aaron's angst, anger or, in the least, his ambivalence. Nor can any of the columnists and baseball writers and commentators who are turning up the heat on the still-quiet Aaron.
So as Aaron hides away the pain once again, let a chorus rise up and demand that this madness should stop. And let it be said here, that the easiest way to assure that it stops is to have no less than Barry Bonds demand it.
The slugger who professes to love baseball and takes every opportunity to honor Aaron's fellow great, Willie Mays, should acknowledge Aaron's dilemma. And he should demand that the wolf pack that's formed in his defense back away from the Hall of Famer.
Do that, Barry, and even your most ardent critics may take another look at your plight, and reluctantly admit that this was one home run swing that was beyond reproach.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Why Us This Man Smiling?
Associated Press Photo
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Meer dozen separating Barry, Hammer
A dozen, as in the dwindling number of home runs now separating Barry Bonds from all-time leader Henry Aaron - and separating Baseball from its decision on what to do not if, but when, Bonds becomes the game's all-time home run leader.
Bonds blasted No. 743 late Wednesday night, and I mean blasted. The rocket shot had no arc, never seemed to rise more than 20 feet off the ground. Don't know if the Giants keep such records, but the homer must have set a record for quickest ride from home to the seats in right field at AT&T Park. Ouch!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Bonds: Impervious -- And Unstoppable
What the Phillies will find, and Giants fans at AT&T Park will welcome, is a Bonds who is healthy and lethal again.
Eight home runs in 63 at-bats - one every 7.9 times up - a .333 average and 17 RBIs, which he had entering last night's games, shout as much.
Most intriguingly, the Phils will find in Bonds a man impervious to his designated role of top villain in baseball's sordid steroid era.
Mark McGwire? Rafael Palmeiro? Jose Canseco? Bush-leaguers, all, in this unpopularity contest.
Because he outlasted his competition, because he has dared last long enough to flirt with a most storied record, Bonds is truly reviled.
Many a critic had hoped Bonds would not only fade away well short of Aaron. They fervently wished he would also drown in a torrent of indictments, subpoenas and suspensions.
The thing is, it hasn't happened.
Batboys turned steroid pushers turned government witnesses have fallen. Major- and minor-league users such as former big-league pitcher Jason Grimsley have, too. Just not Bonds.
Those caught are naming names and leaking to the media like sieves. But Bonds has yet to be slimed in a way that takes him off the field and into a court of law.
Joe Morgan, the Hall of Famer and color commentator who will call the Phillies-Giants game Sunday (8 p.m., ESPN, ESPN Deportes), suspects he knows why.
"If Barry's name had been on that list that was blacked out, we would have known about it," Morgan said, referring to a federal government affidavit concerning a former Mets clubhouse employee who has admitted providing steroids and other drugs to major-leaguers. "Same with Jason Grimsley.
"A lot of people's agendas are about getting Barry. Remember, his name came out for failing that amphetamine test. You can't tell me Barry was the only one that failed, but his was the only name that came out."
No doubt Bonds will always remain guilty in the minds of most fans. There is no argument, though, that he also remains amazingly elusive to those empowered to throw the book at him.
So Bonds plays on, his confidence, like his health, again intact.
"The media, the government, the fans have tried to get Barry for four years," Morgan said.
"They can't stop him. Say this about Barry: He is able to focus on his agenda, period. He doesn't care what I say, what you say, or what anybody else says."
Like him or hate him, you have to marvel at his sheer stubbornness, both physical and mental.
The seven-time league MVP, who is 42, looks again like the slugger who hit 258 home runs from 2000 to '04, not the broken-down guy with bum knees who played just 14 games in 2005.
It is this rejuvenated Bonds who is raising a host of prickly issues to even greater heights.
Opposing managers, who again fear him as much as many fans loathe him, are again shying away from challenging Bonds. Witness the 23 walks drawn by Bonds in his first 23 games.
"On the road, fans boo Barry when he comes to the plate, then they boo even louder if he's walked," said Morgan's booth partner, Jon Miller, who is also a Giants broadcaster. "One way or the other, they came to see Barry and they feel they're being ripped off."
Ambivalence grips others, as well. Baseball's bigwigs (i.e., commissioner Bud Selig) must decide, and quickly, whether to ignore, endorse, or even witness the inevitable.
No sympathy there. After all, this is a game that ignored cheating right up until stats bloated by whatever could no longer pass the smell test.
Aaron is a different story.
Nobody much cared what this quiet, humble man thought in 1974 when then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn unconscionably skipped Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's mythic record of 714 home runs.
If Selig decides to stiff Bonds similarly, the opinion no one wanted from Aaron 33 years ago will suddenly matter. Already, Aaron's decision not to witness the fall of his record has become an issue.
"Hank is in a no-win situation," Morgan said. "He has told me, 'I don't think you can condemn a person without proof.' Yet he also said he doesn't want to be a part of what happens, and you can't blame him, not when the first question inevitably will be, 'Do you think Barry cheated?'
"If he answers no, he'll be called a liar. If he says yes, it's sour grapes. Already, some guy in Detroit wrote 'Hank Aaron is a coward.' A coward!"
The question we must ask ourselves, Morgan said, is: What is it exactly that we want from Aaron?
We already know what we want from Bonds. We won't get it, though, because Barry is only about what he wants, the rest of the world be damned.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Fountain of Youth
Monday, April 16, 2007
Junior No. 1 Among Many in No. 42 Salute
Associated Press Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Cincinnati Reds all-star outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., pictured above with the Cubs' Derek Lee on Jackie Robinson Day, wear their salutes to the late, great Hall of Fame Brooklyn Dodger on their backs. Griffey, wanting to make April 15 - the 60th anniversary of Robinson's breaking of the color barrier, was the architect of the salute.
For Griffey sent a request to commissioner Bud Selig seeking permission to wear the number that was retired throughout the game on 10 years ago and when Selig said yes, an avalanche of such requests followed. The result: over 200 Major League players, managers and coaches donned Robinson's number in games played Sunday.
There would have been many more, for at least two teams that fell victim of the poor weather on the East Coast - the Phillies and Astros - planned to a man to wear No. 42. The Dodgers were joined by the Cardinals and Seattle Mariners as teams on which every person in uniform wore the number.
Associated Press Photo,
Five Seattle Mariners wearing
No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day
Only one Major League player wears No. 42 every day. Mariano Rivera, the veteran stopper for the New York Yankees, was one of a handful of players who wore the number when Selig retired it during the 50th anniversary celebrations a decade ago. Selig "grandfathered" in those players who wished to keep the number. Rivera and Mo Vaughn chose to do so as their own personal tribute to Robinson. Rivera is the only player who made that decision still active.
For one day, No. 42 of the Yankees had lots of company as an entire game joined in his ongoing salute.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thanks, Jackie And All His Fellow Pioneers
The great Yogi Berra once said upon receiving an honor, "Thanks for making this necessary."
Today, Jackie Robinson was honored by Major League Baseball as it said thank-you. Not just to a brave pioneer, but to all those who 60 years ago combined like minds and an uncommon courage to help expunge Jim Crow from their playing fields.
Jackie and Rachel Robinson and an equally magnificent supporting cast gave this nation a peek at what was possible and helped start another, more transcendent, revolution called the Civil Rights era.
So, thank you, Branch Rickey for making today a necessary occasion in which major-league players wore No.42 just as Jackie Robinson did on April 15, 1947, when he debuted with your Brooklyn Dodgers. The Phillies and Astros, to a man, would have been among them were it not for the rains that washed away their game.
Not only did you defy many of your fellow club owners by bringing a black man to the majors, Mr. Rickey, you defied an era.
"Our country, our culture, sadly, was way back in the dark ages in 1947," reminded Branch Rickey III, president of the Pacific Coast League and grandson of the late Dodgers owner.
"Our cultural misunderstandings and our prejudices were so much more extreme then, and civil rights was not even a phrase," he continued. "The idea of a black breaking into baseball was going to be opposed broadly.
"It was going to be a question of whether my grandfather could survive with his reputation intact."
Branch Rickey, history shows, did survive. It also strongly suggests that neither Rickey nor Robinson could have done so alone.
Fortunately, they did not have to.
So, thank-you, too, Happy Chandler, because when some players threatened a boycott if Robinson played, you, then the commissioner of baseball, threatened to show the conspirators the door. Even more ominously, you vowed to close it to them forever.
Boycott, dead on arrival.
Archive photo of Jackie Robinson. Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Photos by Charles Fox
Stan Musial? As the centerpiece of the 1947 St. Louis Cardinals, you let one of the game's more rebellious clubs know that you would play because integration was not something that you - Stan the Man - would stoop to try to stop.
Then there was you, Bill Veeck, the Cleveland Indians owner who integrated the American League on July 5, 1947, by purchasing the contract of the talented Larry Doby from the Newark Eagles.
Like Branch Rickey, you proved time and again that your brilliant baseball mind was not limited to marketing and promotion advances - though the exploding scoreboard does remain a marvel.
Your plot to buy the Phillies in 1942 and fill the roster with the Negro Leagues all-stars may have been foiled by then-commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis years before. But no one could stop you from closely following Rickey's lead.
Once done, you, Bill Veeck, knew that the less-heralded Doby was, in many ways, in an even more thankless position than Robinson. For the junior circuit was far more reluctant to integrate than its National League counterpart. And often the only commiseration Larry Doby could find came from family, his friend Jackie Robinson - and you.
You sensed when Doby was at his loneliest and you swooped in, sharing your love of jazz, your enthusiasm - and your vision of what could be.
Other gestures, no matter how small, were also like nectar to the pioneers.
Dodgers shortstop and unquestioned team leader Pee Wee Reese (right, with Jackie Robinson and Preacher Roe, following Game 3 victory over the Yankees in the 1952 World Series _ Associated Press), you quelled palpable unrest in Cincinnati when Robinson made his first appearance there.
The Queen City, after all, considered you, a son of neighboring Kentucky, one of its own, and your presence counted in that gateway to the South. So when you walked over to Robinson during pregame practice and draped an arm around the hectored and shaken rookie's shoulders, you quieted a crowd that bordered on a mob. And the photos of your doing so - transmitted around the world - were etched indelibly in sports history.
Joe Gordon? With one sentence - "Hey kid, want to have a catch?" - you let Larry Doby, your new Indians teammate, know that the daily rituals of a game not only might include him, but would.
Decades later, Doby would get emotional recalling the relief he felt when he heard this one simple, universal baseball paean come from your lips. For, until it did, Larry Doby said he honestly did not know if he'd ever be able to play if he were not even permitted to warm up.
And you, Ted Williams? Your gift in 1947 was a welcoming handshake extended to Doby the first time your Red Sox met his Indians.
Larry Doby, of course, knew of your fame. Who in baseball did not know The Splendid Splinter? But to know that you knew of him - and appreciated his presence - and welcomed him to your league meant the world to Larry Doby.
At that moment, a fellow major-leaguer felt like a peer. And that peer eventually went on to
become your fellow Hall of Famer - just as did Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese, Mr. Rickey, Bill Veeck - and Jackie Robinson.
This was the confluence of talent, goodwill and generosity that made April 15, 1947, and what it launched vital. As vital as today's nationwide celebrations - and thank-yous - were necessary.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Baseball Aims for the Mountaintop
Labels: Photo by Philadelphia Inquirer staff photographer Charles Fox
A Great Voice Silenced
Sunday, though, the more appropriate sound was silence, as in a moment of silence for the Hall of Fame announcer Herb Carneal, the voice of the Twins for the past 45 years.
Mr. Carneal, 83 at time of death, was felled by congestive heart failure, taken on the very morning of baseball's opening game between the Cardinals and New York Mets in St. Louis.
When the Twins join the rest of baseball in taking the field Monday, it will mark only the second season the team has started without Mr. Carneal behind the microphone. The first he did not call was the Washington Senators-turned Minnesota Twins' inaugural season, in 1961.
From 1962 on, the names of Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry, "Mudcat" Grant, Rod Carew, Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett, rolled across the land of 10,000 lakes, melliflously, delivered with a beauty and precision only a master could produce.
Now another great voice is silenced. When baseball returns that silence as a sign of respect today and through the season, we all should be reminded that some of the game's brightest stars - Vin Scully. Harry Kalas, Jaime Jarrin, Hall of Famers, all - are as much a part of basebally royalty as the players, and are to be cherished.
Treasure them while you can. And say a quiet prayer for Mr. Carneal.
Labels: AP Photo, by Ann Heisenfelt
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The hurdle Pete Rose refuses to leap
Pete Rose created a stir today by taking another stab at framing his gambling on baseball in such a way that misty-eyed higherups couldn't help but reinstate the banned all-time hits leader.
Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, the all-time hits leader not only restated that he bet on baseball - the one violation that carries the sport's version of the death penalty. Rose said he did so every day when he managed the Cincinnati Reds, betting on his own team.
This revelation was Rose's way of doing his part to christen the Reds' new Pete Rose exhibit on display at the Great American Ballpark, the home of the NL team's Hall of Fame. But when he said:
"I bet on my team every night. I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. I was wrong [referring to his previous mea culpa in a book he authored a while back]. ... I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team, I believe in my team," Rose told Dan Patrick as well as on-air questioner Keith Ohlbermann. "I did everything in my power every night to win that game."
By failing to mix in the slightest bit of contrition with the always present self-importance, Rose did little more than illuminate just how much he violated the public trust.
So, nice try, Pete, but no cigar. Because you still don't get it. And apparently you never will as long as your ego prevents you from uttering two little words:
"I'm sorry."
So a return to the game's good graces remains improbable. It can never be less than that if Rose refuses to show remorse. Thus far, he hasn't come close, something that continues to be the underlying tragedy of this flawed, flawed man.
No one understands that flaw better than Fay Vincent, the man who led the investigation into Rose and the one violation that carries baseball's version of the death penalty. Vincent, who gathered the evidence of Rose's betting on baseball when deputy to then-commissioner Bart Giamatti, yesterday reiterated the obvious.
"The beginning of contrition is to feel that you regret your actions, and he does not have it in him to do so," said Vincent. "It's the meaning of it that he does not get.
"Bill Clinton figured it out. Richard Nixon figured it out. The American public is very forgiving if you say you're sorry. Pete cannot bring himself to utter the words."
Citing Rose's penchant for chiding baseball's lack of a ban on abuser's of illegal or performance-enhancing drugs, Vincent added "It's always about other people's problems, never his own."
So Rose sits on the outside, looking in, wondering, why not Barry Bonds when it comes to bans, and likely more to the point, why Joe Torre and not him when it comes to multimillion manager's salaries.
Rose may be an adroit gambler, but he has a lousy poker face. That much was evident when he revealed his obvious motive when he told the ESPN audience that individual team owners should be allowed to decide if they want him to manage their major league clubs.
"[It's] all about dollars, Dan and Keith," he said, before going on to suggest no owner even bother to call him if they didn't want their team to win.
Reread the first part that thought, friends. Because that may be the most honest thing Pete Rose has ever said.
Monday, January 29, 2007
The Spoils of an MVP Season
Ryan Howard poses with
The Kenesaw Mountain Landis
National League Most Valuable Player plaque presented him by the Baseball Writers Association of America at the New York chapter's 84th annual dinner Jan. 28.
Ryan Howard with father, Ronald. The New York writers also honored Howard with the Sid Mercer Player of the Year Award, an honor not won by a Philadelphia Phillies player since Mike Schmidt in 1981.
The Mets' ageless Julio Franco (left), winner of the New York chapter's Milton Richman You've Got To Have Heart Award, poses with Howard.
MVP Trophy completes Howard's Haul
NEW YORK - The Ryan Howard off-season awards tour is all but complete - as is the Phillies first baseman's haul from his MVP season.
On the night of Jan. 28, Howard rounded out his collection of hardware in style, officially receiving the Kenesaw Mountain Landis National League Most Valuable Player trophy, the award voted him by the Baseball Writers Association of America after his breakout 58-home run, 149-RBI campaign in 2006.
Surrounded by family, manager Charlie Manuel and a large contingent of Phillies front-office personnel, Howard was presented the plaque at the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America's 84th annual dinner by no less than Tony Gwynn, an outfielder who is scheduled for induction into the Hall of Fame this summer.
The youthful Phillies first baseman - flanked on the dais by the likes of Hall of Famers Frank Robinson, Reggie Jackson and the soon-to-be inducted Cal Ripken - was joined by his fellow 2006 BBWAA national award winners.
That group included managers of the year Jim Leyland of Detroit and Joe Girardi, formerly of the Florida Marlins; American League MVP Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, rookies of the year Hanley Ramirez (Florida) and Justin Verlander (Detroit), and Cy Young Award winners Brandon Webb (Arizona) and Johan Santana (Minnesota).
"Truly an honor to be here," said Howard. "Last year, I never would have thought it. The company here - Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, Reggie Jackson - I've got to admit it, I'm still a fan and I am in awe."
The New York writers reserved a special place for Howard, making him the next-to-last recipient, followed only by Toast of the Town co-recipients Jose Reyes and David Wright.
Howard, previously honored this winter by writers in St. Louis and Boston, was afforded the best-supporting role by the New York writers thanks to his having won two awards. He was also given the New York chapter's Sid Mercer Award as player of the year. The latter is the second such honor for Howard in less than a week. Last Monday, he was feted as the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association's player of the year.
"I don't know if he'll get 58 home runs, again, but I tell what - I watched him practice, I watched him prepare," said Gwynn, who recalled Howard's work ethic when Howard traveled to California to practice with Gwynn's college baseball team at San Diego State University.
"For two days my guys sat there with their mouths open, not watching Ryan Howard hit with power, but watching Ryan Howard hit off a T. We were dumbfounded, the things he did with a baseball bat were truly amazing."
Scenes From An Exhibition - Of Baseball Greats
Ryan Howard and father, Ronald, with Howard's Kenesaw Mountain Landis National League Most Valuable Player trophy presented to the Phillies first baseman at the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America's 84th annual dinner Jan. 28.
Left to right, Mets manager Willie Randolph; Arlene Howard, wife of the late Elston Howard; Rachel Robinson, wife of the late Jackie Robinson; and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who was awarded the William J. Slocum Award for Long and Meritorious Service by the New York writers. The chapter also saluted Jackie Robinson's legacy, marking the 60th anniversary of the fall of the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, winner of the New York Writers' Ben Epstein "Good Guy" award (left), stands with Mets manager Willie Randolph and Mets team owner Fred Wilpon.
Marty Noble, veteran baseball columnist and the editor of the New York chapter's dinner magazine (left), presents the St. L0uis Post Dispatch's Rick Hummel with a framed compilation of the salutes to "The Commish's" pending enshrinement into Cooperstown. Hummel will enter the Hall of Fame as the 2006 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner.
The Mets' ageless Julio Franco (left), winner of the New York chapter's Milton Richman You've Got To Have Heart Award, poses with Howard.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Howard Patiently Awaiting Windfall
Ryan Howard last night accepted the Outstanding Professional Athlete Award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association, knowing full well that the monster numbers from 2006 that secured the honor will take a backseat to the numbers he will command at the bargaining table.
That much was assured when Howard awoke Sunday, the day after attending Chase Utley's California wedding, and learned his Phillies teammate had signed a seven-year, $85 million contract extension through 2013.
"I was happy for him," Howard told a news conference audience before the writers' 103d annual dinner last night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill. "That was a pretty good wedding gift. "
If Utley's good fortune or that of free agent Alfonso Soriano (who signed for eight years and $136 million with the Cubs) whetted Howard's appetite for a long-term deal, the National League MVP refused to let on.
Speculation? "I kind of leave that up to you guys," said the 27-year-old Howard, who set a franchise record with 58 home runs to go with 149 RBIs. "There's nothing that I can do about salaries or who's on the team. I don't make the decisions in the front office. What I can do is control what I do on the field. Until it happens, nothing's happened, so I don't worry about it. "
The Phillies have said that Howard's contract talks will not begin until their remaining arbitration-eligible players, pitchers Brett Myers and Geoff Geary, are signed.
When negotiations do begin with the first baseman, the Phillies have the leverage and could even stipulate a salary if the two sides do not agree. Howard is one season away from arbitration eligibility and will not be in line for free agency until 2011.
Even if the Phillies unilaterally renew his deal, Howard insists it will not knock the smile from his face. "I'm playing major-league baseball," he said, beaming. "I'm happy every day. "
He has noticed, however, that there is no such thing as a small development in the increasing limelight. Howard saw that when his recent change of agents caused a buzz. "It was just some differences, but it was handled," he said. "It's resolved. You just move on and go from there. "
As for honors such as last night's, Howard liberally applied grace, humor and humility. "You guys are the greatest," he told the sportswriters, laughing. Besides, said the onetime mass communications major at Southwest Missouri State, "I'm partly one of you guys. "
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Truth Will Set Big Mac Free
As one of the 77 percent of the Baseball Writers Association voters who did not put Mark McGwire's name on my Hall of Fame ballot, I offer this open letter to the man who must feel his fall from grace is now complete, and irreversible:
Dear Mark:
I know you were routed in your initial battle to win inclusion in Baseball's Hall of Fame. That was bound to be the fate of the first big-name batter up for consideration from the steroid era.
Received only 23 percent of the necessary 75 percent of the votes needed for election had to be a stinging slap. But as much as it may have hurt, understand this, and understand it quickly: even though that battle was lost, you can still win the war, but only if you use the time left to you wisely, with the best interest of the game in mind.
You have 14 years to do so. That is the number of years of eligibility you still have left on the writers' ballots.
That decade and a half will seem like an interminable amount of time, but only if you view it as a painful period in which you are destined to twist slowly, endlessly on the outside of Cooperstown looking in.
But what if you go on the offensive, Mark?
Come clean about the steroid era, including any involvement you may have had in it. Then invite baseball to join in its version of a truth and reconciliation initiative of the sort that made a lasting peace possible in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela confirmed his genius and strengthened a nation. Can you help save a game?
Baseball, the national pastime, is worth saving. And it can only benefit from the kind of healing and cleansing that the truth about what drugs did to it and its records can bring.
Lives may not be at stake, just reputations such as yours are; that was brought home with brutal force Monday when your bid for immortality was rebuked, and infamy was offered, instead.
Now you know: Baseball is a game that depends on reputations - and heroes - unlike any other. Yet your one saving grace could be that if there's anything baseball fans, and people in the country as a whole, love more than a hero it is a repentant hero.
Pete Rose has never understood that. He's yet to accept the fact that three simple words - "I am sorry" would not only bring forgiveness for his gambling indiscretions. They would bring down the walls that keep him barred from the game, from the Hall to this day.
So be smarter, and less self-destructive than Rose, Mark. Be the first to show him the way. Don't continue to relegate steroids to a past you refuse to speak on. Blow the lid off the era and let the air, and light in.
Then dare others, from Barry Bonds to the other countless number of players who also know the truth to follow your lead.
Do that and you will prove that not only were your home runs powerful, but so, too, is your desire to heal the game. Then, and only then, will you have a chance to be judged truly Hall-worthy.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Roids Rage On And On And On...
Barry Bonds may enter the 2007 season second only to Henry Aaron on the all-time home run list, but in the story line that should matter the most, Bonds is still pleading the Fifth.
The Fifth, as in no comment to any question regarding the federal government's ongoing attempt to nail him with steroid-use/related perjury charges.
Bonds' thus-far successful dodge of criminal charges has accomplished two things. It assured that any and all on-field accomplishments emanating from his bat, from his era, will continue to enrage rather than elate.
It also assures that Bonds, in particular, and the issue of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in general will continue to present massive dilemmas for baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig & Co. can't help but be at a loss as to how the game should honor Bonds should the man standing on 734 home runs approach Aaron's record of 755.
Arguments will be made that no honors should be conveyed should Bonds catch Aaron.
Honor Bonds, don't honor Bonds — either way, baseball's approach is guaranteed to polarize and inflame.
Poor Bud. He won't have enough fingers and toes to count the kinds of charges and countercharges any decision will generate, from racism, generational bias and flat-out hypocrisy, to name but a few of the high, hard ones sure to come the commissioner's way.
Some would argue that baseball earned this thankless mess on merit. Club owners, players, sponsors — and, alas, even reporters — allowed themselves to be mesmerized by what is commonly referred to in bitter terms as the steroid era.
That does not mean that the anguish of the powers-that-be won't be as real as the certain embarrassment. Because you're talking about a scenario in which the game possibly not only has to ignore its greatest hitter for all eternity (the banned-for-life Pete Rose) but also its home-run king.
Unbelievable, but true.
Still, any anguish Selig is about to feel, any anger even a slightly snubbed Bonds is bound to harbor can't possibly compare to what will course through Aaron come crunch time.
A proud man, Aaron knows in his heart that his march past Babe Ruth's one-time hallowed record of 714 homers was not only noble and heroic.
Aaron also knows his milestone was built with an integrity that is beyond question.Now he might be asked to honor Bonds, and therefore the era that made it possible for his record to be wrenched from him in highly suspicious fashion.
How insulting.
And, unless Bonds pulls up short, how unavoidable. While there remains so much we do not know about this tawdry era, one thing we do know is that should the record fall, there won't be a greater victim in this sorry saga than Hammerin' Hank.
As for that era, while it is said to be mercifully receding into the past, it is still spreading its stench. That much became clear this week when the federal government, on the hunt for Bonds and others, won a court appeal guaranteed to send shudders through the ranks of every major-league clubhouse.
A federal appeals court this week cleared the way for prosecutors to access the names and test samples of 100 players who reportedly tested positive for steroids in a voluntary scientific survey conducted by Major League Baseball in 2003.
The Major League Baseball Players Association will fight the decision, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. That is Donald Fehr's job, to protect these knuckleheads — and the head of the players union does his job very well.
Still, should the union lawyers fail in their attempt to keep those records sealed, the fallout could devastate no only the ballplayers but baseball.
You do the math: What's in those vials might not only contain the proof needed to convict Bonds of lying about having never knowingly used steroids.Those urine samples could at last legitimize what has been long-thought to be baseball's ugliest secret of all: This isn't just about Bar-roid. It's about Bonds Times hundreds!
The wide net the public clamored for is about to be hauled in. And it might contain results the public isn't braced to receive. It's been easy to demonize Bonds — made so by the sheer force of his often surly personality. Is the public really prepared to wrap arms around the fall of players once thought so pure and pristine?
Baseball and its fans might have to embrace a new, ugly reality in which the playing field was not as skewed in favor of power hitters as once thought, because starting pitchers, relievers, Punch-and-Judy infielders, etc., all may have benefited from the shady times when 'roids were all the rage.
Ah, the steroid era: the gift that keeps on giving — black eyes, likely more than baseball ever imagined.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Ouch! Junior Injured, Again
One of the sadder developments of Major League Baseball in the 2000s is how the ascent of Ken Griffey Jr. to the ranks of the true greats has slowed to worse than a crawl.
Once the presumptive heir to Henry Aaron's home-run record, Griffey - "Junior," "The Kid" - was the player once thought the most likely to carry the game into this century on the magnificent twin forces of his talent and his personality.
Yet as we approach 2007, Griffey is in danger of once again receding to the backwaters of baseball's consciousness by yet another confounding injury.
Memories of Griffey's on-field brilliance as well as those of his luminous personality are now being bulldozed under by one numbing physical calamity after another, the latest a broken left hand suffered at his home Friday.
As if The Kid needed another reminder that he is no longer The Man.
Was he ever once, though.
Junior was Ryan Howard, David Wright and Jose Reyes rolled into one.
He could out-Bonds Barry, outbash Big Mac, outslug - and outsmile - Slammin' Sammy Sosa.
But the teen sensation turned 20-something all-star marvel is now an old 37.
A very old 37.
And that 37-year-old with a wounded body has now drifted so far off baseball's primary radar, some wouldn't be blamed for thinking Junior had already retired and was working on his Hall of Fame eligibility.
That might be a mercy at this point. Especially after the news broke Friday that fate had kicked Junior in the teeth again.
The Cincinnati Reds reported that the one-time perennial all-star will have his broken hand in a hard cast for three weeks. Only after that can he start another in a long line of inexorable rehabilitations.
At this point, Griffey couldn't be faulted if he felt his career is in a hard cast from which he will never escape.
How could he not after landing on the disabled list eight times since 2001?
Yes, he enjoyed something of a revival just two years ago, winning the award no player ever really wants - comeback player of the year - thanks to a 35-homer campaign.
Last season marked a return to a crueler reality. The Reds were robbed of Junior's bat down the stretch, when Griffey suffered a dislocated toe trying to make a leaping catch of a Bonds home run on Sept. 5.
Griffey appeared in only two games after the toe injury - limiting him to a total of 109 games - his fade from the pennant race preceding that of the snakebitten Reds.
Fans don't want to remember Ken Griffey Jr. this way, a broken shadow of his former self, running into walls in an attempt to escape disabled-list all-star status.
And I've known Junior too long for that to be my lasting image; I've known him since he was a precocious teen hanging out with his all-star father.
I saw life in that face then, as well as a mix of mischief and physical makeup that suggested the approach of something both fun and fantastic.
I remember watching in wonder as Junior tweaked his famous dad as only he could when comparing respective days on the diamond.
"How was your day, Dad? I had a pretty good day, too," Junior would inform Senior, usually after Senior had just done some pretty impressive things playing left field for the New York Yankees.
That now seems so long ago, just like when Junior enjoyed some pretty good days with the Seattle Mariners, those prime-time nights he won home-run contests.
Junior still possesses the face of that teen who strutted without apology into the Yankee Stadium clubhouse of the mid-1980s.
Last summer, though, the eyes betrayed him as he hobbled around the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park on an old man's legs.
He knew his durability, speed and another run of pretty good days had been robbed by too many tears, sprains, breaks.
These injuries have cost the Reds millions of dollars, but the loss to baseball is immeasurable.
Though often guarded in private, Griffey instinctively understood and accepted his public role. And he used a boundless puppy-dog energy to sell the game, as at home on a Wheaties box as in the batter's box when marketing the game.
The result: He proved to be the perfect - and most welcome - counter balance to sourpusses like Bonds and Albert Belle, and dour faces like Mark McGwire's.
Then came the era in which 50 home runs a year became mere footnotes, as did the man who has 563 home runs, now "pedestrian" and well short of the 600 Club that became the exclusive haunt of the nouveau-Herculean slugger.
Now injuries continue to force Junior's retreat. These days, the only headlines he seems capable of garnering involve calamity.
Fragile Star
p>Ken Griffey Jr. has been on the disabled list eight times since joining the Reds in 2000. He's also missed significant playing time at the end of the last two seasons without going on the DL. Griffey has played 699 games in seven seasons with the Reds. Here are his year-by-year totals:
2000 - 145 games
2001 - 111
2002 - 70
2003 - 53
2004 - 83
2005 - 128
2006 - 109