Notes #432 — The Bright Side

                             NOTES FROM THE SHADOWS OF COOPERSTOWN
                                           Observations from Outside the Lines
                                     By Two Finger Carney (carneya6@adelphia.net)
 

#432                                                                                                               JANUARY 17, 2008
                                              THE BRIGHT SIDE
 

            There are many kinds of busy, I think. Much of my working life, I stayed busy doing things that earned a paycheck, and I feel fortunate that these things were also usually interesting and rewarding. Now that I’m “retired,” I am still busy — but now I stay busy at my own pace. I recommend this kind of busy.
 

            However, the last few weeks, what I’ve been up to has not been the stuff that I include here in Notes , not yet, anyway. So this issue leads off with a trip to Fantasyland — another APBA reply of the 1919 Series — and ends with a long essay, my take on the recent congressional hearings on steroids in baseball. I have not followed the media reaction, by the way, so I don’t know how much (if any) of what I wrote here, might be “re-run” … I suspect you’ll find a few original observations in here somewhere.
 

            About the APBA thing, all I want to add is that I am probably going to be reporting here from time to time on “A League of My Own” — a simulated season that has been suspended (in late June, as I recall) for some years now. I hope to soon revive that league, and play it out to the end. It’s been so long since I mentioned it, that many readers will need to be filled in. In brief, the simulation features the best players from the original sixteen major league franchises, all in their peak seasons, competing with help from other all stars “drafted” from the teams that came along after 1960, as well as from the Negro Leagues. So, for example, the Pittsburgh Pirates can field a team with Pie Traynor, Honus Wagner, Bill Mazeroski, and Willie Stargell (or Ralph Kiner) in the infield. They have Barry Bonds in the outfield (he had put in more seasons with the Pirates than the Giants when my league started; his APBA card is very good, but is not based on his monster years in SF), with Roberto Clemente. Manny Sanguillen and Smoky Burgess do the catching.
 

            The Pirates were the last team to draft from the Negro League pool, as I recall, but that gave them the #16 and #17 picks. So Oscar Charlton plays center and bats leadoff, and Mule Suttles has proved a wonderful DH. This team is in first place, but there is more than half a season to go. And as unbeatable as the team might seem, it goes up against teams that are just as strong!   There is no weak team to pick on. Two of the sixteen teams will finish last (eighth place, AL & NL). And two will finish first, and then play each other in a mythical October.
 

           
DAMN BLACK SOX  
 

            Back in May 2005, my kids gave me a birthday present of a set of APBA baseball cards, based on the 1919 season. I wrote about it in Notes #351 , “Play It Again, Sam” — the title suggesting that now I could replay the 1919 Series, this time without any hint of a Fix. Since then, I have replayed the Series, and (I think) reported here each time on the results.
 

            Since last issue, I did it again. And one more time, the White Sox took the best-of-nine series from the Reds. I know that eventually, the Reds will win one — it’s the Law of Averages. But until then — damn Black Sox!  
 

            In my first replay, the Sox swept. Next time, in 2006, the Sox took it in eight. Last October 2007, the Reds took four of the first six games, then dropped three straight and the Sox won in nine games. This time — their first face-off in 2008 — the Sox won almost handily, in seven games (5-2), despite a couple of crippling injuries — or maybe because of them.
 

            In Game One, Swede Risberg was injured while on the basepaths (a collision at second, breaking up a DP, giving it the old Swedish try), and missed the next five games. Fred McMullin replaced Swede, and with the Reds ahead 4-2 in the 8th, Fred doubled in a run with two outs. After Schalk drew a walk, Eddie Murphy came off the bench to hit a pinch double, and the Sox hung on for a 5-4 win, Lowdermilk getting the save.
 

            Now remember that Eddie Murphy has a fantastic APBA card, because he batted .486 in 1919, with an astronomical OBA. Why he didn’t get more ABs in the actual 1919 Series is a mystery. If Eddie had batted more than 35 times during the 1919 season — say, 135 or 235 — his average no doubt would have been more, well, human . But he didn’t, and his APBA card is frozen at .486, and no matter how much game time he sees for me, he will always be an awesome threat — usually off the bench.
 

            The Reds took Game Two, 2-1, behind Dutch Reuther, on Pat Duncan’s 2-run, 7th-inning HR. In Game Three, McMullin suffered an injury, and was out the rest of the series. As manager, I had no other infielders on my limited roster; so third base would have to be played by either an outfielder or a catcher. Eddie Murphy had played some 3B for the Athletics earlier in his career, so he was my choice. Buck Weaver moved to short, which he plays about as well as Swede (in APBA’s opinion), but Murphy would be a terrible liability if the Reds hit it to him, and the change would also affect the overall defensive rating of the Sox in some situations. But the Reds never found Murphy’s leaky glove. An APBA manager can call for a bunt, but not a bunt to a weak third baseman.
 

            The Reds led Game Three, going up 1-0 in the top of the 8th when Jake Daubert doubled home Rath. But in the home 8th, Murphy and Schalk (trying to bunt) both walked, and Dickie Kerr bunted perfectly and beat it out for a hit to load the bases. Shano Collins tied it with a sac fly, Eddie Collins flew out, but Buck Weaver came through with a two out double to seal the 3-1 win.
 

            The Sox have just the three decent pitchers, the two aces (Cicotte and Williams) and Dickie Kerr (a Grade B). Once the starters are removed, all the manager can do is hold his breath. The Reds’ pitching, by comparison, is solid and deep. This time around, I decided to go with a three-man rotation for the Reds, as well as the Sox. Eller would duel with Cicotte; Reuther with Williams; and Slim Sallee with Kerr. All three Reds’ starters are Grade A’s. Their bullpen was strong, with Fisher and Ring (B’s).
 

            Game 4, Cicotte (an A-C, which is a notch above A) was on his game and gave up just 4 hits, three in the last two innings. The Sox scored four unearned runs off Hod, and won it 7-0.
 

            The Reds took Game Five, 7-2, with Reuther scattering nine hits. But the Sox still led the Series, 3-2.
 

            In Game Six, the Sox came out swinging in Cincinnati, greeting Sallee with six straight hits, Jackson’s triple the big one. They tacked on four more runs in the 4th inning, and coasted to a 12-2 win. I took out Kerr after six innings, in case he would be needed in relief later on. He wasn’t.
 

            Game Seven was a pitching duel, one that APBA players like to write off to “cold dice.”  The Sox scratched across a run in their 4th, on a Leibold single, stolen base, bunt, and Weaver’s sac fly. Gandil’s double in the 8th, Swede’s bunt, and Cicotte’s sac fly scored the only other run, in the 2-0 clinching win.
 

            Eddie Cicotte, KO’d in Game One, but winner in that Game 4 shutout, retired the first 20 Reds that he faced. Edd Roush’s hit with two out in the 7th broke up the no-hitter; Roush stole second, and Groh walked, but that was the only threat. The Reds got two more runners, on Risberg’s error in the 8th, and Daubert’s walk in the 9th. I’m pretty sure that this was the best-pitched game so far between these two teams.
 

            Let me say it again, the APBA simulation cannot prove anything. Every game ultimately is decided by how the dice are rolled. The worst team you can put together can, given the hot dice, beat the 1927 Yankees. All it takes is a few good rolls in the clutch, and a few bad ones by your opponent. When your dice go cold, it’s not pretty. Unless, of course, you appreciate pitching gems, which I do.
 

            The deadball teams are fun to manage. As a kid, I managed a bunch of them — the 1909 Pirates and Tigers; the 1911 Giants and Athletics; the 1915 Phillies, with slugger Gavvy Cravath, one of the few guys who could knock the dead ball over the fence. These teams all had fine pitching, and had to scrape for runs — you bunt, hit and run, play the infield in to cut off runs. I like having to make those decisions. (Joe Torre grew up playing APBA, I like to point out.) Although the Sox won this time — again — I am convinced that the Reds can do it . Wait’ll Next Time!
 

 

NOT WHAT FANS WANT TO SEE  
 

            I watched some of the January 15 Congressional hearings on the steroid issue “live” and the rest on tape. I missed a little of George Mitchell, but caught all of Don Fehr, and most of Bud Selig (I confess to having fast-forwarded thru some of Bud, when he was being repetitive and hard to take). Once again, I thought that Fehr handled himself much better than Selig, and I wonder if my bias, still there from 1994, was behind that.
 

            Regardless of what Selig and Fehr said, it was refreshing to see them sitting side by side on the same “hot seat,” although most of the questions they fielded seemed to be slow-pitch softballs. When one congressman referred to them as a “team,” they both reacted with some humor. Wishful thinking! Fehr was clearly dissatisfied with the Mitchell Report process ; Selig was absolutely supportive of Mitchell. I agreed with Fehr, that it would have been better to have contacted the players that the Report was going to name, before their names were made public , to give them a chance to give their side of things.
 

            But the Mitchell process was decided upon unilaterally , and the one side that decided upon it was management. Why couldn’t it have been a bi-lateral project, management and labor?  That question came up so often before the Strike of 1994-95 … why does MLB insist on moving ahead without the involvement of the players, when they are such a crucial part of the industry?
 

            That tone persisted in the responses of Selig and Fehr. Bud kept saying what MLB had done, will do; Fehr kept saying how the Players Assn would deal with what they were dealt. I think that there is more going on, behind the scenes and at lower levels, between the two sides — they obviously do not restrict the communication to the formal bargaining sessions. But even though they sat side by side, it felt like there was an invisible wall in between them — they both consulted from time to time with staff behind , but not, as far as I could tell, with each other. I would have liked to have seen one of them elbow the other and chuckle, at least once.
 

            Let me be clear about on thing, though — this is not what fans want to see when they turn on their TVs for baseball.
 

            Both men were quick to point out that while it was Baseball , Ray, under the microscope right now, it really could be any sport, or the Olympics (Selig emphasizing this), or a lot of other institutions in our society (Fehr made this point well). How can a culture that promotes coaches who insist on bigger, stronger, faster , and that dangles rewards of scholarships, or millions of dollars, in front of its athletes, come down so hard on those who give in to the pressures to “enhance their performances” with dietary supplements or whatever ?  This is a society where you can buy and ingest almost anything you want. Does anyone calling for the end of performance-enhancing substances want to ban Viagra? All implants, including hair?
 

            Apparently, certain substances may be taken by athletes because they are granted an exception to the policy that otherwise bans them — eg, to control ADD or ADHD. (This came up in the hearings.) In other words, OK if prescribed, NOT OK if taken on your own. This has led to (surprise!) a sharp increase in the number of exceptions in MLB. Of course, it’s not a surprise. When kids with ADD were given more time to complete their SAT tests for college admission, what happened?  More parents saw to it that their kids were diagnosed with ADD. We are Americans, we do anything to gain that edge in competition. Even in academics. Is it the same in cheerleading? I really don’t want to go there! 
 

            Of interest to me, was the question about a “punishment” for those who knew what the players were doing (back before things got strict in baseball, in 2005), and tacitly permitted it. Bud Selig said they would be punished, but this underlined a kind of conflict of interest, in Selig’s insistence on being judge and jury, case by case, just like Judge Landis. The Commissioner is, after all, an employee of the owners. So if he found that the owners all knew about the use of steroids & HGH, and were not that bothered by it (because those long HRs were filling parks), well, how strict a punisher can he be? Any Commish who goes too far, will be soon out of a job. This was why Landis never really tried to clean house when he took over in 1921, and I think it is why Selig will be very selective in the “justice” he metes out.
 

            One congresswoman tried to sell Selig and Fehr on the merits of not just creating a new department to oversee the continuing reform that will keep this steroid problem in check — she also thought it could be truly independent , removing the whole thing from where it is now, which is caught up as an issue that must be collectively bargained — therefore, a bargaining chip, and a political football. Something that divides management and labor. I don’t think either Selig or Fehr were convinced that this could happen. I think they were (rightly) skeptical that a neutral and unbiased body could be created. Not in America, not in 2008, where each judicial appointment seems to be overly politicized.
 

            So that’s where we are — stuck with our imperfect past, and hopeful for the future. In baseball, in America, we continue to evolve, even as that word itself has become controversial.
 

            Within baseball history, the Mitchell Report seems to be most like the Judge Landis Edict in 1921, after the B-Sox trial. Baseball has sinned, but will sin no more. It is safe to go to the games again (and place your bets, just not so openly). No need for Baseball to be regulated, like lesser industries. It is time to move on, put this behind us. Eight men out seemed about right in 1921, but adjusting for the times, more will be needed today. Barry Bonds, Shoeless Joe Jackson, does it matter? Eddie Cicotte said he pitched to win, but not on Sixty Minutes .
 

* * *
 

            After writing the above, I got into a couple different conversations with others on this subject. Rod Nelson had watched the hearings, too, and gave me his OK to share a few of his observations, which neither of us had seen elsewhere:
 

Apparently, [federal investigators] only feel compelled to offer [immunity] to weasels and scumbags for snitching, and not to athletes to offer a sincere mea culpa that may actually get through to the impressionable kiddies we’re all so worried about. The charges are incredibly petty in the grand scheme of things from a criminal justice standpoint, but loom large in baseball circles and public opinion. That any of this stuff results in a federal perjury case suggests to me that the Feds’ pursuit of so-called justice is as out of whack as the players’ win-at-all-costs pursuit of a competitive edge, to the detriment of their own health.
 

            Rod’s comments remind me how disturbed I was by the grand jury leaks involving BALCO. The way I understand it, what is said to the grand jury, under oath, is supposed to be confidential. This is to encourage folks to step forward and be honest. If what they tell a grand jury will show up on the evening news and end up in best-selling books, they will, I think, be much less likely to step forward. Maybe this was a factor in the reluctance of any players stepping forward to talk to the Mitchell folks.
 

            The under oath thing makes those who testify subject to charges of perjury later on, if anything they say later seems to contradict their GJ testimony. Or something they are alleged to have said — I believe that’s Barry Bonds’ situation right now. I agree with Rod, this means law-enforcers can now focus on finding incriminating words that will enable them to indict, even when there are no criminal deeds performed. Out of whack justice, indeed. But easier to prosecute than tax evasion, I guess.
 

            What about those kiddies?  Given the chance, neither Selig nor Fehr suggested that athletes might not be the best role models, and that kids should look elsewhere. Endorsements by celebrities (not just athletes) is something else that has been out of whack in this country forever, it seems. Impressionable kids — and adults — we will always have. MLB and the Players both profit from the fact that kids (of all ages) do tend to take cues from these physically gifted, but vastly overpaid athletes. (“Overpaid” is a relative term, and here I mean relative to their contribution to society, versus teachers, social workers, and many others who work long days for too little pay. The athletes deserve a fair slice of the income that the sport generates.)
 

            When we talk about this subject long enough, sooner or later the big bucks factor come up. It is nothing new — a hundred years ago, ballplayers did their damnedest to succeed and stay competitive, to stay in the game, so they have enough buck (more than the average America, but not yet really big) to stay out of the choking mines and the numbing factories and many really hard jobs that paid poorly. Today, those who can rise to the top are rewarded with millions of dollars, plus that fame which translates to opportunity, even after they leave baseball. The incentives are there for athletes to do whatever it takes to extend their careers, “enhance their performances,” and be all that they can be (to borrow a phrase from the army), as ballplayers.
 

            Bigger, faster, stronger. Richer. Obscenely wealthy. The temptation to try something — don’t even tell me what it is, coach — is overwhelming. It has become part of the culture, the competition. Win-at-all-costs , indeed. How sad, that athletes in surveys have said they would trade success in their profession, for a longer and healthier life. Out of whack?  Definitely.
 

            We’ve come a long way, baby. That seemed to be the message of MLB (Selig and Fehr) to those congressmen — and to us. And of course, we have. We know so much more than we did a decade ago. On the other hand, how long have we known about the impact of tobacco on our health and longevity? 
 

            When the fellow who did the most to make baseball the national pastime — Babe Ruth, a cigar-smoking, womanizing, gluttonous fellow who could never be accused of being a model of clean living — was near his end, no one told him that he had cancer. Imagine if they had, and the Babe became a spokesman in his last days or months or years, for the anti-tobacco movement. How many lives might he have saved?  More than 714?
 

            I think it was Don Fehr who observed that chewing tobacco might calm a player … and even if certain substances an athlete ingests do not enhance their performance, if the athlete thinks they do, then maybe they will. Education is crucial, but people do not always act in their best interest. (If they did, our newspapers would be much smaller, our newscasts much shorter.)
 

            The January thaw has ended here in the shadows of Cooperstown, the cold has returned, with a little snow. The hot stove needs fuel again, and baseball always provides plenty. The steroid issue is certainly one of the logs that burns hottest and brightest — and longest. No solutions on the horizon, but at least we are talking about it, and not killing each other. If there’s a bright side, maybe that’s it.