Baseball — The Land of Convenient Accountability

From the trivial to the serious, accountability is not always the top priority. From performance-enhancing drugs to trade rumors to enforcement of the rules on the field, sometimes accountability is a priority and sometimes it is not.

The most recent example of this is a Minor League brawl in the first inning of the Peoria Chiefs-Dayton Dragons game on Thursday night in Dayton with Cincinnati Reds’ general manager Walt Jocketty in attendance. In the aftermath, 15 players and two managers were ejected and one player — Peoria’s Julio Castillo — was arrested and charged with felonious assault when Castillo drilled a fan with a baseball by accident when he attempted to throw a baseball at a player in the dugout during the brawl.

Previously unconcerned with the welfare of their players by putting themselves in harm’s way in one of the ugliest brawls captured on video, both teams became very concerned about injury because two pitchers would have had to play in the field. After a one-hour delay and a call to league president George Spelius at his home, the ejections were rescinded and play resumed like the incident never happened.

Of course, there will be harsh penalties handed down after the incident, I hope. But why was there not swift penalties at the time? If the teams were unable or unwilling to field a team after the ejections, why not force that team to forfeit? After making the fans wait an hour — except for the ones that left in disgust OR the one who left in an ambulance — it might have been easier to save face by cancelling the game and offering the fans a refund. At least the local law enforcement were not swayed when they arrested Castillo for one of the most disgusting actions in the history of organized sports. Unfortunately, if Castillo would have hit another player instead of a fan, if that player did not die, I doubt Castillo gets more than a 10-game suspension from the Class A Midwest League.

The bulk of the criticism will go to Castillo and he deserves whatever penalty he gets. After reading the description of how the event escalated, though, how was he even in the game at that point? According to reports, Castillo had already hit two players — including one in the head — after the Dayton pitcher hit a player in the top of the first. How was he not ejected after the second hit batsman? You might say that it’s ridiculous to blame umpires for such a heinous act but they have to shoulder some, don’t they?

The most troubling comment that came out about the brawl came from ESPN’s Buster Olney who sat in as a replacement host for Mike Golic on Mike and Mike In The Morning on Friday. Olney said during discussion of the event that if Castillo is a marginal prospect, there is a good chance his baseball career will be in jeopardy. Sadly, Olney is right. The level of accountability Castillo will be held to will be a direct reflection of where he ranks on the team’s prospect board. If that was Jeff Samardzija, his career suffers a setback but it is doubtful that it ends even if he receives jail time for the incident.

But this is nothing new in baseball. Remember when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa saved baseball? Now, they might not be allowed in the Hall of Fame. In addition to that, every player that played during the “Juiced” era will be held to a different standard thanks to a number of players who cheated. Look at the situation with Barry Bonds. It is July and despite the fact that guilt has not been proven and Bonds wants to play, no team will give him an opportunity. On the other side of that, Jay Gibbons who was named in the Mitchell Report and admittedly made a mistake recently, received a Minor League contract with the Brewers and the team expects him to get back to the Majors before the end of the year.

The Yankees are back in the thick of the race for the American League East this year and two big components — pitcher Andy Pettitte and first baseman Jason Giambi — are both admitted users of performance-enhancing drugs. In some circles, both players receive praise for finally admitting the truth, which somehow makes up for the fact that they basically cheated.

Selective accountability is not reserved for players. Some managers are harshly criticized for what they say while White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen often spews nonsense with little accountability. If fans in Philadelphia boo an injury, there is harsh criticism but during the recent All-Star Game parade Yankees’ fans shouting threats to closer Jonathan Papelbon’s pregnant wife because a newspaper article stated Papelbon wanted to be the closer at the All-Star Game was generally chalked up to “escalating the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.”

Those covering the game are somewhat immune from accountability. How many unnamed sources have said that Reds’ general manager Walt Jocketty is shopping Ken Griffey Jr.? Early this season, Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News wrote a story where he commented that he spoke specifically with Jocketty and he was not looking to trade Griffey. Despite this, there is still the occasional “Griffey on the trading block” story.

The examples are nearly endless. Steve Howe and Darryl Strawberry were suspended due to drug abuse many times. At one point, Howe was banished but eventually reinstated. Ferguson Jenkins was the first player banned for life due to a drug offense when he was found at a Toronto airport with a small amount of cocaine in 1980 but reinstated the next season. Meanwhile, Pete Rose was banned for gambling on baseball in 1989 and still is on the outside looking in.

Personally, it disappoints me that there is no consistency in the accountability department. Why a player’s skill level should affect the weight of the punishment received from a team or the league they are affiliated with is puzzling. A handful of players have been banned for life only to later be reinstated. While I agree there should be room for such a decision, why refer to it as a lifetime ban if there is?

In the end, accountability will not always be consistent and this does not just apply to the world of baseball. Unfortunately, it seems to me that in baseball it is a more frequently occurring phenomenon than in other areas. The brawl in Dayton gave baseball a perfect opportunity to put the rules ahead of what was best for the game but again the decision-makers failed. In the aftermath, no one will care very much that 17 players previously committed unacceptable acts had their punishment postponed out of convenience. Except for Julio Castillo, of course, who is in jail on $50,000 bond, facing jail time and most likely never going to play professional baseball in the United States again… unless he’s really good!