blind_html Fwd: "the fault dear Brutus..."
- From: Nimer Jaber <nimerjaber1@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 21:26:21 -0600
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: "the fault dear Brutus..."
Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 09:30:00 -0700
From: Edwin Cooney <edwincooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <edwincooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi All,
You might categorize this week's offering as light hearted, that is,
unless you strongly or even violently disagree with my conclusions.
Then, you might respond much as a batter does who believes he's either
being thrown at by the pitcher or harassed by the umpire.
I can't blame what may be wrong with our "national pastime" on
conservatives and my Conservative friends can't blame this one on
President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton or even on her husband.
(Here's another nice little twist though.) George W. Bush, former
president of the Texas Rangers as well as of The United States does
deserve a smidgeon of the blame. After all--to paraphrase a 1994 book
about the history of baseball's team owners--as a former Rangers
president George W. Bush was one of "The Lords of the Realm." However,
in this instance Mr. Bush's sins are probably venal at most.
I believe Americans have the kind of baseball and baseball players we
deserve. Most of them are hard working, conscientious, determined and
dedicated if--ambitious men. If they're ambitious, Well, would you and I
have it any other way?
Hope you enjoy what's here. There'll be more of this sometime soon.
Thanks once again to each of you for being one of my readers!
Warm Regards,
E.C.
MONDAY, MAY 18^TH , 2009
IT AIN’T FAIR—IT’S BASEBALL!
BY EDWIN COONEY
Since 1869, professional baseball has been America’s “national pastime.”
Like its fans, baseball is entertaining, and often grippingly
outrageous. Recent scandals involving Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez
remind fans once again that the game costs too much and besides — it
ain’t fair anymore. The truth is that baseball is a lot of wonderful
things, but fair is one thing it has never consistently been.
Baseball was born in small town America, but only large corporations can
afford to run baseball these days. Back on Tuesday, May 29, 1922, the
brethren of the U.S. Supreme Court (which then was populated with such
distinguished personages as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Louis Brandeis
and William Howard Taft) ruled in FEDERAL CLUB V. NATIONAL LEAGUE , 259
U.S. 200 (1922) that baseball was a sport not a business. That is,
baseball wasn’t a business under the provisions of the Sherman-Clayton
Antitrust Act, the Federal statute that regulated interstate commerce.
On that historic date, baseball owners got their piece of the pie.
Of course, back then practically all of the 16 major league teams were
run by individual entrepreneurs or well-heeled families such as the
Wrigleys and the Comiskeys. Even if the high court didn’t think baseball
was a business, Americans knew better. Connie Mack, the man who owned
and managed the Philadelphia Athletics, used to say that the best year
was when your team was in first place through Labor Day, because if it
went to the World Series, you’d have to pay the players more money the
following year. You can be sure that Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy —
whom some called “Mr. Mack” and others called “the tall tactician”— knew
the difference between every nickel and dollar he ever spent.
Like its fans, the game has been touched by scandal numerous times. Most
everyone has heard about the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 when eight White
Sox players were paid by gamblers to throw the World Series to the
Cincinnati Reds. That wasn’t the first time gamblers tainted the game.
Back in 1877, Louisville Grays pitcher Jim Devlin and three other Grays
players admitted to “hippodroming” -- or throwing -- games. Devlin was
the team’s only pitcher (they pretty much threw underhanded back then)
and the ringleader. What makes this story so American is the irony that
following Devlin’s expulsion from the National League, civic- minded
Philadelphians made Jim Devlin one of their policemen! As the great
baseball announcer Mel Allen used to say: “How about that!”
Imagine what ESPN’s Sports Center would look like if what happened back
in 1912 happened today. Ty Cobb’s Tigers were in New York playing the
Yankees on Tuesday, May 15^th . A loud fan spent the entire afternoon
shouting personal insults at Cobb. The fan jeered his lineage, integrity
and manhood. The Tigers appealed to the Yankees to do something about
the fan without success. Finally, Cobb had had enough and went into the
stands. Within a very short time, the fan was a bloody mess and the
police moved in. It wasn’t even a good fight, but there was a reason for
that. The fan, Claude Lucker, was missing one hand and had only part of
the other hand as the result of an industrial accident. As if that
wasn’t enough, when American League President Ban Johnson fined and
suspended Cobb, the Tigers retaliated by threatening to strike. Cobb was
too mean to be popular with his teammates, but with the Tiger players
blaming the Yankees for the whole incident, for once he had their
sympathy. The home team, as the Tigers saw it, was responsible for
controlling the hometown fans. Johnson said that if the Tigers didn’t
play, the organization would be fined five thousand “big ones”.
The players were as good as their word and, when the Tigers were
scheduled to play the Athletics in Philadelphia on May 18^th , they
struck. To avoid the $5,000 fine, the Tigers quickly hired seven St.
Joseph College players and two sandlot players to take their places. The
nine Philadelphia players, representing Detroit, Michigan for a day,
were backed up by a couple of coaches, retired players who came out of
retirement for the day.
As you might guess, the game was a disaster for pitcher Aloysius Travers
(who would eventually become a priest). The A’s scored 24 runs off him
and his teammates made nine errors behind him.
One of the hired players was Billy Maharg who, according to some
sources, was a go-between in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. His real
name was, supposedly, William Joseph Graham — Maharg spelled backward.
Here’s another twist for you: you could call him Billy Graham.
Twenty thousand fans paid to see the spectacle. You may ask did they get
their money’s worth? This really did happen. If you don’t believe me, as
Casey Stengel used to say, “you can look it up”.
Baseball will easily survive the hysteria over Barry Bonds, Alex
Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens and others who may or may not be
eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. You know
Cooperstown, New York: that’s the American village where baseball wasn’t
really invented.
Baseball is more than a game. It’s part true and part legend, it’s
tradition, it’s the unpredictable, and, best of all, it is loaded with
incredible stories all of which you and I have yet to hear. Above all,
baseball is you, me, and the rest of America in the mirror.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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