Baseballhead:
Abuse of Hype

Michael Cox

Bonjour, mon ami, et entrez-vous la semaine au Baseballhead, where our Canadian-public-school French still serves us quite well, n'est-ce pas?

We've been spending the day eyeing the announcement that AOL will be purchasing Time Warner, remembering when we were sure it would happen the other way around, and noting that we can now hold Steve Case responsible for the John Rocker hysteria.

Speaking of which, if you would go back in time with me the day after Sports Illustrated's press release whetted the world's appetite for Rocker's comments, you'll recall that the Net went wild. About 100 posts in the rec.sport.baseball newsgroup. A firestorm of protest and indignation on the part of everyone from Henry Aaron to Bud Selig to the reverend Joseph Lowery (a minister, the one type of person who should be striving for tolerance and understanding? What's that, Mr. Falwell?). Every paper and website had their writers' "take."

On Thursday, Selig ordered -- ordered -- Rocker to undergo psychiatric treatment and ESPN.com carried the news in a special green box and extra-large text in the middle of their baseball front page.

This week, it was revealed that there is sufficient evidence that Bobby Chouinard beat his wife and held a loaded gun to her head to arraign him on aggravated assault charges. Over 24 hours later, not a single post appeared on rec.sport.baseball. The story is three screens down in a narrow column on the far right-hand side of ESPN.com's baseball page. No analysis appears there, nor on MSNBC. (Fastball laid off all their columnists last season and seem to be in their death throes, so I won't complain about them.)

Sports Illustrated's CNN/SI site, which still featured a photo of Rocker shaking his fist and the line, "Braves' Rocker spews hate in SI," had not a single mention of Chouinard anywhere on their baseball front page. Their writers were all off tackling more important stuff, like "Reds may still chase Griffey." A site search turned up exactly zero stories aside from the original wire service news articles.

Not a single person that I could find online has called for Chouinard to be fired, or suspended, or even given a stern talking-to.

What does this mean?

Does it mean that Rocker did a much worse thing by not liking foreigners (or at least pretending he doesn't like foreigners) than Chouinard did by (allegedly, until convicted) pummeling his wife and holding a loaded gun to her head?

Does it mean that sports fans don't give a damn when it comes to violence towards women?

Or does the beating just have to occur with an SI reporter in the room to fan the flames via press release and strategically worded articles?

Where's the unadulterated hatred that people are sending Rocker's way? People want to carry the Braves closer's head on a pike through the town square as a warning to all, yet he committed no crime, injured no one (although we're all sure that because he's a ballplayer, impressionable Little Leaguers are now going to plot mosque bombings). He was an idiot who may or may not even have believed what he was saying - thus the mandated shrinks.

Chouinard, however, if the reports are true, was a monster who directly threatened a woman's life and caused personal injury. And his wife claimed the entire incident started when she refused to get him more beer, asserting that when intoxicated he becomes "violent." Add it up, and it's likely he has abused before.

Yet there is not only a "rockersucks.com," but a "johnrockersucks.com." there's currently no page at "chouinardsucks.com," nor is there one at "corderosucks.com," "livanhernandezsucks.com," or "coxsucks.com."

Come to think of it, I'm kinda glad no one has seen fit to run with that last one.

Item: Mayor Giuliani hates Rocker so much that Hizzoner openly mocked the idea of psychological tests during a scheduled radio chat. Unfortunately, Giuliani picked the unfortunate political move of mimicking a Germanic accent -- as we all know, psychiatrists are all German. Now, I know that New York politics generally come down to voting for the candidate who's killed the fewest people, but it seems that he could have successfully staved off any political repercussions by having Marge Schott do the ethnic mocking for him...

Item: The Orioles stepped up and grabbed free agent hurler Aaron Sele, right? Sure, they hadn't "announced" it yet, but every unnamed "team source" confirmed it, so emphatically the wires picked it up as gospel. So why is Sele now wearing Mariner teal? That's because...er, at the last moment Peter Angelos found an obscure clause in Albert Belle's contract that forces the team to get his permission before signing any new players, or he gets his full year's salary and becomes a free agent. Yeah, that's the ticket.

The official excuse? "There was a team physical requirement, and although he didn't exactly fail the physical, er, we couldn't get it done," or something like that. The real reason? Cold feet by Angelos? You bet your tushy.

Item: Speaking of signings, I've got to say that the contract between the A's and Omar Olivares has a couple of the most interesting clauses I've seen in a while.

First is the "out" clause, allowing him to exit his two-year deal at the end of 2000. Earth to Billy Beane: That's called a "player option." It means it isn't really a two-year contract at all, any more than a club option makes a two-year contract a three-year deal until the option is picked up. A good move for Olivares.

Second is the clause forbidding a trade to Colorado or Philadelphia without Double-O's permission. Denver I can understand completely, but why Philly? Afraid of being booed? Afraid of being cheered after an injury? Afraid of Curt Schilling?

Item: The Devil Rays wised up and signed someone who isn't on the verge of retirement -- Juan Guzman -- which only serves to make me wonder if Guzman isn't suffering from some form of premature aging...

Item: Finally, the Hall of Fame balloting is announced today, which begs the question: If they held Hall of Fame balloting and no one deserved to go, would Carlton Fisk make a sound?

about the author

Before coming to Strikethree.com, Michael Cox was all set to sign a contract with the Official Website of Major League Baseball, until he failed a physical. Suggest that Selig and company would have been better off giving him a typing test at mc@strikethree.com.

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