Baseballhead:
There, That Wasn't So Hard

Michael Cox

Ripken Sits!

For some reason, it doesn't even have the same ring as "Williams Bunts!"

Maybe it's because the latter was a true surprise when it occurred, whereas the former has been a long time coming. There was no sadness, no real sense of relief, no real sense of anything but a guy sitting down to let the team evaluate one of their younger players in a major-league game. The press conference afterward consisted of the usual "how do you feel?" repeated ad infinitum (I have begun to wonder whether reporters actually write down in their notebooks, "Questions for Cal: 1. How do you feel?") but one answer really got me thinking.

When Ripken was asked whether he wanted The Streak to end this way, he replied that he thought it would have ended itself by now. And that, my friends, is The Point. Cal thought that sometime during the past fifteen years, he'd get injured or contract a bad case of flu or miss the team bus or something, and it didn't happen. Ripken played through fatigue and nagging aches so much that after a decade, games that would have been no-brainers for any other banged-up, battle-weary player with nothing to achieve were must-play games for Cal.

And his managers were as scared of ending The Streak as Ripken was. They wouldn't dare try out that young prospect in a nothing-doing late-season game, because The Streak took precedence. There were times when The Streak alone filled Camden Yards, and Memorial Stadium before it, and as time went by, even Ripken knuckled under to The Streak. It was bigger than anyone, even him. He thought he was the ruler of his destiny, but fear of what would happen if he didn't play ruled his existence.

Cal Ripken Jr. was held hostage by The Streak, and now he is free at last. While he may honestly not feel any relief, I'm betting he feels a little more normal.

Item: By now, we all know that Mark McGwire was victimized by a poor call and robbed of Number 66. What you may not know is that because of that blown call, a gym teacher was arrested, removed from the park, charged with trespassing and fined. If umpire Bob Davidson had ruled a home run, there would have been no arrest, no ejection, no fine. At press time, the man, Michael Chapes, was preparing to fight the ticket in court.

In addition, another man who snatched the ball out of Chapes' mitt got off scot-free and got the ball to boot. We've recounted our own first-hand account of selective application of MLB's "laws," and this is every bit as laughable. It's such a high-profile display of idiocy by MLB that the only intelligent move would be to drop all charges and give Chapes a formal apology and all the free merch it takes to make him happy.

Davidson should make the first apology, and a formal admission that he blew the call so that the charges no longer have a basis. After dropping the charges, Commissioner (and still Brewers owner) Selig should apologize for the treatment Chapes received. Then Selig's daughter should offer some prize tickets (although I can't think of any actual Brewers tix that could be so described) and Mac could sign a ball for the guy too.

Smart money says that instead of this, Chapes is left hanging, because he doesn't have a powerful labor union to kick MLB's ass. Fortunately, however, courts of law accept videotaped evidence. Question is, will the express written consent of the Commissioner be forthcoming?

Item: In other umpire-related news, Giants reliever Julian Tavarez decided that the Diamondbacks were a lame enough opponent that he dropped his appeal of the suspension he received for going ballistic on ump Sam Holbrook. However, the guy who wrote the wire-service version of the story couldn't resist calling him the "controversial" Sam Holbrook. Why? Because earlier this year he had the gall to eject Mark McGwire for arguing balls and strikes.

So, what this reporter is telling us is that ejecting a player after three warnings, then ejecting another for charging and bumping, is "controversial"?

I thought that was called "doing your job correctly."

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about the author

Michael Cox would like to see the Astros and the Indians in the World Series so that Randy Johnson can brush back Kenny Lofton just one more time. Go ahead and tell him how brushback pitches should be outlawed and Bob Gibson's Hall of Fame membership revoked at mc@strikethree.com.