Baseballhead:
Sosa Unbowed

Michael Cox

Welcome once again to the one place where we're not afraid to tell you we're wrong. Well, we never have been wrong, but if we had been, you bet we wouldn't be afraid to say it.

So much silliness to cover, and so, so little time...

Item: This past week "Whammy" Sammy Sosa unveiled his latest tribute to the fans: a formal bow to the crowd after he crossed the plate. He unveiled the move last Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, when he twice homered against noted straight-talker Todd Stottlemyre, who made his feelings very plain following the game:

"Nobody wants to be embarrassed. I sure don't remember Mickey Mantle bowing after home runs. I guarantee Joe DiMaggio didn't bow. I'd bet everything I got Lou Gehrig didn't...Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente. I took it as offensive."

Of course, Sosa responded by saying it was all for the fans. He only relented after his own teammates related their fears that his "fan tribute" would result in the opposing pitcher paying a special tribute of his own, at the expense of the next hitter. The nagging suspicion I get is that Sammy had no idea that what he was doing was rubbing his achievement in the pitcher's face.

But he should have.

One of the more useful traditions in baseball is that of professionalism during the game, of making your hit and doing your business, then going into the dugout for all your high-fives and arm-bashes. It keeps the game moving, for one. Also, it's not the truly deserving hitters like Griffey or McGwire who'd be making the displays. It'd be the Ruben Sierras and Deion Sanderses and their wanna-bes all moonwalking and crowd-surfing, and that's what's truly wrong about it.

Also, remember that 95% of the time of a baseball game is the cat-and-mouse game between pitcher and batter. When a whole football team does the watusi after a touchdown, an opposing linebacker can't do much more in retaliation than he does in any other game situation. A pitcher, however, holds the game ball and decides where it is to be thrown, and that's a lot of power. Inside pitching, and even knocking down the occasional batter, is part of the game, and one that is easily used after a celebratory production number. There's a balance there -- one that should be respected by both sides.

Now, I'm not talking about spontaneous expressions of emotion, like the chest-pounding of a Randy Johnson (usually done in the direction of his own team, by the way) or the fist-pumping of Dennis Eckersley, or even (as much as I dislike him) the Gatorade abuse of Paul O'Neill. This is purely the premeditated showboating I'm concerned with.

Fortunately, although young players generally have no sense of history and tradition, there are plenty of crusty AA managers who are perfectly happy to tell their snatch-catching right fielder that the first time he drops one it'll cost him a week's pay. Of course, when you reach a pay level, and attention level, of a Sammy Sosa your manager might not be so willing to say much, but he knows that your teammates surely will, and that eventually, you'll learn.

Item: Speaking of respect, or lack thereof, Phillies hurler Curt Schilling added his voice to the chorus taking Cubs manager Jim Riggleman to task for allowing Kerry Wood to throw more pitches per game, and more innings in the 1998 season than was wise. "You protect guys in the minor leagues, put them on pitch counts and then let them come up here and pitch 135 pitches. It doesn't work that way. It never has and never will."

Of course, Riggleman was aghast, still maintaining that he did nothing out of the ordinary by allowing Wood to throw so many pitches and innings. He blasted Schilling for a lack of "respect." Of course, you know his means that Cubs fans shouldn't plan on a deal to acquire Schilling to shore up their decimated rotation...

Item: Tony Fernandez didn't think he received respect from one particular fan, heading out to confront the man who taunted him continually after Fernandez wouldn't sign an autograph for him.

My first question is, how big an idiot will a person become for a player's autograph? I've stood near crowds clamoring for signatures, and I know how stupid certain members of those crowds get on a regular basis. This was a grown man, who became horribly offended because a baseball player wouldn't sign an autograph for him. Earth to gomer: Autographs are not a right. They're a favor. Yes, players who sign should be held up as good examples, but the ones who don't (or more precisely, don't for you) aren't criminals.

And my second question is, somebody got that worked up over Tony Fernandez?

Item: As we've said before, Rob Neyer is a shining beacon of sanity in the ocean of bad sportswriters, but even he slips up on occasion. This week, he took the news that Anaheim is planning to bring in the fences slightly (some say they are doing so for Mo Vaughn, but that has not been officially stated) and managed to make it a payroll issue.

By now, I've learned that when anyone uses the cliche "Lords of Baseball," it signals a rant against MLB ownership is coming. Mind you, I like a good rant, but this one seems like misplaced energy. So the Halos are moving center and left-center nine feet. that's 397' and 386' respectively, not exactly a Dodger Stadium, but not a "bandbox" like Fenway either.

Then he took the Mariners to task for consulting the players on field dimensions, resulting in -- gasp! -- a 405' center and 386' right-field power alley, both still farther out than the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium (395'/385'). And remember that The Safe is at sea-level and won't have the dry air of the air-conditioned KingDome. If anything, it will reduce homer totals.

And why? Because Neyer believes that the additional offensive production due to the shrunken field dimensions will inflate player salaries. Never mind that moving the fences out might lower pitchers' ERAs and raise their salaries -- and at last glance, pitchers still topped the salary table.

In fact, Neyer's conclusion is that the Angels and M's are so stupid for doing this that it "takes your breath away."

Then I got to thinking -- what if it's a spoof? What if he's taking the air out of a few "anti-ownership for anti-ownership's sake" gasbags. He's certainly smart enough...but then there's the problem of all the readers who don't get it.

Or maybe he's playing with my head.

Excuse me. I just had a sudden urge to buy two tickets to Roswell.

about the author

Michael Cox was perusing a local garage sale when he found one of those wobbly exercise sticks that Randy Johnson endorses. Explain that it isn't for use after a large beer and tacos meal at mc@strikethree.com.