Mail Bonding

Jason Michael Barker

Monday I wrote a piece titled "A Fine Whine," in which I listed some complaints I have about baseball, mostly little things which annoy me. Much to my surprise, it elicited more response from readers than any thing else I've written for Strikethree.com. Although most of the comments were positive, there was at least one reader who were less than pleased (to put it mildly) with what I wrote.

My initial response was to email the concerned party privately, defending my stance in a polite matter, clarifying as needed. However, it occurred to me that if one person felt this way and took the time to e-mail me, there could be numerous others who felt the same way and just didn't get around to contacting me. As such, I'll address her concerns publicly.

Monday I wrote: "What I take issue with are the teen-aged girls (and older) who come to the game with the sole purpose of screaming for Alex Rodriguez." In return, I received the following:

Dear Sir:

I was very upset with a comment you made in your latest column and I felt that I had to write. As a female baseball fan, I take issue with your assertion that female fans only attend ballgames in order to check out which of the players are cute and scream at them (ala A-Rod, Derek Jeter, etc.). I've followed the Yankees for over twenty years, ever since I was 7 years old. While I've had my share of crushes over some of the players over the years, I am hardly an empty headed woman. I do have SOME knowledge of the game itself. I know what the difference is between a sacrifice fly and a regular fly ball. I know what constitutes a save situation. I know what slugging and on base percentage means. Your assertion that all female fans only care about the players looks is a total insult to all female fans everywhere. While a good looking player is a bonus, that isn't the major concern for THIS female fan. I care whether or not they have a good on base percentage, whether they can drive in runs, whether they can keep an opposing team batting average low (if he's a pitcher) and so on. I am sick and tired of men who assume that women only watch sports for the players' looks and know nothing about the sports themselves.

An annoyed female fan

It certainly was not my intent to insult, annoy or otherwise upset anyone, so I'd like to clarify my position. To begin with, I did not mean to imply that female fans only attend games to check out cute players and/or scream for them, or that all female fans take part in this behavior. In my experience, the screaming fans are in the minority.

Secondly, it was not my intent to imply that any female fans are "empty headed," or "know nothing" about the sports themselves. That is not to say the stereotype does not exist, because it does. However, it is just that -- a stereotype. Certainly there are many women in this country who know a great deal about sports in general, and baseball in particular. The author of the preceding e-mail, for one.

As for the fans who do attend games to check out Derek Jeter's butt -- I simply stated that they annoy me, not that they should be banned from the stadium or that they are any lesser as fans. In one way or another all fans are important to their team, be it by attending games, buying merchandise or checking out the website. If you must head down to the Kingdome in order to gawk at Alex Rodriguez, don't let me stop you.

Getting away from what is obviously an emotional issue for some people, we turn instead to pitcher abuse, which is also an emotional issue for some people. Particularly for fans of teams managed by Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland and Tony LaRussa, but I digress. On the subject:

Hi Jason,

Jim Fregosi yanks Doc Halladay in the 7th yesterday, when his line was 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 93 pitches. Do you think the Jimmer's been reading some advanced sabremetrics? I know Cito [Gaston] and Tim Johnson would have left him in "to let the kid get his first shutout", and maybe have him throw 120+ pitches if he got tired. Keep an eye out for Halladay - rookie of the year candidate!

Regards,
Kevin

Thanks for writing, Kevin. For all the flack we give managers who overuse pitchers, perhaps not enough attention is given to those managers who really know how to work with them, such as Montreal's Felipe Alou and Houston's Larry Dierker.

For those of you not in the know, Kevin is referring to Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays, who's a pretty good pitching prospect. When Jim Fregosi was hired to manage in Toronto this spring, there was some concern among Jays fans about how he would handle a trio of young pitchers (Halladay, Kelvim Escobar, and Chris Carpenter) and whether he would revert to his old ways, favoring "proven veterans" over younger players with upside.

So far, so good. Carpenter and Halladay have been brilliant, and while Escobar has not, at least he hasn't been overworked. The Jays also lead the AL East at the moment, and while I don't expect that to be the case at the end of the season, they're certainly capable of winning the Wild Card. Jose Cruz Jr., Shannon Stewart, Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado and Tony Fernandez are all hitting very well right now; heck, event the normally punchless Alex Gonzalez is hitting .404/.481!

Their pitching isn't that shabby either, led by David Wells (who's pitching better so far this season than he did last season in New York), Halladay and Carpenter.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker originally titled this article "You've Got Mail," causing the editor to exclaim, "Ew! Ew!" and screw his face up as if he had just sucked a lemon. Tell Jason it wasn't that bad at jmb@strikethree.com.