A pair of issues I covered in my book "Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History" have bubbled back up to the surface this week.
PETE ROSE
"Letting Pete Rose into Cooperstown" was No. 28 overall on my list. I still believe that Rose will find a posthumous compassion from voters who will be willing to overlook his gambling foibles and accept the all-time hits leader into immortality for his exploits as a player.
In the business, we call these voters "clinically diagnosed morons."
Pete Rose shouldn't be allowed within a 50-mile radius of Cooperstown, because betting on baseball as an active manager is a mortal sin. His interview on ESPN Radio's "The Dan Patrick Show" this week grabbed headlines when Rose claimed he bet on the Cincinnati Reds "every night" when he managed them. In Rose's mind, this was a valorous act because he was betting on them to win, and therefore he worked super-extra-special hard in order to help them win.
Rose is no longer just a joke — he's an entire set at a Catskills comedy club. His mistruths have stacked up to the point where he's lying about previous lies. If anyone out there honestly believes Pete Rose never laid money on an opponent of the Reds, or never used his position as manager to influence future bets through decisions he made from the dugout, make sure you raise your hand really high so we can all point and giggle.
I've had an ongoing debate with many of my baseball friends about the corrupting effect of the steroid scandal versus Rose's gambling on baseball. They seem to think steroids damage the integrity of the game more than Pete Rose did; I couldn't disagree more. When a manager is betting on or against his own team, the integrity of the game is threatened in a way no individual player can threaten it. Through any number of decisions before or during the game, a manager can literally affect who wins, who loses, and by how much — and not just for that game, but for the rest of the home stand. Even the juiciest of juiced players still has to play the game; a manager with his own financial interests and motivations can practically fix one.
When tens of thousands of baseball fans realize that they've spend hundreds of dollars on tickets to an event with a predetermined outcome ... that's irreparable damage no needle or pill could ever replicate.
And for that, Pete Rose should never, ever, ever be allowed back in baseball or in the Hall of Fame.
METAL BATS
"Aluminum Bats" were No. 43 overall in "Glow Pucks," and for good reason: other than the death of organ music and lights at Wrigley Field, has there ever been another more barefaced insult to the fundamental traditions of baseball?
This week, the New York City Council voted to ban metal bats from high-school baseball games. It'll require Mayor Michael Bloomberg's signature if it's to become law.
Nostalgia isn't the rallying cry for metal bat opponents — safety is. They claim that non-wood bats mean harder hits, which means more injuries to young players. Those lobbying against the law, including Little League Baseball, argue that the injury data just isn't there and that it's based on "emotional anecdotes."
Like this one, for example: pitcher Brandon Patch of the Miles City Mavericks in Montana died after being struck by a metal-bat line drive on July 25, 2003. His former team now advocates the use of wooden bats, and forfeited a game last year when an opponent insisted on using metal bats for the game.
Jim Quinlan, the national program coordinator for American Legion Baseball, argued against Miles City's stance last year, claiming they stood alone against nearly 5,500 American Legion teams that use metal. He pointed to an American Legion Baseball study that couldn't determine any "hard data" that wood bats are safer or that metal bats are more dangerous. That study was in response to a 2004 vote in Florida that prohibited the use of "bats of any substance except wood as approved by the American and National Leagues of Major League Baseball effective with the 2005 American Legion Season."
Having covered youth and college baseball for several years, there are only two reasons to advocate metal bats and both have to do with numbers.
The first one is obvious: metal bats mean elephantine stats. That ball off the hands that would have shattered a wood bat becomes a Texas League double to left field. That ball off the end of the bat that might have been a line drive to the first baseman is now an opposite field home run. Slugging percentages in metal bat baseball read like they should have come from a video game. Scouts from the big leagues and colleges will still judge a player on his athletic merits, but having flashy stats at the plate can sure get their attention.
The second one is cost, something mysteriously missing from the American Legion literature and the New York City Council debate. One quick look at the Modell's Sporting Goods website tells the tale:
The BWP Bats "Mr. Nasty Pro Maple Adult Wood Baseball Bat — $69.99
The Mattingly MVPSL V-Grip MVP Senior League Baseball Bat — $169.99
A player breaks three bats in a season, and he's already well beyond the metal bat price tag. Even if the leagues aren't paying for bats, they are filled with baseball parents that are. Metal bats are far more cost-effective.
I found it interesting that two New York baseball players testified before the NYC Council, on opposite sides of the debate. Former New York Mets relief pitcher John Franco argued that metal bats are dangerous. New York Yankees starting pitcher Mike Mussina said they're no more dangerous than wood bats.
Seems about right to me: a franchise built on 40 years of scrappy imperfections and occasional glory versus a franchise that's more machine than man, with its annual lineup of fantasy league all-stars.
And that's why I'm a Mets fan, and a wood bat guy.
Greg Wyshynski is the Features Editor for SportsFan Magazine in Washington, DC, and the Senior Sports Editor for The Connection Newspapers of Northern Virginia. His book is "Glow Pucks and 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History." His columns appear every Saturday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Greg at [email protected].
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