Even more Manny outrage

Another outraged column about Manny’s rehab assignment, this one from Bill Plaschke. I’m struck by this:

Manny Ramirez playing for the triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes is as weird as the word “isotope.” . . . When Manny Ramirez is old and gray and sitting outside the locked doors of Cooperstown, he might reflect on this summer as the best 50 games of his career. Or is it 42 games? Or, really, was he ever gone? It’s all Isotopes to me.

Is there a field besides sports writing where it’s acceptable to flaunt your ignorance like this? Just checking.

Beyond that, not much new apart from the fact that Plaschke has gone beyond those who are outraged that Manny isn’t being punished enough to actually suggesting that Manny is benefiting from his suspension:

During the suspension, Ramirez had reaped all the rewards of being a Dodger without any of the responsibilities.

He has been allowed clubhouse and training room and field access without ever explaining how and why and when he violated baseball’s drug policy. The Dodgers have taken care of his every need — from cough syrup to batting-practice baseballs — without once asking him to be accountable to the community that they once considered a priority.

The Dodgers so value Ramirez’s comfort above all else that they actually sent employees to Albuquerque to help him and protect him from the unwashed masses who would dare bother the great man during his courageous comeback from a female fertility drug.

I guess that’s cheaper than hiring a midwife.

The dude was fined $7 million for violating a work rule. How that’s “reaping the rewards” is beyond me, but Plaschke sure as hell doesn’t mention that fact. Would Plaschke be given a proportional penalty if he was found to have committed plagiarism? I kinda doubt it.

What all of these columns seem to boil down to is anger at the fact that there has been no sturm und drang associated with Manny’s suspension. That there have been no tears. That there has been no grovelling or self-flagellation. Which is hilarious when you think about it, because for years columnists criticized baseball for first ignoring and then taking an ad-hoc approach to this stuff, comparing it unfavorably to the NFL’s orderly and businesslike PED program. The minute baseball actually discovers and penalizes a major star in a drama-free and orderly fashion, however, everyone gets bent out of shape.

Mercy.


12 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Laura F.
14 years ago

I am not a person who supports PEDs in baseball and feel like a player should be accountable, why all the anger toward Manny for rules he didn’t make.  We sure didn’t hear the anger from the sports writers when JC Romero did his stint in the minors prior to his return from a 50 game suspension.

Michael
14 years ago

The sheer unmitigated sanctimony of most sports “reporters” (which bleeds over to their readers) is the reason I choose blogs over ink-on-paper and multinational-corporation outlets.

It took them about 30 years for about half of them to stop using BA and W/L as primary performance stats after better ones were made readily available – any bets on the year they’ll finally have an informed approach to PEDs? 2045? 2109?

It’s just sad that these people actually get HOF votes.

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

No, JW, you were right about Allen. He and Farrow were living as man and wife in every respect but the license…her adopted kids reportedly called him “Dad.” Farrow referred to him as their “father.” His relationship to them was identical to a father-child relationship. The Soon Yi relationship was incestuous in every way but under the letter of the law.He exploited the trust of a child in a parental figure, and converted a de facto father-daughter relationship into a sexual one.

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

OOPS! That comment was supposed to be on another thread. Apologies.

Beanster
14 years ago

Jack – can’t wait to find out which thread the Woody Allen/incest/common law marriage comments belong!

Brian
14 years ago

At the risk of coming off myopic, could the lack of a sturm und drang be attributed to the West Coast, considering most of the prior Manny hand wringing came from New York and Boston writers.

Also, I find it difficult to believe that the fans’ perception of Manny would change much if Manny were to explain “how and why and when he violated baseball’s drug policy,” least of all Plaschke’s.

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

Beanster—-see “Comment of the Day”…

Slugger O'Toole
14 years ago

I think Plaschke is overlooking the central fact that Manny is being prevented from playing major league baseball. That is punishment. While playing might be Manny’s job, playing on the sport’s best stage and getting paid for it is a fantastic thing, Millions of people play this game JUST FOR FUN. While it might be nice to take BP at Dodger Stadium and get free cough syrup, not playing and notbeing paid is a substantial punishment.

Maybe Plaschke is the kind of guy who would love to go to his office, hang out, drink free coffee, but not actually work at all. For anyone who actually likes what they do, being prevented from doing and getting fined would be hard to take.

MJ
14 years ago

Wow, I’m more surprised that Plaschke actually wrote a column in paragraphs, and not that cheesy one line crap he did for years that FJM raked him over the coals for doing.

And weren’t the Albuqurque Isotopes the destination of Springfield’s baseball team in the Simpsons?

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

MJ—he didn’t, actually. While it may not be AP form, I often mash together single line paragraphs into full paragraphs for readability purposes.  Just because those bozos chop them up in order to fill predefined column inch requirements doesn’t mean I have to.

Sam
14 years ago

Concur generally, but I think if Plaschke were truly busted for plagiarism he’d lose his job immediately, and have a hard time getting a real one again. Considering the impact on his life, that would be far, far beyond Manny losing $7 million or $70 million.

wog
14 years ago

I wonder if Bill thinks all the NFL titles of the 70’s are tainted….those dudes certainly werent drug free……Probably shoul dput asterisks next to all of em.