From Shoeless to Clueless

Two Steps Forward And One Step Back

By Joe Kuras

Baseball in the 1900's is now history. The All-Century lists have been compiled and archived. When I think of the past 100 years in baseball, two events strike me as most significant: The Black Sox scandal of 1919 and the integration of minorities into professional baseball.

We've come a long way. Baseball repaired the damage done after Chicago threw the World Series and moved forward, thanks to charismatic players like Babe Ruth. And baseball moved forward again, beginning with Jackie Robinson, by allowing minorities into the professional game. These two events seem to have taken us two giant steps forward in the 1900's. But just how far have we come?

When John Rocker made his hideous comments to Sports Illustrated regarding gays, minorities and felons, we took one step back. Fifty years after Jackie Robinson entered professional baseball, blacks and whites were telling us that we still had a long way to go before minorities would be totally accepted within our national pastime. John Rocker pointed out to us that they were right.

Three words describe the common thread that has run through baseball during the past 100 years: Money, power and greed.

Money, power and greed were the root of the Black Sox Scandal. The owners had it all and there were no dictates as to how it had to be shared with the players. The owners had the power to control the money and thus, the greed. Political power entered the picture when the gamblers teamed up with the players to determine the outcome of the fall classic.

As most everyone should know, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was a member of that Chicago team. He wasn't the most educated player on the team. He probably did not fully comprehend the ramifications of his involvement, or that of his teammates, in the 1919 World Series. Nevertheless, he paid his price, as did his teammates, because of power, money and greed. A grand jury acquitted the Chicago players in 1921. Lack of evidence and missing confessions resulted in the not-guilty verdict. But that was not enough. Baseball had to prove it was more powerful than a grand jury. Baseball had to insure that any financial losses at the gate would be minimized. Because of power, money and greed, the Chicago players were banned from baseball.

Eighty years later, we are presented with similar elements of power, money and greed. We've gone from Shoeless Joe to Clueless John. In the article published by Sports Illustrated in December of 1999, Rocker said a lot of stupid things that he should have kept to himself. More so, his comments should never have appeared in print for public consumption. John Rocker is not the only villain in this story.

In early January, 2000, America Online acquired Time Warner, who owns Sports Illustrated. Prior to the acquisition, Time Warner's biggest shareholder was Ted Turner. Wait a minute! Ted Turner also owns the Atlanta Braves! And John Rocker pitches for the Braves!

Long before Rocker's article went to print in SI, someone should have gone up the corporate ladder through Time Warner, to Ted Turner, and back down the ladder to the Braves. Someone at SI should have informed the Braves that their interview with Rocker was not fit for print. Someone should have said, "If we print this article, Rocker's career could be ruined and the Braves will be embarrassed." There was no journalistic value or purpose to the article. But it made some money for Sports Illustrated, Time Warner and Ted Turner by stirring up controversy.

John Rocker did a very good job, all by himself, of putting his foot in his mouth. But at the same time, his corporate teammates at Sports Illustrated helped him aim the gun and pull the trigger as he shot himself in the other foot. Ever since the concept of team sports evolved, a player has been sacrificed, by a trade, a release or demotion to the minors, for the betterment of the team. Sports Illustrated raised the sacrificial bar when they jeopardized the career of John Rocker. Once again, the elements of power, money and greed prevailed. One member of the Ted Turner's corporate team, John Rocker, was sacrificed so that a corporate teammate, Sports Illustrated, could profit by his verbal blunder.

In an Associated Press article, R.L. White Jr., president of the NAACP's Atlanta branch, was quoted as saying, "Not only are we outraged at the statements attributed to Rocker, but insult is added to injury by the fact that the Braves organization has allowed this situation to fester for so long without taking swift and decisive action."

White also added, "It has been nearly two months since Rocker made his feelings known, and yet the powers that be within the Braves organization have continued their wall of silence," White said. "It is our feeling that the Braves' nonaction is solely because of money and greed, since John Rocker is their No. 1 closer."

Braves president Stan Kasten, general manager John Schuerholz declined to comment on the issue in the AP article. Sure, wouldn't you to decline if your boss was still making money off of it? Like a good script in professional wrestling, you have to wait until the right moment to swing the pendulum the other way to favor one bad guy over another.

Meanwhile, the lives of Bobby Chouinard and Ben Christensen go on without any ramifications. Chouinard is the Arizona Diamondbacks reliever who was arrested on assault charges for hitting his wife and pointing a gun at her in December, 1999. Does anybody care? Christensen is a first round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs. He received a $1.063 million signing bonus shortly after intentionally beaning Evansville University's Anthony Molina in the on-deck circle of a college game. Molina's baseball career may be over. Not Christensen's. Is anyone outraged? Yet Rocker's baseball career may be jeopardized, just for saying a lot of stupid things that did not hurt anyone physically.

Since Rocker's comments became common and public knowledge, Major League Baseball had no choice but to somehow openly address the issue. Commissioner Bud Selig should have put on his best "Gil Thorpe" face and proclaim this to be a family issue, to be dealt with internally within Major League Baseball. Rocker's comments should not have dignified any further response from Mr. Selig, or any response at all from anyone else connected with professional baseball. The issue should have died right there with a short, clear and concise statement by the Commissioner. Major League Baseball should have internally and confidentially investigated Sports Illustrated and Ted Turner along with John Rocker.

Why did Bud Selig put his investigation under the public spotlight? Why did he assure that baseball would take appropriate action after all the information was in? Why was it announced that John Rocker would be required to undergo a psychological evaluation? For the same reasons the Chicago players were banned from baseball 80 years earlier. Baseball had to go into damage control and save face. Baseball stood to lose money while Sports Illustrated had the power to make more at their expense. Baseball was compelled to demonstrate it had other, greater powers, since it currently was in no position to make any money from this incident.

So here we are on the periphery of a new millennium. Baseball has demonstrated that the attitudes and ideals of society have not changed all that much in the past 100 years. Professional baseball always was, still is, and will continue to be a big business. Individual players will still be sacrificed for the betterment of the team. But in 1999, the stakes got a lot higher.

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