TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Doin' the Icky Sheffield

I've been reading the New York papers this week with great fascination, waiting breathlessly for some mention of Jeffrey Maier, the twelve-year-old fan who interfered with a ball and gave the Yankees a victory over Baltimore in a playoff game. But no, the story has been all about what wretched goons those Boston fans were for taking a swipe at a ball that didn't even affect the play. This despite the fact, there was no fan interference on Gary Sheffield because he made the play. He got the ball back in such that no additional advance of the bases was made beyond a normal wall double in Fenway. No harm, no foul, no matter what you might make of the very feeble swipe for the ball by the fan. I've seen far more incidental contact on most foul balls in the front row, and nary a one without a punch being thrown.

Joe Torre claimed that, from 370 feet away, he could clearly see that the fan intended to interfere with the play. Sheffield says he first thought was "Ron Artest", referring to the NBA player who went into the stands to fight a heckler and started a brawl, which is a strange thought considering Sheffield's first reaction was to throw a punch at the fan. Columnist after columnist has yowled that it's time to "rein in the unruly fans" despite the fact that by far the most aggressive act was by Sheffield (although at least one has properly called for a suspension of Sheffield.)

Why do the baseball insiders immediately circle the wagons when the player is at fault for overreacting? The millionaires and billionaires of baseball seem to have a fundamental fear of the fans who pay their paychecks, and while I don't condone interfering with a ball in play, neither do I condone the hypocrisy of the press in failing to point out exactly who the aggressor was in this case, and the far more damaging precedents of Maier, et alia, who actually may have changed the outcome of a World's Championship. I usually respect Torre's opinion, but he seems to be automatically defensive of the indefensible. I suppose that's his job, but he may do better to be simply silent on such an egregious case of Player Rage.

Let's see. Sheffield has admitted using illegal steroid cream supplied by Balco. Steroids are associated with, among other things, rage attacks. When a drunk gets involved in a brawl, he generally is forced to take a blood test to see what substances are in his system. One wonders why the Boston police haven't arrested Sheffield yet and tested his blood.

It's that double standard. You, the fan, are some great unwashed ruffian to be feared and whose money is for the taking, while the star ballplayers may slap and punch you at their will if they just say they think they were being attacked, no matter how many hormonally-imbalancing substances they may have consumed.

But the press rage seems to be largely focussed on "out of control fans". Could it be that most of the professional scribes reporting on baseball are beholden to the millionaires to give them interviews, and the billionaires for the perks of the press box? Or perhaps that hyping up an incident of an already way overhyped rivalry sells more airtime and ad space than a reasoned reporting of the facts of an incident which, unlike, say, the 1996 playoff game, did not affect the outcome of the game?

posted by The Crank 9:33 AM