The results are in
08/22/2002
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Two weeks ago I asked for your help. Unable to completely pry myself away from baseball should there be a strike, I decided that instead of boycotting the game itself, I would boycott a particular player.
That's where you came in. I laid out a dozen players and their boycott credentials, asking for your votes and your reasoning.
Just to recap, the 12 eligible players were Jose Mesa, Mike Hampton, Chuck Knoblauch, Mike Fetters, Ichiro Suzuki, Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, David Wells, Torii Hunter, Mo Vaughn, Antonio Alfonseca and Kenny Lofton. Each player had his own distinct qualifications and while some of you didn't agree with a couple of my candidates and my rationale for including them on the list (namely, Mr. Suzuki), there were definitely a handful of players that received the brunt of your criticisms. So before I get to the big winner (or would it be loser?), I'd like to share some of your e-mails.
Wes Vangel wrote:
"Gary Sheffield's whining and crying in LA pretty much signifies everything wrong with professional sports in general today. Guys have no loyalty to any team at all. Even though it's mostly players, I do have to say also that the GMs of teams have very little loyalty to any player. These guys want millions and millions of dollars, then if their team has a bad year or goes on a losing streak, it seems they "demand" a trade. This is most evident I think in basketball, but it is everywhere. David Wells is just as bad -- his inconsistency is not really that coincidental. How can you explain someone that can win 17 games one year, but lose 14 in a different place? And how can you explain someone who can throw a perfect game for the Yankees, and then start only 16 games for the White Sox? Just like you did -- he's a lazy bastard who only gives his all when he feels like it.
"My vote, however, has to go to Sheffield. I think that the Braves are way too quick to overlook Sheffield's history -- what is there to say he's not gonna turn around and do the same thing to them? This guy clearly has no loyalty, and, come on, he's never been THAT good to be demanding things."
You're absolutely right, Wes. I had trouble narrowing down who was going to go on my list but Sheff and Wells were two no-brainers. The Braves own the best record in baseball and so far, Sheffield's been a model citizen. Would that be the case if Atlanta were 10 games under .500? I have my doubts.
As for Wells, another reader had a somewhat disturbing comment about the portly lefty:
"... if he bought a bandana for his head, leather jacket, torn up jeans and a Harley, he'd look like my Grandpa... and that creeps me out a whole bunch."
I can see why, though I just have to ask: Is your grandpa The Fonz?
J. Taylor had this to say about Colorado pitcher Mike Hampton:
"... his numbers are so terrible [even] for a rookie or journeyman pitcher. But at his salary, he should be sent to the minors to see how hard guys work to get to the majors, although I live in Colorado Springs, so I don't really want him sent to the SkySox. There are plenty of former stars that are struggling this season (Frank Thomas, Griffey Jr., Greg Vaughn (star?) and Phil Nevin, to name a few), but Mike Hampton is by far the worst. Nevin is a close second in my book."
Like I said in the original column, Hampton deserves some respect if only because he's a true competitor, and I really don't think he's one of those guys who slacks off after signing a monster contract. Had he re-signed with the Mets he'd probably have much better numbers, but for whatever reason he decided on Colorado and for that alone, he deserves criticism. Plus, he's only got two homers this year... what gives?
Lyle Pohly and I share the same personal heartache and bitter hatred regarding one particular player:
"Jose Mesa, far and away, is deserving of the proposed player boycott...all I need to remind all of us in NE Ohio of is,
'Game Seven, bottom of the ninth, 1997' He'll win the poll going away, which is exactly what we (Tribe fans) are glad Seņor Smoke did!"
All sports cities have their enemies, players and other figures, who've wronged the hometown team in some way. For us Clevelanders, Art Modell, Albert Belle and John Elway fit the description, but if you ask any Tribe fan about the 1997 World Series you'll probably hear Jose Mesa's name muttered on several occasions, complete with plenty of "colorful" words to fully convey the immeasurable level of contempt harbored for our former closer. As I wrote my column two weeks ago, I knew I'd have a few anti-Mesa e-mails in my inbox. I was right.
I have to thank Dennis Handel for sharing this lovely story with me:
"With out a doubt, Mo Vaughn has my vote. Maybe because I am jealous that a guy that out of shape is making a living in professional sports, but I think it is more disgust. I think a sumo wrestler is a better candidate to run the bases. I was sitting in the front row near first base at one of the games at Yankee stadium, and I am still not sure if it was an earthquake or Mo shaking the ground as he tried to get to first. I am surprised he doesn't get hit with a pitch more often. Besides, with that much counterweight standing over the plate, how can he even swing at the ball? He is completely off balance. Most of all, the guy has no self-respect. You're paid to be in shape and win. I think he is stealing from the Mets. His weight gain kind of reminds me of a guy I fired once. This guy was supposed to be stocking the warehouse shelves. Instead he was masturbating on the job."
Lovely. So far I've got an image of a hog-riding grandpa wearing a leather coat and torn jeans and now this. What's next?
"I'm going to have to go with Frank Thomas. I could start to list the reasons but I'd be here all day. Hopefully he'll develop a gambling or drinking problem when he retires and end up living in a piss-soaked cardboard box in the ghetto."
Ask and you shall receive, I guess -- thanks to D. Emerson for the message.
I also asked for some write-in votes, and Jim Bercen's selections hit close to home:
"Tie -- John Rocker and John Hart of the Texas Rangers.
"Rocker because he went from being a fierce closer with Atlanta to a useless bigot with a home run hitter's dream fastball.
"Hart because he's the IDIOT that went and got Rocker from both Atlanta, then the Tribe, got Carl Everett from the Red sox, traded Carlos Pena, a future starter, signed Chan Ho Park, Juan "I Got Another Hangnail" Gonzalez, and still hasn't gotten rid of perennially injured Rusty Greer. Could this guy have run a team into the ground faster? I think not -- 20 games in, we were done. On top of all that he is just like a player: sign a big fat guaranteed contract, then do zip to help the team."
I'll always be grateful to John Hart for his reclamation project with the Indians, transforming them from a perennial laughing-stock to an annual contender in the 1990s. But his last few moves in Cleveland were questionable and he's certainly worked no miracles with the Rangers, though I'd still contend that Texas was in a world of hurt before he signed on. As for Rocker, he was more than qualified to be on the list but, as I said in the first place, he was just too easy to pick.
Jim Coleman, who incidentally placed a vote for Sheffield, wonders how I could've limited my list to just 12 players:
"I'm still not sure I do not want to give it to almost the entire Major Leagues. Gee, getting to "play" a kiddie game and still earn an average of more than $2 million per year for about eight or nine months of work really is not bad. I wonder how most [players] would work out in the real world with us working stiffs who still have yet to make even six-figure incomes, let alone seven-figure.
"Thanks for the great columns."
... always gotta sneak in those compliments when you get 'em! Anyway, it's funny -- sometimes when I'm watching a game on TV, I think about what exactly these players are doing for a living and how much money they're making doing it. People say that baseball is just a game all the time, so much so that we often don't really think about that statement in its simplest form. I mean, we're talking about a game that most of us played on the playground growing up, but because these pros are so much better than we ever dreamed we'd be, they make boatloads of money on the diamond and we pay boatloads of money to watch them. And they're not happy? Now, that doesn't mean that I'm siding with the owners in this whole labor dispute because there's room for compromise on both sides, but it's still amazing to think about just how much money is generated -- and then fought over -- by a bat, ball and a bunch of bases.
Douglas Hindman also felt that there were many more players to choose from than the 12 I suggested"
"Why did you stop at 12? So many available punks playing these days... . Aren't you tired of Clemens throwing tantrums or wondering just how a one-trick pony like Chipper Jones got to be so famous? And sure, Barry Bonds is an awesome home run hitter but even he admits that if it weren't for hitting longballs he probably wouldn't be able to start for anyone.
"I say we pick 12 players per team. My disillusionment is so great I would have little trouble doing just that. It took till the 1999 All Star game to get me to watch Major League Baseball after the last strike. I'm sure it would take much longer this time. Unlike you, I really don't take this as funny for any reason. Like the man said, "Baseball is life." The lack of understanding and pure greed shown by these spoiled and vastly overpaid athletes is actually just a sign of the overall lassitude of people today. We have become a society of people who think that something for nothing is actually their due. Perhaps if the baseball people would show themselves to be people of honor, then for once they could actually become the role models that we could be proud of again."
Douglas, I don't think any of this is funny either. Unfortunately, my job is to write about the world of sports and at this moment in time, the potential strike is the big story. And if you notice, I always try to incorporate some humor in my columns, hoping to make them more enjoyable to read. Sometimes I succeed. Often I fail.
But that certainly doesn't mean that I really find any humor in this labor mess. It saddens me beyond belief because if the players end up striking and canceling another World Series, they're essentially cutting their own throats and in the process murdering the game we all have loved for so long. At the same time, though, you seem to be placing all the blame on the players for what's going on and, like so many other fans are doing, forgetting that the owners got themselves into this mess in the first place by signing all these outrageous contracts. I don't necessarily agree with the players' standpoint but I can certainly understand why they're trying to protect what they feel is rightfully theirs. Let's not forget how many millions these teams rake in every year. Who deserves the bulk of that money, the owners or the people we fans pay to see everyday?
Again, both sides are at fault and if there's a strike, both sides should be blamed.
Finally, Nancy Baker, a "life-long Indians fan and NY freakin' Yankees hater," would prefer to boycott someone else:
"While I appreciate your list of MLB players to boycott if a strike does indeed occur this year, I am such an OLD fan of baseball that it would be very difficult for me to totally ignore Jose Mesa, Ichiro or Frank Thomas. However, I can certainly go along with the boycott of Chuck Knoblauch. He's on my list of Least Favorite Players!
"But what I would really like to see happen in this whole mess is the replacement of Bud 'No Personality' Selig! I have to place a lot of the blame for the players' and owners' discontent squarely on Selig's shoulders. Contraction of the Twins? How absurd! MLB taking over the Expos? What's with that? And playing the All-Star Game in Milwaukee and letting it end in a tie? More absurdity! Bud has to go!
"Thanks for letting me vent."
I just can't argue with that logic -- baseball would be so much better off and this situation would be far less chaotic if Selig would just leave our game alone and target something else to destroy.
But in the end, despite a couple write-in votes for Barry Bonds ("Before Barry admires another moon-shot as it lands in McCovey's Cove, he should sit down and contemplate his meaningless career and then retire honorably before he passes the home run mark of his Godfather, a real baseball player.") and plenty of support for guys like Sheffield, Knoblauch, Wells and Mesa, the landslide winner of the Personal Boycott balloting is Frank Thomas:
"He's been a giant assbag for a long, long time and gotten way more credit than he deserves. I say, boycott the big bastard."
"His apparently true colors as a whiner and crybaby now overshadow everything else about him... . The guy was damn near a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame as recently as three or four years ago, but now it's doubtful the Sox will even be able to trade him. Maybe Selig's Brewers are stupid enough to take him."
"That guy is a world-class douche-bag."
So there you have it, the Big Skirt is the Big Loser. Hopefully, the players and owners don't give me a reason to act on these results but since I hate Thomas about as much as most of you seem to, I may just implement my boycott with or without a strike.
Thanks for the votes and let's hope both sides realize that baseball and the fans are more important that a few million more dollars. Not likely, but still a possibility. Stay tuned.
In the Bullz-Eye
Denver running backs Clinton Portis, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson. Terrell Davis has finally decided to end his impressive though all-too-short NFL career after suffering yet another knee injury, meaning the Broncos will now turn to either the rookie Portis or the two veterans, Gary and Anderson. Both of the vets have 1,000-yard seasons on their respective résumés, which would seem to give them an advantage in this competition, but Portis has really impressed so far this summer and could be the full-time starter when the season starts in a couple weeks.