By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved baseball. When I was about 7 or 8, I could rattle off the top ten pitchers, batters, along with their minor league and career averages.
Yes, baseball is terrific.
Yet, today, I must confess: I do not like watching the Barry Bonds and the Roger Clemens baseball hearings take place. Though steroids have been banned in MLB since 1991, the league did not implement league-wide PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs) testing until 2003, two years after Bonds hit 73 home-runs.
On the basis of his impressive career alone from 1987 to 1999, a period where he was steroid free, Bonds would have been a lock for the Hall of Fame. Bonds would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer and he would have also been known as one of the greatest players ever. Up until that point of Bonds career, he was a three-time National League MVP winner, he won eight Gold Gloves as a left fielder, and he had hit 455 home-runs. At that time some baseball historians were saying that Bonds was one of the top 10 players ever to live.
If Bonds had never taken steroids, he would have played another six or seven seasons, each year fading a little bit. He would have surpassed the 500-homerun mark, and he could have made a run at 600. But even if he ended his career with 445 home runs, he would have been a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame because of the amount of home-runs he already had, plus his three MVPs and eight Gold Gloves.
Then Bonds’ record took off. In 2000, he hit a career high 49 home-runs, and then in 2001, he broke McGwire’s single season home-run record by hitting 73. Bonds went on to surpass Hank Aaron’s career home-run record, and Bonds finished his career in 2007 with 762 home-runs.
It seems to me that some purists feel angry Bonds broke Aaron’s record.
Let’s be truthful with ourselves: the home-run race benefited baseball, and everyone looked the other way. Ok, the fact baseball czars did not test for PED means that one must give the benefit of the doubt to the players. If one wishes to be angry at anyone, be angry at the Baseball Commissioner and his associates for not testing the players. Bear in mind that after the infamous Baseball Strike of 1994-1995, fans like me, vowed never to watch another ballgame. When Big Mac and Sammy Sosa started their famous competition, thousands of fans came back to the game with a spirit of forgiveness. Bud Selig, the Baseball Commissioner, delighted in the renewed interest of the game.
We all did.
The time has come for fans to give credit where credit was due. If we want to go after anybody, we should inspect the politicians from the President to the common Congressman and see whether their records will stand the test of purity and honesty.
Somehow, I don’t think they would do so well.
Ask yourself a simple question: Who do the politicians think they are? Do they fancy themselves as the guardians of baseball purity?
What is wrong with this picture?
Think again. Aren’t these the same politicians who have squandered Social Security monies and Medicare funding? Aren’t these the same charlatans who are personally enriching themselves at the expense of the public, e.g., inside trading?
“Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
Just for the record, whatever Bonds or Clemens may have done is benign when compared to the kind of the antics baseball has tolerated for much of its history. In fact, fewer sports can claim as many cheaters as baseball. Baseball and cheating have a long history. The artful deception of the Baseball Other is the stuff that baseball lore and legends are made up of. Contrary to popular political belief, there are a lot of players in the Hall of Fame who would have never made it for we have empirical evidence that cheating took place. Some cheated long enough to change the outcome of a pennant race, while others cheated throughout their careers. Some cheated just for the fun of it.
In Jungian terminology, baseball has a shadow side that cannot be denied. Let’s be honest, baseball is not a shrine for Catholic saints or Hassidic Rebbes (many of whom, also cheated). It is a place where we honor the memory and life achievements of baseball’s immortal heroes, but make no mistake: many of them were not saints.
In the interest of brevity, I will mention just a few of the game’s best known baseball cheaters:
- 1. New York Giants (1951) — Bobby Thomson
The year was 1951. Bobby Thomson got mobbed by his Giants’ teammates after hitting the “shot heard ’round the world.”
“That year, the Giants admitted they had an elaborate sign-stealing system in place at the Polo Grounds in 1951. Did it help them erase the 13½-game lead the Dodgers had in August? Did Bobby Thomson know what Ralph Branca was throwing when he hit his “Shot heard around the world?” Those questions are unanswerable, even by Thomson, who exhibited Clintonesque qualities when he was once questioned by the Wall Street Journal, years later. He said, “I’d have to say more no than yes . . .” After equivocating, he finally said, “No, I didn’t steal the sign for that pitch.”
But wait, it gets better; the Giants really cheated—no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Herman Franks (who was also a friend of my late father) used to sit in the Giants clubhouse, which was conveniently located past center field. He used a telescope to read the catcher’s signs. He would then set off a bell or buzzer in the Giants bullpen that would identify the next pitch, and a relay man signaled to the hitter.
- 2. John McGraw (3B, SS, OF, Orioles, Cardinals, Giants, 1891-1906)
This Hall-of-Famer should have played football. Two old chroniclers named Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns wrote in Baseball: An Illustrated History, that on the field, the 155-pound McGraw “held far bigger base runners back by the belt, blocked them, tripped them, spiked them — and rarely complained when they did the same to him.” He was known to grab onto runners belts as they were rounding third, and grab the belt loops of runners tagging up at third. ” He uses every low and contemptible method that his erratic brain can conceive to win a play by a dirty trick,” wrote one reporter.
- 3. Gaylord Perry (pitcher, Giants, Indians, Rangers, Padres, Yankees, Braves, Mariners, Royals, 1962-1983)
“Gaylord Perry, a Hall-of-Famer, compiled his 314-265 record on the wings of a Vaseline ball. He’d stand on the mound, touching his cap or his sleeve, either loading up the ball or trying to convince batters he was doing so. In 1982, he became one of the very few pitchers to be suspended for doctoring the ball. Gene Tenace, who was Perry’s catcher with the Padres, said the ball was sometimes so loaded he couldn’t throw it back to the mound. Indians president Gabe Paul defended Perry: “Gaylord is a very honorable man,” he said. ‘He only calls for the spitter when he needs it.’”
- 4. Ty Cobb, one of Baseball’s greatest players, loved to sharpen his spikes and maim anyone who tried to tag him out when he would steal a base.
- 5. Whitey Ford has many outstanding records: Winning percentage, left-hander, career (minimum 100 wins), .690; Most World Series wins, career, 10; Most World Series starts. After his career ended, Ford admitted to occasionally cheating by doctoring the ball with a sharp ring he used to wear.
Ford, Sutton and Perry were often accused of throwing illegal pitches, scuffed ones or spitters. We honor some men who found a way around the rules of the game yet we exclude others.
What about Pete Rose? Hasn’t he done enough penance yet? Let’s be honest: Pete Rose made a mistake. But he is hardly alone–we all do. To disregard one of the most successful baseball careers in the history of the game with a zero mistake policy does a disservice to Rose, the teams he played for, the fans who enjoyed watching him play, and the sport of baseball. Pete Rose’s suspension should be lifted for him, and for baseball. Heck, even the Pope forgives sinners, just like Jesus–so should baseball.
In short, the infamous list of less-than-honest citizens goes on. Despite the baseball antics, these players give much for the fans to cheer about. I personally resent the politicians and the purists who are trying to make the Hall of Fame into a religious shrine for the holiest players.
Guess what? People who bring excitement to our favorite pastime deserve to have a break. If you want to test the players from now on (which we already do), then fine—but baseball didn’t mind letting their superstars play, and neither should we.
If we are going to start putting asterisks by player’s names, let’s not stop with Bonds or Clemens from entering Cooperstown, let’s go on a witch-hunt and exorcise all the nastiest cheaters from the Hall of Fame and send them to the Hall of Shame. Afterwards, in our righteous zeal for purity, let us send a special scapegoat to Azazel, one that will have the names of all the tainted players from baseball history and lore. When we finish this purification ritual, only then we can rest assured that we have expelled all of our baseball demons. After we finish sanitizing baseball, then we can go after the politicians and examine their records.
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Rabbi Samuels is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com
I had a wonderful time reading your article. Good Job!