No, Mr. Chafets, Manny should not be in Cooperstown

Manny being Manny

In the June 01, 2009 issue of ESPN the Magazine, Zev Chafets writes a column titled, “Manny should be Manny–in Cooperstown, right where he belongs.” Well, Amy Winehouse and I say no, no no.

Mr. Chafets’ reasoning behind putting druggies into our hallowed Hall of Fame comes down to just this: Some of the greatest players in the history of baseball also did whatever it took to get ahead. He cites Speaker and Hornsby as being members of the clan. Greenberg and DiMaggio being mobbed up. Ty Cobb being a murderer, Mantle shooting up, Koufax taking steroids, etc., etc. So reasoning here is that because our predecessors cheated and lied, that makes it ok for us then too. Right? Hold on, call me naive, but isn’t there some sort of elementary school saying about friends jumping off a cliff, asking if you’d do the same? I say this to Mr. Chafets, MLB, and anyone else who thinks cheating the game is ok: Grow some stones.

Ty Cobb playing dirty

It seems to me, you spineless money grubbing fawns, that you’ve lost all sense of what is morally right. If you cheat the game, get the hell out. Pay the players less money, stop building multi-billion dollar stadiums, stop charging two grand a ticket (Yankees), and clean up the game. I’ve got this crazy notion that players cheat because the tease of multi-million dollar contracts clouds their moral judgment. What’s that you say? Players won’t play for less money? Fine, find some that will. I’ll bet I can ask any of my middle-class brethren if they’d like to make $35K playing baseball rather than doing whatever it is they do to make the same dime, and they’d all rather play baseball. No, people most likely aren’t going to want to watch the bartender at Molly Maguire’s swat at a 65 mph fastball, but players, great players, will emerge none-the-less, happy to make a living playing a sport just for the love of the game.

Let’s show our kids that yes, you can have a career doing what you love by hard work, without the juice. We have athletes who admitted to breaking the rules of baseball, breaking the law even, and we’re still talking about putting them in the Hall of Fame. Companies all across America have a no-drug policy. You fail it, you’re fired. They don’t have the opportunity to appeal, they don’t get “suspended” without pay to what amounts to, say, 3 hours of work. They lose their job, it goes on their record, and that’s it. People say Manny took a stiff penalty, losing nearly half the season. BS. He got off easy. Right now he should be figuring out if he’d rather sell insurance or flip burgers. He had his shot at the dream and he blew it. It’s not ok. He should not come back. And no, Mr. Chafets, Manny should not be in Cooperstown.