The Political Whore

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Manny Ramirez’s return to Major League Baseball two weekends ago after a 50 game suspension for using a performing enhancing drug was met with predictable hand wringing by much of the sporting press.

Ramirez’ bust in May (for using a female fertility drug) was wedged between similar outings of Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa, who both reportedly failed drug tests back in 2003. Despite the fierce criticism in some quarters, A-Rod and Manny have been received pretty much like the conquering heroes they always have been by their home town fans since the embarrassing disclosures.  And that annoys many ink stained scribes.

Some attribute the lack of outrage to ‘steroid fatigue syndrome’.  That is, to the fact that after Ken Caminiti’s Revelations that half the sport was awash with ‘roids back in 2002 to Jose Canseco’s Juiced publication in 2005 that 70 percent of the players in the game were on the well, juice, to the intimate details of Barry Bonds alleged usage of “the cream” and “the clear” in Game of Shadows in 2006, to the Mitchell Report’s publication in December of 2007, the theory is that baseball fans have now been desensitized to these stories.

Writers and fans now spend quality free time debating whether some of these stars deserve inclusion in the sacred ground that is Cooperstown, NY, the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But one journalist is sick of what he says is the hypocrisy and moral preening of the baseball media.

Zev Chafets is the author of the just published, Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In it, the author, a former New York Daily News columnist, takes an outsider’s look at the Hall, and blasts what he says is the whipped up ‘hysteria’ that has gripped the media since it became painfully apparent that America’s game was awash in performing enhancing drugs, or “PEDS”.

Chafets perspective is a welcome one, in comparison to much of the sports media establishment, such as Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke.  In May, he blasted Dodger fans for having the indignity of acting like San Francisco Giants fans in showing support for Manny Ramirez immediately after his suspension.

“Manny Ramirez had just willfully broken baseball rules, busted clubhouse chemistry, decimated a winning culture, and yet the first voices we heard were ones cheering him?”

Plaschke, like many of his sporting press brethren, mocked Giant fans for being in ‘denial’ for cheering Barry Bonds in his quest to break Hank Aaron’s all time home run record in 2007, after it was apparent to most that the superstar had used such PEDS.

Yet, New York Yankee fans have cheered on A-Rod since his admission earlier this year that yes, he too, had been caught up in the ‘loosey-goosey era’ of trying to improve his performance by taking something called “boli.”

Zev Chafets spent time in government service and politics in Israel, and is the author of five novels. He doesn’t have anything good to say about those who cover American baseball.

“The writers, the supposed experts, watched over the last 20-30 years as steroids became a very, very common substance. And they didn’t see it. They didn’t report on it. And they didn’t know about it.  So clearly, if these substances altered the very nature of baseball as they claim, the writers were not very good observers on what they were supposedly reporting on.”

Chafets continues, “Or it’s possible that they knew about it, and didn’t report on it, to protect the players. Either way they‘ve been made to look very bad by this scandal. I think a lot of writers thought they’d get their revenge by portraying these guys using HGH or anabolic steroids as degenerates, or criminals against the American way or drug addicts. It’s childish. It’s vindictive, and not a glorious record in the story of baseball journalism.”

Chafets new book is instructive as he lambastes any idea that the Baseball Hall of Fame consists of boy scouts or role models.

Speaking to me on the telephone from New York, Chafets discussed his experience attending the Hall of Fame ceremonies back in 2007. 53 of the 61 still living Hall of Famers were on stage watching the ceremonies of two classy stars, Cal Ripkin Jr. and Tony Gwinn, be inducted. Describing the scene, various miscreants rolled off his tongue, such as confessed spit ball pitcher Gaylord Perry, as well as “ bean ball artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers … quite a collection of people … I didn’t care, because I think the Hall of Fame  should be a place to celebrate great ballplayers, not great citizens.  If you want to find role models, go to church.  Cooperstown should be a place reserved for great baseball players.”

Chafets says the ballplayers of today aren’t anymore immoral than those of years gone by, it’s just that the media has no interest in covering up for them.

Sports fans for years have endlessly debated the merits of Pete Rose, who was suspended for gambling on baseball in the 1980’s. In the coming years, as Bonds, Roger Clemens, and later, A-Rod comes up for possible inclusion, you’ll hear those who have a say, the sportswriters, explain why they can’t vote for some of these players. But Chafets says that the Hall of Fame is about achievement on the field, not off it.

“The notion that we can hide reality from people so they can idol worship is a false option. People who cling to it, encourage a view that’s very cynical. Fans now know that most players have used substances (a great many of them) they just don’t know who. Everybody becomes a suspect and cynical.  Which is why I think the Hall of Fame, which is the beating heart of baseball ought to embrace reality instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist or it’s just a few cases.”

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