A Baseball Parable

[Zeno]

Below is an excerpt from a book by Florence King called 'With Charity Towards None - A Fond Look at Misanthropy'. It relates an incident that took place in 1990 between Carlton Fisk of the White Sox and Deion Sanders of the Yankees. For some oddball reason I think it is appropriate that all baseball fans on this forum read it. Enjoy.



[ QUOTE ]


Early in the 1990 season, Fisk did something without precedent in the major leagues: he blew his stack and chewed out a player on the opposing team for making a mistake.

The white sox were playing the Yankees in New York. During the Yankee half of the inning, twenty-two-year-old "Neon" Deion Sanders, so called because of the flashy gold chains he wears on the field, hit an easy pop-up. Assuming it would be caught, Sanders strolled toward first base, then turned and ambled nonchalantly back to the Yankee dugout before the fielder had the ball in his glove.

Suddenly, looming behind him, was the six-foot-two Fisk. Bellowing like a bull. "Run it out, you piece of crud! Go on, run it out!"

Sanders stared at him in disbelief; obviously thinking that he must of lost his mind. He clearly had no idea why Fisk was incensed but he found out the next time he came to bat. The huge catcher rose from his squat and gave him a murderous look.

"The days of slavery are over" said Sanders, who is black.

" Let me tell you something, you little $%^&* [epithet not printed in the newspaper]," said Fisk. "There is a right way and a wrong way to play this game. You're playing it the wrong way. And some of us don't like it. Someday you're going to get this game shoved right down your throat."

Naturally both benches cleared -




[/ QUOTE ]



Carlton Fisk 2000 HOF Inductee Fisk (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hof_weekend/2000/inductees.htm)


-Zeno

[ThaSaltCracka]

awesome......

[kerssens]

didn't he also get pissed because Deion drew a dollar sign in the dirt before the at-bat?

[Boris]

Classic. Deion is too friggin cool. Fisk must've been a real prick.

[namknils]

Good story. I hate when players don't run plays out, there's no excuse for not hustling.

Even last night in the couple of innings of the All Star game that I watched it seemed like players weren't running out ground balls that they figured would be easy outs. If any body should be hustling it should be the all stars.

[andyfox]

Jeter beat one out (or at least was called safe) when he hustlred down the line. I guess that's what Josh L. was talking about in comparing him with Nomar.

[namknils]

Cool, I missed that one (didn't watch much of the game). Even the plays that I saw some people jogging down the line, weren't that big a deal, but I expect a lot from anyone who's making as much as these guys.

[andyfox]

Even worse, to me, is the showboating when they hit a home run and stand there at home plate. Might have cost the Mets the World Series against the Yankees when they didn't run, the ball hit off the top of the wall (I think Zeille hit it, don't remember the baserunner , and Jeter threw out the guy at home.

Check out how many triples big, slow Stan Musial and big, slow Lou Gehrig hit in their careers. They left the box running hard.

[Zeno]

Glad you brought that one up - I remember that play, the announcers were all over the Mets on that one, I think.

The Grandstanding after bashing the ball is systemic to the ills plaguing not only baseball but also many other sports. Not all sports figures are guilty of this; indeed, they are probably in the minority still.

But this type of thing occurs more frequently and over more 'trivial’ plays or actions. In football it is epidemic. 10 years ago after a tackle everyone got up and went back to the huddle. Now a celebration breaks out after every tackle on the field. Preening after catches and touchdowns is especially gratuitous. It destroys the sport, shows poor sportsmanship, saps the spirit of the game, and lofts the normal everyday thing required of all players into some supposed higher plane. It simply reeks of imbecility. It also will continue unabated.

-Zeno

[andyfox]

There's no such thing as professional sports any more. Once you're a professional entertainer, the sport is gone. In the old days, they guys still were paid for their services, but they performed in front of small audiences and had to supplement their sports income doing other things. Now, they become wealthy, or at worst, rich, and entertainment is what it's all about. Even an apparently admirable young man like Derek Jeter, who appears to play the game the way it was meant to be played, chooses his public statements with the utmost care and precision, lest something he say be considered impolitic. The bottom line, after all, is not the World Series, but the number of zeroes on the contract. (And he's got a lot on his.) All part of the business.

[John Cole]

Andy,

I can just imagine a bunch of New York fans: "My, look what Jeter said. How impolitic of him."