Ruben Rivera

Ruben Rivera is a professional baseball player. He was being paid $1 million this year to compete with another player to be the backup center fielder with the New York Yankees. He was let go today because he apparently stole a bat and (I believe) a glove from Derek Jeter's locker and sold them for $2500.


1) Ruben Rivera's lifetime batting average is .218. He has earned $11 million in his major league career.


I am in the wrong profession.


2) Ruben Rivera is Mariano Rivera's cousin. Apparently the Yankees went the extra mile to try to see if there was anything that could be done to exonerate him because his cousin is one of their stars.


3) The players union forced the Yankees to pay Rivera $200,000 as a "buy-out" of his $1 million salary.


The guy steals and sells the stolen merchandise and the union comes to his defense? The Yankees pay the thief $200,000 to go away? What am I missing here?

Oh is that why he was released? I didn't hear that.. I just assumed that the Yankees came to their senses and realized that one does not stay a 'prospect' for 7 years. His 1999 season is one of the strangest lines I've ever seen. 23HR and only 48RBI? A .195 average? Jeez...

If he had ever reached his potential, he may have been negotiating a multi-year deal approaching $100,000,000 right about now.


I guess he's trying to make up for lost money by taking that glove.

dynasty lurking same time as me... eerie

When I saw you write "$100,000,000" I thought, "great, enormous exaggeration...clearly nobody makes that much. don't people realize they lose credibility when they exaggerate that much?".


Then I realized that you were serious.


Thanks ARod.


Josh

The union probably came to his defense to prevent future teams from unloading players with guaranteed contracts by framing them for clubhouse crimes. The union sees the slippery slope here and wants to make sure the teams don't abuse the ability to release thieves. See what thinking like a lawyer does to you? In reality I don't get it either. Maybe that's just what the union does. I dunno. Maybe we'll start seeing union DNA testing when players mess around with each others' wives and girlfriends.

Andy,


Seems to me that Ruben might have a drug problem. His performance has been in steady decline since the early part of his career, he has had problems staying out all hours more than a few times in his past and now he steals from a teammate to get some quick cash. I very well could be wrong (and hope for his sake I am) but this pattern seems like the work of a cocaine user to me. Mike Stanton, Yankees player rep, said "There were extenuating circumstances" or something similar. Hmmm.


On a somewhat related note, I was re-reading some bits from "Baseball Babylon" the other day and came across the story of Steinbrenner's dealings with a gambler. Seems he paid the guy for some information on Dave Winfield back in the 1980s. It said George was suspended and Yankee fans rejoiced. When and how did George get controlling interest back? This article made it sound like he was done even attending major league games without the commish's approval.


KJS

You'd make that kind of cake too if you could hit .218 in the majors and play center field. Guessing you wouldn't even be close to doing that well.

Rivera, I heard, was "living beyond his means." Is this a euphemism for drug use? Don't know.


From "The Baseball Time Line":


July 30, 1990: The Boss gets the boot. Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent puts George Steinbrenner on the permanently ineligible list for conduct "not in the best interest of baseball." Steinbrenner gets the "life ban" for his role in the Dave Winfield-Howard Spira case. Steinbrenner had a three-year association with Spira and paid the known gambler $40,000 for detrimental information on Dave Winfield. Steinbrenner is the fist AL owner banned as a disciplinary action, and he cannot be involved in the operation of the team. Commissioner Vincent reports he was "able to evaluate a pattern of behavior that borders on the bizarre."


March 1, 1993: George Steinbrenner resumes his role as general partner of the Yankees after having been banned for his dealings with gambler Howard Spira.


No explanation of how the "lifetime" ban became less than that. But according to Those Damn Yankees (Dean Chadwin, a great book), "When Vincent's decision [to ban Steinbrenner] was announced in the middle of a Yankee home game, 24,000 fans responded with a standing ovation that lasted for more than a minute."

You're right on all counts. I wasn't complaining, I'm jealous.

...we don't get to Steinbrenner until 3rd year of law school!


In actuality, the ban was later changed to 30 months from "permanent". Why? Fay Vincent was a bad commissioner and claimed that the ban had not been permanent at any time.