Baseball players used to be tough. Jackie Robinson went through unspeakable trials as he broke the color barrier. Ted Williams flew fighter planes in Korea. Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth amid death threats.
But that was then, and this is now. And now we've got Adam Dunn whining about his mommy, and Milton Bradley getting his feelings hurt, and Ken Griffey Jr. pouting and making an ass of himself at home plate.
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| Dunn and Griffey have turned soft on us. (US Presswire) |
They used to be unfazed. They were impervious. Impenetrable. Frank Robinson used to lean over home plate, just daring the pitcher to hit him. He repeatedly led the league in that category, and said his solution was thus: "Just get up and lambaste the next pitch."
Now they're soft. And they're getting softer. Forget being able to shrug off a hard inside pitch. These babies can't even handle a hard critique on the radio.
Griffey is the latest big-name player to show his soft side. It happened Saturday, and the details are absolutely incredible. Check out the timeline:
In the third inning, Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley blasted Griffey for letting a fly ball drop nearby for a single: "The fans are booing, and they should boo louder than they did. That's embarrassing."
In the fourth inning, Griffey homered. As he stepped on the plate, he looked at Brantley's booth, cursed and flashed a throat-slash gesture.
One inning later.
If you're wondering how Griffey already knew what Brantley had said, stop. Griffey always knows. There are cell phones in the clubhouse, maybe even the dugout, and Griffey is the most sensitive superstar I've ever seen. (He once threw a water bottle at me, for crying out loud.) His family in Cincinnati listens to the radio, and his agent in Cincinnati listens to the radio, and they tell Junior everything they hear.
So now Junior's mad at Brantley. Join the club. Already this season Texas' Bradley tried to storm the broadcast booth in Kansas City, and New York's Jose Reyes had to be separated from Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez on a team flight.
Last year Dunn was upset that his mom had heard about certain comments. And a few years before that, the Cubs' Kent Mercker called the broadcast booth -- during a game -- to complain about something Steve Stone had said that same night. Still wondering whether Griffey knew what Brantley had said one inning earlier?
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| BaseballTime: Everybody knew he was a pampered, spoiled crybaby, but this is mining new depths. Whatever will he do with the White Sox? Number one, Chicago fans will make his injury-riddled life miserable if he isn't producing, and secondly, Ozzie Guillen is no pathetic, little, wimpy milquetoast like Baker is. Ozzie will verbally destroy Griffey if he doesn't produce. |
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| Gregg Doyel: You're brilliant, which is to say, you're thinking just like me. Griffey would be eaten alive in Chicago. |
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These stories are priceless. The notorious emotional Bradley might have hurt someone had he reached Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre on June 11. After the game Bradley had heard something he didn't like from Lefebvre and bolted out of the clubhouse, charged up four flights of stairs and apparently got within 20 or 30 feet of his target before being led away by his general manager and manager.
"Someone who doesn't know him was passing judgment on TV," Rangers GM Jon Daniels said at the time. "It was obvious he was hurt by the comments."
Aww. Miltie-Wiltie was hurt. Poor little guy.
At least Bradley heard the words himself. Reyes never heard what Hernandez said about him. But Reyes' friends and family members heard it -- something (accurate) about the Mets needing to stop "babying" Reyes after he petulantly threw his glove when first baseman Carlos Delgado couldn't come up with a throw -- and they told Reyes.
If there's anything softer than a major league player, it's his friends and family. They spend so much time worshipping their meal ticket, they literally cannot comprehend criticism of their hero. Dunn's mommy literally cried last year.
"Say I stink, I suck, whatever," Dunn told reporters. "But when my mom's friend overhears it and calls her, then she calls me crying her eyes out ... that's over the line."
Nothing worse than angering a player's mom's friend.
Jeez.
I'll tell you why this stuff is happening more now than ever: the culture of baseball. This used to be a sport of tough guys. They weren't paid much, they weren't on television much, but they were driven by a love for the game and even spite for the front office.
But now they're paid incredibly, and they have equipment companies giving them stuff, and they have grown men working inside their clubhouse, home and away, with only one goal: Get the player whatever he needs. Dry cleaning? Car wash? A better seat for the wife? A more discreet seat for the girlfriend? We can do that.
The result is a culture of children, posers, wannabe tough guys who are comfortable only when their rear ends are being kissed. Last year before the All-Star break, I was in the Reds clubhouse talking with second baseman Brandon Phillips, who was having an All-Star year but wasn't going to the game. I mentioned how tough it was, historically, to be an All-Star on a team that wasn't winning and already had a player (Griffey) voted into the game. I was being supportive, and Phillips nodded. He seemed to get it.
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The next day a Reds official told me Phillips was mad at me. Upon further reflection, Phillips decided I'd insulted him. He told the team official I'd said: "You're not an All-Star because your team sucks."
It was crazy. It made no sense. But baseball players don't live in the real world, and more and more of them are struggling to relate. They hear what they want to hear, and they see big fat meanies around every corner. And so Milton Bradley gets within a few yards of a possible fight with a broadcaster, and Jose Reyes nearly comes to blows with another, and Ken Griffey slashes a throat at home plate.
Me, I'm starting to think Kansas City's Jose Guillen has it all figured out. He's a total hothead, Jose Guillen, but he nailed it in May after his team had blown a five-run lead in the ninth inning of a loss to Minnesota.
"Too many babies in here," Guillen said.
