MLB in need of domesticviolence policy
Major League Baseball doesn’t generally move quickly on pressing matters, the Giants’ protest following Wrigley Field’s tarp mishap notwithstanding.
On some subjects, Commissioner Bud Selig likes taking time for consensus building. Others need to be collectively bargained between MLB and the players’ union. Then there’s the A’s stadium issue— 66 months and counting since Selig formed his fact-finding ballpark committee.
So perhaps baseball’s waitand-see attitude on domestic violence isn’t surprising. In the wake of the NFL’s problems in general and Ray Rice’s in particular, baseball hasn’t exactly jumped at the opportunity to adopt a blanket policy. None exists.
“We deal with situations as they occur,” said Selig, whowas at Thursday’s Giants game.
Are active, not proactive, approach kind of got baseball in trouble with that little steroid matter. Of course, baseball needs a policy, just as the NFL needed one after Commissioner Roger Goodell initially gave Rice a two-game wrist slap, an all-time gaffe.
Football’s new standard penalty is six games without pay for violating the league policy on domestic violence. A second incident warrants a lifetime ban. It’s vague, but it’s a start. It took graphic footage for Rice to be suspended indefinitely, and the dreadful Adrian Peterson incident provided a newlow.
Selig said that in baseball, which has a far more powerful union than football’s, it’s an issue to be collectively bargained— he said the issue had been discussed with the union (it obviously didn’t get far)— but the next negotiations aren’t until 2016, when the labor agreement expires.
By then, Rob Manfred will be commissioner. He takes the job in January. The Giants’ 17th annual Strike Out Violence Day is Sunday, benefiting La Casa de las Madres, a shelter for abused women and their children. Commendable. ML Bought to get involved.
“The only thing Iwant to say to you is, I said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re a social institution,” Selig said, “and I’m proud of our record dealing with amyriad of subjects, and we deal with them, I think, quite effectively.”
Selig suggested domesticviolence cases in baseball are rare, which is debatable if not misguided.
“We haven’t had any cases, I’mhappy to say, in a long, long time,” he said. “I can’t remember when the last time was. I’m grateful for that. . . . Yes, it has been discussed because we’re sensitive to all issues, but I’m not going to sit here and (hypothesize). Fortunately, we don’t have that issue in front of us, butwe deal with all issues directly.”
Former Minnesota second baseman Chuck Kno blauch was going to be inducted last month into the team’s Hall of Fame. Hewas chargedwith assaulting his wife, so the Twins canceled the induction. He had a similar charge in 2009.
There are plenty of examples of active players involved in domestic-violence cases. In 2012, San Diego infielder Everth Cabrera was arrested on domestic-violence charges (the chargeswere dropped), and I counted 18 other cases during Selig’s 22-year reign.
No one was suspended by MLB. Apolicy is needed, and we don’t need George Mitchell to tell us that.
Unfortunately, we can’t assume anyone is clean, and Chris Davis provides the latest example, suspended 25 games for testing positive to Adderall, ana mphetamine that could be viewed as a performance-enhancing drug, according to Dr. Gary Wadler, leading PED expert. At last year’s All-Star break, with 37 homers to his name, Davis said hewas “doing it the rightway” and of Roger Maris’ 61 homers, “It’s the record tome.” Nowhe says he had a therapeutic-use exemption in the past but not this year. He previously was diagnosed with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. When someone gets busted for amphetamines, it’s always a second offense, so thiswasn’t the first time. The first offense gets you awarning.
The Giants have become like the O’Malley-run Dodgers. A lot of clout, a lot of pull. They’ve successfully maintained territorial rights, challenged the Rockies’ humidor process for game balls (as a result, it’s supposed to be overseen by umpires, not club officials), helped prompt the home-plate-collision rule and claimed the only protest win in 28 years. For most of these, it helps to have a general manager and manager who’ve been around a long time. They’d say it helps to be right. 1VinScully, during Friday’s Dodgers-Giants telecast, said he noticed the infield and warning track a bit damp. “It turns back the clock,’ he said, recalling Alvin Dark’s Giants watering downthe infield to slow Maury Wills and Co. late in the 1962 pennant race. “They literally drowned the infield. Itwas really amuddy track. So when the Giants came to Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers handed out 10,000 duck calls.”
So next September, in the A’s final regular-season home series and the Giants’ final road series, they play each other. “I can see howit can be interesting. It’ll be exciting for the cities, that’s for sure,” Giants pitcher Tim Hudson said. One plus for the Giants, especially so late in the year: no travel. “We’ll be at home,” Brandon Crawford said.