flynn@acf2.UUCP (Susan Flynn) (03/01/86)
So even Peter Ueberroth is fallible. He tried to serve too many masters. Afraid of being too soft or too hard he came out wishy-washy. Baaseball was wounded by the drug scandal. Being punitive rather than compassionate only serves to reopen that wound. Is it fair that any player caught in the future will suffer no punishment? They will only have to undergo rehabilitation. These guys are being used as scapegoats. They did their government a favor by testifying. They did baseball a favor by bringing its drug problem out in the open. Any profession that has high salaries is going to have a drug problem. (Computer Science is not exempt.) Why don't we follow the lead of basketball. These guys have one strike. If they get two more they're out.
flynn@acf2.UUCP (Susan Flynn) (03/02/86)
So even Peter Ueberroth is fallible. He tried to serve too many masters. Afraid of being too soft or too hard he came out wishy-washy. Baseball was wounded by the drug scandal. Being punitive rather than compassionate only serves to reopen that wound. Is it fair that any player caught in the future will suffer no punishment? They will only have to undergo rehabilitation. These guys are being used as scapegoats. They did their government a favor by testifying. They did baseball a favor by bringing its drug problem out in the open. Any profession that has high salaries is going to have a drug problem. (Computer Science is not exempt.) Why don't we follow the lead of basketball? These guys have one strike. If they get two more they're out. p.s. for all of you complaining about your team being the least discussed, why don't you discuss them? I personally have been happy as a clam with all the Met and Senators talk over the net.
mykes@3comvax.UUCP (Mike Schwartz) (03/03/86)
I am 25 years old, but I remember what a strong influence baseball players had on me. I used to play sandlot games where we would pick a real team and use that team's batting order. We would even bat lefty if the guy in the batting order was a lefty. Nowadays I guess kids are expected to sniff the white stuff (no, not the foul lines) as well? Sam Donaldson makes $2.5 million a year for anouncing the news, so I figure that a lot of ballplayers are worth the bucks. But they are not paid to do drugs during the season or during the off-season. I think Ubberoth has done a tremendously good thing for baseball and our country by his punitive actions toward the "admitted" druggies. You can talk about society all you want, but the bottom line is that drugs are ILLEGAL and not only did those players violate the by-laws of Major League Baseball, but they violated the by-laws of the United States. Poor Keith Hernandez is crying about losing 10% of his $1 Million salary - boo hoo. What a fine example of a man and a ballplayer he is for my kids :). If he doesn't think it reasonable to spend 100 hours in the offseason putting back into the community a little bit of what he took from it (and yes he took way too much), he can go play in Japan or anywhere but here, or he can go get a real job. The players disagree with random drug testing, but pretty soon I believe we will see drug testing of this type throughout the country. As a baseball team owner, I don't want to see my players on drugs. As a factory owner, I do not think it is safe to have employees on drugs. I believe that the powers to be of baseball have long known about the wide spread use of drugs in the sport, and have handled it in a quiet way - like the reason Hernandez got traded from St. Louis in the first place. Frankly, I believe it is lucky that any player found doing drugs is not banned for life. Hernandez and the other 20 players involved in the Curtis Strong case are fortunate to be able to play baseball.
tonti@ptsfc.UUCP (Guy Tonti) (03/05/86)
In article <434@3comvax.UUCP>, mykes@3comvax.UUCP (Mike Schwartz) writes: > > I think Ubberoth has > done a tremendously good thing for baseball and our country by his punitive > actions toward the "admitted" druggies. You can talk about society all you > want, but the bottom line is that drugs are ILLEGAL and not only did those > players violate the by-laws of Major League Baseball, but they violated the > by-laws of the United States. > My only disagreement with Mr. Uberoth's decision was his not setting a precedent for the next time offender. What will happen to this ballplayer, especially the one who comes forward with his problem to get help? It seems to me that this grey area is one that if I was a major leaguer (or an owner) I'd want answered. Baseball got burned too long with a non-communicative commissioner to sit back and let another I-can-do-no-wrong-type make dictatorial decisions. Guy Tonti "Hank Aaron was ruthless!"
pete@umcp-cs.UUCP (Pete Cottrell) (03/06/86)
>The players disagree with random drug testing, but pretty soon I believe we >will see drug testing of this type throughout the country. It will be a very sad day when this sort of hysteria sets in.... -- Call-Me: Pete Cottrell, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Dept. UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!pete CSNet: pete@umcp-cs ARPA: pete@mimsy.umd.edu