petec@umcp-cs.UUCP (08/08/83)
Toronto, August 5 (UPI) - After seeing films of the tragic incident
especially rushed to the league office, and participating in an all-night rap
session with Canadian officials, it was announced late this morning by
Lee MacPhail that Dave Winfield is off the hook for his gristly, although
allegedly accidental killing of an endangered sea gull. In a prepared,
written statement, MacPhail said that although the police officers who
had arrested Winfield were technically correct in their actions, in his
opinion and that of the Toronto chief of police, the spirit of the law
had not been upheld. " Anyone can see that the whole event was an
accident, and besides, all-star ball-players should not be subject to
such trivial laws that are meant to be applied to ordinary people and
other degenerates. We're not going to let a bunch of furriners push our
boys around", MacPhail was quoted as saying.
George Steinbrenner, when questioned by reporters, said he was generally
pleased with the decision, but that MacPhail should have taken further action.
Pressed for details, he said " The real culprit in this incident is the
Toronto ballboy who took the throw from Winfield. It was apparent to everyone
in our dugout that he positioned himself directly behind the bird in order
to draw Winfield's throw in that direction. This is just another example of the
Toronto ball-club's blatant hooliganism and tom-foolery."
Winfield, in hiding after receiving death threats from several ornithological
societies, could not be reached for comment.
In a separate announcement, MacPhail announced that he had revoked the
Yankees' win in the 'Seagull' game, and had awarded the game to the Blue
Jays. It is MacPhail's contention that Winfield should have been immediately
ejected from the game for having contributed to the soiling and bloodiment
of the ball. "This is a flagrant example of destruction of league property,
and cannot be tolerated. No player is above the laws of baseball", MacPhail
stated, adding "Those balls don't grow on trees". In his opinion, without
Winfield, the Blue Jays would have easily won the game, saying "...why
waste all that time replaying a game when everyone knows how it's going
to turn out? I think we have reached a mutually satisfactory position. Toronto
gets a win, and Dave Winfield is cleared of a black mark that could follow
him all his life, threatening his future employment opportunities. Now,
let's all quit harping on all these judicial issues, and get down to some
beer drinking and ball playing."
Indeed.
--
Call-Me: Pete Cottrell, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Dept.
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!petec
CSNet: petec@umcp-cs
ARPA: petec.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay