Cardinals (don’t) Care
We wish there were no Cardinals, former or current, named in Senator Mitchell’s report. In fact, we wish there hadn’t been the need for the investigation and the report. … But we believed in the purpose of this investigation when it was announced…
– president Mark Lamping
So we were relieved that none of the key members of our club were named in today’s report. So in that regard I think it is a sigh of relief.
– general manager John Mozeliak
When we’re considering acquiring players, it’s not really something on our radar unless someone has knowledge of it. And we don’t have that knowledge at this point. There are some rumors and innuendoes out there, but without facts you can’t base decisions on what you don’t know.
After re-signing Rick Ankiel and trading for Troy Glaus this winter, the Cardinal front office certainly hadn’t done anything to assert themselves as serious about the PED problem. But with the Monday signing of known ‘roider Juan Gonzalez to a minor-league contract, they’ve lost any claim to credibilty on the issue whatsoever.
When the team acquired Glaus last month, we offered a truce to players: We’d stop criticizing them for using PEDs and cease being openly bothered by even their ongoing use if they would only show fans a modicum of respect and knock off the pretense. Today, we’d like to extend that offer to management, specifically the Cardinals’, lest fans lose all trust in the them and see them as nothing more than two-faced conspirators.
Ostensibly, messrs. Lamping, Mozeliak and DeWitt are opposed to their players cheating. How else to read their being "relieved" that no key players were named in the Mitchell Book Report, "wish[ing] there were no Cardinals" at all named and "believ[ing] in the purpose of this investigation"? Or does their regret stem not from the fact that their players cheated but merely that they were caught, and their relief from the fact that not more were outed?
Speaking of those not outed, Albert Pujols — upon whose due diligence the Cardinals acted to sign Gonzalez — can dry those crocdodile tears. Because for nearly every mention of his bellyaching about his reputation being sullied — "They ruined my image" — we see him keeping company, defending and/or recommending known users, from Barry Bonds to, now, Gonzalez (the irony of Gonzo’s sixth-closest comp being Jose Canseco wasn’t lost on us). Seems Pujols manages to injure his image without anyone’s help.
But we digress. When chairman Bill DeWitt says on the subject of hiring PED users, "There are some rumors and innuendoes out there, but without facts you can’t base decisions on what you don’t know," the implication is that with facts, you can base decisions. Now that the team has hired three known users in the span of a month, we can only conclude that DeWitt et all have been disengenuous with their words.
John Mozeliak may claim that "there’s not a great deal of risk involved" in signing Gonzalez. But in doing business with Gonzalez, the Cardinal powers-that-be have risked a lot: a no-confidence vote from self-respecting fans who have been played for fools all too often. We’d have hoped that the sale of these men’s integrity would have come at a higher price than taking a flier on a has-been.
Being able to trust the leaders of one’s sports team ranks somewhat low on the world’s priorities (certainly being able to trust one’s elected leaders is more important). Yet the accumulation of pretense and subterfuge coming from not only players but the people in leadership capacities erodes at the public trust in the pastime. It’s probably too much to ask or expect that Cardinal management follow through on their stated objection to PEDs in baseball. But they could at least spare us the sham of acting like they care.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Excellent post. I couldn’t agree more.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Thanks, Mike.
February 9th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
i guess we’re being offered the same political and economic bag of tricks our “elected” politicians offer us as well. I’ve been thinking of that this past year or so, especially. It’s just a lot of lip service w/out much substance at all. And it will continue as long as we keep pulling that same lever and giving our money to those w/out scruples in baseball, politics, and life.
Despite the fact that I think your ribbing of people like Ankiel is a bit Michael Moore, i.e. over the top, I think that is because like him you go in for the personal. I believe that’s probably just an expression of your frustration and I share that. I hate being lied to.
But I think that the game AS A WHOLE needs to take more of this on. this Stero-gate has drained much of my love from the game, as it’s showing itself to be just as crooked and empty as the most of the other shells of institutions we call America.
I don’t know, maybe my education has ruined me; maybe the movie The Corporation was too enlightening; however, I am a philosopher (among many things) and would rather have the truth. Being an anthropologist as well, I enjoy understanding the systems that shape (manipulate) our everyday lives. To see what you castigate in these articles, makes me glad that there’s someone out there who CARES about substance.
Baseball needs some f-ckin’ muckrakers…our society needs ‘em more than we ever have. “i’m mad as hell and i’m not going to take it anymore!”
ok…thanks for letting me rant….back to your regularly scheduled programming.
February 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
sorry mike…i just assumed it was pip posting
i was wondering what caused the “moderation” in tone…but then again, i half wonder how much i pay attention to whose writing and just enjoy the ideas and action on this site….oh well 
have a beautiful day!
February 10th, 2008 at 11:35 am
wow…i now realize just how confused i was yesterday….but i got it now.
so..pip = mike, yes? if not, i’m in for a world of confusing hurrt 
February 11th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
No, Pip != Mike. As far as I can tell, I (Matt/Pip) wrote the original article, Mike (who is a reader) complimented me (Matt/Pip) on the post. Then you (HCF) attempted to compliment me (Matt/Pip) but likened me to Michael Moore (who, while his name is Michael, is not THE Mike who first posted a comment).
At any rate, I agree with your agreement that baseball (and society) needs more observers to speak up and call out hypocrisy and untruth. As for Ankiel, you are right that I am frustrated but not any more so with him than anyone else who has behaved similarly. I’ve tried to call out Glaus, Pujols and, now, upper management, so it’s not personal, or at least not uniquely personal for Ankiel.
February 11th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
man…looking back i shouldn’t even be allowed to ever post on this topic ever again…but alas, i will. thanks for clearing up the confusion. and while enjoying many of mr. moore’s ideas, often, his polemic style is sometimes a bit too much for me. Such is how i sometimes feel about how you pick on the players, even though i find them, on balance, quite culpable.
However, I think that the reason I feel this way, and please note the use of the term “feel” despite the following attempt to clarify it rationally. Thus, I think the player is still the little guy in this game. The owners, and the institution of the game itself (MLB office run by the owners) are the top of the chain regarding all of this. it’s leadership’s role to clean things up and do what’s in the best interest of the game. Sadly, policing the game isn’t that practical (players’ union, profits for MLB, owners, etc), so the GAME (instutionally speaking), not only turns a blind eye, but tacitly, and possibly quietly ENCOURAGES the use of such substances by the players. This is just another situation where the ethical players OFTEN get the short end of the stick.
I could go on…but again…need to STFU in this column. So, I will insert a premature “therefore” here: therefore, the GAME bears more of the responsibility. Not just upper management, but the owners, and by proxy, Selig, et al. I can’t blame the players for jumping on the bandwagon.
I also have a very serious skepticism and suspicion that the game has cleared most of the current stars of the game only to throw the clemens/bonds thing to the press and fans as a straw man to make it seem like they’re cracking down. Count me as one who was SORELY disappointed by the Mitchell report.
hopefully this post was less confusing.
HCF