by James Finn Garner
The unwritten rules in their dusty tomes
Are never long without a home
Consulted when game etiquette
Might require subtle signs of respect
Like when a throwback managerial cuss
Throws his rookie star under a bus
When he was only doing his job
Smashing a slow-motion lob
Whoever’s “clueless” here can be debated
And the Chisox success isn’t fated
The unwritten rules do not deem
To show how you alienate a team.
Nothing says, “We give up” like putting a position player in to pitch. Especially late in the game when you already have a 12 run lead. To inflict more humiliation is akin to kicking your opponent when he’s already down and in the fetal position. Mr “throwback manager” is just trying to teach something that the rookie had never learned . It’s called sportmanship.
I don’t buy it for a minute. Look at the huge number of contemporary players – including the leaders of his own team – who’ve backed the rookie. And PLEASE tell me how it was a good idea to publicly rebuke the rookie player carrying your underperforming team? Sporting play comes in different forms in different eras. Is it more sporting to take walk after walk after walk from a position player incapable of throwing strikes, increasingly the already high likelihood they’ll get hurt? In fact, do we know that he’s not a respectful player, otherwise?