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Don't slam Sammy
Posted: Monday June 12, 2000 11:52 AM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum touches on a Hot Button issue each Monday on CNNSI.com. After you read Jack's take, give us yours. Contrary to what that pinstriped, pinheaded George Will believes, managing a baseball team is not rocket science. It's not even herpetology (though, in terms of brainpower required, it easily surpasses sportswriting). The job is quite simple if managers remember a few don'ts. DON'T fall into a droopy-mouthed, spittle-oozing REM sleep with the camera on you, even if you manage the Philadelphia Phillies. DON'T reach into your uniform trousers to scratch yourself when the TV cameras are on you; a couple of nicks and tucks on the outside will suffice, thank you very much. And DON'T criticize your best player.
Were this dispute taken to the McPeople's Court, here would be my unequivocal ruling: Sammy Sosa, go in peace; Don Baylor, shut your pie hole. All Sosa has done over the last two years is hit 129 home runs and help take major league baseball off life support. The equanimity he showed when he lost the fabled 1998 home run battle to Mark McGwire (not to mention the Andro-creatine battle) did as much to improve the image of baseball players in the eyes of the public as anything since Babe Ruth went yard for the dying kid, which probably didn't happen anyway. Sosa has put fannies into seats around the league and, were he to be traded (as is the talk in the Windy City), the beer-swilling bleacherites who pontificate about the wonders of Wrigley would spend even less time actually watching the game. Managers (as well as football and basketball coaches) do what Baylor does all the time: They have a wonderful player but, gee, the problem with him is that he should be somebody else. He should be Ken Griffey Jr. (or Jerry Rice or Michael Jordan). The last time Sosa was a 30-30 player was 1995 -- it won't happen again -- and he's never been real slick with the glove. But here's who Sammy Sosa is: as of Monday, a .306 hitter with 19 home runs, 58 RBIs, an All-Star, and one of the few players on the Cubs roster to whom Baylor should be extending nothing but serious props. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum will contribute a Hot Button issue every Monday on CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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