Commissioner Bud Selig has developed a knack for putting someone else’s foot in his mouth. Carlos Santana is the latest to insert foot-in- commissioner’s-mouth, and I’m not talking about the Cleveland Indians’ young catcher.
This Carlos Santana is an award-winning rock musician, a Mexican-American singer and guitarist, whose band Santana became popular in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. He was one of three celebrities who received awards at Major League Baseball’s fifth annual Civil Rights game in Atlanta May 15.
The other award recipients, the baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks and the actor Morgan Freeman, acknowledged the reception of the Turner Field crowd and let it go at that. Santana opted to react less passively, using the occasion to raise and comment on an issue that has been controversial for Selig.
Santana’s non-scheduled performance at the game recalled the 1999 scene in which Selig’s decision to allow the long-banished Pete Rose to attend the celebration of baseball’s all-century team turned embarrassing for the commissioner.
Selig survived the Rose appearance, and he and baseball will most likely suffer no damaging impact of the issue Santana raised. But the commissioner may want to tread more carefully in any future celebratory plans.
On stage at the civil rights ceremony before the game between the Braves and the Phillies, Santana, whose choice of outfit for the occasion reminded me of pictures of the Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem, took the microphone and said, according to news reports, that he was representing immigrants and resurrected the controversy that blitzed baseball about a year ago when the Arizona state legislature passed an immigration law that critics viewed as racially motivated.
The Georgia state legislature recently adopted a similar bill, and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed it into law two days before the Civil Rights game.
“The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves,” Santana told the crowd.
Santana, who emigrated to San Francisco in the ‘60s, was not finished speaking his mind. Later, in the press box, he told reporters, “This law is not correct. It’s a cruel law, actually. This is about fear. Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we’re going to steal your job. No we aren’t. You’re not going to change sheets and clean toilets.”
“This is the United States,” he added. “This is the land of the free. If people want the immigration laws to keep passing, then everybody should get out and leave the American Indians here.”
He also suggested a boycott by Latin workers in Georgia.
“I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy,” Santana said. “Who cleans the sheets? Who cleans the toilets? Who babysits?
“I am here to give voice to the invisible.”
The immigration laws require law enforcement authorities to make sure state residents are in the country legally, forcing them to carry proof of citizenship or legal residence wherever they go in the states. Critics claim the laws encourage profiling and harassment of residents whose appearance is not obviously pure white.
Enactment of the Arizona law ignited a storm of outrage by Latinos in Major League Baseball. Half of M.L.B.’s teams hold spring training in Arizona, the Diamondbacks play in Phoenix and this year’s All-Star game is scheduled to be played in Phoenix July 12.
The commissioner, who has a winter home in the Phoenix area, was urged by many to take the game out of Arizona, but he urged patience.
Michael Weiner, head of the union, said in a statement that the Arizona law:
“could have a negative impact on hundreds of Major League players who are citizens of countries other than the United States. These international players are very much a part of our national pastime and are important members of our Association.
“Their contributions to our sport have been invaluable, and their exploits have been witnessed, enjoyed and applauded by millions of Americans. All of them, as well as the Clubs for whom they play, have gone to great lengths to ensure full compliance with federal immigration law.
“The impact of the bill signed into law in Arizona last Friday is not limited to the players on one team. The international players on the Diamondbacks work and, with their families, reside in Arizona from April through September or October.
“In addition, during the season, hundreds of international players on opposing Major League teams travel to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks. And, the spring training homes of half of the 30 Major League teams are now in Arizona.
“All of these players, as well as their families, could be adversely affected, even though their presence in the United States is legal. Each of them must be ready to prove, at any time, his identity and the legality of his being in Arizona to any state or local official with suspicion of his immigration status. This law also may affect players who are U.S. citizens but are suspected by law enforcement of being of foreign descent.
“The Major League Baseball Players Association opposes this law as written. We hope that the law is repealed or modified promptly. If the current law goes into effect, the MLBPA will consider additional steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of our members.
“My statement reflects the institutional position of the Union. It was arrived at after consultation with our members and after consideration of their various views on this controversial subject.”
Among the players who added their individual voices of protest was Adrian Gonzalez, a Mexican-American first baseman for San Diego at the time.
“I’ll support the Players Association 100 percent,” said Gonzalez, who grew up in Tijuana and the San Diego area. “If they leave it up to the players and the law is still there, I’ll probably not play in the All-Star game. Because it’s a discriminating law.”
Gonzalez is the Boston Red Sox first baseman now, and he has not been heard to reiterate that view or change it. But his agent, John Boggs, spoke for him when asked about the player’s view.
“I don’t know if his words were misconstrued,” Boggs said in a telephone interview Friday. “I think he was more saying if the Players Association didn’t want the players to play he would follow what their wishes were. He hasn’t said anything lately on the subject and I don’t think he wants to expand what he has to say.”
The union, meanwhile, has no immediate plans to precipitate player action.
“At the time the law was passed, a number of players spoke out and we issued a statement,” Weiner said in a telephone interview. “The matter is in the courts now and like everybody else we’re waiting for the courts.”
A federal judge in Arizona ruled key provisions of the law unconstitutional last July, and it has not taken effect.
“We haven’t discussed it one way or another at this stage,” Weiner said.
“There were some players who came out publicly saying they were against the law and some suggested they would have to think long and hard about playing in the game, but that was before the law went into effect.”
Because the law isn’t in effect and may never be, players are expected to play in the All-Star game.
By the time the Civil Rights game was over, the commissioner had left the park and was not available for reporters to ask him about Santana’s comments. Pat Courtney, Selig’s spokesman, said the commissioner has not commented on them. However, another baseball official said Selig was not bothered by what Santana said.
“It’s America,” the official said, characterizing Selig’s view. “He’s entitled to say what he wants.”
Selig most likely thinks Rose can say whatever he wants, even if much of what he says is nonsense. In 1999, however, Rose’s appearance before Game 2 of the World Series as a member of the all-century team, as voted by the fans, ignited a storm of pressure from Rose fans for Selig to reinstate him.
Rose was banned for life in 1989 by then commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti for gambling. Under agreement with Rose’s lawyers, Giamatti made no finding in his official ruling that Rose had bet on baseball games but declared publicly that he believed he had.
Rose has applied for reinstatement, but Selig has ignored his requests. There have been reports over the years that Selig was considering, even leaning toward reinstatement, especially after that 1999 outpouring of support for Rose, but those reports were exaggerated, if not downright wrong.
Interestingly, Rose made a public appearance in Cincinnati recently, appearing as the keynote speaker at a dinner of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center.
Still loved in his town, Rose said he continues to wait for baseball to act on his reinstatement request and doesn’t understand why he hasn’t received a second chance. He told the audience that he thought he deserved a second chance after acknowledging that he bet on baseball.
What Rose always conveniently ignores, however, is that he lied about betting on baseball for 15 years, sticking to his denials until he published a book in 2004.
And when he finally admitted in the book that he did bet on Reds’ games and others when he managed the Reds, he lied when he wrote that he never placed bets from his office. Baseball’s investigation by the Washington lawyer John Dowd clearly traced a pattern of calls from Rose’s office at Riverfront Stadium to known bookies, whether or not he made the calls himself.
At the recent dinner Rose whined that people in other professions – singers who run red lights, for example – and baseball players who “take drugs” or “beat up their wives” or “drink a lot of alcohol” get second chances. But, he said, “Baseball isn’t good for second chances – not for gamblers.”
And not for someone who violates baseball’s most sacred rule and then lies about it for 15 years. Rose had 15 years of chances and squandered them all, year after year until he ran out of years.
Santana at least is speaking out not for himself but for others who don’t have a voice.
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CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING OFFENSE
On two consecutive days last week, the scoreboard showed two 1-0 games each day. On another day a few days earlier, another pair of 1-0 games appeared on the scoreboard. Six 1-0 outcomes in a six-day span, which completed the first 50 days of the season.
In all, there were 14 1-0 games in the first 50 days. The equivalent period last season produced 8 1-0 games. The increase this season is startling, especially when put in context with offensive production over-all.
These are the comparable numbers for the first 50 days of last season and this:
| 2010 | 2011 | |
| Games | 650 | 665 |
| Runs/game | 9.03 | 8.32 |
| HR/game | 1.88 | 1.74 |
| B.A. | .258 | .250 |
| E.R.A. | 4.24 | 3.79 |
Why is this happening? Are hitters still feeling the effects of the loss of steroids? Have those players who were using human growth hormone stopped their injections because they were afraid baseball would start using blood tests to detect HGH? Has the absence of amphetamines had that great an impact?
I could be naïve about these things, but I don’t think it’s the absence of drugs. If there were going to be an effect of the disappearance of performance-enhancing drugs, I think that has already been seen.
I’m going to suggest that the primary reason for the rise of pitching and decline of hitting is the cyclical nature of the game that baseball people talk about. It’s just that the pitching half of the cycle took a long time getting here.
Look at some of the new or newer names appearing in lineups and on mounds.
Look first at the American League pitching leaders. Are the names Zach Britton, Michael Pineda, Alexi Ogando and Jeremy Hellickson familiar? The first three are among the top eight A.L. pitchers in earned run average: Britton, Orioles, 5-2, 2.14; Pineda, Mariners, 4-2, 2.45; Ogando, Rangers, 4-0, 2.13.
Britton and Pineda are rookies. Ogando is in his second year but first as a starter. Jeremy Hellickson of Tampa Bay is a rookie with a 4-2 record and 3.18 e.r.a.
Jhoulys Chacin is not quite a rookie, but he isn’t a household name either. What he is, with his 5-2 record and 2.70 e.r.a., is relief for the Rockies, who are hurting with the poor start of Ubaldo Jimenez (0-3, 6.14), their returning 19-game winner.
In other words, there are good young pitchers new to the scene who are fueling a pitching cycle whose appearance is long overdue.
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LIGHT-HITTING CRAWFORD CONTRIBUTES
In signing Carl Crawford to a 7-year, $142 million contract last December, the Red Sox executed one of the biggest surprises of the off-season. Not that it was a surprise that the Red Sox signed the outfielder but the contract they gave him.
Nearly two months into the season, Crawford is hitting a puny .212, not much of a return for their money. Or is it?
While Crawford has struggled to reach his .296 career average and the above-.300 average he attained in five of the previous six seasons, he has been responsible for three of the Red Sox 13 victories this month.
On May 1 Crawford singled home a run with two out in the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory over the Mariners.
On May 9 Crawford rapped a one-out double in the 11th inning for a 2-1 triumph over the Twins.
On May 19 Crawford beat the Tigers, 4-3, with a one-out single in the ninth.
From the first of Crawford’s game-winning hit through his third, the Red Sox had a 12-5 record and jumped from fifth place, five games from first to third place, one and a half out.
Seems like money well spent.
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NECESSARY CHANGE OF PLANS
Just about a week ago I asked Dayton Moore, the Kansas City general manager, about his plans for two impressive minor league pitchers, 22-year-old left-handers Danny Duffy and Mike Montgomery, who were at Class AAA Omaha of the Pacific Coast League.
“Montgomery and Duffy figure to stay in Triple A,” Moore said. “We want to give them more experience there. With pitchers, if you think they’re ready, give them another month. We don’t like to send pitchers down. Pitchers are different than hitters. Pitchers are more fragile. You want to make sure these pitchers are ready.”
Two days later the Indians battered Vin Mazzaro for 14 runs in two and a third innings. The next day the Royals recalled Duffy and scheduled him to start against Texas Wednesday night.
Duffy had a 3-1 record, a 3.00 e.r.a. and 43 strikeouts in 36 innings for Omaha. Montgomery had a 2-1 record and 4.25 e.r.a.
Duffy was not sharp against the Rangers, using 94 pitches (54 strikes, 40 balls) to get through four innings, in which he gave up two runs and four hits, walking six and striking out four.
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CRANE SEEMS SAFE TO LIFT ASTROS
On the surface it would seem that Jim Crane, a wealthy Houston businessman, might have trouble gaining approval from Commissioner Bud Selig and club owners for his purchase of the Houston Astros. 
Crane and his freight company underwent a lengthy investigation by the United States Equal Employment Opportunities Commission over alleged discrimination in its hiring practices.
Crane has denied any wrongdoing, but he reached a $9 million settlement with the commission as a result of the investigation.
Selig has placed great emphasis on minority hiring and would normally be wary of approving someone with a questionable background.
Selig, however, is unlikely to interfere with Drayton McLane Jr.’s sale of the Astros to Crane. For one thing, Selig is close to McLane, and this might be McLane’s best shot at selling the Astros. For another, if Selig were going to react negatively, he has had plenty of time to discourage McLane from selling to Crane.
This is not the first time that Crane has tried to buy the Astros. In fact, Crane’s standing with Selig and other owners was damaged a couple of years ago when a proposed deal between McLane and Crane fell through. That incident was believed to have undermined Crane’s effort to buy the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.
Now, however, Crane should be in good shape in buying the Astros despite the discrimination investigation and settlement.