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 What Happened to Class?

                                                                                                                Mike DiPatri          04/28/05

Baseball was the class among professional sports. It was always the friendly  game.  The objective was not to physically overpower the other guy and hurt him; rather it was to play better than the other guy.  Remember when it was pure talent displayed on the baseball field?     Has it all just gone down the toilet?

This is not just about the steroid thing, which has changed that pure talent .  Players are now cheating to get the advantage.  Rather, it's about sportsmanlike behavior.  This past week's fiasco between  the Red Sox and Devil Rays is just one example. These episodes are       getting to be a regular thing.  Does anybody else think it's interesting that the Red Sox seem to be involved in all the game time        altercations?  There seems to be a pattern here.   Just  this  year, there have been such episodes involving the Red Sox.   There was        the Red Sox fan that reached out and hit Gary Sheffield as he was fielding a fair ball.  Then came the two-fight game between the Red Sox and Devil Rays.   Last year, Jason Varitek hit A-Rod in the face after the Red Sox pitcher hit A-Rod. In game four of the 2003 ALCS, Pedro      intentionally hit a Yankees batter. Then he let the Yankees bench know that he would hit them too. The next inning a pitch over the        middle of the plate angered Manny Ramirez and he charged the mound, triggering a bench-clearing brawl. Later in that game, a FenwayPark employee went into the Yankees bullpen and started a fight with the pitchers there. Do they all want to be prizefighters?

This year,  it has gone even farther. Following the TampaBay brawl, Curt Schilling launched barbs at Devil Rays' manager Lou Pinella,     calling him an idiot. He also made the comment that Pinella has forgotten how the game is played.  Pinella has forgotten is more        about the game of baseball than Schilling will ever know regardless of how long he plays. Pinella has been involved with Major League Baseball longer than Schilling ever will. This behavior is really out of character for Schilling as he has long been thegood guy in the league.

Baseball already has enough problems with steroids and runaway salaries requiringall that revenue sharing. Then there's that steroid thing that the players have brought on themselves.  They don't need to add to these problems by behaving like some kind of monsters on and off the field. Particularly, the Red Sox players need to understand that  they are baseball players just like all others. Just because they   won the World Series last year does not mean they are above the rest. This is a brand new season.

Baseball really needs to clean up.  Everyone knows that. This is something the players can do from within. It will require a return to a     time when the game was a classy endeavor.  First, the players need to make the drug policy work. Then they need to behave like baseball   players instead of street brawlers.