The 2017 World Series wasn’t played on a level playing field. As such, it shouldn’t count. There is only one equitable remedy: the 2017 championship should be vacated, and the players involved should be suspended.
At the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Honolulu last June, I took a break from the seminars and made a site visit with my 12-year old son and two conference staffers. We visited the burial place of Alexander Cartwright. Cartwright, who had moved to Hawai’i in the 1840s, was a member of the original Knickerbockers–the team that helped develop baseball on the Elysian Fields of Hoboken, NJ.
Courtesy: RIPBaseball
We placed a baseball and a cap emblazoned with ‘USCM’ and MLB’s Play Ball logo on Cartright’s headstone. Then we paused to pay respects to one of baseball’s pioneers. I posted a picture of our honoring Cartwright’s memory with the words: “I can’t imagine a world without baseball, and I don’t want to live in a world without baseball.”
Baseball, you see, is important to me personally. It’s important to my son and family, too. It’s vital to my community and the country as a whole. As cultural critic Gerald Early noted in Ken Burns’ documentary on the sport, there are three things for which American civilization will be remembered–and one of them is baseball.
Such is the meaning and importance of our National Pastime, which I take very seriously.
Play Ball, in which my city has participated in for several years, is MLB’s initiative “to encourage participation in all forms of baseball among all ages, with a special focus on youth.” My son, Vin, was named for legendary Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully, who is a role model in every sense of the word. Vin is about to embark upon his 8th season playing in the Beverly Hills Little League.
Vin and I love baseball. And our love of the game is personal, not theoretical. I’m reminded of that love when I think about how (as a Dodger fan), I witnessed the Houston Astros celebrate at Dodger Stadium after Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. As it turns out, there probably shouldn’t have been a Game 7.
And I think about how the game is being taught to my son. The Beverly Hills Little League teaches its volunteer coaches to respect the game. I repeat: TO RESPECT THE GAME!
I believe in that philosophy completely! I’ve always taught my son to respect, honor, and love the game. I’ve shared stories of my youth, including how I played on a team called the ‘Vienna Mercies’ when I lived in Europe (because I missed the game so much).
I’ve taught my son about the importance of continuity in baseball. Baseball is something passed on from generation to generation. One day, God willing, my son will pass on baseball stories to his children–and not just the ‘happy’ stories.
Courtesy: Encylopedia Britannica
Vin knows about the Black Sox and knows that players were banned from baseball for life. He knows why, too. Vin knows about Pete Rose, who was banished from baseball for life for betting on baseball games.
Vin also knows that the Houston Astros dishonored and disrespected the game by cheating. He knows that a team won a World Series–the most coveted championship in sports–through fraud. He knows their players wear World Series rings that weren’t earned through fair play.
Given all of this, it seems to me that the Play Ball initiative needs to expand its efforts–not just to encourage young people to play the game, but also to teach young people about how the game NEEDS to be played.
MLB must set an example for all who play ball, especially children. The concept of playing by the rules–of fair play–is an undervalued commodity these days. Life may not be fair, but we can try to make it so. Life may not be fair, but baseball can and should be.
The 2017 World Series was NOT played on a level playing field. As such, it shouldn’t count. It can’t count! There is only one equitable remedy: the 2017 championship should be vacated, and the players involved should be suspended.
Former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti’s comments on the Pete Rose betting scandal are relevant here: “Let no one think it did not hurt baseball. That hurt will pass, however, as the greater glory of the game asserts itself, and a resilient institution goes forward. Let it also be clear that no individual is superior to the game.”
Current MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to have forgotten those words. He seems to have forgotten the Black Sox scandal, which led to the appointment of baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the lifetime ban for players, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who was likely more naïve than venal.
The current sign-stealing scandal was by all accounts “player-driven,” and yet there haven’t been any–and likely won’t be any–player sanctions. This lack of accountability makes it look like the current commissioner is protecting those most culpable for illegal sign-stealing.
A century ago, the Black Sox cheated to lose a World Series. In our time, the Astros cheated to win a World Series.
MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred (CBSSports.com)
The unmistakable message is simple: it’s ok to cheat if you win. You get to keep your trophies and rings–even if you cheated. If so, how can any child on any playground ever again say with a straight face: “Cheaters never prosper?” They do! At least in MLB, they do.
By not vacating the championship–and by not disciplining the players responsible for cheating–Commissioner Manfred ignores the very principles behind the Play Ball initiative. In doing so, MLB’s non-remedy of the cheating scandal disrespects and dishonors the game.
MLB may have forbidden other teams from commenting on the scandal and MLB’s lax penalties. MLB may have muzzled Dodger President (and Beverly Hills resident), Stan Kasten. But MLB can’t and won’t prevent the rest of us–those of us who love the game with every fiber of our being–from speaking out in defense of one of America’s precious national institutions.
At the next meeting of the Beverly Hills City Council, I hope to get my Council colleagues to sign a resolution urging MLB to respect the game and to do the right thing. I think we owe it to our kids and communities to urge MLB to address the cheating scandal adequately.
I fear that MLB may be more motivated by the love of money than by the love of the game. That is why the stand I propose taking is so important.
Respect the game! To do that, vacate the ill-gotten World Series title. Let the gaping void serve as a reminder of what happens when we fail to do so.
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In 2009, John Mirisch was elected to the Beverly Hills, California City Council. He is currently serving his third term as mayor.
