According to Jack Curry in The New York Times, it appears unlikely that Alex Rodriguez will play in the WBC after all. This is getting silly; either yer in or out. Rodriguez’s coy deliberation has become a bore. Let’s move on.

Just a quick time out here to honor today’s holiday. Last week, Taylor Branch’s third, and final installment of his ambitious Martin Luther King, Jr biography was released. “At Canaan’s Edge” follows the highly acclaimed “Parting of the Waters” and “Pillar of Fire” to make up probably the most comprehensive study of King’s life to date (“Bearing the Cross” by David Garrow is another excellent study of MLK too). Branch is an outstanding writer and I’m sure his new book is fascinating.

Here is an excerpt of King’s celebrated “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” dated April 16, 1963.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant ‘Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

So I’m at the supermarket yesterday when I see a mother talking to her son, who must have been all of five years old. She’s pushing their shopping cart and he’s hanging off the end of it, and I hear her telling me, “G-elt, not Guilt. They’re different. Guilt your born with, gelt is something you are given.” (For those who don’t know, gelt is the Yiddish word for money.)

I started chuckling to myself as she continued.

“Guilt is something mommy feels when she doesn’t get you a present that you want. Gelt is what mommy uses to buy you that present.”

Now, I started laughing. The mother made eye contact with me and I said, “Now, I like that.”

“Ah, the life lessons we’ve got to teach every day.”

As they turned the corner to the next isle I heard her kid say, “I like that, I like that.”

There is a piece in the Times today about the continuing popularity of the Strat-O-Matic baseball board game. I never played it as a kid. I have a vague memory of maybe having it once, or possibly I saw it at a friends house, but it never interested me. Too many numbers, too much abstraction. I was a much more tactile kid. Dungeons and Dragons never appealed to me either–it required a leap of faith, of imagination that was too remote for me to identify with.

I was usually playing baseball instead–hard ball with a team or whiffle ball in the back yard. If I played any baseball games they were usually on the computer. My brother and I used to go at it on the Commodore 64, and I remember buying Intellivision from a classmate when I was in junior high just so we could play the sports games. I used to keep boxscores of these games–not long ago I was leafing through an old Roger Angell book and found a boxscore I had kept around 1984-85, the Mets (my brother) vs. the Angels (me, cause of Reggie)–but that was about as far into the numbers as I went. Still, I now know a lot of baseball heads who were ardent Strat-O-Matic fans. Were you one of them?

One of the most compelling aspects of baseball is the balance it requires of its participants–players, managers, owners, and fans alike. For the past couple of years, I keep thinking about Greg Maddux and his philosophy of throwing softer rather than harder when he’s in a tight spot. Back in August of 2004, Mark Prior told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci:

“He’s helped me tremendously,” Prior says. “I’ve always gone harder whenever I’m in trouble. He’s got me thinking, Go softer when I’m in trouble. I never thought that way before, and it’s helped me develop confidence in my changeup.”

In an earlier profile (August of 1995), Maddux told Verducci of a game in 1988 against the Cardinals, when he was still pitching for the Cubbies. Maddux lost in the 11th inning when Luis Alicea hit a fastball for a seeing-eye single with the bases loaded.

“I pitched 10 scoreless innings and lost because I was afraid to throw a changeup,” he says.

“Now,” says [then Giants pitching coach, Dick] Pole, “if he gets a full count on you with the bases loaded, he’ll throw a changeup. That s.o.b doesn’t even care about walking in the tying run.”

I love the idea of doing something that seems instinctively wrong, counter-intuitive, but at the same time makes all the sense in the world. After all, how many times do we see a flame-throwing reliever over-throwing when he’s in a jam late in the game? In this case, going with a softer pitch like a changeup, shows a greater sense of confidence and strength than going with a power pitch.

I was reminded of this recently when I read Peter Guralnick’s outstanding book on Southern Rhythm and Blues music, “Sweet Soul Music”. Willie Mitchell, who was responsible for producing most of Al Green’s major records, is like the Maddux of music. Mitchell’s wonderfully full and warm production style helped make Green a star; moreover, he knew how to harness Green’s talents (like many soul singers, Green had strong gospel roots). Mitchell tells Guralnick:

“Well, you see, after we had done ‘Tired of Being Alone’ and ‘I Can’t Get Next to You,’ I said, ‘Al, look, we got to soften you up some.’ I said, ‘You got to whisper. You got to cut the lighter music. the melody has got to be good. You got to sing it soft. If we can get the dynamic bottom on it and make some sense with pretty changes, then we gonna be there.’ He said, ‘Man, I can’t sing that way. That’s too soft. That ain’t gonna sound like no man singing.’ We had the damnedest fights, but I think ‘Let’s Stay Together’ really sold him that I had the right direction for him musically, ’cause, see, all the things I told him turned out to be true. Like ‘Let’s Stay Together’ he didn’t like at all, but when we put it out, it was gold in two weeks. So we softened and softened and softened.”

…Willie Mitchell and Al Green would soon take soul music–real, unabashed, wholehearted soul music–to quiet, luxuriantly appointed places it had never been before.

A terrific example of what Mitchell describes can be found on Green’s “I’m Still in Love with You,” the album that also features “Love and Happiness” and “I’m Glad You’re Mine.” The last cut on the first side is called “Simply Beautiful,” and the song has a special feel to it that is hard to describe. Intimate is the best word I can come up with. Anyhow, a record producer friend of mine explained to me a few years ago that the unique quality of the record was achieved by Mitchell turning up the recording levels on all of the microphones in the studio, and then getting Green and the musicians to play as softly as possible. Softer than soft. The results are subtle but powerful. It’s like Green is right in your ear–and it is a devastatingly emotional love song.

In the black-and-white world we currently live in, where being “hard” is virile, powerful, masculine, and being “soft” is nothing short of an insult, it’s great to remember than vulnerability is often the greatest sign of strength, the most powerful tool, no matter what art form you are talking about.

Goose Gossage was understandably upset that he wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday. He told Jack Curry in The New York Times:

“Right now, I don’t think I’ll ever get in,” Gossage said. “Why would I feel good about this? Because Sutter got in, that’s supposed to help me? Let me tell you, I don’t have to take a back seat to anybody.”

…”I was a pioneer in how the bullpen is used today,” Gossage said. “I did the work it takes three guys to do today. Don’t compare what Mariano does today to what I did. It’s two different positions.”

Regardless of how he’s currently feeling, I say Gossage will eventually make it. But he isn’t alone in his criticism of the results. Joe Sheehan ran some telling numbers in his column the other day proving that Gossage was a better pitcher than Sutter. His conclusion?

Gossage had Sutter’s career and another ten seasons of work…There is absolutely no rational argument for having Bruce Sutter on a ballot, but not having Rich Gossage on it as well. You can vote for Gossage alone, you can vote for both or neither, but all ballots that list Sutter and not Gossage are fundamentally flawed, and reflect a lack of understanding of what the two pitchers accomplished in their careers.

Rob Neyer adds:

The voters certainly can’t be supporting Sutter because of his value; if they were voting for value, they would have Gossage ahead of Sutter, because Gossage so obviously was more valuable than Sutter. They must be voting for Sutter as a “pioneer” — a pioneer of the split-fingered fastball (even though he didn’t invent the pitch) and a pioneer of the save situation (even though he was just following orders). Voting for Sutter but not voting for Gossage is simply an irrational act. Nothing personal; I act irrationally at least a couple of times a year, so I can’t exactly hold that against my esteemed colleagues.

Meanwhile, Bruce Sutter was overcome when he learned that he was headed for Cooperstown:

“It’s been 18 years since I threw my last ball,” Sutter said in a conference call. “I didn’t think it would affect me as it did. When I got the call and was told I was in, I gave a ‘thumbs-up’ to my wife and sons and then I broke down and cried.

(more…)

Or something to that effect is what we’re currently experiencing in New York, which is uncommonly warm at the moment. Last night, I could swear that I was smelling those first signs of spring through the chilly air. Then I had to remind myself, “Dude, we’ve still got plenty of Old Man Winter ahead of us, relax yourself Chester.” Still, pitchers and catchers will report before long, won’t they? In fact, there was an encouraging photograph in the Daily News today–that of David Wright taking batting practice at a Mets mini-camp clinic down in Florida. I hope that Wright becomes to the Mets what Derek Jeter has been for the Yankees–not just the leader of the team, but a guy who has bonafide and sincere passion for the game (right now Wright’s youthfulness, talent, and disposition suggests that good things may be in store for the Mets).

But the hubub of the day will come later this afternoon when the Hall of Fame announces if they’ll be electing any new members this year. It appears likely that nobody will make it, though Bruce Sutter and Jim Rice may be close–while Bert Blyeleven and Goose Gossage are entirely deserving. The Hall of Fame is an endless source of kibbitzing for baseball fans. What do you guys think? Anyone get in today? And if so, who’ll it be?

While all remains quiet in Yankeeland (with the exception of the Alex Rodriguez-WBC affair, which Bob Klapisch updates today), the biggest story in the AL East during the past several weeks has been whether or not the Orioles and Red Sox will swap Manny Ramirez for Miguel Tejada. At it stands this morning, Tejada has rescinded his trade demand (Ramirez has been doing the cha-cha around his desire to be in Boston all winter long). Which is not to say that things won’t change again–the latest gossip had Tejada going to the Phillies for Bobby Abreu, but for the moment, it doesn’t look as if Tejada will replace Manny as David Ortiz’s partner in destruction next season. Which is just fine by me.

I’ve rooted for Tejada for about five years now, ever since I read “Away Games,” really. If he went to Boston, my ability to pull for him would be seriously compromised (which is funny because he plays for a division rival now in Baltimore, but it just ain’t the same, is it?). For now, he’s a-stayin.’ Next week, it could change again, right?

Miguel Cairo is officially back in the Bronx. But our pal Steve Goldman warns that while Cairo had a nice season for the Bombers in 2004, he isn’t necessarily the best available cherce out there:

Cairo’s .292 average in 2004 was worth just two wins over replacement. That’s not much. Nor is it evidence that playing for the Yankees makes him better, or that he can “hack it in the Bronx.” Since he crashed with the Mets, is that proof that he can make it in the Bronx but Queens is too much for him? In fact, Queens represented nothing but a return to form. Batting average fluctuates — sometimes more hits fall in than others. Since hitting for average (or a semblance thereof) is all Cairo can do, he’s going to have swings to the negative extreme of his abilities (.245, Cardinals, 2003), the positive extreme (.292, Yankees, 2004), and back again (.251, Mets, 2005). I don’t know where Cairo’s average will land this year, but looking at his career as a whole, he’s far more likely to resemble the Mets version of himself.

Ah, fer the good old days of Chicken Stanley.

Hey, I forgot to tell you what happened to me at the barber shop last weekend. So I’ve been meaning to get my hair cut for more than a minute now, and as some of you know, even though I live in the Bronx, I still troop out to Brooklyn to see my old barber, Efrain Torres. I got up the energy last Saturday morning and made it to Brooklyn just after noon. The shop is run by a father and son (Ray and Macho) and my guy has a chair there too. A new woman has set up shop in the back to do stylings for the ladies, and she was all of a piece: her hair was colored dark-red/purple, and she wore about four different shades of maroon, including black slacks with red roses patterned up and down the legs.

Well, everyone was in high spirits what with New Year’s Eve being that night and all. They had some bottles of booze ready to go for later on and were already dipping into the danish cookies that were laid out. The radio was playing old salsa tunes from the 1950’s and ’60s. A trio of beefy kids around my age–early-to-mid-thirties–were hanging around waiting to get their heads cut. They were old friends of Macho’s and everyone was gas-bagging back-and-forth (they ordered Cuban sandwichs for lunch, and one of the guys, just along for the ride, made himself useful by sweeping up periodically). You know how conversation flows in the company of men. You go from rapid bursts of commentary–and in a barber shop, a good deal of bragging and boasting–to dead silence and back again.

As I was waiting my turn, I leafed through a magazine. Conversation had ceased, and everyone was either busy working or lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, without really being aware of why, I put my magazine down and really started listening to a guitar solo on the radio that had been cooking for at least 30 seconds already. The music snapped up my attention without me being completely aware of it. The room seemed especially still, and not a moment later, Ray says, “Damn, this guy can play.” Quickly, everyone else agreed, appreciating the fine musicianship. “Yo, this dude is ill.” The rush of words from everyone was a real release. It was a small, but beautiful moment, a real guy thing. A group of guys coming together–not even consciously–by a piece of music, admiring it in silence, then breaking the tension, and clammoring about how great it was. Man, the power of music is just incredible isn’t it?

Murray Chass characterizes the Yankees as the designated “Ugly Americans” when it comes to the upcoming WBC games. In the end, more Yankees will probably participate than originally expected–Alex Rodriguez will be there when all is said and done. Still, if it were up to me, I’d be the ugliest of ’em all, and keep all the Yankees from participating, Scrooge that I am. I recognize there is a lot of National pride invovled for the players. But man, how upset will we be if one of the Bombers–or anyone else for that matter–screws up his season with an injury that stems from these games?

Happy New Year, folks.

So, will the Yanks make any other significant moves before the ’06 season begins? Will they trade Carl Pavano? It seems like they are pretty well set. What do you think they might do and what do you think they should do–if anything?

Nerd Alert

Taking a holiday interlude from all things baseball for a minute, I was noodling around with the idea of top Five lists and came up with a bunch to share with you, just cause, well, I like to stimulate conversation, what can I say?

Five Great Stones Songs to Crank:

1. “Monkey Man” Scorsese was so cool to use it in “Good Fellas”
2. “Midnight Rambler”
3. “Stray Cat Blues”
4. “Doo, doo (Heatbreaker)” Organ riff is stupendous.
5. “Rocks Off” “The sunshine bores the daylights outta me…” Great moment.

“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?” is pretty damn slammin’ too. I especially like the first three minutes.

Five Fun End Title Movie Sequences:

1. “Diner” Could listen to those dicks yenta-it-up all day…
2. “Liar, Liar” Carey is hilarious but Swoozie Kurtz gets the biggest laugh. To his credit, Carey is a good sport about it too.
3. “Cannonball Run” Classic, Burt and Dom schtick.
4. “Grumpy Old Men” Burgess Meredith steals the show with his “blue” material.
5. “Married to the Mob” At the very tail of the credits is a small scene, an epilogue of sorts, between Mathew Modine and Michelle Pfieffer. They dance together along the steps of a courthouse or a museum to a latin tune. She slowly moves backwards and he inches closer. Just as he gets to her, she backs into the handrailing, and quickly tumbles backwards. He lurches forward to grab her and just as he grabs her, she’s far back enough to smack her head and…freeze. They freeze the frame. And you’re just like, damn, no way that fall wasn’t going to hurt. But Pfieffer totally gave herself to the scene. Got to give her credit. Onions!

Five Great New York Movies (’70s, ’80s Edition)

1. “Dog Day Afternoon” Is Brooklyn in the house?
2. “Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3” Every pastrami-on-rye-character actor in New York is in this movie. With Mathau in the lead, how can you go wrong?
3. “Tootsie” Not really thought of a New Yorkk movie but was in every way. Murray is a monster in the supporting role. It’s my favorite Dustin Hoffman performance.
4. “Annie Hall” Classic Woody, filmed all over the city.
5. “Moscow on the Hudson” One of Robin Williams’ best, from uptown to the lower east side, this is an over-looked New York flick.

Five Great Baseball References in non-Baseball Movies

1. “The Odd Couple” Oscar misses a triple play because Felix gets him on the phone asking some old wifey questions.
2. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Nicholson narrating Koufax pitching against the Yanks in the 1963 World Serious.
3. “Woman of the Year” Tracy takes Hepburn to a baseball game. Her interactiion with the fan sitting behind her is the highlight of the sequence.
4. “The Cameraman” Buster Keaton’s first movie for MGM. Keaton plays a cameraman who goes to Yankee Stadium one afternoon only to find that the team is out of town. So Keaton plays and imaginary game of baseball–pitcher to the hitter–and ends up swinging and circling the bases. It must have been filmed in 1927, and the footage looks great.
5. “In the Bedroom” I haven’t seen the whole movie, but I did see a sequence toward the end of the film where the father of the dead boy captures the boy’s killer, and is driving him in a car to a place where he plans to kill him. And as they drive there is a Red Sox game playign on the radio. They let the radio call go on and it adds a good deal of subtle–even comic–distraction to tension at hand.

Honorable Mention:

“Ferris Bueller” The classic chant. I was never really down with that chant, but it caught most everybody’s imagination for a minute there.

“Mystic River” Opening scene, dudes talking about Tiant and the Sox.

“The Bad Lieutenant” New York city sports radio talk show legend Chris Mad Dog Russo is the voice over during the opening credits and sports gambling–during a fictitious Mets season—plays a part throughout the movie. The Russo rant at the begining is a classic.

Five Great Jeff Bridges Movies

1. “The Last American Hero” The Junior Johnson story.
2. “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” Clint Eastwood buddy picture.
3. “Tucker” Failed Coppola epic.
4. “Cutter’s Way” Cult California art house movie, early 80s.
5. “American Heart” Gritty, disturbing drama with Edward Furlong.

Five Best Movies I Last Saw in the Theater

1. “The Squid and the Whale”
2. “Syriana”
3. “Good night, and Good Luck.”
4. “A History of Violence”
5. “Batman Begins”

I don’t know that any of them were great necessarily, but it just so happens that the last five movies that I’ve seen in the theater have all been worth the price of admission to me. They all had something going for them, enough for me to say they were worth the dough. And what more can you say?

The Yankees have signed utility infielder Miguel Cairo and relief pitcher Octavio Dotel to one-year deals.

According to Anthony McCarron in The Daily News, the Yankees worked the phones in order to land Dotel:

A deluge of calls may have been most effective in landing a lesser name – reliever Octavio Dotel. The Yankees, who reached an agreement with Dotel on a one-year deal worth $2.25 million last week, announced the contract yesterday, giving them what they hope is a second power arm along with Kyle Farnsworth to set up for Mariano Rivera.

There was a lot of competition for Dotel, so GM Brian Cashman said calls from first base coach Tony Pena, Torre and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson were exceptionally meaningful. “We had more people talk to him than anybody, to be honest, and it may have taken all of that because the competition on the player was so heavy and I had to drag my price up, too,” Cashman said.

Dotel is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bombers hope he will be a critical part of their bullpen come the second half of the season.

Lo and behold, there is a positive story about Alex Rodriguez in a New York paper this morning.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes:

He is a winner in nearly all the ways our society keeps score, notably in the areas of incredible riches and talent.  Nevertherless, he often feels as if he cannot win.  So his answers during a half-hour call are, as usual, long and full of insight.

…But almost all come with disclaimers that he is responding to questions because they have been asked…At this point, A-Rod recognizes his sincerity and motives are challenged enough that there is no such thing as a simple answer to a simple question.

Rodriguez is enthusiastic about the arrival of Johnny Damon.  “He fits our team like a glove.”  Furthermore, Sherman writes:

There is nothing cosmetic about A-Rod’s zeal during the conversation.  The AL MVP loves baseball.  Trust me, most players have no idea what transactions their own team have made.  Rodriguez is not only aware of every move of every club, but is able to contextualize it better than most GMs I speak to.  In some ways, A-Rod has the soul of nerd fantasy-league player.

It is interesting how loathed Rodriguez is for being “insincere.”  There is something intense going on with him–more than just his contract–that grates on people’s nerves.  For someone who can make the game look effortless in spite of all his hustle, perhaps fans are offended by how hard Rodriguez seems to try and do or say the right thing.  His game appears flawless but off-the-field, he comes across as hopeless at times, and many, sensing a chink in the armor, are ready to pounce.  Fans generally tolerate a star who is offensive or egotistical like Reggie Jackson (or a straight-up ditz like Manny Ramirez) because they are perceived to be honest.  Like them or not, they are accepted, sometimes embraced. 

Maybe all Rodriguez has to do is last: remain healthy and continue to play into his late thirties (being part of a championship team would certainly help) before the public at large truly accepts him–at which point he can have his Sally Fields moment.  But it’s odd for a guy who is bright, articulate, self-aware, and an incredibly hard-worker–everything we supposedly want in a player–to be so awkward in a sense.   Anyhow, say what you want about him, but along with Mike Piazza, he’s one of the few star players that you could actually sit down and talk baseball with.  That, in and of itself, is notable.

So, the year is almost over.  Looking back at ’05, what were some of your favorite and least-favorite Yankee moments?

Word has it that the Yankees will ink utility infielder  Miguel Cairo to a one-year deal this week.  Cairo was a popular role player with the Yanks–both in the clubhouse and with the fans.  He may have played over his head in 2004, but he should still be durable and useful off the bench for the Bombers in ’06.   

No, not Godzilla Matsui’s decision not to play in the upcoming WBC games, but the Murray Chass’ characterization of Bernie Williams this morning in an article about Yankee centerfielders:

Williams was the center fielder in the second halves of 1991 and 1992, then took over the position through last season, when he surpassed Mantle to become the Yankee with the most games played in center – 1,828 to 1,745.

Still, as important as longevity and popularity may be, they don’t earn Williams a place in the line of royal succession.

Williams has been a solid player – he hit better than .300 for eight consecutive seasons – and he contributed significantly to the Yankees’ postseason successes. But he was not the Gold Glove outfielder he was voted to be from 1997 to 2000, and he was not a dominant hitter in the American League.

Williams was never a great fielder but he was the Yankees’ best offensive player during their 1996-01 championship run (you could look it up).  Of course, he’s not as great as DiMaggio or Mantle, but he’s a boderline Hall of Fame candidate at worst.  Other than Ken Griffey Jr and Jim Edmonds, who has been a better center fielder than Williams over the last 10-15 years (and yeah, Andruw Jones was a great fielder but he hasn’t even been close to Williams as an offensive player)? 

So, did everybody get what they wanted (anyone score a GI Joe with the Kung-Fu grip)? Or at least one thing that they really wanted? My favorite present is a cookbook, Alfred Portale’s “Simple Pleasures.” But the best gift was being able to enjoy the day with my gal Emily–our fourth holidaze season together–and the rest of my fam, including my two snot-nosed, adorable nephews, Lucas and Eoin. Man, childrens is a beautiful thing.

Hope everyone had a great day, whether you celebrated Christmas or kicked off the eight days of Chanukah.

Following-up on the story I did a few days ago celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Andy Messersmith/Dave McNally/Peter Seitz decision, here is the transcipt of a conversation I had about the topic with the former executive director of the Players Association, Marvin Miller, early last week:

A Chat with Marvin Miller

Bronx Banter: When did you first become aware that Andy Messersmith might be the case you were looking for to challenge the reserve clause?

Marvin Miller: We always kept one eye on newspaper clips about players who had not signed contracts, or so-called ‘hold outs’, and usually follow along to see what would happen. Somewhere during the season, I don’t remember exactly when, I began to have conversations with Andy. Mostly asking where his negotiations with the Dodgers and O’Malley stood. And you know, things happen and his answers weren’t always the same because there’d be developments in their negotiations. I think somewhere around the late part of the season I’d had a rather crucial conversation by telephone. I think he had called me. And because he’s an upfront guy, he called me because he said that O’Malley and the Dodgers had met his salary proposals. And he just wanted me to know that the only thing that stood in the way at the moment was his feeling that he would have liked to have finished his career with the Dodgers and he therefore wanted a no-trade provision that so far the Dodgers refused to give to him. And he was a little disturbed because they were giving him different reasons. Like Busch…he-heh, first it’s weapons of mass destruction, and then it’s connection with Al-Qaeda, and then it’s, ‘Oh, I forgot, it’s not really any of those things. It’s because we wanted Democracy over there.’ Well, he was getting those kind of answers about why they couldn’t give him a no-trade clause.

But he said, you know, negotiations change things and he wanted me to know that if they met all of his proposals including the no trade clause, he would feel honor-bound to sign. And I understood. He had made proposals in good faith and if they were going to meet them, I agreed with them. After that happened I discussed the matter with Richard Moss and we knew that McNally was really in the same category even though he wasn’t playing anymore. He had left the team in the early part of the season because he wasn’t happy with his own pitching, nor was he happy with the Montreal management. So, after discussing it with Rick I decided to call Dave McNally and I did. And I explained the situation to him in some detail. McNally was a bright man and understood things about the union and before I could elucidate on what I was proposing to him he said, ‘OK, you think I ought to be part of this grievance in case Messersmith signs.’ And I said, yeah I do because I think the basis for this is important and since you have decided that you are not going to play anymore anyway, it didn’t matter to you. And he said, ‘Well, if you think I can help, you got it, okay.’ And that’s Dave became part of the Messersmith/McNally grievance.

BB: McNally was your insurance run.

MM: Yes, and we were frank with him and he understood it. He had been a player rep at Baltimore.

BB: With Brooks Robinson?

MM: No, this was before Robinson was a rep, this was in the early days of the Players Association. Early days after I came.

BB: So you were familiar with him when you approached him in this case.

MM: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

BB: What kind of a man was he

MM: I think he was a man of great integrity. Bright. I’m trying to remember the circumstances…he became player rep…he had been, if I remember correctly the alternate player rep. When their second baseman–who was the player rep got traded?

BB: Davey Johnson.

MM: Right. Traded to Atlanta?

BB: Yes.

MM: And that’s how McNally became player rep. And I don’t think he was a player rep for a long time, I’ve forgotten the circumstances of when it was…Andy was, well, Andy was Andy. Andy was a very serious guy. He has a good sense of ethical principles. He called me and wanted me to understand if he did sign it was because he felt honor-bound to do so. I go back a little further with Andy than that. Are you familiar with the Alex Johnson case? Well, Andy was with the Angels at the time that the Johnson case came up, and he was, according to Alex, one of the few players on the Angels at that time that was at all sympathetic with the things he was going through. He said he hadn’t known Messersmith particularly well but Andy went out of this way to talk with him and sympathize with him and discuss the whole thing. So I knew about that too, and I just think he was a great guy.

BB: Though they might be different I can’t help but notice the similarities between Messersmith and a guy like Curt Flood, both thoughtful, sensitive guys.

MM: Right, that’s true.

BB: Okay, before I let you go, I have to get your take on what has transpired in the last year between the Players Association and MLB.

MM: Well, it’s almost like we’re in a different country and a different century from that. The actions, and what’s going on…It’s interesting that you bring up the steroids thing in the same breath as Messersmith/McNally because the approach of the union in each case could not have been more different. The Messersmith/McNally period was one of great principle. And I include Flood in that, and I include Catfish Hunter in that—

BB: And Ted Simmons…

MM: And Ted Simmons, and all of them. I think that there was a greater tendency to understand what the relationship with the owner was.

BB: Is that because the players of that generation never knew anything but the reserve system and were involved in the fight for players rights, where as the modern player has come after the boon, when they don’t know anything but the rights that the previous generation fought for.

MM: It’s an interesting theory and I don’t have any facts on that, but it’s I agree that that’s a possibility. I have said a number of times now that I’m not trying to minimize the problem because it’s a problem that I did not have, but one that Don Fehr has had to wrestle with. Staring a few years back, I forget exactly when, Don has not had a single player in the union who had any major league playing experience before the union. Not one.

BB: Do you remember the last to go?

MM: (laughing) I don’t. But in my time, there was no such thing. Sure there was turnover, there were some that were leaving and rookies coming up all the time, but

BB: There was the consistency. Now, it’s a different generation.

MM: Yes. And I don’t minimize that problem. To have a membership that doesn’t fully understand what the union had meant and does mean. There is a terrible problem.

BB: So you feel real disappointment when you think about the union these days?

MM: I do.

BB: Have you expressed that to Don Fehr?

MM: I have, but I don’t go around lecturing him either. He knows how I feel.