Ozzie Guillen is Bad for Baseball
Guillen’s most recent target is Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti. Mariotti, an outspoken and well-respected journalist, has been critical of Guillen’s offensive behavior both in the dugout and in front of the microphones. In the dugout, Guillen recently tongue-lashed and tormented rookie pitcher Sean Tracey for failing to retaliate against Texas when the odious A.J. Pierzynski (Chicago’s catcher) was struck twice by Rangers pitchers. Tracey was quickly demoted to the minors.
Off the field, Guillen criticized former pitcher Jason Grimsley for cooperating in a federal investigation into baseball’s steroid problem, seemingly advocating a cover-up. “The only thing I can say is that a former player should shut up and go,” Guillen said after Grimsley’s redacted affidavit became public. “Shut up and move on. We don’t need these guys here. Baseball is better without him.”
Some might say the same of Ozzie Guillen.
The statement of the manager of the World Series champions amounts to the promotion of obstruction of justice, a felony offense under federal law. Even the harmless Martha Stewart did time for that. It’s time for Major League Baseball to take a long, hard look at Ozzie and take action against him for his senseless and irresponsible profanity-laced tirades.
“Shoot the [bleep],” was Guillen’s final comment on Jason Grimsley. That’s fine if you’re Tony Soprano referring to Big Pussy squealing to the Feds about this “thing of ours.” But not if you’re a Major League manager, an icon in America’s favorite pastime. Pete Rose is banned from baseball, and he never suggested a former major league player should be whacked.
Most recently, Guillen referred to Jay Mariotti as “a piece of [bleep],” which in and of itself further attests to Guillen’s low character and tasteless vocabulary. But most people have no problem with that. What has set people off is that Guillen made this remark while offering a disingenuous half-hearted apology to the “people I offended” (his air quotes, not mine) for referring to Mariotti as a “fag.”
Gay activists are in an uproar, and they have every right to be. The Chicago White Sox quickly decided not to take any action against Guillen for his insensitive comments, leaving the matter to Bud Selig and Major League Baseball to do the right thing and suspend Guillen at the very least, though perhaps a more appropriate action would’ve been to ban him from baseball.
So did they?
Of course not. Instead, Ozzie Guillen was fined by the commissioner and ordered to attend sensitivity training. “Ozzie Guillen used language that is offensive and completely unacceptable,” Selig said in a statement. “Baseball is a social institution with responsibility to set the appropriate tone and example. Conduct that reflects otherwise will not be tolerated. The use of slurs embarasses the individual, the club and the game.”
Okay, Bud, nice statement. But the penalty itself wholly fails to make a statement.
Former Cincinatti Reds owner Marge Schott was banned from baseball after making derogatory racial remarks. Is Guillen’s remark that much different? If Guillen called an African American reporter the “N word” would baseball take drastic action? Of course it would. Faster than you could say “Jimmy the Greek.” So, why not now?
Is Guillen’s status as an Hispanic protecting him? Probably to an extent. He brought out the nationality card early in this fray. “I’ve been here for twenty years, but people have to know that I grew up in a different country,” Guillen said. “That’s not an excuse. I called the guy that name, but, no, that’s the way I grew up, that’s the way I’ve learned that language.”
Puhhhhlease.
If you are intelligent enough to manage a major league team in the United States, to bring that team a world championship, then you should be intelligent enough to know, after 20 years in this country, that “fag” isn’t an acceptable word in modern American society.
Guillen went on to say that he has nothing against homosexuals, that he in fact watches the WNBA. Need an extra shovel, Ozzie, to dig yourself in a little deeper?
Those touting against steroids and cheaters herald one sentence over and over again: What kind of example are we setting for the children? Well, the manager of the White Sox, the incorrigible and often imbecilic Ozzie Guillen is setting an example of intolerance and hatred. So, Bud Selig, what are you going to do about it?
Answer: Not much.
