I filed a bunch of stories the subsequent day, and in one, I predicted that Bonds would finish his career with 763 homers. Here was what I wrote, in a smarmy, Q&A where I answered my own questions:
Q. Hold on, let's back up. Bonds will finish his career with 763 homers? That's it?
A. Yes. The Giants have all but issued a proclamation that they won't retain Bonds beyond this season despite Bonds' stated desire to stick around. And good luck finding another club so desperate for offense in 2008 that it'll take on Bonds and his massive baggage, alienating commissioner Bud Selig in the process. If such a team emerges, will it be willing to pay Bonds the high salary he'll want? Doubtful. Bonds has averaged about a homer a week since May, so figure he'll pound out eight more homers this season. Hence the 763 figure.
Well, it turns out that I did some overestimating. I guessed one too high on Bonds' career homer total. And I guessed, sort of, that Bonds would receive more than zero contract offers.
In my heart, however, I think I'm right. I think that even if a club had called Bonds and offered to pay him minimum wage, just as Bonds' smart agent Jeff Borris proclaimed in the interest of building a collusion case, Bonds would've told Borris to tell the interested GM to stick that lame offer into some unfortunate location.
In a greater point, on this anniversary day, I think the entire Bonds saga has gone perfectly so far, with one more important hurdle to clear.
To elaborate:
1) I'm thrilled that Bonds is the all-time home run king. After so many worked so hard to look the other way for so long _ with Selig, the owners, the players, the Players Association leadership and the media atop the list of culprits _ we deserve Bonds.
2) I'm pleased that Bonds received his comeuppance this year. I know some of you view this as a malicious conspiracy, and by all means, you're entitled to your opinion. Here's what I think: If Bonds had simply treated people better over the years, his illegal PED use notwithstanding, he'd be back in baseball, regardles of his indictment.
Some team would've risked Selig's wrath this season and given Barry a shot. But I don't think Selig and the owners will ever get nailed for collusion on Bonds' unemployment, because I'm betting there's not a single piece of paper or e-mail to verify it. It went without saying. Bonds was such a bad guy that everyone understood his still-productive bat wouldn't justify having him around.
And now we just need 3) The comeuppance of Jeff Novitzky. As deplorable as Bonds is, it's laughable how much time and resources our government has spent trying to bring him down. Look, illegal PED usage in professional sports is not a good thing, but is it really that bad, in the greater scheme of things? Bonds' biggest penalty should be his exclusion from the Hall of Fame. Not jail time.
This story about Novitzky is fascinating. We're supposed to be saluting Novitzky for ridding pro sports of steroids? I don't think so.
So once Bonds is acquitted next year, we can celebrate the perfect sequence of events. Until then, let's enjoy the baseball season, and the fact that Bonds isn't part of it.
When you add up the injuries to Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, perhaps 2009 will wind up being a sort of "Transition Year Part 2." I think that would be worth it, in order for the Yankees to further phase in their new culture. But then again, I don't live and die with every pitch of every game.
Comments (45)
Ken, you have taken a huge leap forward by mentioning the possibility of 2009 being a Transition Year Part 2. Not sure how that is going to go over. I don't know if fans are going to allow going into another year with this same leap of faith. I think Hughes and Kennedy have to show something. If they don't, fans are going to demand a free agent signing or two.
Agreed completely on Novitzky and I think it will one day happen.
But, I also hope that not only Bonds is kept out of the HOF for all of this but Selig, too. I hope that some smart writer eloquently and effectively makes the case for doing just that and it sticks far and wide.
Would Marvin Miller have handled that MLBPA role any differently than Don Fehr did? Bob, what do you think?
Ken, If Hughes and Kennedy pitch like they did this year in 2009, then everybody including me will call for Cashman's head.
Bonds put himself in this situation. He has no one to blame but himself. He allow all this to happen. Bonds is the true definition of a ME player who only cares about himself, and he turns people off with his attitude.
Novitzky is doing everything in his power to send Bonds to jail. He is willing to take down Bonds at all cost, even if it comes back to haunt Novitzky down the line.
The Mets seem to have trouble against under .500 teams. Ken, why is it that the Mets have trouble against under .500 teams? Watch the Mets today get a great performance out of Santana, but them the Bullpen blows up and lose the game.
The Yanks and Mets are lucky today. Why? Because all the talk will be about Brett Favre coming to the Jets.
Ken, I agree with much of your Bonds analysis. However, it is important to note that Mike Lupica and other high-profile media types do not run baseball; the commissioner and the owners are in charge. Just because a large segment of the sports media unleashed its fury on Bonds this year does not make it acceptable for Selig to put fear into his fellow owners should they offer the guy a contract, after years of slurping up profits from the guy's home-run records chases.
(Jeez Louise, what's wrong with me? How did I get this way? I used to call Bonds every foul name in the book!)
I am no great fan of Mark Cuban. I will say this about the man, though: if he emerges as the principal owner of the Cubs, there would soon be considerably more transparency at these ownership meetings. Badly needed transparency.
JE - Why would there be more transparency at the owner's meetings with Cuban? Simply because he has a big mouth and will blab everything that was said all across the country to anyone who would listen?
...and that's why you and I have a better chance of owning the Cubs than Cuban does, JE.
Jim, as you know, I agree with you 100% on Selig not reaching the HOF. And, as you know, that is not a BBWAA issue. But I will scream my opinion from the mountaintops.
Dennis, fair question on the Mets. They're 29-32 against teams that currently have losing records. It's hard to explain.
And as you know, Dennis, I'm not referring solely to Hughes and Kennedy. I'm referring to "The Plan." That means Melancon, Brackman, Horne, Aceves, Bleich, Cole, etc. The notion that you try to develop 20 pitchers and hope that two stick.
Jim, it has become increasingly difficult to separate Cooperstown's aesthetics from the debate over who is admitted into the HOF versus who is kept waiting.
It is one thing to have spirited discussions about whether Blyleven, Dawson, Morris, Raines, and Rice belong, since we are only debating the worth of statistics, awards, and certain intangibles. The others (Bonds, Selig, Kuhn, Miller, etc.) are more painful because they deal with much larger issues, such as illegal activities and the overall integrity of the sport.
By the way, Ken: MLBTradeRumors.com speculated yesterday that there is a chance that the Mets might yet pick up Delgado's option, since they would only be paying him $8M more than if they cut him loose. (His buyout is a whopping $4M.) How well does Delgado have to do in the next two months for that to happen? Which, of course, then begs the question: are there any big-name 1Bs eligible for free agency after NEXT season? Thanks. (I would have waited until the 11am chat begins to inquire, but I will be heading to JFK then.)
If the current system of electing new members to the HOF is allowed to continue, then I have little doubt Bud S. will be voted in. If they could vote in some of these other guys, it's certain he will be in, too. Sad. The HOF is greatly diminished in my opinion. I like going there and looking over the artifacts, but these non-uniform members are a joke.
I just read a great deal about Walter O'Malley. He certainly was no friend of Jackie Robinson. I won't go into it any more here, but it is ridiculous that he gets any credit for Robinson at all, considering some of his feelings. As far as opening the West to baseball: He did it for MONEY. Nothing wrong with that in our capitalistic system, but for God's sake no one should make it sound like the guy is an equivalent to Louis and Clark and doing it for the greater good of country and countrymen.
I think Delgado has to keep hitting at a cleanup-hitter's level, JE - pretty basic. But I still think they would send out backchannel feelers to Teixeira. He seems too perfect to pass up without even inquiring.
As for the free-agent class of 2009-10, here's the list of first basemen, as per Cot's Baseball Contracts:
Carlos Delgado NYM
Jason Giambi NYY
Ross Gload * KC
Wes Helms FLA
Aubrey Huff BAL
Nick Johnson WAS
Adam LaRoche PIT
Robb Quinlan LAA
Matt Stairs TOR
The answer to your question about Cuban, Jim: YES. The guy just can't shut up. And, unfortunately, Ken is correct: the three of us don't have nearly enough cash to acquire the Cubs! ;-)
Thanks for the free-agent list, Ken. Still, everyone needs to remember that paying big money for Teixeira also means paying an additional $4M to Delgado. Just curious, though: what does the asterisk represent?
A combo of Posada, Shelly Duncan, Jeter and a current minor leaguer is looking pretty good at first base after glancing at that list of potential free agents.
Walter O'Malley DID have a lot to do with the Dodgers signing Jackie Robinson.. He OWNED the team. Rickey's record signing blacks was zero in St Louis and very few in Pittsburgh. I know Robinson and O'Malley weren't close and Robinson resented the Dodgers trading him to the Giants in 1956. But Rickey had a lot of problems with Roy Campanella owning a couple liquor stores. O'Malley loved money too much according to Buzzie Bavasi but he owned first class organizations with good teams, clean ballparks and low ticket prices.
When it is all said and done, the career hits leader Pete Rose, the all-time career home run leader Bond Bonds, and a 7-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens will all be denied entry to the HOF. Rose gamble on baseball and is ban for life. Bonds and Clemens illegally took steriods. These guys put themselves in the situations they are in. Rose, Bonds and Clemens will not get into the HOF while they are still alive.
If the Yanks don't get Teixeira, they need to get a 1st baseman with a glove. The best one on the list that can play defense is Nick Johnson, but he is always hurt. The Yanks need to get a guy who can play 1st base and can field the position.
The asterisk means he has a club option for 2010, JE.
Jim Clark - First of all Walter O'Malley didn't OWN the Dodgers when Robinson was signed. He was a minority owner (25%) of the Dodgers when Robinson signed and played his first few years. He didn't get majority control of the team until 1950 when the majority owner John L. Smith died and O'Malley got Smith's widow to turn over the shares. Before that he was an executive and the chief legal counsel of the team. He didn't have the power you think he did. He certainly couldn't stop Rickey was doing what a GM does. Rickey was the brains behind the Robinson signing. O'Malley hated Rickey and he didn't like Robinson either because he was a Rickey guy and O'Malley thought of him as a prima donna. Rickey was the one who organized the Dodger farm system. Rickey didn't drink while O'Malley heartily enjoyed both drinking and smoking. O'Malley trashed Rickey in the press every chance he got and even opposed Rickey's construction of Dodgertown in Vero Beach, something he took credit for in later decades. YES, he supported breaking the color barrier and he supported Rickey's search for players to do just that, but he couldn't stand Robinson.
Jim:
Marvin would have dared Congress to go after baseball and beaten them over the head with 4th amendment agruments and dragged antitrust into the euation. He would have talked about MLB abrogating drug agreements after the cocaine scandals. he would have had the tests used to determine the 5% threshhold destroyed.
He also would have demanded and received co-operation with Mitchell and outlined all items BEFORE the investigation.
Bob, all reasons why MM should be in the HOF!
Ken, re: the chat: I forgot about Nady in the 2009 outfield! Too many late nights this summer and not enough sleep! The second "Jim" who asked the question about whether TB or Bos. would collapse first wasn't this Jim. I have been waiting for TB to collapse, but now I can't help but think they never will. Maybe they really are better than I ever imagined in my wildest dreams.
Jim...
Tampa Bay has 49 games left......30 are on the road.
We are entering the Dog Days of August.
The time when even the most mature of teams (and especially puppies) become roadkill.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
Jim 30 of their last 49 on the road says TB has a chance to collapse and Kazmir hasn't been pitching well the last month or so.
I'm glad you defended Rickey, for everything I know about him he was a defacto owner of the Dodgers and probably one of the most powerful men in baseball history, not just that time period. He was the mover and shaker in getting Jackie Robinson signed and made it his duty to sign the right guy for that particular role, someone who would be able to deal with every single rotten thing and all the hate that would be poured on him. O'Malley humiliated Robinson and traded him to the Giants and made him quit. O'Malley has been vindicated by being elected tot he HOF this year, nothing he ever did was wrong and he was a great humanitarium and human being, ask anyone :(
I wonder if Bonds was a decent human being if reporters would have went after him or looked the other way as they did with other steroid abusers like Lenny Dykstra, Giambi and sammy Sosa because they were "good guys". My understanding is McGwire wasn't such a good guy before THAT year, so going after him was sort of a retaliation for past offenses.
I-505 you mean I should just sit tight, keep my doubts to myself and I might still be proven right in my initial assessment? Hooray!
Sandy
1. Rickey did have an ownership stake in the team, which O'Malley had to buy out in a messy struggle after he gained majority control in 1950. Rickey ended up with about $1 million, which was pretty good money in those days. Once Rickey left, no one associated with the Dodgers was allowed to say his name and after Rickey went to the Pirates, O'Malley wouldn't even play them in spring training games.
2. O'Malley wasn't the great humanitarian you give him credit for being. He treated Rickey horribly and was pretty bad to Robinson. Red Barber had to quick as an announcer because he remained friends with Rickey. O'Malley wasn't very nice to Charlie Dressen, which led to his exit. Maury Wills was traded after winning two pennants when he didn't want to play on some barnstorming tour to Japan. He banned other players from ever having anything to do with the Dodgers after their careers as a result of tumultuous contract battles.
B--ie K owes his commissionership and hence his HOF membership to O'Malley, who moved him into the office and kept him there.
Jim, no, No, NO, NOOOO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are all reasons why Miller should be in the Union Hall of Fame. He was a great Union leader. But he was not great for baseball!!!
If what Bob said is true, Miller would have fought tooth and nail so that players can still cheat. Which means that players that dont want to destroy their bodies and play by the rules would be ignored by their own union.
Records would mean nothing (kinda like they do now) and the history of the game would be tainted...(kinda like it is now).
Ticket prices would go through the roof (I understand thats only a significant yet small % of the reason) and people who live an honest living like myself could never dream of affording season tickets.
Yes Miller changed the game, but in my opinion, not for the better. Bud Selig changed the game a lot too.
Oh, yes Miller was great for baseball. If the owner's didn't wipe out the earlier drug agreement we might never have been in the mess we ended up in. We might also not have the Bonds case hanging out there or Clemens or Tejada, etc. The records of the positive players, if published as part of the Bonds trial are going to be terribly embarrassing.
Richie you have to get past the thing about Miller being a union boss and see that many of things he did, many of the things he fought for and stood for were and are good for baseball. He was a trailblazer. He changed the game for the better (unless you like the concept of one group of people owning another in perpetuity.
Miller did change the game for the better because the owners are far worse than the union.
RG - Marvin Miller, as leader of a duly certified union, would have to battle for his constituents rights. His responsibility would be to assure that any drug testing program, EAP or punishment was fair and to give accurate and complete legal advice to his membership.
Miller would have made sure that Mitchell's guilt by association report would have been altered appropriately and that no innocent person would have been unfairly accused...and most likely that Mitchell was not the investigator.
A personal note to explain this situation- I had a poor season in 1983 and couldn't find a job in 1984. A few agreements suddenly dried up. I was informed by a Royals player, trainer and federal judge during the spring of '84 that my name was somehow connected to the cocaine scandal due to playing with Blue, Aikens, Martin and Wilson. That's the crap pulled by management thta Miller would have stopped.
I was nver hurt by Miller, Fehr or Orza or lied to by anyone at the MLBPA. In effect I was blackballed by ownership and lied to by management at numeorus times.
Move on with the discussion of the NLRB and collective bargaining unless you want to change the law as it stands.
Jim I have no problem with Miller being a union boss. That's fine. And I'm sure there are things he's done well for baseball. Just like Buhie Kuhn and Bud Selig has done some good for baseball. But he along with Fehr have ruined the game for the average fan. Yes the owners and players have as well. I'm not pro-owners, I want to be pro-fan. Except the fans are both the Union and Owners Bitches. And Richie G. (Lynbrook) is nobody's Bitch.
But do you really think the players were actual slaves back in the day?? I'm pretty sure they could up and walk away to another profession.
If you and others keep referring to the players as slaves, I will from now on refer to Marvin Miller as Osama Bin Laden. Osama changed the way airport security acts forever.
Comparing the players to slaves is just as assinine and insensitive an anology as the one I just made.
Bob, undoubtedly Miller, Fehr and Orza are great at their jobs. And I've never once ever even insinuated that the owners treat the players fair. I think what the Packers have done with Brett Favre is a joke. The man has played how many games in a row, through countless injuries, and they cant let him have this slip-up? C'mon. Its not like he beat his wife or raped a girl. Had he done one of those two things, they would have stood behind his "mistake."
And I truly am sorry as to what happened to you. But like I said, they belong in some Union Hall of Fame. Not the baseball HOF.
Lastly, I'm not sure that some career minor leaguer who never injected himself with any illegal substance is grateful to Miller/Fehr/Orza as Jason Giambi is.
ESPN.com is reporting that the Red Sox are the team that put a claim on Brain Giles and are negotiating with the Padres to make a deal for Giles. The Red Sox are concern with Mike Lowell's sore hip and Big Papi's left wrist to the point that they made a claim on Giles.Giles does have a partial no-trade clause in which the Red Sox are among the 8 teams that Giles can't be traded without his permission.
At the start of the season, a lot of experts think the Rays will improve. They didn't expect the Rays will be in first place in the AL East on August 7. We will see if the Rays can keep it up down the stretch.
Richie G. (Lynbrook), If Favre wanted to play so badly, why did he announced his retiredment in March? The Packers ask Favre if wanted to come back a couple of times between March and June and he said no. Then in July, Favre decided he wanted to come back and play. The Packers already were committed to Aaron Rodgers. Farve wanted to be released, but the Packers know that if they released him, he will sign with their division rival the Vikings. Farve put the Packers in a impossible situation, and then finally he was traded to the Jets. So now Favre is with the Jets.
RG - speaking of airport security...
The same court (9th circuit) that allowed the government to take computers and discs and pore through tthem randomly looking at player's medical records for whom they did not have a subpoena while claiming "plain sight" has decided that any US citizen leaving or returning to this country can have their electronic devices takne from them for an undetermined time and pored over at customs.
What about private legal documnets, business proposals, medical records? Sorry, the government can leaf through them, What was the precedent - Jeff Novitzky and the CDT/Quest case.
If you claim "just because it's sports" you can hold management to a different legal standard or that the government can do what it wants, it ends up affecting all of us.
I don't want to be this governmnet's bitch - and Jeff Novitzky has effectively accomplished this in his Javert-like pursuit of steroids.
Jim....
"I-505 you mean I should just sit tight, keep my doubts to myself and I might still be proven right in my initial assessment?"
You had to drag a comment outta me, huh?
FINE.
I am saying that the 20,000 or so fans that faithfully show up in that movie theater in FLA to watch their favorite baseball team are in for a rough 60 days.
They have had their fun....time for the big boys to play now.
Call it Yankee/Bosox arrogance, call it I DON'T KNOW, whatever, but it's getting late and the TPA bandwagon will soon (next road trip) start turning into the pumpkin.
You read it here first.
There's always at least one team that collapses every year.
The Rays have not had a decent losing streak as yet.
They are WAY OVERDUE.
Oh, and here's my weekly token NO to Marvin Miller in the HOF (and Kuhn and Fehr and any other SUIT who thinks he deserves it).
Bob to be honest you're talking over my head. I have paid no attention to either topics, but I dont doubt we're getting screwed in some way.
Dennis, I know Favre put them in an impossible situation. But I just think he gave so much over so many years to the Pack...that he deserved this one major screwup. Besides, it would have been better for them to have him QB.
Speaking of screwups, Ken...why didn't the Red Sox just tell Manny they wont re-sign him next season? I mean he's obviously better than Bay. I know they are disgusted with him, but I now think the Angels are the team to beat.
And besides being better than Bay, they would have received 2 first rounders instead of giving up prospects...and they would have saved money! Did the players hate Manny?? I thought they could live with him.
RG - I'm still trying to grasp how it is illogical for Curt Flood to tell Bowie Kuhn that " I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought or sold" and see a connection to slavery.
I'm angry as all get out that you can see a connection between Marvin Miller and a mass murder who killed 20 people that I knew well at WTC and DC..
If you want more about MLB and their idea that they are above the law, check the legal cases of Tony Lupien and Al Niemiac, who went to war, came back, and were denied their jobs with their former MLB teams. Owners clained the veteran's acts didn't cover baseball.
Jim I was kidding about O'Malley being a great man, but to hear all the testimonials about him right before the inductionand having to listen to how his legacy was vindicated by none other than Vin Scully, just because he made the HOF was sickening.
I think we all agree - no executives/pioneers, writers, bloggers in the HOF - only players. Miller should be in if other sar ein, but... let's put that aside and say that in our ideal world the HOF would be for on the field activity only!
Bob I see no connection to Osama and Miller. That's what I said.
But do you see a connection to Curt Flood and slavery?
And please re-read what I said. My exact quote was, "Comparing the players to slaves is just as assinine and insensitive an anology as the one I just made."
But I couldn't understand what you wrote. Do you see a connection to Curt Flood and slavery?
Richie, I think Manny had finally worn out his welcome in the Red Sox clubhouse. There was just too much that transpired. So they turned him into Jason Bay, which has worked out pretty well, so far.
Richie, I remember having the "slave/plantation" conversation with you back in the pre-blog days. You were OK with the way things were? If Yogi Berra had a contract dispute with the Yankees, then your answer is, "Let him go work in a bowling alley"? He shouldn't be allowed to try to get a job elsewhere? Curt Flood said, "A well-paid slave is still a slave."
Sandy, reporters were able to "go after" Bonds because our man Novitzky actually dug up evidence on Bonds' illegal PED usage. There was nothing on Sosa or Dykstra, besides their own appearances. Well, to be fair, Dykstra all but admitted using them back in the late '80s, but the environment was different back then.
Yes.
Merrian Webster definition # 2 of slave is "one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence".
Under the existing major league contract and the reserve clause, which was instituted in the 1870's, a player could not offer his services in the public marketplace. A player couldn't even sit out a year and try to playe elsewhere. early collective bargaining disucssions on the reserve clause contained owner's comments like we won't allow free agency at 65 years of age. You were owned - and before freee agency, unless you were one of the best players, you did not make lots of money.
Curt Flood, for example, had to suffer the indignity (as did other Cardinal stars) of not being able to live in the same hotel as other St. Louis players in the minor leagues or even during major league spring training. They lived in boarding houses 18 miles away from their teammates. (read "October 1964").
It is no coincidence that a book on Flood is titled "A Well Paid Slave": Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Baseball".
Bob, you cannot possibly take offense to the Osama reference if you're going to call a well paid baseball player a slave. So in other words, the slaves of the Holocaust should have had no complaints because Dom Dimagio couldn't play with his brother???
A black man being whipped 100 wacks for sneezing shouldn't complain because Enos Slaughter had to suffer with his team for all those years???
If only the Jews had Marvin Miller. Give me a break.
And Ken...as I've said 1000000 times, the players should have had more rights, now they have too much. Just because they were once wronged, doesn't mean they are anymore. Now that Julio Franco has retired, theres not one player left from back in the day.
Speaking of airport security, I definitely recommend purchasing a FlyClear membership. I just passed through security at JFK's Terminal 1 in seconds.
I see that the Rays secured Chad Bradford this afternoon. He's neither walking nor striking out anyone this season (overall, that's a plus), and has given up few home runs, Manny's 500th notwithstanding....
The Rays are not going away, 1-505, their upcoming road trips notwithstanding. Might Boston catch them? Of course. But otherwise they are doing just fine.
Ken, Dykstra was on WFAN with Francesa a couple of weeks ago in studio. Francesa ask him if he ever took steriods at all, and Dykstra flat out siad no. So I guess Dykstra is a liar considering the fact he was on the Mitchell report.
Rchie G. (Lynbrook), ever since 2003, Farve has thought about retiring after each season. He would take his time during the off-season before he decided to come back and play. I think the Packers had enough of Farve wating to make a decision on wheither he wants to play.
The Mets got lucky today. Schoenweis came in to pitch the 9th and with 1 out he give up a home run to Gerut to tied the game at 3-3. But then Wright hits a walk-off 2 -run homer with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th to win the gaem 5-3. The Mets struggle to win 2 games against the Padres, who were under .500. The bullpen almost blow both games.
Hey, everyone. The Carleton College baseball ethics survey and accompanying THT backgrounder are fascinating:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/ranking-baseballs-ethical-transgressions/
Dennis Dykstra never took steroids he told everyone he took "magic pills" back then.
Ken what I was meaning is Bonds was accused of taking them way before he was caught unlike Giambi and Sosa who looked it, Dykstra who nobody said crap about and Clemens (who was rumored), meanwhile Rick Reilly because he didnt like McGwire went snooping around an unoccupied locker. Even Canseco was accused way back when because he didn't look anything like his twin brother Ozzie who was in the minors at the time--basically because Jose was a complete jerk and loser.
Sandy, just for the record, you're referring to Steve Wilstein, not Rick Reilly. Reilly wrote more than one flattering piece on McGwire.
Richie, obviously baseball players weren't "slaves" as much as your examples. But Bob gave you the dictionary definition. There's clearly a link from A to B, unlike Miller and bin Laden. Funny, how you've found sensitivity after praising Jim Bowden for comparing the MLBPA to the 9/11 terrorists.
RG - calm down, we are getting into uncharted territory.
Per the dictionary, the definition of slave applies to the economic situation Curt Flood experienced. Your argument is then with Samuel Johnson, not me.
There are degrees of denial of rights, from full denial of basic human rights to economic. I am not comparing the reserve clause to the Nuremberg Laws. I wouldnot be that insesntive, as most of my wife's family failed to survive Auschwitz.
As fro the players association and OBL...are you channeling Jim Bowden who said in 2002, "If players want to strike, they ought to just pick Sept. 11, because that's what it's going to do to the game," Bowden said to a stunned group of reporters before Thursdays Reds-Dodgers game in Cincinnati. "I don't think there's going to be a work stoppage. I don't think anybody's that dumb. If they do walk out, make sure it's Sept. 11. Be symbolic. Let (Players' Association leader) Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building, if that's what they want to do."
As for your examples...
Did you know that Enos Slaughter was an open bigot who tried to get the Cardinals to boycott the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson?
Did you know that bogited owners called Marvin Miller "a gimpy armed Jew bastard" and "communist". And Miller or the MLNPA isn't a mas murderer, except in the twisted dreams of Bowden.