Here's the column referred to, also found of course on the homepage and in J. B. Cash's section:
Two Up, One Down
Hearty Caste Football congratulations to Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg, recently enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Both players were well deserving of the honor.
Wade Boggs launched the modern "live ball" era by racking up amazing batting averages early in his career of over .350 at a time when .320-.330 was usually enough to win the batting title. Boggs' famous inside-out swing allowed him to line balls to left field, often off of the "green monster" in Fenway Park. Boggs was notorious for being hard to strike out and in an age when many players wildly swing at every pitch Boggs would usually make the pitcher throw him two strikes before he would swing.
Boggs was a victim of racial profiling early in his career as the un-written rule in professional baseball is that a white third baseman has to hit for power. Who was the last white third baseman that played for a long time and did not hit for power? George Kell in the 1940s?
So Boggs labored in the minor leagues, hitting his usual .350 while other players were called up with much less skill. Boggs also did not steal bases, although he was not as slow as he was made out to be, and that is another no-no for a high average guy. After he made his way to the majors he became the best hitter of his era and one of the best ever. He was also a fine fielder and won a couple of Gold Gloves at third base. Unfortunately, due to his extended banishment in the minors, Boggs did not put up tremendous career stats other than being a member of the 3,000 hit club, but he certainly distinguished himself as one of the best in the game.
Ryan Sandberg was one of the great all around ball players of his generation. He was a true five-skill player: he hit for power and average, and could catch, throw and run well. This is testimony to the fine athlete that he was. He had a rare combination of skills for a second baseman and at one time held the season record for home runs at that position.
Sandberg was burdened by playing for the hapless Chicago Cubs his whole career so he had virtually no post-season opportunities, but nonetheless he was a superb clutch player. He is one of the five all time greatest second baseman in the history of the game. And as a bonus, at his Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, he ripped Sammy Sosa for being such a steroid bloated egotist, another example of Ryne's integrity and love of the game.
Both Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg were fine role models as ballplayers. Hard working and diligent, neither were showboats or prima donnas despite their superstar status. Both men represented some of the finest qualities of our people and are deserving of the eternal recognition that the Hall of Fame brings.
On to the sad story of Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro was in the process of quietly putting together one of the great statistical careers in the history of baseball. As a 500-homer and 3000-hit guy (only Hank Aaron and Eddie Murray have done the same), Palmeiro was ensured a spot as one of the best players of his generation.
Steroid allegations have followed him for some time. Most notably he was fingered by Jose Canseco in Canseco's gossipy book as one of the many players that Canseco turned on to the juice. Recently Palmeiro was one of the sacrificial lambs sent to testify before the grandstanding Congressional hearings on steroid use in sports. Palmeiro vehemently denied using steroids, under oath, and for all to hear. Now news comes out that he has failed a steroid test and will serve a ten-game suspension for the violation.
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has promised a hard stance on steroid abuse. Fat chance of that. A ten-day suspension is half the time that he meted out to pitcher Kenny Rogers for shoving a cameraman. Selig said the Rogers incident had a major effect on the game. If a positive steroid test by a member of the 500 home run club, who embarrassingly denied the allegations in front of the country and the Congress, is not an issue effecting the integrity of the game, then nothing else is. My prediction is that Selig will do nothing. He will not act when a minority is involved, as is the case with Barry Bonds.
Rafael Palmeiro has had the strange career arc of many other Latin American ballplayers. He hit only 22 home runs in 1992; the season he was joined in Texas by a new teammate named Jose Canseco. And then hit 37 the next year and at least 38 in the next nine non-strike seasons after that.
A number of hispanic players show up in the majors as thin, wiry, high-average hitters, then morph into power hitting sluggers as they age. The conventional wisdom was that they honed their skills hitting wads of tape with broomsticks on the poor streets of Latin America where they play beisbol for 16 hours a day, every day of the year. Then they start eating high-fat American food, get super-sized, and begin hitting homers at a frightening pace.
Below is the average number of homeruns hit in their first 5 years by players with at least 500 career homeruns.
Ruth 43.6
Killebrew 42.4
Mays 38.4
Mathews 38
Banks 36.2
McGuire 35
Foxx 34.2
Schmidt 33.6
Williams 33
Mantle 32
Jackson 31.2
Ott 30.4
Aaron 28
Robinson 27.4
Murray 26.6
Griffey 26.4
Bonds 25.2
McCovey 22.6
Sosa 21.6
Palmeiro 15.6
A couple of things leap out from these numbers. Palmeiro is at the bottom of the list as a home run hitter early in his career, as are Sosa and Bonds. Nearly for certain those three are steroid users who, one could suppose, started the drug after playing a few years. Note that McCovey is among them but that's because he did not play much in his first few years.
Also unusual is that all of the white players are collected at the top of the list, meaning they were sluggers very early in their career. This may mean that black players are given more of a chance to develop into sluggers than white players. Or it may be a statistical anomaly. If anyone has any ideas about that please write me. Common wisdom usually says white players mature slower then blacks but that doesn't seem to be the case here (especially if you are "maturing" with Stanozolol).
It has been noted on the Caste Football discussion board that Rafael Palmeiro, although a Spanish-speaking self-identified hispanic, is actually quite light-skinned with white features. He is almost certainly "Castillian" Spanish with little African or Amerind heritage. Palmeiro could have played in the majors before 1947 without a problem. He could have been passed off as a "Cuban" because, well, he is actually from Cuba.
I have always considered him of European heritage. Unfortunately with the steroid issue "nurture" has trumped "nature" and he has resorted to the same kind of lying and evasion that is typical of black and hispanic players. Compare this to Ken Caminiti, Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi, who were unable to bring themselves to lie in the face of overwhelming evidence. Had Palmeiro been raised in a European culture I believe we would be hearing much different things from him.
Palmeiro has been a relatively quiet superstar during his career, which means he has not been arrested for a felony (yet) and is often seen as a "nice" guy. However Palmeiro was involved in an extremely ugly incident while with the Chicago Cubs. It appears that he had a rather open affair with Ryne Sandberg's wife, Cindy. Cindy appears to have been, shall we say "loose" as she was also rumored to have slept with some other of Sandberg's teammates.
The whole incident was supposedly the reason Palmeiro was dealt to Texas and Mark Grace became the Cubs first baseman. Cindy's indiscretions are also cited as the reason Sandberg retired early so as to try and keep his family together. Didn't work out and they got divorced. Sandberg came back for a brief time but didn't play well and quit for good. I notice that Sandberg thanked his current wife at the Hall of Fame ceremony so fortunately he has gotten past the incident.
However it does give some insight into the kind of man Palmeiro is: one who sleeps with the wife of a co-worker. Not a good fellow in my book, but you can be the judge. It is also odd that in the age of Jerry Springer the whole incident has not been more publicized although I for one am thankful for it.
Some reporters have been saying they will not vote for Palmeiro on the first ballot for the Hall of Fame. But no matter, in six or seven years when he is eligible he will probably be elected and Rafael will be a "hero" and all of his past transgressions will fade away just as they do for every other minority hero.
In fact Rafi has potential El Presidente qualities himself ala Bill Clinton. He has apparently perjured himself in front of Congress with a finger-wagging denial of something it is now proved he did in fact do in 2005, he has committed high profile adultery, and he has denied his illegal drug use in the same preposterous manner similar to: "I didn't inhale."
"Palmeiro for Presidente" in 2016?
