From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Rocket Roger, Enfant Terrible
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:19:38 GMT
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com

In article <28JUL92.15182791@vax.clarku.edu> hhenderson@vax.clarku.edu  
writes:
> Glenn writes:
> 
> > From listening to all the fall-out, including Sunday's postgame
> > "Sportsbeat" program which regularly features some of the biggest
> > yahoos in the Boston sports media,
> 
> You actually WATCH that show??!?! You must have a cast-iron stomach.
> What a bunch of revolting dweebs.
> 
> > Without consulting Clemens,
> > Kimball created a piece of fiction and humiliated Clemens in front of
> > a half a million people. I'd seek retribution, too, someway,  
somehow...
> 
> Ah.  A Matter of Honor.  I'm really impressed with the Manly Man way
> the Rocket defended his honor -- screaming obscenities and throwing
> hamburger buns.  He should have challenged Kimball to a duel at
> sunrise -- quiches at forty paces.  Or maybe, for that time of
> day, muffins are more appropriate...:-)

While I think hamburger buns were a bit silly, I think Roger
was correct in taking on Kimball publicly, and not in private.
Kimball, who given his level of journalism should probably be
writing for the National Enquirer, wrote a nasty article about
Clemens, seemingly just to pick on Clemens.  I think Clemens was
correct in requesting that the scum be removed from the room.  I think
he should have stopped at that point, and not thrown the buns, but
everything up to that point was fine.

> Of course the Boston media are monstrous, in varying degrees.  They
> have been for years (but at least in Ted Williams' time, they knew
> how to write).  I'm certainly not defending them, least of all the
> Herald.
> 
> It's just that Roger's behavior problems dismay me.  They indicate
> the immaturity that is his tragic flaw. In many cases, his outbursts
> are just plain stupid.  They are unbecoming of a future Hall of Famer
> (no big deal to some people) but when they jeopardize the fortunes
> of the Red Sox, they are unforgivable.  Try to imagine Tom Seaver
> or Jim Palmer or Roger's hero, Nolan Ryan, punching a door with his
> pitching hand before the playoffs.  (Roger's comment: "I've punched
> harder things before.")  Or getting thrown out of the biggest game
> of the year because he freaks out at an umpire.

I don't know. Punching a door seems part and parcel of the intensity
that makes Roger Roger. I don't think he would be as good a pitcher
if he didn't have that intensity.

Besides, other great pitchers have been intesne, and have had tempers.
Bob Gibson was intense. Juan Marichal (who Bill James makes a good
case for as best pitcher of the 60s) hit a catcher over the head
with a bat.  I'd say Roger is actually a bit more under control
than that.

As for getting thrown out of the game, well, I know this has been
argued a lot before but Cooney was as much at fault as Roger. Part
of the umps job in such a situation is to defuse it, not to make it
worse.  Cooney did the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire.

> Roger shouldn't be worrying about the press or anything else
> but straightening out his head.  He is his own worst enemy.
> 

Roger is the best pitcher in baseball. His intensity ever rubs off
on his teammates, who often seem to play better when Roger is out
there.



--
Jim Mann       jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com  Stratus Computer