The terrible example set by Mr. Rocker is not what our great game is about and, in fact, is a profound breach of the social compact we hold in such high regard. There is a school of opinion holding that by forcing the players' union to file a grievance over the suspension, Selig is simply guarding MLB's public interests. In the meantime, listening to baseball's commissioner saying, in effect, 'I'm shocked, simply shocked' at the presence of such prejudiced opinions in baseball dugouts is simply farcical. Selig's commercial interest lies in protecting MLB's clean, slick and healthy image, an image worth hundreds of millions of dollars. John Rocker's verbal spitballs fouled that image and Selig has set a price on public embarrassment from a league player.
Attorneys prepare the only compacts that matter in professional baseball.
The righteousness here stinks. Overt prejudices make for marketing problems. If Major League Baseball were truly concerned about stereotypes, the Atlanta Braves would have had another name years ago. Possibly Rocker's worst offense was that he does not know how to speak like Bud Selig. In the presence of a national sports magazine reporter, Rocker was too dumb to stifle the social views and expressions he learned in his hometown of Macon.