It’s over. Baseball finally did something correctly, despite the controversy. Melky Cabrera cheated, and they removed him from the contest (as per his request). So, why can’t we just get over it, let McCutchen and Posey battle it out, and move on with our lives?
Why are people like Jack Dickey writing articles like this: “Baseball Is Banning Melky Cabrera From Winning The Batting Title Because Baseball Sucks” Okay, I understand it’s cool to use alliteration, repetition and anaphora when titling sports articles but this is the singlemost stupid thing myself and potentially anyone has ever read on Deadspin. I get it, “dead spin”, but this is pure charlatan trash meant for nothing but polarizing dialogue and pageviews. This article reads more like Bleacher Report cesspool “news.”
Dickey begins his “piece” by stating the facts. Cabrera was winning, got caught cheating, then asked MLB to remove him from the running. Commissioner Bud Selig said twice he wasn’t interested in interfering which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Commisioner’s usual modus operandi: do nothing. But Mr. Dickey goes on to suggest that Cabrera should be allowed to win the trophy, and he uses this eloquent passage as his defense:
“But because The Game is so delusional, filled with cobwebs and mythology and old men named Vinegar Bend, Melky Cabrera felt like it would be to his advantage to ask for an exemption from reality. And then The Game gave it to him!”
An exemption from reality? What should we call steroids, then? Reality? Is taking steroids a reality we all must simply live with? Dickey never goes on to explain why baseball is delusional, instead he lazily tosses Vinegar Bend Mizel into his piece, for the shock value of his name only. This is the sole thing Dickey gives us to prove that baseball is delusional. A name. I guess he’s never heard of Dick Pole or Rusty Kuntz. Even if he had, what does it have to do with Melky Cabrera being an admitted cheater?
For once, MLB has decided to do the right thing, or do anything at all. Lest we forget the blown perfect game call by umpire Jim Joyce and the subsequent refusal by Bud Selig to overturn the call (regardless of the fact Joyce admitted the call was an error). Baseball has a history of not doing anything to right wrongs.
Fans of baseball should be ecstatic that MLB honored Cabrera’s request, and the simple fact that Cabrera made the request in the first place.
Authors on this subject should be careful they don’t confuse fringe fans of the game, and risk creating actual delusions. Cabrera took steroids. He cheated. He doesn’t deserve a trophy, nor does he deserve the peace of mind uninformed “writers” are giving him.
