He thinks he is the greatest ballplayer around. Good
for him. Players should believe in something.
Unfortunately he also thinks that his talent alone will
carry him to the major leagues and that all his personal problems
will magically disappear because he can hit a ball 450-feet
or run the bases like a deer in the plains.
Delmon Young is a thinker.
Not in the Albert Schweitzer vein - that's too deep - or even
George Carlin - he's not as funny - but more like the statue
of The Thinker - cold and hard.
As Carlin once uttered, "I think I am, therefore I am.
I think."
Young has that kind of personality. Always thinking but without
a point. And now the Devil Rays' prodigy will have a lot more
to ponder in the days, weeks and possibly months ahead because
for one instant, like many before, he didn't think before he
acted.
The 20-year old with a wealth of ability is about to have the
book thrown at him like the bat he flung in the direction of
an umpire in a minor league contest Wednesday night.
That book is the International League rules book but after
finally getting a glimpse of the actual event, I think Andrew
Friedman and the Devil Rays organization should throw a bigger
book, the Baseball Encyclopedia, all 1,698 pages worth - in
hardcover - as well.
If Friedman thinks he might get a sports hernia trying to heave
a book of that size and weight, he can always sign Jose Canseco
to do it as he was terrific at throwing bull around and from
what I'm told they are about 800 to 1,500 pounds each, depending
on maturity.
In an odd twist, Canseco and Young have both been called immature
so it's a match made in baseball hell.
The reference to the Baseball Encyclopedia should be this.
Once it bounces off his thick head, Young should be firmly,
but gently, told that if he doesn't clean up his act the only
way his name will appear in it is if he purchased a Bic pen
and printed his name within its pages.
The Thinker.
I have been following baseball my entire life and I have seen
some of the best manager or player-ump arguments that would
make you want to stand up and cheer after it was over.
I also thought when I saw Pete Rose intentionally belly-bump
Dave Pallone, who he considered a scab because he pulled on
the blue uniforms while the regular umps were on strike, that
it was an amazingly low point and showed complete and utter
disrespect for the game.
Now it appears to be another case of a replacement getting
treated like yesterday's newspaper at the bottom of a bird cage
only this is not a old style player with a twisted sense of
logic.
Not even close.
If this was the first time the young Delmon had been in trouble
I would tend to be open minded when he states his case in front
of whomever will hear it. You hand down something like the 30-days
that Rose got and move on.
But this is not the first time and I suspect not the last either
and therefore the punishment should be quick and severe - like
the rest of the year off, being forced into anger management
and some probation tacked on for good measure.
In the video, Young was called out on what seemed like a decent
enough pitch to warrant a strike call. The outfielder lingered
in the batter's box and just as he started to walk away he got
thumbed.
Now in the old days, some would even say my days, Young
would have turned and started to jaw his objections until his
manager came out to jumped in the middle and keep his player
from a possible suspension.
Well that was then and this is now.
The Thinker.
Delmon has graduated to a whole new level, far beyond Rose,
leaps and bounds past Juan Marichal beating John Roseboro about
the head and shoulders. Spitting at an ump? Why that doesn't
even measure up now.
For all the transgressions ever perpetuated in the sport, this
is the creme de la creme, the Empire State Building, the Sistine
Chapel of blatant disregard for the heart and soul of baseball
- the umpire.
Initially it was called a "flip" of the bat but
from my view, had that man in blue been a foot closer or further
away and with the trajectory of the bat, none of us would be
talking suspensions at this time, we would be looking for the
arresting officer's name for assault with a deadly weapon after
it bounced off the head.
The Thinker.
Delmon is also an angry young man. Whether it be at the organization
for not having him on a major league roster or simply at the
world, his attitude needs a serious adjustment before he lands
in the Toe Nash category.
Of course you remember Toe, don't you?
He's the guy who had the million dollar talent and the ten-cent
brain as he couldn't stay out of jail long enough to ply his
trade.
If baseball was all about talent and not about character, Nash
would be playing in the majors right now as a condition of his
work release program.
Delmon Young is headed in that same direction and even big
bro' Dmitri won't be able to save him.
The Thinker.
The Devil Rays are not about to stand by and let this fester.
They are fighting an uphill public relations battle that was
left over from the Naimoli daze (he was in one, wasn't he?).
This is the chance for baseball, as a sport, to make an example
out of Young and set a precedent for any and all who want to
follow in his footsteps challenging authority.
Like them or loathe them, the umpires should not be an assault
target by anyone - period. They are the authority figures who
control the game and without them there would be nothing but
chaos. They deserve respect from uniform personnel simply because
of their position.
Young acts like a child and should be spanked like one but
today the parent, aka baseball, would be dragged into court
for abuse. So treat him like the adult he thinks he is
and make him take a season-long time-out.
Hit him in the wallet, take away his privileges, do whatever
is necessary. Simply nip this in the bud as soon as humanly
possible.
The Thinker.
I think not.
