April 24, 2007
Hunter Ban?
Torii Hunter broke a baseball rule that almost resulted in him being banned from the game:
Hunter's gift of four bottles of Dom Perignon, which he had delivered to the Royals clubhouse this past weekend, was meant as a reward for the Royals sweeping the Detroit Tigers last September, allowing the Twins to come from behind to win the American League Central. The gift fulfilled a promise Hunter made last fall.
But baseball has rules about this sort of thing.
Namely, rule 21-b, which proclaims "Any player or person connected with a Club who shall offer or give any gift or reward to a player or person connected with another Club for services rendered ... in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing Club ... shall be declared ineligible for not less than three years."
The Royals returned the gift unopened, saving Hunter's career. It seems to me the rule is less about encouraging teams to win and more about preventing extortion. ("Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't play well against the Tigers this weekend.") Since neither Hunter nor Terry Ryan were aware of the rule, the league might want to publicize this a little more.
The post from the Cheater's Guide to Baseball is here.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:58 AM
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Wow. That's really interesting to me. That would've been big news if Torii was out for 3 or 4 seasons, over 4 bottles of champagne. The Royals finally did something right...
Good for the Royals. Hunter is one of the most exciting players in baseball, and losing him over what was obviously a good-faith gesture would have been obscene. And yes, the rule needs to be publicized.
Wow - good thing MLB is on top of illegal acitivites in baseball and caught this champagne transaction! Imagine if Hunter had been taking steroids - he would have been in some SERIOUS trouble with MLB. :P~~
That rule was specifically aimed at the evil Hal Chase, who spent much of his career giving "gifts" to opponents AND teammates who helped games go the way he desired. Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract has a long and detailed account of Chase's exploits on this front.
Two quick points:
1) The fact that the gift was returned does not change the fact that Torii Hunter did in fact "offer or give any gift or reward to a player or person connected with another Club for services rendered... in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing Club". Torii broke this rule and there is just no pretending he did not.
2) If Barry Bonds had done this most of you would be calling for his suspension and the Commissioner whould have only be so glad to honor your call.
He did break the rule, and under no circumstances was he ever in jeopardy. Suspended? Never in the cards, best interest of baseball and all that good stuff. Amusing story getting a rise out of the drama queens on ESPN.
