While Major League Baseball tries to clean the game of illegal performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) they seem to be doing close to nothing about the issue of players drinking and driving. Â At some point MLB and the Player’s Union need to get together and discuss punishments for players who go out drinking and then get themselves in trouble.
Let’s recap. We’ll go back to last season first. Â In 2011, between January and May, six MLB players were arrested for DUI (driving under the influence). Â Seattle Mariners infielder Adam Kennedy, Cleveland Indians outfielders Austin Kearns and Shin-Soo Choo (in separate incidents), Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera (who infamously started drinking out of a bottle he had in the car in front of police, presumably because he was either too drunk to get what he was doing or so the breathalyzer wouldn’t be able to determine if he was drunk or it was registering what he had just done) and two former Red Sox players, Oakland A’s outfielder Coco Crisp and Atlanta Braves pitcher Derek Lowe.
This season hasn’t been any less active. Â Thus far, the bullpen catcher for the Mets, Eric Langill, Colorado Rockies pitcher Alex White, Tampa Bay Rays Minor League pitcher Matt Bush, as well as Red Sox reliever Bobby Jenks have all been arrested for DUI. The most serious charges going against Bush who not only was driving under the influence but in the process hit a 72 year-old man riding a motorcycle and then ran over his head while fleeing the scene (this all done in a vehicle he had stolen from his spring training roommate).
The Rays have already announced that Bush will no longer be playing for them but he has bigger issues to worry about right now, like the million dollar bail that was set for him and the fact that it’s possible the person he hit might not make it.
Currently there is nothing in place in the agreement players have with the league that allows for punishment for a DUI. Â They drink, they get arrested and they get to go back to the ballpark when they make bail. Â Pee in a cup and have the test come back with traces of a PED and you’re in big trouble. Â Fight with cops, destroy property, endanger the community just by being on the road…here’s your bail money; we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.
Many jokes have been made about Red Sox pitchers “drinking beer and eating fried chicken” during games last season. Â A lot of people think those bothered by the revelations about the pitchers disregarding their teammates and the game to hang out like frat boys are overreacting. I’m of the mind that, on your own time, you can do pretty much what you want as long as it isn’t illegal (or, for athletes, it doesn’t affect your ability to be able to show up and play) but at some point it has to be acknowledged that the acceptance of alcohol in the clubhouse spills out to what the players do after games and if there aren’t any consequences for something as obvious as drinking while driving is it any surprise the number of DUIs in MLB is increasing?
That isn’t to say DUIs are new to the last few years but from 2004 through 2010 ten players have been charged with driving under the influence. Â Thus far, between 20011 and 2012, we’ve already reached the ten player mark. Â And this doesn’t even include team officials or coaches. Â St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa was arrested in 2007 when the police found him behind the wheel, asleep and sitting at a traffic light just a month before one of his pitchers, Josh Hancock, was killed in a traffic accident, caused by his own drinking and driving.
The Tampa Bay Rays have acted swiftly with Matt Bush but only because someone has been seriously injured. Â Baseball as a whole needs to get together and start imposing penalties to players who go out and make such disastrously bad decisions.
(Originally published on Examiner.com)