Comments on: Royals return champagne, MLB pokes around

By: Simon Oliver Lockwoo

Simon Oliver Lockwoo — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 02:00:30 +0000

The amusing thing is that while everyone is busily denouncing DMZ for pointing out what happened in a light-hearted way, Lee Sinis in his Around the Majors report actually seems to be serious in advocating that Hunter be punished for what he did.

By: tangotiger

tangotiger — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:13:08 +0000

The earlier reader makes the best point: Derek is simply writing whatever he wants in his own blog. This is what blogs are for! If Derek wrote a book about cheaters, and he has a blog that talks about cheating, isn’t it natural that he actually points out the *possibility* that there might be something that might violate a rule?

If you have a problem, take it up with ESPN which gave it tons of airplay.

ESPN can’t bemoan the fact that someone wrote something in his own journal that just a handful of people see, and then make sure that millions of people know about it!

If they want to treat Derek like a suicide jumper (a topic that virtually all news organizations don’t report on), then fine. But, don’t report it, and then blame the guy that jumping was a news story that he forced everyone else to make.

By: Disco

Disco — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:21:42 +0000

Hunter should have just sent the wine to Sweeney’s house or not sent it at all.

Either way, I’ll be irate if they punish Hunter at all. It is completely hypocritical to suspend a guy for sending wine when Barry Bonds is obviously taking steroids and cheating. That is a much bigger fish to fry.

Let’s go after the big ones.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:20:44 +0000

MLB needs to enforce this rule - as written. Both Hunter and Sweeney should be suspended.

By: Rob G.

Rob G. — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:04:19 +0000

sorry if this is a repeat, but on XM radio this morning they had an interview and Torii Hunter basically said something to the tune of it’s no big deal, but some geek (heavy emphasis on the word and big chuckle from the hosts) on the Internet had to bring it up to draw attention to his site (major paraphrasing on my part).

It was on Buck Martinez’s show fwiw, maybe it’s available somewhere online.

Thought you’d get a laugh, guess Torii Hunter won’t be sending you any champagne.

By: jason

jason — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:38:56 +0000

I understand the whole integrity thing, but it was four bottles of bubbly…it was a simple joke–who would have thought the royals would beat detroit last year allowing the twins to win the division…i think it’s funny. torii has the upmost respect for the game and is a class act–a couple game suspension or a $20,000 fine will suffice

By: Ian Mullet

Ian Mullet — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:31:02 +0000

Also I don’t like the timing of this gift — coming the day before Greinke pitches. Who knows how an act of friendship such as this might affect him. We live in an age where we are constantly attributing psychological affects on a player’s performance: are they cluch? do they choke? so why shouldn’t we be concerned when Hunter gives out gifts that could unconciously affect a pitcher’s performance? especially zack greinke. sorry if what follows sounds disrespectful, but here is a person who has struggled with social anxiety disorder and loneliness. if an opponent makes overt gestures of friendship before he pitches it could cause him to lose focus. i doubt this was hunter’s intention or its effect on greinke. but that’s why rules are in place so we don’t have to make those judgments. and, yes, player’s have take advantage of another’s good nature in the past. Cobb used to crowd the plate when Walter Johnson pitched, because he knew Johnson was too nice a guy to take a chance at hitting him and so he would throw outside.

By: david h

david h — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:27:55 +0000

Eric Young on Baseball Tonight just commented that this sort of thing happens all the time! Maybe he’ll be the Jose Canseco of gift-giving.

By: Mat

Mat — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 03:30:47 +0000

Hunter had two hits, two runs, a double and an rbi in the game after the royals discovered champagne in their locker room. It was his best game of the weekend series and the only game that the twins won. I don’t think one thing has to do with the other, but if players started giving gifts to each other regularly such correlations that a skeptical fan might naturally draw would harm the integrity of the game.

That’s an excellent point. Even perceived throwing of games, whether it’s actually the case or not, is bad for the sport.

By: DK

DK — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:26:32 +0000

It’s funny how blind internet rage leads to people gnarling and gnashing about something that they obviously don’t know everything about. It’s not like Derek is running to the MLB offices and tattling on players that appear to be cheating. He’s simply pointing out these transgressions on a blog, for whoever wants to read. I think people need to put down their pitchforks and torches. A little bit of common sense goes a long way.