If Your Eight-year-old Son Says Mean Things About the Neighbors, it Pretty Much Resides in an Orbit Around You, Your Son

I commend you for writing on an issue that is controversial and bound to provoke criticism.

I personally find that your viewpoint on the issue is reasonable and balanced on a global scale, however I disagree to some extent in the specific case.

It is certainly true that one should (try to) separate his opinion on Rocker’s comments from his opinion on how Rocker should be dealt with. By this I mean that if I am appalled by Rocker’s behavior (I am) it doesn’t mean that it is correct to exact a heavy penalty just so that I can distance myself from his behavior.

Another result of the very public “spanking” of Rocker is to give his comments far more exposure than was initially the case. If 200,000 people read the original article, we can now be sure that perhaps 10 times as many people are now intimately aware of his comments and opinions.

Having said all that, I now must confide that I agree with professional baseball’s decision to impose a significant penalty on Rocker. The bottom line is they had no choice. If your eight-year-old son says mean things about the neighbors, it pretty much resides in an orbit around you, your son and your neighbors.

John Rocker, on the other hand, by virtue of his position in major league baseball (and only because of that affiliation) is and was able impose is vindictiveness on a national, even inter-national, scale. It is because of baseball that his opinion is national news. (I don’t think Sports Illustrated would give our kids much space in which to present their opinions of our neighbors).

It may be the case that major league baseball chose to impose these penalties out of self-interest or self-image. That is something I can not know but I believe that baseball had a responsibility to respond as it has.