Baseball is investigating some comments made by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen over the weekend.
On Sunday, Guillen was upset after watching three of his players get hit by pitches in a victory over the Cleveland Indians. Guillen acknowledged that he believed the plunkings were accidental, but nonetheless spouted off after the game, saying this:
“I have Konerko bruised all over the place,” he said. “Around the league, be careful because we’re going to hit people. I don’t care if I get suspended because I need to protect my players.”
It was a warning. If you hit my players on purpose, I’ll hit yours. Simple as that. So what is there to investigate exactly?
This isn’t the airport, where mentioning about how you got “bombed” the night before can get you tossed from the premises.
No, this is baseball, where Leo Durocher once said he wanted some “scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you,” and didn’t have to worry about being locked up for recruiting murderers.
Guillen, not surprisingly, isn’t about to back down.
“I can say whatever I want to say - as long as I’m not saying it about them,” the outspoken manager said. “I know the integrity of this game better than anybody. I’m very professional. But meanwhile, enough was enough.
While the idea of Guillen espousing his own professionalism might send Chicago media members into uncontrolled bouts of giggling, his basic argument is sound. You can’t punish someone for something that hasn’t happened.
Guillen is as entertaining as most major league managers are dry. They spout clichés, while he takes the pulpit and acts as if he’s running a longshoremen’s meeting. He says what he thinks, often in colorful language. And sometimes, he says too much. Big deal.
So don’t try to censor Ozzie Guillen. It’s not going to work anyway.
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