Home Run Derby

Add the US Government to the list of people who think that Barry Bonds has lied about his involvement in steroids. 

What took them so long?

Okay, they’ve probably thought that for some time … but now they’re saying they think they can prove it. 

Here’s a piece from the five count indictment from The Smoking Gun.  I highlighted the part which formally accuses the defendant of what almost all of us have alleged for some time now - that Barry Bonds used steroids …

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So the word from the NY Daily News is that Kimberly Bell - Barry Bonds’ mistress from 1994 to 2003 - is writing a tell-all book about her experience with Bonds … ranging from steroids, details of their relationship, and her testimony in the BALCO grand jury case two years ago …

And in an effort to promote that book, it will come out right around the time Bonds will be vying to break the all-time Home Run record. 

Plus she’s apparently willing to do a nude pictorial for the highest bidder.

Now, as Bonds moves closer to breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record, the 37-year-old Bell is ready to spill more.  The brunette stunner is also ready to give sports fans a look at the body that distracted Bonds from two of his wives. 

Besides her hot physique, Bell is offering love notes from Bonds, phone messages and testimony she gave to the FBI in the BALCO steroids trafficking case.

Looking at the glamour shot above, I’d guess most male sports fans might be lining up for that pictorial.  Until they see what she’s hiding behind her back …

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Gary Sheffield’s been in the news for this statement about the declining percentage of African-American Players in MLB:

I called it years ago. What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, but there ain’t no English going to be coming out …

[It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them …

And now Torii Hunter has raised the bar on Fox Sports Radio today:

You go over to Latin America and you could buy a guy for $5,000. That’s the same guy from Compton, who you get in first round for a million dollars out of high school.

I think that it’s a business thing, not a race thing. Because it happens to African Americans, then it becomes a racial thing. I do agree that 10 years from now you are going to see no blacks (in MLB).

Sheffield and especially Hunter seem to understand how Baseball has paralleled the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed into law by President Clinton in 1993. One of the results of NAFTA was that it opened the borders of Latin American countries to US Businesses looking to reduce their labor costs by opening factories in low-wage nations like Mexico.

It’s also Business 101. Reducing your costs while maximizing your returns is good for the bottom line. And MLB teams are no stranger to that philosophy.

Entry level employees, whether at a Factory or at Law Firm, typically are paid the lowest salaries. However, some entry level employees are recruited out of college or grad school (akin to the MLB draft) and paid big signing bonuses because they’ve shown a propensity to be able to contribute to the Firm quickly and also significantly over time. At the same time, if a company feels that it can get the same return on labor that costs less, they’ll often do it - the recent outsourcing of US jobs to India springs to mind.

Part of the reason players from America garner higher price tags than Latin American players is because the US players have typically had more experience and near-pro training (in High School or College) than their Latin American counterparts - and they’re closer to making the show. Also, let’s talk economies - a miniscule signing bonus by US standards might be more money than some Latin players could ever realistically earn over years in their native countries.

US and Canadian Citizens are also subject to the MLB Draft, whereas Latin American players are not.

If the Latin players were subject to the draft instead of being signed off the calle (street), I think you’d see higher signing bonuses, but possibly fewer Latin players signed.

MLB has recognized the change in its player population and their foreign fans (and their Pesos and Yen) by trying to expand its influence beyond the United States.

Playing recent regular season games in Puerto Rico and Mexico and by sponsoring events like the World Baseball Classic in 2006 are some of the more recognizable efforts.

It’s Globalization. Baseball is not immune.

So Giambi came out with another version of his little “I’m really sorry for doing that thing I really can’t tell you about, even though you all know what it is I’m talking about anwyay” act. This time he added new material about how it was big bad Major League Baseball’s fault that he was forced to plunge a hypodermic needle, over and over again, into his own ass, and they should really apologize for that. The horror.

The Yankees front office, in the true spirit of Renault, announced that it was going to investigate the question [heh-heh] of whether Giambi ever took steroids, [hee-hee], and if so, would assess whether to void his contract [hahahaha].

I’m really left puzzling as to the why the Yankees would choose to address this issue again in this fashion. This entire saga came up in 2004 (shortly after the arrival of Giambi to the Yanks), when his testifimony in the BALCO case, reportedly admitting his steroid use, was leaked.  At the same time he dropped a ton of weight and went from being the power hitter the Yankees had shelled out big bucks for to an overpaid slap-hitter. It would seem that if there had been a time for the Yankees to investigate and exercise the morals clause in the contract, it would have been then.  Although Giambi was sucking at the time, though, the Yanks were winning, so perhaps they thought it less trouble to just avoid the controversy and look too hard. 

Either that or the Yankee’s front-office investigator was this guy:

As it stands, Giambi managed to gain back some of his former power (although now it appears that may have been due to Captain Speed as opposed to Ranger Roid) and actually ended up as one of the “good guys” of the steroid era for a time, a troubling and dodgy category that includes the likes of Jose Canseco.  He’s currently mired in a slump, but I seem to recall at the time his testimony was first revealed he wasn’t exactly burning down the house, so again it seems odd that the Yankees now are taking this seriously. Maybe because the Yankees were winning back then even if Giambi was sucking, it wasn’t as big a deal.

In any event, based on this entire history I would believe there may be some real grounds for Giambi to contest any attempt to void his contract. Some background employment law: most of us are employed “at will,” meaning we can get kicked for any reason, so long as it’s not one of a few legally barred ones (i.e. race, gender, disability, etc.)  Baseball players, however, get individually negotiated contracts (with certain restrictions from the union based on terms collectively bargained), which lay out specfically when they may be dismissed and the contract voided.  Included therein is typically a “morals clause,” where the club is allowed to void for bad behavior, like violating the league’s drug policy . 

It’s true that the law generally favors enforcing the language found in contracts. However, as with all things legal, there are always plenty of principles and exceptions which may serve to confuse what may otherwise seem like a straightforward application of the contract language. While the language of the contract itself may provide for dismissals based on bad behavior, there are several arguments from equity (lawyer talk for “that’s not fair!”) which would seem to favor Giambi. 

In 2004, grounds existed to believe that Giambi had ‘roided up.  The Yanks did nothing.  Estoppel may therefore apply - if Giambi could show that the Yanks through their actions led him to believe that they would not exercise the morals clause for his conduct. they can’t rely on the violation of the steroid band to dismiss.  

Laches may also apply - basically if it was shown that the Yankees took so long to exercise the clause after they had grounds to do so that they in effect waived that contract right.  And there are others which I’m sure Giambi’s sharks are well-versed in.  

Rather than get into this legal thicket, however, the Yanks and Giambi would likely go the trade route first - that way the Yankees don’t have to defend not having known Giambi took steroids in 2004 and Giambi doesn’t have to admit that his steroid use should have been obvious to the team.  This is a nice advantage pro sports teams have over your average Fortune 500 company - you can’t send Larry the Weasel in marketing over to GE for a couple of junior accountants and a mailboy to be named later.

Giambi’s new amphetamine test results are a wrinkle - that wouldn’t be subject to the equitable arguments.  However, that infraction occured under the new testing regime the union and owners hammered out, and would presumably be covered by those procedures and not grounds for voiding the contract.  It’s worth noting that the test result here, for a first offense, was supposed to be confidential.

Even more laughable than the Yanks’ indignation at this point, however, is the fact that MLB and Bud Selig are apparently going to do some principal’s office meeting with Giambi.  At this point, Selig must feel like the driver in that old Twilight Zone episode “The Hitchhiker,” driving faster and faster away from the menacing steroid man only to see him pop up again the next few miles.  He may drive away from Giambi today, but there’s a certain former Mets clubhouse guy waiting just over the horizon.

Yes, I know, different hitcher, but Rutger Hauer is freaking badass

The esteemed Poobah of our little lodge of Water Buffaloes, in a reckless moment, asked if I was interested in writing something for the site. 

I tried in vain to point out that, all appearances to the contrary, I am, in fact, a baseball moron.  I couldn’t calculate a WHIP, OBP, or IRA if you wired me up to an Intel Core Duo.  I have no idea which Tavarez is which, even if you give me their first names.  I follow professional baseball mainly for the freak-show thrill of players like David Wells or my beloved El Guapo and the Count Rugen-esque interest in pain that led me to the Cubs.  In July, we Cub fans typically look like the gentleman above and are considered by the baseball world to be no one of consequence.

Our Poobah reminded me, however, that I am a lawyer (a fact most lawyers successfully repress through the liberal application of martinis and gin-and-tonics) and that there may be some intersection of law and baseball. So I’ll take this inaugural piece to write about the most obvious and relevant meeting point, one raised by our own proponent of Greek love yesterday - Barry Bonds.

It’s become as regular as reports of the latest suicide bombing in Iraq, and for Bud Selig probably equally as welcome: Barry Bonds hits another one out and crept closer to the All-Time Home Run Record. At this point, barring intervention from a God who actually hears and answers Curt Schilling’s prayers (and isn’t that a scary thought), Bonds is going to break Hank Aaron’s record. It’s often remarked that Bud has been waiting for someone, anyone, in law enforcement to rid him of this troublesome Giant. Unfortunately, when you look at what Bonds is potentially on the hook for, it seems Bud may be waiting a while … more after the jump

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