A sad day in baseball

 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 5/29/2008

 Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig have decided that owners and players like Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada who were implicated in the now-famous $27 million investigative Mitchell Report, where many players were found to have cheated and violated the rules of baseball by using performance-enhancing steroids and HGH, will not be fined or suspended. That’s a sad commentary on the sport’s ethical standards.

 Sox take Central lead

 The Chicago White Sox lead the American Central Division on Memorial Day. One of the key reasons why is left fielder Carlos Quentin; he leads the American League with 14 home runs, has driven in 45 runs, and is hitting .300. 

 The Sox General Manager Ken Williams made the trade to acquire Quentin back in the winter meetings with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is making just $400,000 this season. The Twins are looking up at the White Sox primarily because they have struggled defensively — they are next to last in team fielding in the American League.

 Yankees lead in pay

 Major League Baseball released its list of the top 40 highest paid players in baseball. The New York Yankees have the top three highest paid players per season, and, to no one’s surprise, there are no Minnesota Twins listed.

 Alex Rodriguez  is number one at $28 million, Jason Giambi is number two at $23 million, and Derek Jeter is number three at $21 million. There are two former Twins listed, however: Johan Santana is seventh at $16,984,000, and Torii Hunter is ninth at $16,500,000

 Timberwolves have third pick

 The Minnesota Timberwolves, after finishing the season 22-60, will receive the third overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. It is very unlikely that Memphis star point guard Derrick Rose or Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley will be available. The Chicago Bulls won the NBA Draft Lottery to have the first pick, and the Miami Heat have the number-two pick.

 Two former number-one overall picks that helped turned NBA franchises around are Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal. Both players have won four NBA Championships respectively.

 The New York Knicks have fired two coaches in the last five years who lost 59 games, Larry Brown and Isaiah Thomas. The Timberwolves gave no consideration to convincing Mike D’Antoni, the new Knicks coach, to come to Minneapolis.

 NBA active players who have scored the most career points and have never won an NBA title: Allen Iverson (22,988), Kevin Garnett (20,378), Ray Allen (18,227), Dirk Nowitzki (16,990), and Paul Pierce (16,945).

 Fitz Notes & Quotes

 In last week’s column, I asked Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy about the city of Indianapolis’ hope of bidding on a future Super Bowl. In their spring meetings last week, the NFL owners awarded Indianapolis, Indiana, the 2012 Super Bowl. On Sunday, September 14, the Vikings open their home season with Dungy, Peyton Manning and the Colts.

 Former NBA star and current TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley was right years ago when he said in his now famous NIKE commercial that “All athletes are not role models.” Barkley has lost nearly $10 million gambling; he lost $400,000 this year alone betting on the Super Bowl.

It has been reported that baseball’s Roger Clemens and basketball’s Karl Malone have had sexual relations with 15- and 12-year-old girls. 

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-re corder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.