I think you are absolutely right to refute the blame the use of steriods on the Union Chief. The whole steriod era is a collective failure of the players, owners and fans. It is a total waste of energy and resources to say who did what and what degree they are compromised. If people broke the law and can be prosecuted, then let that legal process progress.

I do think the players have a strong Professional Union and they are responsible for establishing the standards and policing their own, because the owners will only do what makes the media and public policy makers content. The Union is predicated on the health and welfare of the members and this body should be in the forefront in protecting their own, even from the owners penchant to throw high salaries for the great numbers. The concept of personal accountability is so often overlooked, but the union should set the consequences for violating the professional standards to give weight to the choices the players make.

I stumbled upon this blog looking for your experinces with a “slap tear”.
hopefully I’ll find that in another blog….
Our son also has very high functioning aspergers with identical traits to your son. We’ve spent an enormous amount of time with maintaining his focus and teaching him his social skills that typically come easily with children without this condition.
Given both you and your wife’s exposure to the community please share with others this key item: Many parents with kids that do not have aspergers (or other condition) just don’t understand the inappropriate behaviors of kids that have this. It can be very wearing on many families. I am sure you understand what I mean.
For me I inject him into as many social settings as he can handle (or me for that matter). Baseball is one of those settings. He’s learned so much both mentally and physically and is progressing nicely (loves it too).

Thanks for sharing this with the community. Truely commendable!

S.J.

In the end, Fehr was running a union. In the end it became one of the highest paid unions in the world. No one likes unions except for people IN unions, and even then it is only a portion of them.

Fehr knew what he was stepping into, what he was doing all along, and how it would end. He just wanted to make it in the time he had in the position.

Obviously his part was only so big as in reality, not a lot of people were talking about this guy before he announced his retirement. It’s his position and the actions and non-actions he committed along with the title in the first place that led to his lifelong legacy.

Great website, I look forward to reading it some more.

Nobody can blame Fehr for what has happened. Can *anybody* watch a player 24-7? He cannot be blamed for Manny & Canseco anymore than you or I can.

“mishandling of those 2003 results”

“malfeasance with a direct negative impact”

You would not have linked this article if you were not on some level
in agreement with Mr. Sheridan.

Only union bullies like Donald Fehr get a pass on matters of morality, integrity & ethics.

Also CHB, better have you on his ballot for the HOF. You are a first ballot HOF, in my mind. In fact in a big game, I would take you over Randy, Tom, Roger, and Greg. Cumulative wins is so overrated. I just hoped you don’t get screwed like Luis has.

1. Players (and Mr. Fehr) aren’t responsible for the rise in ticket prices. The owners would have raised prices to whatever level fans were willing to pay - they just would have kept more money for themselves. So, instead of blaming either side, blame your fellow fans who are willing to fork the money over. If more people stayed home, prices would level or go down. Kudos to Mr. Fehr for getting players their fair share.

2. The great crime of steroids isn’t that hallowed records were broken - although those are the easy headlines. The crime is the minor league player that never makes it because someone less talented cheats and isn’t stopped. This is Mr. Fehr’s failure to players. NFL players have a ridiculously short average life span given how athletic and “fit” they must be to play their sport. Much of that is attributed to the violence of the sport, but surely some of that is because of steroid (and other performance drug) use. When the baseball players of this era start dying younger than their predecessors, then we’ll see how much Mr. Fehr is lauded by his union.

The point with Fehr is this people seem to expect him to have insisted and delivered on something: few of his members were asking for: the owners were not exactly demanding - at least not with any stress. Honestly on drug testing you have to accept it was not his job to deliver it and no one was asking for it. To blame a union leader for not delivering what neither management/ownership nor the players were asking for is nonsensical.

Selig/MLB never asked for an early end to the steroids era pre-Balco/Bonds. If someone who has the best interests of the game in his contract did nothing why crack the Union’s Lawyer?

While players who chose to take PED’s cannot blame anyone but themselves, I believe that the fact the owners have avoided any responsibility in the matter is ludicrous, as they stood to gain more financially than any other person or part of MLB. You point out that the players saw their “income rise by almost 600 percent” under Fehr, which is a whole lot of green. How about access to the owner’s income increase during this period? Should we assume that the owner’s were willing to take a hit in the “profit” column at the expense of the players? When Barry Bonds was being introduced as the “whipping post” for the PED Poster child (including you), I did some brief research on the SF Giants yearly fan attendance and how Bond’s effected it. The year Bonds arrived in SF, their attendance grew from 1.5 mil to 2.6 mil (73% increase in one year). SF saw their attendance break 3 mil. in 2000, peaking at 3.3 mil., and holding strong around 3.1-3.2 throughout 2007 when Bonds retired. SF saw their attendance dip below 3 mil in 2008, and is on pace to see their lowest attendance since 2000. Through out Bond’s career, SF saw attendance grow by 120%, sitting in the top 5 for most of this period. Bond’s breaks the HR record, and baseball couldn’t get him out of Giants uniform quick enough. Why was this? Was it because he disgraced baseball or was it because the owner’s were no longer going to be able to cash in on him as they had done for the previous 10-15 years? To me, this is the ultimate disgrace to the game of baseball.

Decent seats at Camden Yard are $40 per. You add in parking, a hotdog and a couple of flat beers and I am at $200+ for a family of four for one ballgame. Multiply that by 82 games and 4 season season tickets are a $16,000 committment. With median household income in the state of $68,000 those tickets reflect a 23% share of the pre-tax income or nearly 36% after tax.

The freemarketeer in me fully comprehends that market forces are at play and that some people can afford those tickets on a regular basis. Were that not the case the seats would not sell.

It is almost like the real estate bubble: call it the sports ticket bubble. The distance between play and fan has become a gulf between the two with the blue collar / white collar work-a-day guy paying to see a field full of millionaires play a game. I guess I should remind myself that it is, after all, just a game.

Maybe I am a “glass half full” kind of guy: but the financial structure of MLB reminds me of the tech and housing bubble. The average fan is carrying millionaires on his back - the only difference is that Congress will never step in to bail out the fan.

Regards,
T.J.

I completely understand why you would thank him. Because of him, you made alot more cash than you would have with a incompetent Union leader. However, as a fan, I can say he was HORRIBLE for baseball because he never once tried to get the Union to agree to drug testing, fighting it every step of the way. He never once told the members of the union, the union of which he was the leader, how dangerous drug usage was. How much they were hurting their bodies. He could have…but he DIDN’T. He told them EVERYTHING THEY WANTED TO HEAR. He told them…the more HR’s you hit, the more money you will be able to squeeze out of the owners. He told them, IMPLICITLY, to take all the steroids you need to hit the ball very far. You will argue that he never said that, but by NEVER SAYING THE OPPOSITE, he might as well have said it.

All of that being said, Bud Selig and the owners are more at fault at what has happened to baseball than 100 Donald Fehrs. But let’s not canonize Fehr as somebody who took into account the best interest of Baseball. Like Scott Borass and many of the scumbag agents like him, he is only out to make the most money for his clients, the effect on baseball be damned!!!!

The role of unions has changed drastically since the days of worker suppression. A good deal of us (the general public) now look with disdain towards both management and unions. Fair deals are good. Greed is not good. It is the greed of both sides that keeps me in my favorite seat to watch a professional game and that seat is my chair in my living room because that’s what I can afford.

I find in abhorrent when I hear a pro athlete cry poor over a multimillion dollar contract offer. “They don’t respect me” and “I have to feed my family” crawl up the back of my eyeballs when I think of their salaries compared to mine.

So it’s not just the fault of Donald Fehr or his replacement. It is the fault of both management AND the player’s union. However I think the biggest fault may lie with us, the fans, for continuing to pay exorbitant prices to see a game and for buying merchandise that sends more money into the league’s pockets. So much of the blame is on us - the fans.

Of course OUR teams tug on our heart strings because we are fans so we’ll continue going to games and wearing our favorite players jersey. The few hours we spend watching and rooting take us away from the harsh realities of our lives and lets us live those dreams of ours that never came true because we weren’t blessed with the talent we see before us on the field or court. Man, those guys are good.

I love baseball. My grandfather played semi-pro back in the 10s and 20s. I have his glove and one of his bats. I still go to baseball games. I see some of the best talent in the country and all it costs me is a few dollars into the voluntary jar. I’m only a short distance from Bourne, MA so I go watch the Bourne Braves. If you ever get to vacation on Cape Cod you have to take in a Cape League game. The kids aren’t spoiled by money and agents - yet. Sure most of them have aspirations but right now they play because they love the game. Keep you program so you can see when some of those players reach the bigs. When they get there it won’t be the job of the the player’s union rep, whoever that might be, to babysit them. His job will be the same as that of Donald Fehr - to get the most for his clients he can and give up the least. It is the job of the owners to not cave in to some of the outrageous concessions they have made over the years. The only losers in all of this is us - the loyal fans.

Well put. Any American who is subject to drug-testing in the workplace should be thankful to union leaders like Don, who are the only people insisting that fairness and a consideration for workers’ Constitutional rights shouldn’t be overlooked in the process.

Hope you’re doing well.

I’d like to start this off with I am a life long Red Sox fan and Thanks for everything you have done for that organization. I wholeheartedly agree with this blog. People just don’t understand the way business is worked out. Fehr’s job was to look out 100% for the betterment of players’ situation. He did a great job of that, if anyone is going to complain about higher salaries you can chalk that up to simple economics. Which lead to higher overhead costs. These players who used PED’s made their decision, you can place the blame for it on who ever you want, but common sense would say that it was a decision based on individual incentives for higher salaries, which last time I checked Fehr wasn’t paying them.

After reading many of these comments, many have a similarity about the fairness for athletes not using PED’s. My reaction to that is these men make there own decisions. If they choose not to use PED’s maybe they should’ve tried to push for stricter drug testing? Do you really believe that clean athletes cared if they had teammates were using PED’s if it was going to help their team win? Many things could have been done by the players themselves, it’s called whistle-blowing. Fehr was put in a situation where there was tremendous opportunity to higher salaries and make the life of the players better (which is what he was paid to do). In conclusion Fehr represented the players in NEGOTIATION, blame whoever you want for this but Fehr didn’t make the rules, he just did the best he could for the people he represented. If there was an outcry from the players for stricter drug tests then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Thanks,
Wayne

First of all thanks for the memories. We are probably polar opposites politically, but you worked hard, were the consummate professional, and delivered in the clutch. For that thank you.

As for Mr. Fehr I don’t understand how anyone harbors any ill will toward him. He had a job to do and as evidenced by player salaries alone he did it very well. Think the NFL guys would have liked to have him working for them?

People get mad at the players earn, but so few fans understand the fact that the owners are the ones people should be annoyed with. Without the players there is no money, no game, no enjoyment for the fans. Why should the owners clean up off of the sweat of the players? Would people be happier if you earned $50K a year and had an off season job running a landscaping crew?

If the only excuse for Mr. Fehr is, to paraphrase, “he was only doing what he was told to do”, in my mind that is a sad indictment of the man. The players, fans, media and commissioner all share in the majority of the blame but I don’t see how the union can completely be absolved.

As an aside, this is a quote from Senatior McCain directed at Donald Fehr:

“Your failure to commit to addressing this issue straight on and immediately will motivate this committee to search for legislative remedies. I don’t know what they are. But I can tell you, and the players you represent, the status quo is not acceptable. And we will have to act in some way unless the major league players’ union acts in the affirmative and rapid fashion.”

That, to my mind, says that the union is in some way responsible.

Finally, if I can ask a question. You mentioned that the union was at the directive of the players. This means that the players would have opposed stringent drug testing. But did all players feel this way? Where was the voice representing those players who wanted a clamp down on steroid use?

YES.The MLBPA made drug testing an issue at the table, they didn’t come to the table and say protect the majority of MLB and minor league players who are not using PEDs with an aggressive drug testing and suspension policy, In fact they did just the opposite.

Come on G38 you are making an case that has clay fleet. For all the owners looked the other way, the MLBPA fought any testing, any penalty and this created an environment where men were tempted to get an edge that would create fabulous wealth.

The MLBPA fought any testing for years and who led the MLBPA? He allowed the interests of cheaters making mega bucks and running up the salary index for all to trump the interests of the borderline player. Because while guys like Bonds and McGuire and Clemens and Ramirez draw head lines you know it is the borderline guys who are cheating their clean minor league counter parts out of MLB jobs.

Fehr did a great job getting players their piece of the pie. You should be grateful, he helped negotiated a market that made you fabulously wealthy relative to the general population though your drive and talent earned it.

But he is as much an enabler as anyone in the industry if not more so in creating this steroid era. It served the owners well but it served the elite in the MLBPA even more.

As as it made the rank and file more money, Fehr was with the program. And “roids” made the industry all the richer, Crash Davis be damned.

And let’s not even begin to talk about how freakin’ stupid arbitration is as it works today.

If I were a player in the last 20 years with the talent to have had an MLB career I’d love this guy too but his place in history will be mixed at best. He was a happy enabler of the steroid era and the owners who always had bigger $$$ issues were only to happy to look the other way and argue issues like salry cap and revenue sharing.

He will only be hero to those who he enriched and it wasn’t the fans of the game!

Fehr ignored all the rank and file players who were average players and protected the steroid abusers, which predominantly were a lot of the players making the highest players. This put players with average ability in the position of having to choose to use or no longer be able to compete on the playing field. I am sure a lot of good people made bad choices as a result of Fehr’s negligence and allegiance to the Mark McGwire’s and Barry Bonds of the sport. On top of this there are a lot of good players who now have to be accused on a daily basis because of Fehr’s adherence to protecting the cheaters and hurting the players in his own union playing it straight. You brought up Rick Helling, who as far as I can tell a class act. Why was he essentially ignored by Fehr. Fehr is supposed to represent ALL of the players. From the Ed Romeros to the Barry Bonds of the game. Not just the top echelon of players. He put revenue over the health of the players within the union.

In the real world most of us are subjected to it and in the real world you often do not get a second chance. They do background checks that prevent people from getting jobs, public housing, voting, etc., etc.

No head of any union policies the activities of its members. Do you think the head of the UAW ever shows up at the home of the bumper installer and chastises him for his drinking problem? No. Yes, he had an obligation to help keep the health of the industry intact, but he didn’t have the right to do so without the approval of the members of the union. And many of the union members had issues over the matter of privacy in regards to drug testing, as well they should have. No other industry has the right to publish the names of members of a union who failed a drug test. These issues had to be worked out first (obviously, someone would notice if Barry Bonds had been suspended for a year with no explanation). But to put every problem you percieve with the game on Donald Fehr is shortsighted and just plain stupid.

Like I said, if you were in a union and had Donald Fehr representing you and your interests, you would be extremely sad to see him retiring.

1. The 1994 players strike, and the loss of the World Series.
2. Still no resolution in 1995. He basically allows fringe players to be
used, and abused for the gain of current mlb players. Ask Kevin Millar,
Rick Reed, Brian Daubach and anyone else who still not allowed in the
union.
3. Hey Curt….my tickets have gone up more than 600%
4. Fought any kind of testing.

Whatever….They are replacing Fehr with some Wiener…..An Oxymoron if you ask me.

Look forward to more of your blogs but let’s not make Fehr a saint; he is far from innocent.

And then:

“It’s Donald Fehr’s fault that owners paid salaries to a level that has driven the ‘common fan’ away from the bleachers?”

Doesn’t the first quote indicate that the answer to the second quote is “yes”?

Thank you for your response. I feel I have a better understanding of your position - that as he acted on instructions of the players that it is the players, and not chiefly his, responsibility. Perhaps there is some merit to that; as Bob Rishar points out, lawyers are not held responsible for the views of their clients. However, another analogy might be more apt - the president executes the whims of Congress, and yet remains accountable for the actions he takes because of his broad discretion in how to execute Congress’s whims. So too, I understand, Mr. Fehr made decisions executing the whim of the union, and it is how he executed the union’s whim for which he should be held accountable (and merely that, unless you felt he had a greater duty towards baseball, fans, the country, the truth, a higher power, etc. to work towards ensuring prevention, accountability and disclosure). It is a dilemna.

And it is precisely because it is a dilemna I remain unconvinced that endorsing Mr. Fehr’s legacy is the right call. Nonetheless, as you are much closer to the situation than I am (as a casual fan since, really, 2003), I’ll trust that if you believe that unequivacally endorsing Mr. Fehr’s legacy is the right call, I will respect your position.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Incentives affect behavior. Fehr fought to maintain a zero-punishment policy for steroids. That led to widespread use.

A more moral person in Fehr’s position would have stood up and led. He would have talked about the dangers to health, the danger to the game’s reputation, and the unfairness to players trying to do it right. He never did, until Congress forced him, as Sheridan writes.

It’s Donald Fehr’s fault that the sports media, like eveyrone else, took the 1997, ‘98 seasons at face value

Sheridan doesn’t absolve Selig of all responsibility in that column, and I suspect he’s honest enough to admit that the media, too, shares blame.

I will point out a couple things though. The first is the “anonymous” test results mentioned by Sheridan. In a desperate attempt to show that the 2003 testing included enough false positives as to bring the number of accurate positives below the 5% threshold for continued testing, the players union asked that the results were preserved for investigation. This made the court order for these results possible, and directly led to the Rodriguez and Sosa revelations, and around 100 more possible leaks. The worst part is that Fehr had absolutely no statistical chance of getting enough false positives to get below 5%.

The other thing I’ll point out is the lack of support he provided for players like Rick Helling — guys who were fed up with the steroid issue and wanted to see changes. By ignoring those voices, Fehr might have secured hundreds of millions for A-Roid, but who knows how many honest players he helped push out of a paycheck because they weren’t willing to cheat but didn’t have a union that would agree to drug testing. Why are the Rick Hellings any less worthy of defense and bargaining than the muscle-bound cheaters? By keeping drug testing off the table for so long, Fehr ignored the well-being of the many honest men in his union.

I agree with your call for personal responsibility, however, Mr. Fehr does share some of the responsibility. The deals negotiated with the unions do not encourage a clean sport, even now. No regular testing (why isn’t it monthly or even bi-monthly and for every player?), no true accountability (Isn’t Manny still going to make 10+ million this year? Isn’t he even playing in the minors right now? Why aren’t cheaters banned for life?), and no full-disclosure to sanctify the present at the expense of the past.

In addition, it is my understanding that the union has, on multiple occassions, encouraged players not to talk about steriods.

Mr. Fehr has some responsibility. Selig, the players, umpires, media and fans all share it.

But to honor and absolve the man who was principally responsible for the union deals preventing regular testing, accountabiilty, and full-disclosure…well, Mr. Schilling, that just doesn’t seem to me to be the right approach.

Thank you for your hard work. Please reconsider your position, or do me the courtesy of explaining where I’m off base.

Respectfully,

Jeff
Don Fehr, like everyone else at the MLBPA, worked for us, not the other way around. It might have seemed different many times throughout the years, but he never acted alone, or did things on a whim, he acted and worked how we told him as a union to, and for that the onus is on the players.

Grew up watching Mike Schmidt and Lefty Named my 2 boy’s after baseball payers Carlton and Schmidt Steven Michael even though I was George the III and my youngest Brett after George Brett.

So I seen a lot of philly ball and you are the Man!!!

Thanks for the memories.

Yours truly,

George III Number 1 Curt Schilling Philly Fan!!!

Also play Squad Leader…You know what I’m talking about….

Arizona Diamondbacks righthander Curt Schilling thinks twice before giving a teammate the traditional slap on the butt for a job well-done. “I’ll pat guys on the ass, and they’ll look at me and go, ‘Don’t hit me there, man. It hurts,’” Schilling says. “That’s because that’s where they shoot the steroid needles.”

And from later in the article:

Schilling says that muscle-building drugs have transformed baseball into something of a freak show. “You sit there and look at some of these players and you know what’s going on,” he says. “Guys out there look like Mr. Potato Head, with a head and arms and six or seven body parts that just don’t look right. They don’t fit.

But yet in front of congress 3 years later all you do was call Canseco a liar?

You know Curt if you tell you truth-you don’t have to worry about keeping your stories straight!

Good story, but it makes me wonder how/why things have changed so much since then. Now kids are getting drafted, and holding out for millions of dollars. Its obvious that baseball is a big business now, and there is more money floating around, but what happen to going and pitching in the minors to earn your way into the bigs. Now days kids are getting drafted and signed to contracts that set them up for life before ever throwing a big league pitch. To me its a little sad, but I guess it is what it is. Thanks for sharing.

I’m a yankee fan living in rhode island and I respected you when you were on the phillies, the diamondbacks, and finally the red sox. I’ve acknowledged all your accomplishments. The 2004 ALCS was grueling to watch but that was a great pitching performance you put on. In the back of my mind even after the series was 3-0 yanks, I had a bad feeling the sox that year were capable of coming back (no i’m not lieing). But anyways, that’s besides the point. What you said in this blog was 100 % correct in my opinion and I don’t think it could have been said any better (although I think you shouold have included Derek Jeter in your list of players who play the game right).

Musta been interesting to come full circle and end where you started (kinda).

Bet you wish you had somewhere to sign up and win a free Sox t-shirt! (www.4sportboston.com)

A man of refined taste.

Great story.

So was Ray Boone right there after the draft to sign you, since you said you were signed an hour after the fact? I take it you did NOT have an agent back then?

I’d love tp hear more stories like this..it;s the ol’ History major in me

Thanks!

Just for your amazing strength, your spirit, and your tell it like it is attitude. Lets just say I’m glad Massachusetts can still call you a citizen. Hope you stay for a long long time.

Let me tell you what’s not to like about Mr Strasburg. There is a side by side video on the net of him and Prior. The exact same injurious loop in his delivery that got Prior. Scary.

He also has terrible reverse pitching forearm bounce. It is scary to think that our successful businessman own baseball teams it makes one wonder how well our businesses are being run.

Anyway unless Mr Kasden make a call down to Zephyrhills Mr Strasburg will be a blip on the baseball screen. The first thing you will see go is his velocity.

Steve Sullivan

PS. still waiting for your great internet debater EC to answer my 4 simple questions.

Dave Dangler? That’s his real name?

Seriously, though, I’ve talked to several parents over the last few weeks who have sons that have just finished their junior or senior seasons in college who are planning to watch/listen to all 50 rounds in hopes that they will hear their son’s name called because their sons have told them that they “talked to a scout”. I wish them all good luck, but I’m afraid that they are going to be disappointed for the most part.

I don’t know if anyone else has seen it yet, but the movie “Sugar” is a cool story about a Dominican pitcher being drafted and joining a minor league team in Bridgetown, Iowa. The baseball action is a bit stiff, but its an interesting story of trying to break into pro ball.

Anyway, thanks again Curt, stuff like this is a ton of fun to read.

Here’s to a great day in the lives of some very hopeful young men…

Chaiah

On a baseball topic, I had the chance to see Randy pitch while he was still with the Mariners - one of his amazing 20 K games. The man is outstanding, and I’m sad he ever had to leave - although I’m glad he was able to get the Series win he wanted.

I’m a Braves fan who was spoiled by the Smoltz-Glavine-Maddux years. Those guys will always be tops in my book, but all good things come to an end, and each of those guys chose to go elsewhere as free agents…

http://www.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=114849

I gathered there had to be something, some reason as to why they let him go in the first place — and wouldn’t consider bringing him back when he would absolutely fill a void that is needed. I gathered it was some personality issue, and I personally suspected clubhouse, so thank you for at least suggesting that there was SOME issue. As a fan — it’s hard to understand why they’d skirt the option of a player who clearly has value and was attainable.

I wish I’d been awake to participate.

I’ve heard pitching coaches, managers, scouts, etc. talk about pitchers who have “late movement” on their pitches, which is highly desireable and effective in getting strikeouts. Is late movement something you either have on your pitches or you don’t, something that some of your pitches have, or are there adjustments a player can make to achieve late movement? Is late movement affected by arm slot, pitch speed or other mechanics? Are you aware of any Boston organizational initiatives to find out how to develop this skill, or do they look to acquire pitchers who have this ability? Thank you.

Jay B

I am moved by your comments about Grant. My daughter has cerebral palsy and is thus challenged in every way. My wife and I had accepted that our role as parents would likely entail a lifetime of care for her. However, Cadence has recently been accepted to participate in a cord blood reinfusion program at Duke University. As you might know, cord blood has a myriad of stem cells and stem cells have unparalleled regenerative properties. The cost of the treatment is not covered by insurance. We are thus having some community fundraising events to cover the costs. We would love to have your support. If this interests you, please visit the following site: http://www.cadyscause.blogspot.com

Good luck with your son and thank you for your time.

Corey Smith

Listening to Curt’s discussion on sports radio describing the transition in town with dealing with a child with Asperger’s syndrome was heart warming, as well as heart wrenching. My husband and I coach a baseball team in Norwood for “Challenger Children” as part of the Norwood Little League, and it is nothing short of rewarding. All of the children have various degrees of Autism, Down’s Syndrome and Asperger’s Syndrome, and I have had the pleasure of watching so many of them excel in an environment where they are accepted for their abilities and are never looked upon as “different”. Don’t know if this is something that your son Grant would find as a fit, but thought it might be something for you to consider.

May your journey be as rewarding and fullfilling for both of you, as well as Grant, as ours have been working with children like Grant.

Do you have any response to Keith Foulke’s comments about you?

Just like the idiots who got on Obama for making the speech at Notre Dame. I am not a fan of Obama one bit, but the fact is that he was invited to speak so he spoke. Why should he turn down the invite? Same with Manny and ARod…why should they turn down the invite when they are voted in by the idiot fans? It seems in this society we are always turning around the responsibility and blaming the wrong people…or putting the burden of “showing some class” on the wrong party.