Fining these guys 3 to 5 grand is like fining me 20 bucks, no big deal. But the suspensions could cause LA’s entire season to be a wash! I don’t yet know how the suspensions will be spread out and/or staggered. I’m not sure if the team even knows, but I do know that Frank Robinson will make up the schedule, with no input from Dave Johnson. I don’t think that’s fair. The manager should have some input; he knows his team better than a league official, and he should have the right to prevent his team from being irretrievably weakened. And when you factor in potential injuries, they could end up having to make so many substitutions, they would essentially become a farm team.
And not all of the thirteen players were actively going off on fans: some were just rubbernecking, and others were trying to put out the fire. And why were the coaches cited?
And what about Chicago’s liability? I mean the franchise and the park management and security. It was one of their fans who started it, and others who protracted it.
I didn’t see the incident, but offhand the penalties seem overly harsh. I base this on precedent and the concern that hometown fans might look at what happened and deliberately attempt to provoke visting players into similar situations in the name of “helping their team win”.
It’s funny, a lot has been said about the “drunken” Wrigley fan, and I’m sure the stereotype is at least partially true. But fairness compels me to say that I’ve been to several major league stadiums (Cubs, Yankees, Orioles, Giants, Athletics, Padres, Angels, Dodgers and probably at least one or two more that I’m not thinking of off the top of my head), and the one time I went to Wrigley field, the fans I sat next to were the MOST FRIENDLY fans I ever met at a “foreign stadium”–they knew I was from out of town, and a few went out of their way to show me how to get to my subway stop back to the hotel. I guess I just got lucky, but it’s ironic that this is a DODGER fan talking!
Oh, I should have added to my previous post that the Dodgers might have some “input” into their scheduled suspensions by tactically appealing and then dropping or not dropping their appeals (the timing aspect of the latter).
Davey Johnson’s comment that this will hamstring his team for 84 of the remaining 119 games is pure hogwash–it’s 84 “man-games”. Also, starting pitchers suspended for less than four games might very well be able to incur no real penalty at all, if their suspensions are scheduled (or orchestrated above) in such a way that they don’t miss a turn in the rotation.
A good question that I don’t have the answer for was asked by someone I know from a baseball mailing list: Why on earth did Gary Sheffield (who was day to day with an injury) appeal his suspension? He would have been better off serving the suspension, as he missed that night’s game with an injury anyway. He played tonight, but better to serve his suspension now and be fully healthy when the penalty is over. (He also would have “gained” a game.)
The suspensions were appropriate. The issue was Frank Robinson’s decision to tell the team when each player would start his suspension. (this could impact more than a couple of series)
On a weirder note, one of the “fans” in Chicago is suing the Dodgers. Putz!
That’s like the urban legend (?) about the safari park patron getting out of his car and then suing the park owners because he got his leg chomped off. Again I say, the Chicago franchise should bear some responsibility for lax security.