Are we making allowances for his age? 15 is old enough to know better, but it’s not old enough that the “expected result of his actions” part of his brain was fully developed.
To a teenager, how obvious is the connection between touching a child’s private parts and being allowed to play professional baseball?
According to Wiki, the Mexican League season is 114 games, so about five months long. And, according to this, the maximum salary for players is $10k per month. (Although, the article notes that there exceptions to this, primarily to former big-league players.) So, it appears that the top players in the Mexican League earn $50k per season. Not less than US minimum wage, but certainly not great, either.
Well, according to SB Nation, Major League Baseball has severed its relationship with the Mexican League.
So the idea of using the Mexican League as a springboard to signing with a big-league team is no longer viable, at least for now.
Right. But if you are trained as an accountant, should you be barred from all accounting jobs because of your past sins? (Or, as Bryan Ekers asked, barred from playing professional baseball?)
I don’t see how possibly not considering the ramifications of committing a heinous act you know is wrong is really pertinent.
“I knew this murder I committed was wrong but didn’t think my state had the death penalty (or didn’t think I’d get caught), therefore I shouldn’t be put to death?”
I could buy that if the sins had some connection to accounting, like fraud or embezzlement. The connection between child molesting and professional baseball is unclear at best.
I knew things were rough in Mexico, but I didn’t realize child molesters were turning off baseball stadium lights. That’s weird.
Professional baseball relies on fans attending games, purchasing team stuff, etc. I’d want no parts of a team that hired people who have abused animals or children and I think a large part of many markets would feel similarly.
Regular jobs and sports are apples and oranges. Garden variety felonies and child molestation are as well.
With baseball you are the “face” of the team- an accountant is one guy in an office of fifty. No one watches an accountant go about his work- thousands of kids would be in the stands if molester pitched in the US. Players’ kids are constantly in the clubhouse- I don’t think accountants have bring your kids to work day. Signing autographs and interacting with kids is a daily thing for baseball players- not so much for regular jobs.
Are we going to have Luke Heimlich bobble head night? But I adore the idea of his entrance music being by Gary Glitter- it should be a requirement, as sort of a warning for those who don’t know his past.
But saying that, if my job finds out I did what he did, I would be fired on the spot, and would expect to be. I would probably expect to have to legally change my name and move out of state to have a semblance of a normal life.
Ah, now we have the crux of the matter. What is a “heinous crime” and what isn’t? Apparently, it’s in the eye of the beholder because we have people out there who have made hundreds of millions - even billions - of dollars off of the suffering and afflictions of helpless people while becoming rich doing it. Big Pharma charges fabulously high prices for life saving drugs, and then stands coldly by while the impoverished die because they can’t pay for them. Not only have they never spent a day in jail, they are prospering mightily and have unlimited options.
We can’t be bothered with that stuff, though, because we are too busy trying to totally destroy the life of a man who, at the age of 15, was inappropriate with a child.
There is no consistency in our legal (I refuse to use the word justice) system nor in the judgment of society in general.
Please, spare me your self-righteous outrage.
Do you think all juvenile criminals should be tried and sentenced as adults?
While not really the topic, I would think most would agree if ranking the list of all possible crimes from most heinous to least, murder and child abuse would be the top two. So if your issue here is I am complaining about a little old child molester instead of Pol Pot, point taken.
No, case by case, but that isn’t the case here, he was sentenced under juvenile laws.
Very infamous UK case in 1969 or so, nine year old Mary Bell, after years of suffering unconscionable abuse, actually murdered a small child. Unbelievably rare at the age.
But absolutely would not have happened had her abuse not skewed her sense of right and wrong. So case by case.
Luke Heimlich has no such excuse- none.
Well, the team can decide if they want to take that chance with their public image. The OP seems to want an actual ban on the player independent of what the team might decide, in the name of continuing to punish the player.
Actually the first sentence of the thread is asking why the individual Mexican team signed him, but yes, would have loved to have seen the league President step in and say hell no.
Same as I hope no MLB team signs him, I would prefer the league to come out and say, sorry, certain crimes preclude you from playing in our league, we have a code of conduct which you fail to meet. Kids are a big part of our profession, and we cannot have someone around them with his past- imagine what would happen if a young fan accused him of something?
Molesters’ civil rights are not violated by a sports league feeling his type is not what they want to represent their league.
I get fired from a job in my profession for doing this, I realize I may need to find a new profession.
If I commit a crime involving a child, I know I will never be allowed to have a job involving children. And yes, baseball involves children- fans, teammates kids, all that.
Helmut Doork, is this all just about a desire to see this guy suffer more? Or what? I can’t see any other motivation through your posts.
You could make that argument about virtually any job a child molester might apply for - well, gosh, he can’t be a CPA, think of all those other wannabe accountants who could hold that job! He can’t be mail-sorter, think of all the other wannabe mail-sorters who could hold that job!
He’s allowed to apply for any job he meets the qualifications for (some jobs have as a qualification “not a sex offender” so he couldn’t do those). Is he good enough to get hired for minor league baseball in Mexico? Yes. Does being a sex offender bar him from that job? No. What exactly do you have a problem with here - that he has a job at all?
Sure, there are other folks who apply to minor leagues and don’t qualify who have to get other jobs. Gee, maybe this guy, despite being a child molester, is a bit more qualified for the job than they are. If he wasn’t, yeah, he’d have to find a different job.
One of the reasons the US has a recidivist problem is the bias against convicted felons getting ANY job. Once a criminal has done his time, and so long as he conforms to both the law and any additional requirements imposed as punishment (such as registering as a sex offender) he should be able to apply for and do any job for which he is qualified.
My desire is to not turn on a baseball game in two years and see a child molester living the good life, making millions, pitching for the local team.
I have no problem at all with molester getting a nine to five, having a family, friends, and everything thing else people have. But in all honesty, wouldn’t mind hearing someone saw him in a bar and beat him within an inch of his life, either- I’m odd like that I guess, I don’t care for unrepentant child molesters
Actually, they do - it’s the same “take your kids to work day” everyone else has. Also, sometimes child care arrangements for accounts fall through and the kids wind up at mom or dad’s workplace for the rest of the day.
Frankly, I’d be less concerned with a convicted child molester playing baseball than, say, working as a laundromat attendant, or at a grocery store, where there are a lot fewer eyes on the workers and kids around every single day.
Since I have no idea what you do for a living I have no idea how pertinent such a crime would be to your employment. However, I don’t believe sex offenders are permitted to change their names, and if you are required to register as an offender moving out of state won’t change that. The intent, of course, is to prevent such offenders from ever having “a semblance of a normal life” ever again.
For those opining that not being allowed to play ball for a living is “additional punishment”, please note molester has not received any punishment, at all, for his crime- none. He plead guilty with no time served, no fine,- nothing.
It wouldn’t have been even made public if he wasn’t stupid enough to not update his registry. So if not for being extremely stupid, this would be sealed and expunged from his record- he would have zero repercussions for this most heinous of crimes. So I think no pro ball is a fair punishment for a child molester who was not otherwise punished in the least.
Your TV has this thing called an “off” switch…
Personally, I would prefer such a criminal not live the good life but sometimes they do - see Roman Polanski. I would prefer that his profits from his movies go to his victims. I would prefer that he serve an actual jail sentence for what he did. But none of that is going to happen so rather than get in a lather about it I just don’t watch his movies. I don’t have to participate in enriching a criminal who got away with his crime.
It is highly that a child molester is going to lose custody of whatever kids he may have at the time, and have a hard time keeping custody of any subsequent ones. Damn few people are going to be friends with such a person. Ostracizing by family is pretty common. Even if a convicted molester has a good job and financial security they are NOT going to have a normal life in our society, and they are NOT going to have everything else people have.
I would object to that because human beings shouldn’t lose their rights or the protection of the law even if they are themselves criminals. Equal justice for all means exactly that: justice for ALL people. Even the not-nice ones. I do understand loathing the sort of pervert that is a child molester as I have a heap of that myself, but I can not condone extra-judicial violence.
I’m also curious how you have personal knowledge of whether or not this guy is repentant. Do you know him personally? Otherwise, how do you know he doesn’t regret his actions every minute of every day?