Reese Kaplan -- Baseball Should Embrace Human Dignity Over Winning

Today’s news headlines out of Los Angeles revealed the behavior that’s led to the testimony of nine-figure pitcher Trevor Bauer and his accuser legal sessions.  The more you read the details the more distasteful the whole situation becomes and most folks feel it’s going to get worse with each passing day.  

According to the victim, Bauer choked her to the point of unconsciousness, punched her in the vagina and engaged in many rough-sex activities that at the least make people cringe and at the worst would be criminal in nature.  What complicates things is the fact that after encountering the Trevor Bauer treatment once, she stuck around for a second encounter which apparently upped the assault during sexual activity and resulted in a five-year restraining order against the baseball player.  

As an example, while she was unconscious, the 27-year old San Diego woman awakened to find Bauer anally raping her which was never something she agreed to allow.  Now to be fair to the accused, if the first encounter resulted in this type of behavior, why would you acquiesce and agree to a second “date” with the man?

During that episode Bauer punched her in the face, between her legs and on her buttocks leaving her with incredible and lasting pain.  At the hospital she had a sexual assault examination done by the nurse and looked for the restraining order as an alternative to waiting for the results of a criminal investigation by police.

Now the woman involved was not exactly a picture of pure living either.  She had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism, though claimed to be free for the past two years before meeting Bauer.  Once the second session with Bauer left her in need of medical care, she was no longer able to return to her job where she had been a member of the team helping others with substance abuse issues live and without their artificial enhancements.

One question facing nearly everyone looking in from the outside is whether or not Bauer would ever pitch again.  It’s difficult in the normal world to think that a criminal level of sexual assault wouldn’t allow for a regular citizen to resume a pre-trial way of life.  

Of course, that giant presumption is that a celebrity would be treated the same way as any other citizen.  Let’s assume that it becomes something of an ugly draw in which the woman wins her restraining order from Bauer but there is not a criminal conviction.  Would teams entertain making Trevor Bauer a part of their pitching rotation in 2022 and beyond?

Unfortunately, I think the answer is a resounding yes.  The annals of baseball history are littered with numerous players whose behavior would have excluded them from making a living, but their talent for the game overshadowed the less than savory personal behavior.  No example is clearer than a relief pitcher with a 47-41 career record, a 3.03 career ERA and 91 saves who fell off the substance abuse wagon not once or twice but seven times.  Steve Howe’s legacy is that ability on the field will trump personal behavior.

Many players have done far worse than what Bauer is alleged to have done.  Pitcher Ugueth Urbina attempted to murder someone.  Former New York Mets pitcher Julio Machado succeeded in doing so by gunfire in his native Venezuela.  Mel Hall is serving a long-term sentence over sexual improprieties with children and indecency.  His replacement, Chad Curtis, went to jail for criminal sexual assault.  Denny McLain was jailed for a variety of gambling related criminal activities.  Oil Can Boyd was imprisoned for threatening to kill his girlfriend.  Lenny Dykstra was a poster child for a wide swath of various illegal activities.  I won’t even get into the litany of drug charges and tax evasion cases.  

The one thing that’s true in most of these criminal cases, however, is that they occurred after a player was no longer in his baseball prime.  Pitcher Esteban Loaiza was heading up a smuggling ring once he’d given up pitching.  Machado hadn’t done anything to distinguish himself on the field.  Urbina was an interesting case as he was just 31 when his actions occurred and had been a two-time All Star.  His gunshot took him out of Major League Baseball. This year Marcell Ozuna was taken out of baseball as a result of the assault he put on his wife.

Unfortunately, sexual activities are not regarded with the same level of acrimony as other types of crimes.  In historic tradition, the victim is being dragged through the mud by Bauer’s attorney, blaming the victim for engaging in this sordid behavior. MLB will likely make Bauer miss a year of baseball for his highly conspicuous and questionable way of treating a woman.  However, assuming he’s off for 2022 without pay, come 2023 he will still be just 32 years of age and likely able to net a 3-4 year deal from a club who thinks what he can do with his arm is more beneficial to them than his behavior will harm their public relations.  Winners are forgiven for their transgressions.  At least that’s what happens when you are a celebrity.