Josh Hamilton case no Mickey Mouse affair for Angels' Arte Moreno

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 3, 2015 | Bill Shaikin

[EveningStar]

Michael Eisner did not care for the rules. He would look out for his kingdom, in a way that would seem perfectly logical to Arte Moreno, and to a good many fans too. If a player on your team was involved with cocaine, how could the team be forbidden from taking disciplinary action?

In Baseball Land, the employees have a powerful union to protect their interests. And so, on Friday, the commissioner of baseball was reduced to issuing a statement that essentially said, "Yes, I would have suspended Josh Hamilton, but I had no authority to do so."

In 1997, when the Walt Disney Co. owned the Angels and infielder Tony Phillips was arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession, Eisner treated him as he would have treated any other Disney employee. The Angels directed him to enter a treatment program and suspended him when he would not.

[EveningStar]

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[DainBramage]

Thanks for taking him off our hands Angel fans! That dude will get high off sports drinks, Copenhagen, cocaine, alcohol and anything else. If not for his wife he would be on the street, in Jail, or dead.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Yes, I would have suspended Josh Hamilton, but I had no authority to do so.”

So, keep him on the bench.

[dmz]

I’ve never been a Josh Hamilton fan, but how many of us in Baltimore are? I don’t know the terms of his agreement and whether he violated it or not.

Sort of shedding crocodile tears for all involved. Yes, the players union is too strong. But that exemption from the antitrust rules has certainly helped make the owners exceedingly wealthy.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

So...Angles owner Moreno is upset with...

1. a collective bargaining agreement that he voted for

2. a player he signed to a terribly expensive contract (despite a history of drug problems and coming off a 2012 year with the Rangers where he hit .259 over the second half of the season)

Arte's problem with Hamilton is his to own...

[SevenofNine]

He getting high on everything what I hear from sport blogs YIKES

[hadaclueonce]

Hey Josh!

Thanks for quitting on the Rangers! You bastage layed down.
then said us fans suck.

Here is your kiss

[hadaclueonce]

SEE YOU IN THE OBITS MF

[kingu]

I don't know of a single professional sports contract which doesn't contain something like the following: The signed is forbidden from taking part in any activity where there is a significant risk of injury or death, outside of the sport they are signed up in.

Now find a single doctor in the world who would agree that using cocaine recreationaly is considered safe. We'll wait.

Player broke his contract, contract is now void, there's the parking lot, get the hell off my property.

[Pelham]

No sympathy for Arte Moreno here. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving character.

[MinorityRepublican]

Baseball players without character issues that Josh Hamilton has, typically hit their peak when they turn 27 years old. So giving Josh that huge contract was a mistake. Remember Daryl Strawberry? He didn’t last long in his 30s either.