FANNING WAR - A strike against Baseball Hall of Fame By MARK McGUIRE

Houston Chronicle ^ | April 11, 2003, 11:36PM | By MARK McGUIRE

[weegee]

Babe Ruth once declined to have his picture taken with presidential candidate Herbert Hoover. "Nothing doing on politics," Ruth said.

The baseball version of the separation of church and state is now shattered. In one letter to one person, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has issued an edict to millions: If you oppose the war in Iraq, you're not welcome in Cooperstown.

Dale Petroskey, a White House assistant press secretary in the Reagan administration, canceled the Hall's 15th anniversary celebration of the classic baseball film Bull Durham. The reason: Two of its stars, Tim Robbins and companion Susan Sarandon, vocally oppose the war in Iraq.

The two, along with writer/director Ron Shelton and actor Robert Wuhl, were to be in Cooperstown later this month to mark the anniversary. (Co-star Kevin Costner had a scheduling conflict.)

"We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important -- and sensitive -- time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger," Petroskey wrote Monday in a letter to Robbins. "As an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict.

"As a result, we have decided to cancel the April 26-27 programs in Cooperstown ... "

What's Petroskey going to do next? Remove all references to the Montreal Expos because of the French?

More questions:

Why is the head of a sports museum making determinations about troop security? And:

Why is the Baseball Hall of Fame involved in a political debate?

These people were not coming to Cooperstown to talk about the war. They were coming to talk about a great, great comedy -- arguably the best baseball movie ever made.

"I thought it would be a nice little weekend away from all this talk of war and politics," Robbins said Thursday. "I'm sorry that Mr. Petroskey has chosen to politicize it."

"For God's sake, let's leave baseball out of it," he added.

It doesn't matter if you agree with the anti-war stance of Robbins and Sarandon. I don't. But it has absolutely zero bearing on this issue.

What does matter is Petroskey has politicized the beloved national treasure that is the Hall of Fame. He's explicitly taken a sanctuary that's spiritually and geographically removed from everyday concerns and turned it into a partisan and political tool. Being a fan, being "worthy" of Cooperstown, now comes with a litmus test.

"No matter where you stand, everybody can tell this is just one step too far from the spirit of what baseball is supposed to be," Sarandon said.

In a follow-up statement Friday posted on the Hall's Web site, Petroskey said, "This institution should never be used as a platform for public pro-war sentiments -- nor public anti-war sentiments."

I couldn't agree more -- except that he violated that spirit in his letter to Robbins.

Petroskey also wrote that "a strong possibility existed that they could have used The Hall of Fame as a backdrop for their views."

Petroskey could have alleviated that worry by explicity telling the two to stick to baseball and the movies, that the Hall is an apolitical venue. If Robbins and Sarandon demurred, then Petroskey would have been right to cancel the appearance.

Sarandon said she didn't even think the couple was going to speak at the event. Certainly, she and Robbins said, they did not intend to make it a political appearance.

"We've got plenty of venues. It never had occurred to either of us," she said Thursday. "We were going with our (three) kids as a family. We were looking forward to it."

I've admired Petroskey and his stewardship of the Hall since he took over in July 1999. But he's brazenly imposing his partisan political beliefs on an institution that should be decidedly apolitical. There's no defense.

Robbins, Sarandon and Shelton now all question whether they can again visit the Hall of Fame with their families, at least in the near future.

"I'd be a little frightened," Sarandon said. "It's a scary letter."

It should be scary, and sad, to all of us.

McGuire writes for the Albany Times Union in New York.

[weegee]

The writer:

...is not THIS guy:

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[goldstategop]

Liberals could give a rats' ass about baseball. After all they loathe America, motherhood, apple pie and baseball.

[PGalt]

McGuire swings...and he misses.

[Elle Bee]

In one letter to one person, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has issued an edict to millions: If you oppose the war in Iraq, you're not welcome in Cooperstown.

Here is the false premise upon which this article is built

Garbage in gargage out

.

[goldstategop]

No one is telling Lefties they can't attend baseball games but baseball is within its rights not to honor those who don't give a fig's leaf about this country's freedoms - or the men and women who give their lives to see to it we can still enjoy them.

[Keith in Iowa]

Those that can, play - those that can't play become sports writers...

[rvoitier]

Can't wait for his new show, "This Week w/Stephanopolus McGuire"

[UCFRoadWarrior]

I guarantee you.....if an organization cancelled an event GWB was to be at....the left could care less. They would even congratulate the group.

I wouldnt be surprised, though, that the Baseball HOF also didnt want the event marred w boos and howls because of Robbins and his girlfriend there

[Blue Jays]

Good Morning All-

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins couldn't resist the temptation to slam President Bush and our forces liberating Iraq....no matter what the opportunity might be.

Now they're throwing a little hissy-fit because they were "busted" by the Cooperstown H.o.F. before they could do anything!

~ Blue Jays ~

[Corin Stormhands]

Remove all references to the Montreal Expos because of the French?

Hey...there's a thought...

[jwh_Denver]

McGuire swings...and he misses.

McGuire shoots and he catches the mainline. Bulk up with little balls.

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

LOL! I actually read the entire column thinking it was written by Mark McGwire, not Mark McGuire! Thanks for the pictures.

I would've canceled the Sarandon event simply because the sport of baseball is so much better than any movie that's ever been made about it. Although, I did enjoy the 1981 movie, "Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige," starring Louis Gossett. It was real high-quality work, not like most of the run-of-the-mill crap Hollywood puts out.

[Toskrin]

Mr. and Mrs. Sarandon have used every nonpolitical event they have ever attended to spout their political views. What makes Mr. McGuire think that Cooperstown would be any different? They are welcome to their opinions, but these immature brats need to learn that past actions have consequences, if even as small as a snub from Cooperstown.

Go cry about it on Pete Rose's shoulder.

[Brian Allen]

Dale Petroskey pre-emptively secures the Hall of Fame against attack by a couple of the self-appointed lunatic left-wing fringe's most rabidly anti-American attack shitzus -- and the peanut who wrote this slanted crap manages to take offense on behalf of baseball?

And why, I wonder, would he find it necessary to qualify Mr Petroskey as a one-time staffer for former President Reagan? And not mention that both Robbins and Saran Wrap have a long and well-documented track record of full-on full-time anti-American treachery?

Bah! Humbug!

[SoCal Pubbie]

Hmm, did this guy write the same kind of article when Al Campanis and John Rocker got in trouble?

[Conservative til I die]

Babe Ruth once declined to have his picture taken with presidential candidate Herbert Hoover. "Nothing doing on politics," Ruth said.

That's bullcrap, because in reading a biography of the Babe, he actively campaigned for Al Smith, who ran against Hoover on th Democratic ticket in 1928. The reason primarily is that Smith was a Catholic like the Babe.

[weegee]

It's funny that these lefties are against the politicizing of the Baseball HOF (or Baseball in general) but they are quite willing to permit the Oscars, American Music Awards, and Hollywood entertainment in general to be politicized.

The only politicizing here was to nip this in the bud when it started to flare up (some people reported to the Hall that they would have a problem with this, and some of them have the initials FR...).

It's funny that he calls Tim Robbins and Susan Sarrandon stars of the movie while he lists Kevin Costner as a co-star. I guess Kevin must have just done a walk on...

[weegee]

When I saw this editorial online this morning (on the Chronicle's site) I made the same connection. It wasn't until I looked at the bried attribution at the bottom that I realized the game the Houston Comical was playing (I have no doubt that the only reason that they selected this mushhead's rant over the others on this topic was the similarity of his name to a man who took the nation's mind off of Clinton's embarassments and made them think of Baseball as America's passtime).

I wanted to make sure that others did not make that same error in judgement.

[Terry Mross]

Petroskey plainly stated that the HOF should not be used for pro or anti war statements. Apparently the writer failed to read what he wrote.

If Petroskey had asked Robbins and Sarandan not to speak out against the war he would have been accused of stifling free speech.

Sarandan said they wanted to attend with their three children as a "family". Here's a little advice: GET MARRIED!