"He Flipped Us And Got What He Deserved": A Royal Mugging In Chicago

The Polo Grounds: A Calm Review of Baseball ^ | 20 September 2002 | Jeff Kallman

[BluesDuke]

Gamboa is handling this incident with more class than the White Sox deserve. Put the whole damn pack of that team in the Hall of Shame. (And, maybe, Paul Konerko should duck a few fastballs to his head awhile? And to think this was the guy who accused a few of his teammates of having no heart earlier in the season? Come on, Yellow Sox - it isn't like this game had the pennant on the line. Show some class. You should have at least done something to help Mr. Gamboa and roust the thugs who poleaxed him.)

[BluesDuke]

*Chicago Hall of Shame bump*

[breakem]

Firstbaseman, second baseman, and first base umpire had feet locked in cement.

[andysandmikesmom]

I agree with you Blues...being a native of Chicago, and having lived there for 32 yrs, I must say, watching this attack just made me sick, and I kept wondering why it was, that only the Royals were pummeling those thugs...it just seemed like the whole White Sox team was just standing around doing nothing...how embarrassing...

Glad I have always been a Chicago Cubs fan...I would hope, that they would have had the decency and good common sense, to stop that attack...

I hope that those two worthless thugs, get smacked around in court...fine example of that jerk of father to show to his son...and when the son winds up in jail, a few years from now, that dad can be so proud of himself, of the worthless example he gave to his son...

On a side note Blues...did you get to see the film of Lou Pinella throwing a terrible fit at the Mariners game a few nights ago...he was so upset, I really thought they were going to wind up taking him to the hospital...when he ripped 1st base out of the ground and threw it, I lost it...boy was he mad..

[spokeshave]

Translation please.....

I was hoping it was the islamaanic who was giving the double finger outside the NY court where ythe NY 6 Yemeni terrorist cell are being held pending bail hearings.

[nopardons]

Thanks for the ping. My daughter & son-in-law were watching the game, and saw it all unfold ... LIVE. We've been talking about it, since it happened. I've now seen it too. What a buch of poltroons , jerks, and subhumans !

The Cubs may not be a good ball tea, ; however, neither they, or their fans have done anything like this; that I know of.

The behavior , of the thugs, was bad enough ... that the Sox ignored what was happening, is just beyond the pale.

[BluesDuke]

On a side note Blues...did you get to see the film of Lou Pinella throwing a terrible fit at the Mariners game a few nights ago...he was so upset, I really thought they were going to wind up taking him to the hospital...when he ripped 1st base out of the ground and threw it, I lost it...boy was he mad..

I saw the film. I was wondering when the old Sweet Lou was finally going to show up! The man had been too quiet most of the season. (A season without at least two Lou Piniella tirades per two months is...well, a season without Randy Johnson striking out the world.) We're talking serious fit-hits-the-shan stuff here...On the other hand, all things considered, maybe Sweet Lou should have thrown bases at his front office, one base for each total base lost thanks to the Mariners' brain trust (if that isn't an oxymoron) not shoring them up with one more good bat to help atone for the injuries that cost them a lot of offence in staggered spots this season.

On the other hand: What does it say about a fellow when Ichiro Suzuki could end up hitting .325 for the season and you call it a bad year?

But back to Chicago. I noticed (I pointed it out in my essay) that most White Sox fans were on Gamboa's side in the mugging. I tend more toward the Cubs, too, myself, but it's like I said in the original: the White Sox don't deserve the fans they do have. (Of course, all things considered, you have to consider the meathead who owns the team, too...)

[BluesDuke]

Firstbaseman, second baseman, and first base umpire had feet locked in cement.

Feet locked in cement, heads locked up arseholes.

[BluesDuke]

What a buch of poltroons , jerks, and subhumans !

You mean the Ligues are improving? ;)

[nopardons]

Naaaaaaaaw ... that was about the Sox. LOL

[tictoc]

Borne of an awkward courtliness knitted within his roughtumble puckishness, Stengel let his bat fall from his hands, faced the crowd, and bowed elegantly enough as he tipped his cap.

This was nice, I enjoyed that well-turned sentence.

After that, it got tiresome. A writer should not be more in love with his own words than with his audience.

[BluesDuke]

*ROFL*

[andysandmikesmom]

Sweet Lou just seems to go in streaks...he sits in that dugout, looking so laid back, no matter what is going wrong, and them BAM, all of a sudden he jumps up and you just know what is coming...but this latest fit, was one for the books, they are still talking about it up here and probably will be for a while...

I think a lot of it was just frustration at the whole season this year...the Mariners have just had a tough time of it this year...my husband and son have gone to a few Mariners games this year, some games they lost, some they won...but at least they have the delightful Safeco Field, and that is something, even if the Mariners lose...but we did so hope for a year like last year...we just did not get it...

But you have got to love that Ichiro...a hell of a batter, a hell of a fielder, and hes just so cute on top of it all...

[BluesDuke]

I'm flattered that you enjoyed that sentence, but just where did you get the impression that I love my words more than my audience? Unless, of course, you might expect one writing of sports to stay strictly in Dick and Jane land, to which I respect my audience enough not to sentence them. :)

[BluesDuke]

One of the radio guys this morning was having some mad fun with Piniella's base-throwing tantrum. He wondered aloud what would happen if a manager losing it with the umpire(s) decided to wing the base into the stands, and what the fan who caught the base might do. (Imagine - catching a base thrown by Lou Piniella and then getting him to autograph it after the game!)

I just pulled out my copy of Damned Yankees, Bill Madden and Moss Klein's splendid book about the earlier Steinbrennerian reign of error (the years before he finally got his thinking right on how to run a ball club). It reminded me of two favourite stories of Lou Piniella the manager:

1) Piniella and a couple of coaches and writers were knocking around a hotel lobby when they saw Phil Niekro, then with the Yankees, wander into the hotel. It was close to the team curfew. One of the writers needled Piniella about reminding Niekro about the curfew. "I can't tell Knucksie to go to bed," Piniella replied. "He's older than me."

2) Steinbrenner phoned the dugout in a snit over then-California Angels pitcher Don Sutton, going against Tommy John, doing, shall we say, things to his ball. "Don't you see what Sutton's doing out there?" Steinbrenner thundered. "George," Piniella answered, "if I get the umpires to check Sutton, don't you know that the Angels are going to check TJ? They'll both get thrown out. Whatever they're doing, TJ is doing it better than Sutton. So let's leave it alone for now." (The Yankees won the game.)

Best non-Yankee crack of that game: the scout who observed, "Tommy John against Don Sutton. If anyone can find one smooth ball from that game, he ought to send it to Cooperstown."

[#3Fan]

This article is boloney. The White Sox players and the refs could see that the Royals players were on their way to kick these two scumbag's ass. They knew the Royals players could take care of it and so gave the Royals the pleasure of knocking the crap out of the two idiots.

[#3Fan]

Blues, as in St. Louis Blues? Do St. Louisans still throw bottles at the umps for strikes and balls calls? That was absolutely shameful.

[#3Fan]

After that, it got tiresome. A writer should not be more in love with his own words than with his audience.

Very true. The author spends most of the article condemning a group of people for not running ten times farther than the Royals bench had to run.

[BluesDuke]

The White Sox players and the refs could see that the Royals players were on their way to kick these two scumbag's ass. They knew the Royals players could take care of it and so gave the Royals the pleasure of knocking the crap out of the two idiots.

You forget two small details: 1) The White Sox had a better sighting of the two thugs than the Royals' coach had. They saw the bastards first and could have - should have - stopped them from getting anywhere near him. Unless, of course, you think a 54-year-old coach whose days as a full-time athlete are well enough behind him is better able to protect himself from a blindside attack than a 20-something full-time athlete who sees the attack coming before the intended victim does.

2) Comiskey Park, after all, is the White Sox's house, and you don't let guests in your house get their arses kicked in.

If you are a guest in my home and some idiot is coming over my wall aiming for tearing your head and hide off, and I happen to see said idiot before you do, it is my responsibility to protect you as a guest in my home. If I failed that responsibility, you would hardly want to be a guest in my home again and no one would blame you, either.

[BluesDuke]

Blues, as in St. Louis Blues?

No, blues as in the music itself. (The "Duke" is in honour of my favourite jazzman - who, by the way, never forgot the blues; many of his best compositions are blues.) :)