I didn't know you had to be a Republican to be a baseball fan. In fact, I'd been pretty sure of it.
Back in Cleveland, the completely apolitical Mick Metoff is the biggest Tribe fan I know. He can even tell you the names of all the minor leaguers on this year's team. Here in Niagara Falls, the Restaino brothers, Tony and Bob, live and die by their Yankees, despite being very active in Democratic politics. And in New York City, I know an avowed socialist -- the novelist David Markson -- who's been following the Red Sox for so long he has a foul ball he caught off the bat of Ted Williams.
So I was shocked and saddened to discover that the Republicans are attempting to usurp our national pastime for themselves.
Last week, Dale Petroskey, president of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, canceled a planned tribute marking the 15th anniversary of the movie "Bull Durham" because two of the film's stars -- Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon -- have been critical of President Bush.
Petroskey, a former assistant press secretary in the Reagan administration, said that the couple's "very public criticism of President Bush" made honoring the film at Cooperstown inappropriate.
"Bull Durham" is quite likely the best baseball movie ever made. One of its main themes, the transcendence of baseball, its ability to bring people together regardless of race, sex, politics, religion and all the other things that normally set people apart, is precisely what makes it so great.
As a movie, it is not any better or worse because of the political views expressed by two of its stars 15 years later.
Robbins, who played the not-too-bright rookie pitcher in the film, responded to Petroskey in a public letter.
"I am sorry you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement," he wrote. "I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan administrations.
"You invoke patriotism and use words like 'freedom' in an attempt to bully. In doing so, you dishonor the words 'patriotism' and 'freedom' and dishonor the men and women who have fought wars to keep this nation a place where one can freely express their opinions without fear of reprisal or punishment."
Even Kevin Costner, who also starred in the movie and whose political views are diametrically opposed to those of Sarandon and Robbins, issued a statement damning the politicization of baseball and the Hall of Fame. Since the decision was announced, the Hall has been inundated with thousands of e-mails and other celebrities who were scheduled to appear there this summer have canceled.
It's pinheads like Petroskey that give right-wingers a bad name. Isn't the whole point of Operation Iraqi Freedom to liberate those poor oppressed people and give them the right to criticize their own government if they want to?
Petroskey last became embroiled in controversy earlier this year, when he dictated that catcher Gary Carter, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in July, will be portrayed on his bronze plaque wearing a Montreal Expos cap.
This angered many Mets fans, presumably both Democrat and Republican, who best remember Carter as the leader of the fabulous 1986 team that beat Boston in the World Series.
Carter had repeatedly and publicly expressed his desire to be enshrined wearing a Mets cap and, traditionally, players have been permitted to choose which cap they will wear. Carlton Fisk wears a Red Sox cap even though he spent more years and set his career records with the White Sox, and Dave Winfield wears a San Diego Padres cap even though he played more years with the Yankees and is best known as a Yankee.
But Petroskey decided to scrap tradition in favor of propping up the failing Montreal franchise. Carter will become the first Hall of Famer to be depicted wearing an Expos cap and, since the team is expected to move or disband after this season, probably the only one ever.
In light of the Carter controversy, it was perhaps fitting that Robbins, a Mets fan himself, referenced the team in signing his letter.
"Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets -- all improbable, glorious miracles that I have always believed in," he wrote.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 15 2003 |