WBRS Sports Blog

What a sad day indeed for Keith Hernandez. If you don't already know, the ex-Met had this to say about a female trainer on the Padres staff: "I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout." I'm going to touch upon this before that lazy excuse for a sportswriter Bill Simmons writes about this next month. First of all, I think that Keith Hernandez was completely out of line. Unlike the 70s and 80s where players could do things like abuse drugs and take steroids and get away with it, baseball players today....hmmm... ok bad example. But baseball players can't expect MLB to know about poor behavior and let it go unpunis.... ok ok sorry.... but baseball players can't expect to act poorly and not have the media blow the story up, and that's where Hernandez screwed up. There's one lesson for baseball players to learn here, if you want to talk negatively about women, or cheat on your wife, or have your mistress inject you with steroids, make sure it is done behind closed doors, like the champagne room in a strip club.

And that's where hubris got the best of Keith Hernandez. Up until this point in his life, he had been living a dream. 1979 NL MVP, 1986 World Series champion, multiple Gold Gloves, batting champion, the list goes on and on. I know this will get beat to death by Simmons, but that "I'm Keith Hernandez" quote on Seinfeld is the epitome of living above social norms. This is important because Elaine was no one special, sure she looked cute, but at the very best, she's like the girl in your Foreign Policy class that sits in the back row text messaging her friend. It's possible she's figuring out which guy to hook up with but chances are she's talking to her cubby friend in the front row, deciding what time to go to Sherman. At best she could have been an occasional fling for Hernandez depending on how much she put out, but in no way was she going to be a prize catch. Mind you, this is pre-straight hair Elaine, so she wasn't going into the Hernandez courtship with much fanfare (if you ask me I personally love the Hernandez-era Elaine, but I don't have the taste of an ex-ball player who's palate has been seasoned by groupies, models and elite townies -pun grossly intended). At any rate, I'm sure he was boning tons of chicks, prior, during and after Elaine. So in a bubble, he let his expertise from years of meaningless sex get the best of him and he had the misfortunate of slipping on the air.

Again, I'm not condoning what Hernandez said, I think females are the yin to the our yang and I am a proponent of equal gender rights in all facets. However, I can understand why he said it. If you are a woman casually sleeping with a baseball player, you are probably aware of the evils of the business. The overwhelming majority of these men are looking for a quick fling in various cities with no strings attached; any woman with sense in her head would realize that key elements of relationships such as monogamy, time, communication, and commitment go out the window when one half is on the road for most of the year. The result is that most women who have sex with these athletes have zero respect in the eyes of ballplayers; in fact, all the shallow chronicles of their meaningless sex acts are told in the clubhouse with the detail of a sworn addidavit. Yes, comraderie doesn't stop at the dugout. My point here is that if you were a ball player all of your life, and been around an environment that degrades women, and made a lot of money and achieved fame and did not have to abide by any social norms, your view on many facets of life would be skewed. Women included.

If you think that I am wrong or joking, this quote just about proves my point: "You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have."

Either this is one of boldest statements ever, basically rubbing sexism in the face of all women, or he is completely oblivious to his actions. I am going to go with the latter. I swore when I read that quote I thought I was reading a line from Anchorman. I've even gone back to make sure that there isn't a Bourbon glass hidden somewhere in the shot.

The moral of the story is that we as fans allow athletes to act in a certain manner: cuss at their fans, defy their coaches, make absurd salaries, cheat on their wives with hundreds of women, inject themselves with steroids, get drunk in public, expose themselves in front of female reporters, urinate on their hands, cork their bats, do drugs, kiss fans on the field, take off their pants at first base, and many more ridiculous things that any professional in any other field could not do. We have created this culture and unfortunately, many aspects of this culture are neither progressive nor politically correct; in this instance the sexist nature of the game was revealed on television. Keith Hernandez will probably go on to become a victim that is accosted by all sorts of women's rights activitists while hundreds of other ball players will continue this legacy that Keith has been a part of. If you want to be mad at Keith, fine, but he is a very small part of the problem. There are many immoral things to occur behind closed doors, attacking Hernandez is merely cutting a weed in half, not pulling it from the root.

Lastly, if athletes are to learn anything from Keith Hernandez, it's to keep your mouth shut when the camera is rolling, and spew all sorts of vile statements behind the scenes. There's a pretty good chance that the climate of sports will only grow worse and athletes will have fewer authority figures to answer to. There is no reward for good behavior, just punishment for falling out of line. Don't be the guy who gets caught. And for the love of Bud Selig, if you are going to abuse something illegal, it might as well be coke, no one ever gets busted for that in baseball anymore. OK, you're right, steroids too.