In less than a month, three different Major League Baseball players have been arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). Â On February 12, it was Austin Kearns from the Cleveland Indians in Kentucky. Â February 16 gave us Detroit Tiger Miguel Cabrera in Florida and the most recent happened February 23 in Arizona…former Sox player and current Oakland A’s outfielder Coco Crisp.
During their careers, Kearns has made an estimated $20 million, Cabrera an estimated $54 million and Crisp an estimated $23 million. Â Money can do a lot of things but, apparently, it can’t fix stupid.
I mean, honestly, you’re young (at 31, Coco is the oldest of the three), you’re famous and, most importantly, you’re rich. Â You have enough money to buy who or whatever you want to buy. Â These guys obviously know how to spend money (the car that Coco was driving a 2009 Rolls Royce Phantom) why not, in a sober and, hopefully sane moment, make the decision to spend some money on a damn driver? Â You want to go out and get blindingly drunk? Â Have a blast. Â Who am I to stop you? Â Just don’t be an idiot and get behind the wheel and risk the possibility of killing yourself or someone else.
Here are two names for you fellas: Â Josh Hancock and Nick Adenhart. Â Josh Hancock was as stupid as the three of you were and got himself killed. Â Nick Adenhart was the victim of other stupid people and was killed. Â These guys were your brothers in baseball and neither of them died all that long ago – have you already forgotten? Â You’re grown men and you know the risks so why be so damn stupid and reckless?
I guess one of the answers to my question could be because they won’t get punished for it. Â Does anyone think any one of these three will spend time in jail? Â Hell, their own teams aren’t doing anything about it.
I don’t begrudge grown men their right to enjoy themselves however they like…until what they do becomes illegal. Â All three men were arrested for doing something illegal and all three teams have done nothing about it. Â Pretty much standard operating procedure for MLB. Â They can’t condemn alcohol use when the beer industry practically owns the entire league, right?
Craig Calcaterra was covering an A’s Spring Training game yesterday when he heard this announcement:
“Fans, the Oakland A’s say that a winner always uses a designated driver. Keep our roads safe.”
This is their way of dealing with the issue?
Last night, Coco took to his iPad and issued an apology via, where else, Twitter:
Sorry to everyone! my family, friends, MLB and my fans. I know I let a lot of ppl down and again I am sorry. I’ll talk more 2morrow, Gnite.
In a society where people think watching Charlie Sheen have a complete mental breakdown on national television is entertainment, I’m sure most people won’t think twice about the DUIs flying around Major League Baseball this year. Â It’s fair to point out that all three arrests happened before the first official game of Spring Training was played. Â Many could argue the guys were just enjoying their final days of freedom before the season began and just made bad decisions that won’t affect them in season. Â Maybe this is true. Â I still think the total stupidity on the parts of all three men should be pointed out.
As an aside, while we have no idea about Crisp or Kearns, Cabrera’s history shows us that he’s more than stupid, he has a serious problem. Â (I do maintain, though, that if you can afford it, not having a personal driver when you know you’re going out to drink is stupid, drinking problem or not.) Â Maybe MLB has some wonderful program that is tailored to help players deal with substance abuse issues and we just don’t hear about it. Â If they don’t, maybe it’s about time that they do?
I’m hoping three is the magic number and we won’t be reading about any more of these this season.