The View From Seat 113

Milton Bradley's Teen Drama Climaxes

2009-08-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, Milton Bradley, I'm a racist?

Yeah, hardly.

Whatever notion crawled into your mind that Chicago Cubs fans are racist and out to get you because you're black needs to get out of town. As a matter of fact, lets just make this easier and have you get out town.

The drama queen, clubhouse cancer we heard about has finally arrived in Chicago. First you get all bent out of shape that you're getting booed, then you just haven't "adjusted" to the pressures of being a Cub. On top of that you throw a second out into the stands, get on the field just moments before the opening pitch on Wednesday and then you call the very fans who you are tired of hearing boos from racists.

What are you thinking?

Listen, Milton, when you're the main reason a fan favorite such as Mark DeRosa was traded and you're getting $30 million from this team, the fans have expectations. A .255 average is not meeting those expectations, not after the contract and the year you had last season.

It's not a matter of race. It's the fact that you can't hit the darn ball.

Lou Piniella wanted a left-handed power hitter. So far you are hitting .230 and slugging .391 with 10 homeruns from the left-hand side. Not exactly what these fans were looking for.

That's the story of the year though. Nine games back, barely over .500, and the playoffs would seem like a miraculous utopia right now. Your team doesn't need your distractions at this point, it needs you to hit and stop trying to make everyone feel sorry for you.

Unlike an old Cubs' saying: It's not gonna happen.

Did you see Kosuke Fukudome whining and crying last season when he was getting booed for hitting .257 with no power? No. Do you see Alfonso Soriano making excuses and calling the fans racist? No.

Instead they're busy working to better. While Fonzi's efforts haven't paid off, he's giving effort, which all Cubs fans ask for. And Fukudome? He's hitting .275, .387 OBP, .463 slugging and surpassed his total homeruns last year (10) with 11 so far this year. He went through his funk before the All-Star break and is hitting .330 since.

See, Milton, playing for the Cubs is not a matter of what color your skin is. It's about showing the fans you are trying to earn that money, trying to win for them and not making excuses and accusations when it doesn't go right.

Be a man, stand up and just admit you're having a bad year. You're swing is off. Go through a rigorous offseason program and come back next year ready to prove to us that you are worth are our time. The quality of your play rests on you, not us. That's why you're the professional.

Cubs fans are loyal if you can win them over. Calling them a bunch of racists isn't going to get that done very well. Neither is bad play and excuses.

It's been 100 (soon to be 101) years since the organization won a World Series. We've heard every excuse in the book. None of them explain being a drama queen. None of them explain lazy play.

And certainly none of them explain a whole fan base being racist.

What if Albert Pujols sets the home run records?

2009-07-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Albert Pujols is good; almost as good as winning a million bucks.

But is he good enough to make baseball forget the dark times it has been through the better half of this decade?

That seems to be the million-dollar question. If Pujols sets the home run records, season or career, does he take a rightful seat on the throne as Home Run King?

We've seen this story before. A slugger blazes a pace with long balls, he denies using steroids or any other performance-enhancing drugs, and because baseball is desperate for a role model, we believe.

Pujols has denied use, just as Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and Sammy Sosa have done in the past. The numbers support Pujols, who has only hit 40+ home runs in a season four times. His career high is 49, set in 2006. His lowest career batting average was .314 in 2002, his second season in the league.

He has 762 career walks to just 540 strikeouts, evidence of his superior vision and Tony Gwynn-like patience. Comparatively, Pujols has 29 multi-home run games in St. Louis in 1,322 games. Mark McGwire previously held that record with 28 in just 545 games in St. Louis.

One can't help but think, this looks too familiar. If Albert keeps up his scorching pace and hits 74 or 62 home runs this season, how are we supposed to react?

When or if Pujols places No. 62 over the wall, do we celebrate and call him the true Home Run King or wait until he blasts No. 74? Critics will say that Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in the age before steroids and PEDs. Supporters will say Pujols has been surrounded by nothing.

No allegations, no positive tests, just accolades.

Pujols has cemented himself as one of greatest power hitters of this generation. He could go down as the best power hitter of today ahead of Ken Griffey Jr. and possibly the best ever. He just needs to keep his body clean.

At age 29, in just his ninth season, with 350 career home runs as of July 8, there is no ceiling for what Pujols can do. And if Pujols does it the way Maris and Babe Ruth did, with no cheating allegations, truths or anything like that, than he should go down as the rightful Home Run King.

Maybe there was some significance to that May 21 home run off the Cubs' Sean Marshall. Statistically it was unimportant, his 14th home run of the season, the 333rd of his career.

Yet when the mammoth home run ball smacked the "I" in the Big Mac Land sign in left field, putting its lights out, Pujols may have marked the end of an era. May it have been the end of the steroid era among baseball's young sluggers?

Only time will tell.

Sammy Sosa should be honored--just not right now

2009-06-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Former Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa announced he will retire and await his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Confident words for someone so closely linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Considering how the voting has gone for Mark McGwire, it doesn't look good for Sosa, or Barry Bonds, or Roger Clemens...well, you get the picture.

As for his former team, the Cubs already said goodbye to one pinstripe legend this season when Greg Maddux retired. His number was retired in May.

The question of what to do with Sosa in Wrigleyville has become a water cooler topic since the slugger's announcement. Current Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee told the Chicago Tribune he thinks Sosa should be honored by the Cubs, citing the fact that none of the allegations have been proven. Cubs fans can think back to his last stint with the Cubs in 2004 when he exited the season finale early and was soon after traded to Baltimore for Mike Fontenot and Jerry Hairston Jr.

Needless to say Sosa didn't leave Chicago on a good note. He eventually landed in Texas in 2007 after sitting out 2006 and hit his 600th homerun off of the Cubs' Jason Marquis. Sosa has yet to be signed by a team in 2009.

In some respect, I agree with Lee that Sosa should be honored by the Cubs, but as Lee said, it won't be while he is in Chicago. That's how it should be too. No offense to Lee but he won't be in Chicago long enough to see Sosa honored the way he should be. Right now, there's still too much animosity between Sosa, the fans, the organization and baseball itself over the steroid allegations, the corked bat (yes, still) and the way he left Chicago.

Look at the players the Cubs have honored: Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Maddux and Fergie Jenkins. Like them, Sosa defined the organization when he played in Wrigley. He had a cult following in the right field bleachers and played a big role in the 1998 Wild Card appearance and the 2003 NLCS run. He is the only player to have three 60-home run seasons and has the most home runs in franchise history. Don't forget how many butts Sosa put in the seats at Wrigley Field--a ton.

He certainly deserves recognition from the Cubs. I'm not fully on board with retiring his number, ever. I feel as if Sosa, steroids aside, left a tainted legacy in Chicago upon his departure. Fans didn't love Sammy the way San Francisco loved Bonds when he was not resigned. The love-hate relationship between the faithful and slugger went way south.

But maybe, in another few years or so, the Cubs can invite Sosa to Wrigley for Opening Day. Call it Sammy Sosa day, give out a commemorative something, have a little pregame ceremony, throw out the first pitch, sing the 7th Inning Stretch--the works. Just don't disgrace the flag poles of Wrigley Field with the No. 21. Maybe put a logo on the right field entrance to the batting cages with a silhouette of Sosa that commemorates his years in Chicago like the Giants did for Bonds's 756th home run.

Something simple, that means something but won't be missed too much when the Cubs move out of Wrigley or put another Under Armour advertisement over it. Just like Sosa's career it could mean something until the novelty wore off.