It is strange irony that in the week the World Series starts (and why do they have to wait 4 days for the start of the Series?) with the Los Angeles Dodgers ,eeting the New York Yankees that Dodgers’ famous pitcher Fernando Valenzula passed away. Young people may be surprised at how popular he was, and baseball was at that time.
Hispanics, especially Mexicans saw representation in the portly left-hander. In 1981, he was a phenomenon. He was the opening day pitcher, quickly went out to an 8-0 record with an ERA of 0.50. By the end of the season, Valenzuela had won. There was a labor stoppage in 1981 but he finished 12-7 record, 2.48 ERA, winning the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, was baseball’s leading strike out pitcher, and he led the Dodgers toa World Series Championship.
That season, wherever he pitched, Hispanics came to the games in droves, which was a good thing, but to me, an Andy Frain Chief Usher at that time, it was a pain in the @$$. I remember one beautiful summer day when the Dodgers came to Wrigley Field. I was in charge of the “Club Boxes,” the seats closest to the field. Once the gates open, people were allowed to go down to the wall to try and get autographs until an hour before the game started. Mostly, it was kids, but on this day, many people hovered down the right field line, the bullpen pitcher’s mound. We had to keep the crowd at the walls orderly, and more important, keep the isles clear in case of something bad happening.
At 12:10 PM, the ushers and I started sending people away from the wall so people could start getting to their seats. Most of the people paid attention, but once Valenzula came out to warm up for his start, people just started crowed around, just to watch him warm up. They just stood there, not moving, as if they couldn’t speak or understand English. I remembered the words of my favorite Andy Frain boss at Chicago Sting soccer games, that if people pretend not to understand English, there are two words they do understand: police and jail. I asked nicely for people to go to their seats or at least away from the wall. I do have a temper, so I started telling people that if they didn’t move, I would be calling police and people would be going to jail. At that, the people started disbursing. It was a real aggravation.
I admit that news items and other events frequently lead to off-color jokes, and sometimes, incidents that happened to me personally. That was my reaction when Pete Rose died. I never met Fernando Valenzuela, but I saw him pitch, and his screwball was wicked, especially seeing it live.. From what I’ve heard over the years, he has been a terrific ambassador between the Dodgers and Hispanic fans around the nation. He was amazing.

Long time readers and friend know that I think that the Big Ten Conference has the worst officiating in all of college sports, especially in football. As a Northwestern Season ticket holder since 1996, I have seen some good football, some bad football, and some mediocre football. Back in the day, I used to yell at officials believing that they were biased against the Wildcats, especially if the team we were playing was one of the best, highly rated tems like Ohio State and Michigan. You could almost hear then Commissioner Jim Delany telling the officials that with the big team in the hunt for the National Championship could possibly lose to little Northwestern. (My college friends can probably all remember an NU-Indiana game in which a Wildcat pass just before the half was called incomplete. NU had the lead – a rare occurrence at the time. My friends and I were in the old student section which was on the northwest corner of the stadium, was the where the NU and the officials went to their locker rooms. I am certain to this day that the ball didn’t hit the turf, and as the officials came off the field I roared – that was a complete pass. Who do you know to be a referee? I didn’t curse or call them anything more than incompetent. The officials had a look of fear as they went by,)
Once we got season tickets, I continued to be loud, rooting for the Cats and yelling when the referees made ridiculous calls. However, I saw horrific calls made against the visitors too. I yelled at the officials when they made a call that was in our favor. My thinking was that the players, coaches and fans deserved the best possible officiating. Kids were practicing, lifting weights, running and playing games to have these old, useless insurance salesmen making calls that impacted these young men. I was incensed – writing to Delany complaining about the porr referees. They were not insulting; there was no name calling; it was a plea for better officials. I never received a response, I always said that my betters went directly into the shredder.
Now, there is a rule that is being called in Big Ten games that are just stupid. I have seen it called against Northwestern, but also against several other schools and no one is saying anything. Every football fan understands the penalty of intentional grounding, when the quarterback is under pressure and throws the ball away, not near any eligible receiver. The penalty has the yardage where the QB threw the ball and loss of down, in effect, having the same impact as a sack.
The referees are calling this penalty if the receiver runs the wrong route: inside instead of outside for example. The QB is not about to be sacked, it is a lack of connection between the QB and receiver. They call the penalty, which doesn’t make any sense. I realize that deciding on intent is tough for most people, particularly if they are truly incompetent. In the NFL and what I’ve seen in other college conferences, is that if the receiver and QB are not on the same page, there is no penalty. It is stupid and no one says anything: not the coaches (fear of fines); not the players; not even the announcers and analysts. Worst, does the Conference see this and make a ruling, telling the referees that this is an incorrect reading of the rules? No, they are too busy adding schools in a successful power grab for the entirety of college football along with the SEC.
I know that many will think this is an insignificant point; I am just anti-Big Ten referees. While I do agree that maybe I do have a grudge, but this ruling is not correct. Big Ten football is a marvelous thing and the Conference should always be looking to make changes to improve the sport.

When I came back from the Toronto International Film Festival, I was on a small plane and sitting nex to an attractive young lady. We each napped, and didn’t really speak, but as we were getting off the plan, I noticed that the woman was wearing a Yankees cap, backwards on her head. I said be aware, Major League Baseball isn’t played in Chicago
All summer, I had planned on writing about the history making 121-loss Chicago White Sox. The reason for previous bad teams like the 1963 old record holding New York Mets. They were an expansion team, made up of has-beens and never-wases. The White Sox lost 101 games last season and all of the best players were traded – Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, and Jake Burger among others. So, the talentless White Sox whose only player of talent was Luis Robert Jr. started the season losing going 6-24 in March and April. The team was 0-19 in May and June. I watched games on television occasionally and it always was the same, Sox take an early lead and the other team would comeback and win late. For years, the Sox have played dumb baseball – horrible baserunning, not hitting the cutoff man, sloppy fielding Before the comeback started, I would turn off the television.I attended one game this season, the Sox had the lead until a batter hit a flair into short center and the second baseman and centerfielder ran into each other with the ball falling to the ground/ It ws right out of the Keystone Kops.
On the other side of town, the Cubs started strong, but had a bad summer and fell out of contention. Originally, I was going to write about the letters written by the teams and signed by their owners – Jerry Reinsdorf south and Todd Ricketts on the Northside. Both letters were mea culpas to the fans, especially to the season ticket holders who spent a lot of money. I was going to criticize the lame letters and urge fans, especially Sox fans, to continue to stay away in droves. Adding insult to injury, Reinsdorf was trying to convince Illinois government to pony up $2 billion for a replacement to Guaranteed Rate Field, itself a prime example of civic blackmail, when Reinsdorf used a move to Tampa to coerce lawmakers to build the stadium, which taxpayers still paying off.
With the Bears also trying to get a new stadium, Reinsdorf met with Nashville, trying to work his magic again, but this the team being the worst record in baseball history, it showed amazing cohones to come begging for money for a team that has lost over 200 games in two seasons, and with little talent on the roster and a ton of players in the minors acquired in all the trades who will probably take years to develop into major leaguers if ever.
In the midst of this horrible season, numerous signs were brought to games with either Reinsdorf’s face with a clown nose, or just urging Reisndorf to sell the team. Chicago sports franchise owners usually are in a regular contest as to who can be the most hated. Besides not winning, the Cubs’ owners, the Ricketts patriarch has expressed opinions that are clse to white supremacy; the McCaskey Family has mismanaged the Bears for decades. Even the Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz is under fire for starting a new cable channel for the team (along with Reinsdorf’s Sox and Bulls) that has not been able to come to n agreement with the largest cable provider in town, so the Hawks have been effectively blacked out. (In a very silly “compromise” te games are available over the air, even though hardly anyone has a television with antenna anymore.)
Reportedly grooming his son Michael Reinsdorf to take over the team, I have friends who have met the son and the vote is mixed: some people think he’s a decent guy, others report that the younger Reinsdorf is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. While the logical successor, Michael Reinsdorf has been busy as the CEO of the Bulls (who appear to have been mismanaged as badly since the Reinsdorfs allowed the six-time NBA Championship team to be broken up under the leadership of Jerry Krause. With the next generation questionable and perhaps tired of the fans calling for his head, maybe the elder Reinsdorf , 88 years if age, and 44 years as owner of the team, it kas been reported that was reported that Reinsdorf is open to selling the team. Billionaires are putting together groups that can buy the team. While the White Sox suck, it is a very exclusive club to own a sports franchise. No crying for Reinsdorf – the team is expected to fetch $2.05 billion.
As always, the fans are crapped on. Expected to pay for the worst team in history, little hope in the near term, and rumors that any new ownership group may still move the team elsewhere. With 1 Championship, 6 other playoff appearances and a division lead in 1995 when the end of the season was cancelled due to labor strife, many fans may not even care if they leave.

“He was a man take him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again.”
– Hamlet

I don’t think there was ever a time in which I was not aware of Peter Edward Rose. Of course, I was not watching baseball as a toddler, but with all of the baseball fans in my family (my grandparents, my great-uncles) I probably got some by osmosis. Rose came up to the Reds in 1964and began a storied career with as that had the highest highs and the lowest lows. The positives: 4,256 hits, a number that will probably never be challenged, an MP Award, 17All-Star Game appearances; played on 3 World Series Champions. For a little guy who had been given little chance to make the Reds, his work ethic which earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle,” An amazing work ethic got him to the big club to become a cornerstone of the Big Red Machine, the championship Phillies with Mike Schmidt and the Expos/Rose was no shrinking violet, the head first slides most infamously limiting the career of Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse in the All-Star Game, an exhibition. The lows include the gambling. Suspended for life for having bet on baseball. He said that he always bet on his Reds, but he didn’t bet on them everyday, so was there a tough opposing pitcher? Would he make moves to lose the game to win the bet? That is why gambling was taken so seriously by baseball since the Black Sox scandal.
My opinion on the Rose matter fluctuated. I never thought that he should be reinstated, but I believed that he belonged in the Hall of Fame. I thought that it would be ridiculous to have a morals clause for the hall, with one of the first six enshrinees.
I admit that I got to know Rose a little bit. Before he tied Cobb’s hits record, the Reds were in Chicago playing the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Space at Wrigley Field was at a premium in those days, and there were so many press people that the ushers were charged to close the stairs from the boxes in the right field corner, and then Rose would come down. As supervisor, I was to go get Rose after the game. The first day, he and I had a pleasant conversation. The next day, Rose remembered my name and we talked about how he hadn’t gotten the tying hit in Chicago. He told me it would come when it came, Besides, they were going home after the Cub series. We went through the same deal on the third day, but the team was leaving to go to Cincinnati and the conference was cut short. I had a positive vibe from him, which helped me to think that he belonged in the Hall.
A few years later, there were actions that baseball was considering reinstatement. Rose was permitted to be a studio analyst, and was a very good analyst. Suddenly, MLB released more files, showing that baseball had records of Rose betting back to his playing days. Plus, he was associating with some really questionable people. Rose, always looking for a profit, wrote a book, admitting that he bet on baseball, even as a player. Over 30 years of lying about the full extent of Rose’s gambling, I was tired of years of lying and I became a Hall opponent. Later that year, I saw Rose’s book was on sale of $1.00. I thought about spending the dollar, but I changed my mind. Rose went to jail for 5 months for income tax evasion.
I had forgotten that Rose was near reinstatement around 2016, but a woman reported that she had a sexual relationship with Rose in the 1970s when she was 14 or 15 years old. I had forgotten about that until I listened to Keith Olbermann’s podcast this morning. To him, that’s the final reason to keep him out. I have said for years that MLB is waiting for Rose to die to enshrine him, if for no other reason to keep him from making additional money from being in the Hall. I agree with Olbermann if the relationship was proven true, but Rose was nottried for it. Of course, back then, men weren’t prosecuted for underage sex unless the victim was raped. I still believe that MLB will allow Rose in, in a couple of years when the “heat” dies down.
Like many people, Pete Rose leaves a troubled legacy. But we will never see someone hit baseballs like that again.

Going all the way back to my Sportswriters days, I have always disliked the referees/umpires, whoever was there to officiate the game. The reason was and is that the refs, especially umpires were there to call the game, fairly, and to the best of their ability. No one in the history of sport has ever bought a ticket to watch an umpire. I met a couple of umpires, and I knew Eric Gregg. I think it was because I looked like Mini-Me to him: overweight, Black, both sweating profusely all game. I liked Eric, and a couple of others, but too many umpires thought that they were beyond reproach, couldn’t be criticized or get thrown out of the game and fined by Major League Baseball.
Umpires/refs, etc. have a tough job and most of them try to make as few mistakes as possible. However, there were some who felt that they had to “teach players a lesson.” I think it was Jake O’Donnell who considered the court his own personal fiefdom (however, most of his comments faded into significance by the Tim Donaghy cheating/gambling scandal).
Fans each have their own most hated officials because of accused bias (against their favorite team). In Chicago, it was Andy Van Hellemond in hocket, and Hue Holland in the NBA. There was no referee or umpire who was renowned in an entire sport as being incompetent, but then there was Angel Hernandez. An MLB umpire since 1999, no one has made glaringly incorrect calls like Hernandez. Fans held up eye-charts when he was in town. Pitches far outside were called strikes, television replays showed how bad Hernandez was. Rather than having a bit of humility, Hernandez doubled down on his calls, throwing players and coaches out of games for questioning his authority. One of the Chicago papers printed a time when former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael was signing Take Me Out to the Ballgame and McMichael, never a shy, retiring fellow, said that after the anthem he was going to come down to the field and have a discussion with the home plate umpire. They attempted to get Mongo thrown out of the park.
So I guess Major League Baseball had been tired of the complaints against Hernandez, and he was hurt most of last season, but over the winter, MLB wanted him to retire. Hernandez said no (including reportedly slamming doors at MLB headquarters. The sides were negotiating a severance package, and I guess this week, they came to an agreement, and now Hernandez is a former umpire. Major League umps and refs are unionized, limiting the power of the leagues to get rid of the worst offenders. I have always felt that the Big Ten Conference have the worst officials in college because they are not subject to punishment. In the times that I have written the commissioner of the Big Ten, I have complained not about calls on Northwestern, but called NU received wrongly from the other team. I have long said that the players and coaches deserve top quality officiating, not a commissioner’s wife’s uncle who can’t see and can barely run.
Getting rid of Angel Hernandez is a solid first step. Now, let’s take a long look at some of the rest of them.

Long time readers know that there is no one is all of sports broadcasting that I hate more than Stephen A. Smith. He is a loudmouthed jigaboo who spouts ignorant opinions with an African-American slant that appeals to low intelligence Black people, who feel that he speaks to them in their language, and to low intelligence whites who aspire to be Black and hip, or get to see a stereotypically ignorant Black man who is less than they are. He does not add pertinent analysis, background information, insight from front office members or coaches or owners. He just gives faux hip hop commentary.
For a very long time, I have hoped that ESPN and the journalism world would find a way to jettison this man at least from national prominence, but he gets big ratings and therefore is the highest paid sports broadcaster in the business. For my part, I just avoid any show that he is on, and change the channel if he appears on SportCenter or other shows.
I don’t write about Smith very often because I try to ignore him, plus my blood pressure doesn’t need it, and I have nothing new to add on the subject until this week. For the past few months, Smith has been wading into political commentary and I saw a couple of comments that were moderate, thoughtful, and I actually agreed with it. I should have known that it was a matter of time before he went back to grandstanding and opening his mouth.
Last week, Smith appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program (saying that he and Hannity are close friends, which is nauseating enough) and talked about how Democrats and President Joe Biden need to shore up support in the Black community because to him, Trump is right about gaining greater support because he has been indicted on numerous criminal counts making Black people switching support (and with the dog whistle that Black people like gym shoes, especially the gaudy gold shoes). Hannity chimed in to agree that there has been inequality to Blacks in the criminal justice system. That has to be the first time that Sean Hannity ever mentioned, much less admitted that there is systemic racism in the system.
Fox is very good at bringing African-Americans on the air who can spout the right wing talking points. Candace Owens, Ben Carson and Jason Whitlock among others have become right wing mini-celebrities and allows the station to point at these people to say “look we have Black people, we can’t be racists. As Keith Olbermann said on his podcast, there is a long record of network prohibition at ESPN for on-air staff to make political statements or make political appearances. Maybe this will be the chance for S.A.S. to be fired from the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”:
From what I have heard about television network executives, they are not paragons of integrity. The current problem with print and broadcast media is the “whataboutism:” anything bad about Trump has to be met with a negative story on President Biden. It is believed that this is being done to not piss off Thump just in case he gets back in the White House. If they had any balls, ESPN management should be marching Smith out immediately. Then he could rejoin the white version of BS sports talkers, Skip Bayless.
Do I think it will happen? Of course not; money talks all else walks, but it would be nice. If I need to feel better, I just go to this online seller of signed books. They usually sell books at the list price but signed (although they do have high price books like Bono’s book). They have regular sales on books that don’t sell. Stephen A. Smith’s book “Straight Shooter”, with a $30 cover price is being sold for $15.

All the way back when I started writing for The Sportswriters On TV, I have long written that umpires and referees have too much power. The officials, especially baseball umpires, are some of the most thin-skinned people you would ever encounter. I always thought the most exemplary case was that of Robbie Alomar/John Hirshbeck in 1999. At that time, Alomar was a multi-year All Star and considered one of the true gentlemen in the game (although Alomar was banned by MLB for Sexual Misconduct in 2021). Hirshbeck is shown saying something to Alomar at which time Alomar goes nuts, rushing and spitting at the umpire. Alomar was suspended although it was quite apparent that the umpire said something, perhaps a racial epithet to get Alomar to become so outraged. Eventually the men buried the hatchet although it has never been disclosed what Hirshbeck said.
This past weekend, let’s get the crying towel out for baseball umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz, the game’s first batter, was struck on the foot by a slider thrown by Carlos Rodón. Wendelstedt deferred to first-base umpire John Tumpane, who ruled that Ruiz did not swing and awarded him a hit-by-pitch, allowing him to advance to first base. Boone took issue with the call and raised it with Wendelstedt, whose reply was picked up by broadcast hot mics. “Guess what? You’re not yelling at me. I did what I’m supposed to do and checked [with Tumpane],” Wendelstedt was heard saying. “I’m looking for him to get hit by the pitch. You got anything else to say, you’re gone, OK?”
The cameras then cut to a frustrated but silent Boone who went to concentrating on the game. Television footage then shows a fan sitting behind Boone yell something at the umpire, who then immediately turns around and throws the manager out of the game. Boone and the Yankees dugout protested his innocence and immediately pointed at the stands, indicating that the comment had been made by a fan. Boone then launched into an expletive-laden rant as he pleaded his case to Wendelstedt. “I did not say a word! It was above the dugout!” he said. “I didn’t say anything! I did not say anything, Hunter!”
Wendelstedt was not prepared to debate the matter. “I don’t care who said it. You’re gone!” he told Boone as jeers rained in from the New York crowd. After the game, Boone told reporters that it was “hard” to wrap his head around the decision and said that he would be reaching out to MLB about the situation.
Per MLB, Wendelstedt conceded postgame that Boone “probably, you know, is not the one who made the comment,” but doubled down on his reasons for the ejection. “I know what Aaron was saying, that it was a fan above the dugout,” he said. “That’s fine and dandy. There were plenty of fans that were yelling at me before I called a pitch until the end of the game … but Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout.”
Reportedly, Major League Baseball reviews incidents when people are ejected by an umpire, however, considering the power of the umpire’s union, I doubt it will ever be publicly adjudicated. I have long advocated for umpires, referees, line judges, anyone judging a major sport, can be reviewed and suspended, temporarily or permanently, with or without pay for abuse of power. Baseball umpires and basketball officials seem to be the worst they need to be held accountable.