Baseball and leadership

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

By Gary Trauner

I’m just back from our family summer vacation and re-entry has been a bit slow. So, while searching for a topic for this column, a current events story that has nothing to do with politics or public policy caught my eye – and got me thinking about leadership.
The story that caught my eye was none other than Barry Bonds’ pursuit of the all-time home run record currently held by Hank Aaron. Bonds denies using steroids to improve his performance. Fair enough.

So let’s take a look at some interesting information about Mr. Bonds. As related by George Will in a column for Newsweek, the equipment manager of Bonds’ team, the San Francisco Giants, testified that since 1993, when Bonds was 29 years old, his uniform jersey size has gone from 42 to 52, his hat size has gone from 7 1/8 to 7 1/2 (despite shaving his head) and his baseball shoe size increased from 10 1/2 to 13.

In addition, according to Mr. Will, from 1986 through 1998, Bonds averaged 1 home-run per every 16.1 at-bats. (Babe Ruth averaged 1 per every 11.8 at bats.) Yet, from 1999 (at the ripe old age of 35 when athletic skills normally deteriorate rapidly) through last year, Bonds averaged 1 home run per every 8.9 at-bats, or nearly 33 percent better than Babe Ruth over the Babe’s entire career.

This bears repeating – Barry Bonds’ head size and shoe size increased markedly from age 29 to his early 40s, while his home run frequency nearly doubled after age 35! Now I don’t know about anyone else, but if my head and shoe size were stable as an adult, and then they both started to grow markedly, I’d be visiting every doctor I knew to find out what the heck was wrong with me. And baseball followers know that hitters just don’t get that much better with age.

So, while there is no smoking gun to prove Bonds’ use of steroids (although his personal trainer is still in jail for refusing to testify), and Bonds is still not charged legally, the truth is abundantly clear. Baseball should have the guts and exhibit the leadership to act accordingly. Same goes for Michael Vick, whose protests against knowing about dog-fighting on a property he owns and visited regularly defy common sense.

While Vick’s actions must be judged by our legal system and he is innocent until proven guilty, the NFL and sponsors should exhibit leadership in holding Vick accountable. We have lost the courage of leadership and accountability in our society in general, and this has spread to our political leadership as well. Generally speaking, we no longer have the guts to simply “do the right thing.”

We shouldn’t be surprised, then, when our political leaders act accordingly.  When William Jefferson, a Congressman from Louisiana, was caught on tape taking bribe money from an FBI informant, and the same $90,000 in marked bills were later found in his freezer at his house, he should have been held to a higher standard and kicked out of Congress. Even if he never went to trial.

When our sitting Attorney General repeatedly obfuscates and lies while testifying to Congress under oath, he needs to be shown the door, regardless of the outcome of any perjury or other charges that might be levied.

Many blindly partisan politicians see this breakdown and take advantage, knowing that others won’t take action even in the face of bold wrongdoing.  In my discussions with regular people around Wyoming and our country, it is clear to me that people are losing respect for our elected officials, primarily because they put partisanship in front of doing the right thing. As a result, “we, the people” are losing faith in our system, making it even easier for elected officials to run rampant over our ethics and even laws.

Yet, perhaps there is hope. In the scandal-plagued sport of bicycle racing, we were recently treated to a stunning show of guts and true leadership. Michael Rasmussen’s team fired him, while he was leading the Tour de France, because they deemed his lying intolerable, even though Rasmussen had never legally failed a drug test. This is all too rare in sports and politics, but being an optimist, I’d like to think it is a start.
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