Last night we witnessed the difference between superstar treatment of a MLB player who quit during a game while plagued by a stealth injury, Hanley Ramirez, and handling of LeBron James and Tiger Woods in similar circumstances.
Sensing that Ramirez, despite having “smoked” a foul ball off his ankle in a previous plate appearance, was loafing after a booted soft pop, last night Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez ejected his superstar shortstop from the game in the second inning. To make matters more interesting, Gonzalez did the honors in full view of the team in the dugout.
An obviously elbow-impaired LeBron James also recently quit on his team, in Game 5 of the playoff series between the Cavaliers and Celtics. Was James punished or questioned in public by any member of the Cavaliers organization? No.
Same thing with Tiger Woods at Quail Hollow in Charlotte last month.
Woods, while suffering from a neck injury that he hadn’t told anyone about, embarrassed himself during the final round with an appalling lack of effort. The next week at The Players, Woods actually quit during his round, citing an injury he’d failed to tell anyone about for months.
Was Woods questioned or reprimanded for his lack of effort and poor judgement by the PGA Tour or his golfing peers? No.
Though considering the percentage of income generated by Woods for the Tour, the golfer could probably even get away with astonishingly immoral off-course behavior and never face reprimand.
Oh, wait.
While I’d like to credit the standard set by MLB itself for what happened to Ramirez in relation to James and Woods, Marlins Manager Fredi Gonzalez probably has more to do with that discipline situation than differences in sport and context.
What Gonzalez did took muy huevos and tells me he’s in full control of that team. That sort of managerial approach in pro sports today might be rarer than Ramirez’s incredible talent.
9:23 am on May 18th, 2010
Agreed. On yersel’ Fredi it’s about time someone got in the face of these illiterate millionaires.
10:04 am on May 18th, 2010
Well, Tiger doesn’t really have a boss either
10:05 am on May 18th, 2010
dude, you’ve had some pretty moronic opinions on here but this takes the cake. You absolutely cannot compare Tiger Woods’ recent rounds to Ramirez’ play last night. In case you’re unaware, golf is hard, and making the cut is not automatic. Tiger had one bad round at Quail Hollow, that does not mean he quit. You don’t get to be the most dominant golfer in history by being a quitter. Furthermore, he had what’s commonly called an “injury” at TPC. I know, novel idea right, that he’s actually human and can’t play at the highest level all the time. Do you think he’s immune to injury or something? Seriously, the comparison to somebody who flat out didn’t even try to run after a ball is nonsensical.
11:12 am on May 18th, 2010
So lets see: Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Hanley Ramirez.
Hmmm. Which name does not belong with the other two?
Listen, Hanley is a great player, nice SS, but don’t make him out to be like the other two who are icons of their sport.
I agree with the gist of your article, in principle, but the “star players” are not equal.
11:26 am on May 18th, 2010
Man, Todd: I hope Tiger pays you to lick his ass like that.
1:31 pm on May 18th, 2010
It makes no sense to compare these three in this instance.
LeBron James did not “quit” on his team so much as he “exposed” his teammates for the weak players that they truly are in the playoffs.
Tiger Woods does not have anyone to answer to; if he gives up then he’s only cheating himself and there is no one to reprimand him, besides the media and who cares what they have to say.
Hanley Ramirez cheated himself but more importantly, his team. Gonzalez was right to bench him and kudos to him for not being afraid to bench his star player early in a game. This wouldn’t be the first time Ramirez hot-dogged on a play.
1:43 pm on May 18th, 2010
Charlie did the same thing to Rollins a couple years ago. In fact, I think he did more than pull him from the game.
2:16 pm on May 18th, 2010
so rasheeta , let me get this straight , lebron quits in the play-off game , and it’s the team mates that suck . you must get paid by lebron to tongue his onions , just as todd with tiger . what a joke .
3:32 pm on May 18th, 2010
joel - “So lets see: Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Hanley Ramirez.
Hmmm. Which name does not belong with the other two?
Listen, Hanley is a great player, nice SS, but don’t make him out to be like the other two who are icons of their sport.
I agree with the gist of your article, in principle, but the “star players” are not equal.”
Umm …what exactly has Lebron won? About the same as Hanley so I don’t see how you can say Hanley should be left off the list. Maybe Tiger, since he’s won more and done more for his sport than the other two.
3:55 pm on May 18th, 2010
it’s about time some manager had the game balls to sit this kid down and make him realize this is a money thing you don’t play you shouldn’t get paid that should be the policy for these assholes
7:57 pm on May 18th, 2010
it’s about time managers/coaches start putting these guys in there place. I coach high school baseball to see this crap go on drives me crazy. These guys have no idea how many kids they influence with everything they do. How many guys would give their left @#$ to have the chance to play in one major league game and these guys act like it’s pain in the ass. I don’t know when it became “not cool” to hustle. I would rather watch Pete Rose bust his ass on every play, even it he gambled on the game, then to watch these punks!
9:29 pm on May 18th, 2010
Bobby Cox has done this several times: at least twice with Andruw Jones and twice/thrice with Yunel Escobar–while they were still on defense. Sometimes, a coach has got to do these things to wake a player up. Fredi did the right thing in the right way–didn’t lose his cool and told the kid to take a shower and think about it. I suspect the team leader (whomever that is) was a bit more dramatic in the clubhouse.
9:21 am on May 19th, 2010
Hanley PROBABLY knew that even with a hustle he could not stop the 2 runs from scoring, and that may be what he meant by saying, wrongly, “Fredi never played the game” to know that.
What the reports of this incident are missing is that there must be something ugly below the surface churning away for some time now for Hanley’s attitude to be like this. Considering his comments aimed at his mgr, it may have to do with a lack of confidence in his abilities to manage.
It would be a nice change if reporters weren’t so lazy to just report the surface proceedings and not the real causes which, thanks to them, remain secrets hidden from the fans.
9:42 am on May 19th, 2010
Way to go Fredi!
(PS - I hope you get to keep your job……..)
9:52 am on May 19th, 2010
Ramirez is being a little bitch. Man up.
1:02 pm on May 19th, 2010
Well it didn’t look good jogging, but I think the kid was more hurt then he led on to be. If you notice he did try to hustle after the fly but when he booted it he knew he was toast after that and probably made the mistake of not trying to run harder but he does look like he was hurting. If you look where he fouled if off it was a very sensitive spot. I give him credit for going out there. Everybody has a threshold for pain, hell my wife handles it alot better then I do, I’m a big baby maybe Hanley is too. Give the kid a break and if he does it again then you need to look at him differently. That was a pretty bad hit he took so give him the benefit of the doubt. You guys haven’t seen anything till you saw Barry Bondses no hustle.
10:07 pm on May 19th, 2010
One of these things is not like the other!!!
like this quote Hanley is acting like he is from seame street. ok i get it you are the best player on the marlins now be humble about it you douche! i also get that almost no one was there to see it, well now look what you have gone and done. You put yourself out there and now everyone knows you for the fraud that you are. Some Islander POS who is ungreatful and immature. Dan Uggla is the leader of the Marlins IMHO.
10:11 pm on May 19th, 2010
Jack…. the point you make is well and good but Hanley has a history of slacking. Last season Uggla called him out for?……Not hustling for a grounder hmm sound familiar? Maybe if he is hurt he should tell someone…