Dodgers baton twirler tantalise Beckett says banning alcohol on flights and in the society is smart. "You wash up, feeling gooselike, and ask yourself, 'Why did I do that?'"(Photo: Jake Roth, USA TODAY Sports)
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. -- Mark gentleness stands on the back fields of the Arizona Diamondbacks complex, clad in a uniform as one of their minor compact hitting instructors.
In a a couple of(prenominal) hours, he'll be changing into layers of clothes, brace himself for the cold night air where there is no awaken in the winter.
AL EAST: Blue Jays, Rays take everywhere division
NL EAST: Nationals, Braves reign supreme
He's an inmate at the Maricopa County jail, or camp out City, as it's known. That's where Grace spends every evening until June 10.
Grace, with two drunken-driving arrests in 15 months, pleaded guilty in January to felony endangerment and misdemeanor driving beneath the influence of alcohol. He was given a four-month jail conviction that includes two years of probation.
"It sucks," Grace tells USA TODAY Sports. "It's embarrassing. I'm remote from my kids. My family. But I'm not blaming anybody provided myself."
AL CENTRAL: Tigers the team to beat
Grace business leader be Arizona's public face to the consequences of intoxication and driving. In baseball, he's something of a relic: a legendary teammate who lingered in the clubhouse until the wee hours, reveling in camaraderie frequently fueled by alcohol.
But those days are going the way of flannel uniforms.
"The clubhouse has changed so much," Hall of Famer Robin Yount says, "and you hate to say, but it's because there's no beer."
Many teams banned beer in their clubhouse once St. Louis Cardinals pitcher cod Hancock was killed in a drunken-driving accident in 2007. You tummy drink on team flights traveling on the road, but on flights home, not one team authorizes intoxication.
"I conjecture it's smart, I really do," Los Angeles Dodgers starter Josh Beckett says. "We're all stupid when we're young. You wake up, feeling stupid, and ask yourself, 'Why did I do that?'
"Whe ne'er I have anything to drink now, ever since my daughter was born, I'll call for a car. Too many bad things can happen."
The message expertness be spreading. Boston Red Sox minor league pitcher Drake Britton, 23, is the except known player arrested this spring on a DUI offense. In the first four months of 2011, six players were arrested on drinking and driving charges.
But while the players are more sober these days, the clubhouses are a lot more staid.
Says Grace: "I'm not in position to talk about that stuff anymore. But you're not going to find guys sitting nearly hours afterward back ups drinking lemonade."
The old-timers say they didn't linger to get drunk but quite a to talk shop, learn about the game and bring unitedly an otherwise disparate group. Yount's favorite memories growing up in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse were listening to Hank Aaron hold court late after games. Arizona manager Kirk Gibson reminisces about the days with Alan Trammell in Detroit and George Brett in Kansas City.
It wasn't just the beer taps that kept teams together, but the lack of technology. thither were no iPhones, iPads, Facebook or Twitter.
"Social media," veteran third baseman Eric Chavez said, "changed everything. The aver factor went away."
Just ask Beckett, part of the 2011 Red Sox team lambasted with password reports that pitchers drank beer and ate chicken during games they weren't scheduled to pitch. This wasn't a matter of reporters beholding the incidents but someone inside the clubhouse leaking the information.
These days, the clubhouse often is a ghost town by 11 p.m.
" null hangs out anymore," San Francisco Giants reliever Scott Proctor says. "You used to sit charge and have beers in the clubhouse, and it's not even part of the game anymore. That's what I miss."
This coming from an alcoholic. Proctor, who said he was a bout drinker, has been sober four years. He doesn't miss the beer, he says, provided camaraderie that went with it.
He'll even stop at the beer cooler now, he says, and grab a few cold ones for the guys, but only if they promise to sit down and talk shop.
"I lived a lifestyle like 90% of ballplayers," Proctor says. "You sat around and had six beers after a game, went to dinner and had another six, and therefore guys are calling you to a bar where you're drinking more.
"That wasn't right. I know it wasn't right for me. But as far as guys talking about the game over a few beers, I really think baseball misses that."
Right or wrong, it's never coming back.
Materials taken from USA Today
No comments:
Post a Comment