Like a lot of folks, I didn't miss the opportunity to jump ugly with Keith Hernandez earlier this week when word of his intemperate comments regarding women in MLB dugouts hit the news wires.
Now I'm having some second thoughts. Don't get me wrong, Hernandez still comes off as a knuckle dragger as far as I'm concerned, but after watching the following clip from PTI, I can understand how and why it all started:
Did you notice something that did not compute? How about the fact that the woman in question, Padres massage therapist Kelly Calabrese, is dressed in a Padres cap and the team's alternate Marine Corps camoflage top, unlike any team trainer that I've ever seen.
Once I saw that, I could completely understand how and why this all started up. MLB is a very exclusive fraternity, and one that isn't exactly welcoming of anybody without the proper credentials. That was something I learned after reading The Worst Team Money Could Buy
In that book, Klapisch and Harper made it clear that there was a definite pecking order when it came to reporters who covered the team. Guys who didn't have any experience actually playing the game always got a hard time from players and coaches -- after all, what could they really know about being a baseball player?
Keeping that in mind, imagine yourself as a veteran ballplayer who put in almost two decades in MLB. You see a woman in the dugout dressed in a uniform just like she were any other player on the team. And unlike most members of training staff I've ever seen, she's not in an embroidered polo shirt and sweat pants, something that would clue just about everybody in to what her role was there.
With all that in mind, it's easy to see how at first glance, and without asking any questions, that it looks like somebody snuck a friend onto the bench, something that could easily rouse the ire of an old ballplayer like Hernandez.
Now, does this exonerate Hernandez? Not by a long shot. But the next time we see somebody get blasted in public like Hernandez just was, it might be a better idea if we just wait to see all the evidence, rather than just firing from the hip exactly like I did.
I see your point, but coming from a female’s point of view, I still have no sympathy. It wasn’t just what Hernandez said or how he said it- it was also how he tried to play it off. “I love you gals out there,” he said. Gals? Ew. The whole thing just reeks of chauvinism. He didn’t apologize because he was sorry for his comments, he apologized (and it was a half-assed apology) because of the resulting furor. Even lamer.