COLIN LINNEWEBER
Big City Bias Without the Boston Bullshit

New York Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang injured his right foot running the bases last Sunday in a 13-0 interleague win versus the Astros at Minute Made Park in Houston. Wang, 28, who is 54-20 since debuting in the Bronx in 2005, suffered a mid-foot sprain of the Lisfranc ligament and a partial tear of the peroneus longus and he will be on the disabled list until at least September with his injuries. Wang’s wounds severely chapped the ass of the Bomber’s brazen, chain-smoking owner, Hank Steinbrenner, who faults the National League and their rules for his pitcher’s bummed hoof.

“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “They need to grow up and join the 21st century.”

After providing his evolutionary vision, Hankenstein continued and claimed that he is not alone with his gripes.

“This is always a concern of American League teams when their pitchers have to run the bases and they’re not used to doing it,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s not just us. It’s everybody. It probably should be a concern for National League owners, general managers and managers when their pitchers run the bases. Pitchers have enough to do without having to do that.”

I think highly of Hank and I have been outspoken with my belief that he should be considered for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year Award.” Nevertheless, even a great visionary and pragmatist like Hank can be wrong on occasion and he is wrong in this instance.

Wang’s injuries were a byproduct of terrible luck and to propose abolishing National League rules because of one unfortunate happening is ludicrous. Furthermore, Hank sounds asinine when he suggests that a pitcher is baseball’s answer to a specialized placekicker in football. A pitcher is a baseball player and baseball players are athletes that need to run periodically in their profession.

“Contrary to some people’s belief, baseball players are athletes, and running should be a part of their athletic endeavor,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said.”I haven’t seen an injury while running the bases happen to another pitcher. I think it’s somewhat of a freak accident.”

Hank needs to relax and take a drag of one of his smokes and exhale. This is baseball and, as we all learned in the movie A League of Their Own, “There’s no crying in baseball.”

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