Torii Hunter should be getting a 3 YEAR suspension

[Kalapse]

It's the final game of the year, Alex Rodriguez has 72 homeruns and is going up against Boston and Josh Beckett in the final game of the season.

 

Beckett hold Rodriguez in check, an 0-4 day for A-Rod. Barry Bonds' single season homerun record remains in tact.

 

As a show of gratitude Bonds buys Josh Beckett a Ferrari.

 

You know damn well most everyone would be pushing for the 3 year suspension.

 

Why would some one think that giving a team 4 bottles of champagne for something that happened last year would be a big deal?

 

Um because its not. I could see if Hunter bought them all cars, or did something that was substantial enough to perhaps impact the Royals. But for a baseball player a bottle of champagne is a gag gift. Most of those players make more money in an hour than all of the bottles were worth, so its not like they are going to start throwing games because "hunter gave us a few bottles."

 

Not to mention it was for winning that he gave them a gift. It would be much more serious if the story was:

 

Twins swept KC, then Hunter gave them champagne.

 

Does anyone think that this played any role at all in the games played between KC and Detroit?

It had no impact, that much I can agree on. That's why the rule should be amended. Why have it if it's not going to be enforced once broken? That's what I don't get.

 

This is the same organization that was ready to suspend Craig Biggio for wearing a pin on his cap for the 20th straight season during Spring Training. About the most victimless crime there is and yet they were ready to enforce it. That's why this pisses me off, they decide when to enforce certain rules and when to look the other way. It's about time we get some consistency from Major League Baseball and their lame-ass rules violations.

 

All I'm asking for is consistency.

[Top Notch]

You're comparing apples to oranges, Kalapse. Horrible example.

 

You're talking about a guy giving a friendly reward to a team for their accomplishments in allowing his team to win the division.

 

It's completely different for somebody (Bonds no less) to reward a pitcher because the pitcher on the final day of the season allowed his record to stay in tact. Yes, I'd be pissed and feel hatred towards that player. I wouldn't be angry about the reward, I would be angry at how big of a selfish prick that player was.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Top Notch

[Kalapse]

You're comparing apples to oranges, Kalapse. Horrible example.

If you're going to call it a horrible example at least expound upon your point so can rebut. "Apples and Oranges" doesn't really give me much to go on.

[Top Notch]

If you're going to call it a horrible example at least expound upon your point so can rebut. "Apples and Oranges" doesn't really give me much to go on.

 

I didn't mean to press submit, I apologize, still getting the hang of this style of board.

[rangercal]

I never liked Torri Hunter at all. However, this is a pointless debate. I don't see the big deal.

[southsider2k5]

I had never heard about this rule before...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2847416

 

Hunter's champagne gift violated baseball ruleESPN.com news services

 

 

Maybe a thank-you note would have sufficed.

 

Torii Hunter's gift of expensive champagne to the Kansas City Royals has the Minnesota Twins outfielder in some bubble trouble.

 

Hunter's gift of four bottles of Dom Perignon, which he had delivered to the Royals clubhouse this past weekend, was meant as a reward for the Royals sweeping the Detroit Tigers last September, allowing the Twins to come from behind to win the American League Central. The gift fulfilled a promise Hunter made last fall.

 

But baseball has rules about this sort of thing.

 

Namely, rule 21-b, which proclaims "Any player or person connected with a Club who shall offer or give any gift or reward to a player or person connected with another Club for services rendered ... in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing Club ... shall be declared ineligible for not less than three years."

 

And after "The Cheater's Guide to Baseball Blog" reported the violation, the Twins got a phone call from the commissioner's office about the proffered bubbly. And the Twins found themselves in an awkward position -- having to call the Royals to ask that the champagne be returned.

 

Luckily, the Royals hadn't popped the corks yet.

 

Hunter said he wasn't aware of the rule. "I do good things," he said, according to the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis. "If you want to make a good thing into a bad thing, then so be it."

 

Twins GM Terry Ryan wasn't aware of it either.

 

"I'm to blame as much as anybody because I didn't know the rule," Ryan said, according to the Star Tribune. "We'll end up righting the wrong. We've already contacted the Royals. They're going to return the goods, and hopefully that'll be the end of it."

 

Ryan called Hunter's gesture "an honest mistake," according to the Star-Tribune. But he acknowledged that the rule is designed to avoid any tampering between teams and that Major League Baseball isn't about to let that slide with a slap on the wrist for Hunter and the Royals.

 

 

"Integrity of the game; it's as simple as that," Ryan said, according to the newspaper. "This is an honest, trivial exchange, but it could grow into something different if you let it get away."

[Brian]

Sounds like it was all in good fun. I don't think a suspension is warranted.

3 years for giving gifts is more than getting caught with performance enhancing drugs.

[Kalapse]

Sounds like it was all in good fun. I don't think a suspension is warranted.

3 years for giving gifts is more than getting caught with performance enhancing drugs.

Think about it, you're giving another team gifts for winning/losing games, even if it is in good fun it's still a rules violation and it makes sense. This will just be another example of rules meaning nothing in professional sports, the rule is on the books and Hunter clearly broke said rule. I don't see why he shouldn't be suspended.

[Dick Allen]

Sending champagne to a team who swept a rival is at best a very minor thing. How this would warrant a 3 year suspension and steroids or cork or foreign substances on balls or other illegal drug usage gets you much less is beyond me. I hope they just let it go. He obviously didn't knowingly break any rule. If you say he broke the rule, he should be suspended, you must also think going 56 mph in a 55 mph zone while driving is speeding and you should definitely be ticketed.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

not even an issue in my eyes.

[Steve9347]

Think about it, you're giving another team gifts for winning/losing games, even if it is in good fun it's still a rules violation and it makes sense. This will just be another example of rules meaning nothing in professional sports, the rule is on the books and Hunter clearly broke said rule. I don't see why he shouldn't be suspended.

 

That's ridiculous. It's a widely-unknown rule and Torii Hunter is one of the games better characters/men. To suggest he deserves to be suspended for three seasons, longer than any roider/bat thrower, just because he was having fun, is widely pessimistic and unreasonable of you, Kalapse.

[southsider2k5]

That's ridiculous. It's a widely-unknown rule and Torii Hunter is one of the games better characters/men. To suggest he deserves to be suspended for three seasons, longer than any roider/bat thrower, just because he was having fun, is widely pessimistic and unreasonable of you, Kalapse.

 

I don't think it is "widely known" at all. If guys like Terry Ryan haven't heard of it, I don't think it is that well known at all.

[Kalapse]

What about giving another team a gift for their play on the field sounds right to you? Isn't that the sort of thing you contact the league office about before you go through with it? Perhaps I'm just using too much common sense on this one.

 

And what does Torii Hunter being a good guy have to do with anything? So if Barry Bonds does something like this then the rule should apply but since Torii is a friendly person he should be able to do things like this?

 

And since when is ignorance of the law a legitimate excuse for breaking the rules?

 

All I know is that before I send gifts to a division rival I'm contacting Selig's people to make sure that sort of thing is allowed.

[whitesoxfan101]

Come on Kalapse, your argument, as Hawk would say, is a bit of a "STRETCH!!!" What a completely idiotic rule though, a couple bottles of bubbly gets you 3 years, cheating the game and yourself gets you 50 days? Psh.

[Gregory Pratt]

I wish he'd get suspended. It would hurt the Twins.

 

And I'm with Kalapse on this.

[Kalapse]

Maybe I just don't get why Hunter thought it was alright to go ahead and do this.

 

Just because the rule is idiotic doesn't mean it shouldn't be enforced, if they're not going to follow through with it then the rule needs to be abolished or amended.

 

Why exactly is it a stretch to want the rules of the game to be enforced? You know if Bonds did this both the fans and Selig would be pushing for the 3 year suspension.

 

The Royals already sent the Champagne back so this whole thing is moot anyway.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

If the rule won't be enforced, doesn't that kinda tell you how ridiculous it was in the first place?

[Soxbadger]

Why would some one think that giving a team 4 bottles of champagne for something that happened last year would be a big deal?

 

Um because its not. I could see if Hunter bought them all cars, or did something that was substantial enough to perhaps impact the Royals. But for a baseball player a bottle of champagne is a gag gift. Most of those players make more money in an hour than all of the bottles were worth, so its not like they are going to start throwing games because "hunter gave us a few bottles."

 

Not to mention it was for winning that he gave them a gift. It would be much more serious if the story was:

 

Twins swept KC, then Hunter gave them champagne.

 

Does anyone think that this played any role at all in the games played between KC and Detroit?

[Top Notch]

I never liked Torri Hunter at all. However, this is a pointless debate. I don't see the big deal.

 

Nail, Noggin.

 

[RME JICO]

Hunter is on ESPNRadio right now with Patrick.

 

Hunter said after the Royals beat the Tigers and clinched the Division for the Twins, teammates said someone should buy the Royals something (champagne) for helping them win the Division. Then during the recent Twins series with the Royals, a Royals clubhouse employee asked Hunter where the champagne was that he promised in 2006, and Hunter said ok, and got someone to buy it for him ($500) and put it in Sweeney's locker as a joke.

Edited April 24, 2007 by RME JICO

[Mplssoxfan]

A little added detail from the Minneapolis fishwrap:

 

A suspension for Hunter seems unlikely, but he still could be fined. The Royals also could face penalties for accepting the gift, under the same rule.

 

Ryan called Hunter's gesture "an honest mistake."

 

But Ryan also hinted at the reason MLB won't let it pass with a simple slap on the wrist. The rule is designed to avoid any tampering between teams -- gifts from a team to a pending free agent, for example -- and MLB remains highly sensitive to anything that could even be remotely viewed as a form of gambling.

 

By letting Hunter's gesture pass, MLB would have to consider the precedent.

 

I think he'll be fined, but the Twins will cover the fine anyway.

 

Obviously, the reason this rule exists is to stop teams in contention from inducing non-contending teams to not play all-out against them. Like SoxBadger said, it'd be different if the Twins swept KC and then rewarded them. Also, in some pre-Black Sox gambling cases, players such as Hal Chase would allegedly bet against their teams and give his starting pitcher gifts if they lost.

 

It's a good rule and needs to be enforced, but the language should be clarified a bit.

[vandy125]

It's the final game of the year, Alex Rodriguez has 72 homeruns and is going up against Boston and Josh Beckett in the final game of the season.

 

Beckett hold Rodriguez in check, an 0-4 day for A-Rod. Barry Bonds' single season homerun record remains in tact.

 

As a show of gratitude Bonds buys Josh Beckett a Ferrari.

 

You know damn well most everyone would be pushing for the 3 year suspension.

It had no impact, that much I can agree on. That's why the rule should be amended. Why have it if it's not going to be enforced once broken? That's what I don't get.

 

This is the same organization that was ready to suspend Craig Biggio for wearing a pin on his cap for the 20th straight season during Spring Training. About the most victimless crime there is and yet they were ready to enforce it. That's why this pisses me off, they decide when to enforce certain rules and when to look the other way. It's about time we get some consistency from Major League Baseball and their lame-ass rules violations.

 

All I'm asking for is consistency.

I agree that it should be enforced in some manner, but not the 3 years. That would be ridiculous. Come on Kalapse a Ferrari vs some bubbly? You can come up with a better example than that.

[BearSox]

who cares... I could see if it was almost like bribes for beating up on such team, to give them more motivation or something, but this was probably a cheap bottle of champagne all out of jest. This shouldn't even be an issue.

[Top Notch]

Perhaps the Royals owner should entice his team with champagne. Afterall, they are undefeated when champagne is on the line.

[rangercal]

Perhaps the Royals owner should entice his team with champagne. Afterall, they are undefeated when champagne is on the line.

It was never on the line. The champagne idea came after the game was already won.