Word: alomar
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That's what's facing Roberto Alomar, the Cleveland Indians second baseman who is widely considered one of the all-time great middle infielders. When the sun sets on his career, Alomar will most likely be remembered more for a regrettable - and highly regretted - 1996 spitting incident than for any of his on-the-field feats...
...Alomar was the John Rocker of the 1996 election cycle, a baseball player who'd done something so socially reprehensible as to call for a national morality check and force political candidates to take sides. The vice presidential contenders of the day, Al Gore and Jack Kemp, sounded off on what a bad example Alomar, then with the Baltimore Orioles, set by spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck. Likewise, both George W. Bush and Al Gore have denounced Rocker, the Atlanta Braves pitcher, for his well-publicized invectives against gays, ethnic minorities and foreigners...
...just how high the chips are stacked against pro athletes' generating positive off-the-field publicity, consider the happy ending lurking deep in the shadows of the Alomar-Hirschbeck saga. The season after the spitting incident, Alomar sought Hirschbeck out during a game, shook his hand and apologized. In the years since, Alomar has become a leading benefactor of the charity Hirschbeck established to research adrenoleukodystrophy, the brain disease inherited by his two sons. The player and ump now consider one another friends. During a game May 20, reporters spotted Alomar hugging 13-year-old Indians batboy Michael Hirschbeck, John...
...smash for Jacobs. He keeps essentially all voting rights and pockets enough cash to go shopping finally for the pro football team he's wanted ever since the Cleveland Browns fled to Baltimore two years ago. What do the buyers get? A stock certificate that says all-stars Sandy Alomar and David Justice work for them now. But of course we know that athletes work for themselves. So all that the shareholders really get is a fancy sheet of paper that may or may not develop collectible value. There's little else to underpin the stock--no dividend, no earnings...
...Johnson and Orioles owner Peter Angelos have been squabbling since Angelos hired the manager two seasons ago; the feud boiled over when Johnson imposed a $10,000 fine on Roberto Alomar ? and directed the second baseman to pay it to Johnson's favorite charity, on the board of which the coach?s wife sits. Angelos thought that was improper, and has been relentlessly chiding Johnson about it all offseason. The real nettle, of course, may be that Johnson's offseason started a bit earlier than his boss had hoped when the Orioles lost to the Indians, a team they...