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Baseball takes a stance - Bull Durham bites the dust

© Roy Pickering

And so I am led to discuss the recent plight of actors Tim Robbins and his lady love, Susan Sarandon. Those of you not already in the know may now be wondering why Hollywood is making an appearance in one of my sports issues articles. Well, it so happens that there has been a three-way collision with the worlds of Hollywood, sports, and politics. The meeting place of this pile up was the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, NY, and the event was the planned 15th anniversary celebration of the film Bull Durham that was to feature its co-stars. Just about everybody, baseball fan or not, loves this pre-sharp decline of Kevin Costner's career flick. It seemed perfectly natural for the Hall of Fame to commemorate it in some way. As a matter of fact, Tim Robbins donated the uniform he wore in the movie to the Hall back in 1999. The love between baseball and this great baseball movie was mutual. But that was then, before Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon began expressing their displeasure with President Bush and the war by flashing the peace sign with their fingers at every public event they attended. They were by no means being subtle about their take on the matter in either word or gesture. They are most definitely anti-war, which in our present climate translates as anti-patriotic, traitorous even. Witches and commies and actors, oh my.

And so, Hall president Dale Petroskey sent a letter to the famous acting couple informing them that the festivities had been cancelled because of their remarks, suggesting that their criticism of the President put the troops in danger. By doing this, baseball made a statement that nobody had asked for. Baseball, (or at least its highest representatives, which amounts to pretty much the same thing) had declared itself pro-Bush, pro-war, pro salute the flag and sing proudly about our country tis of thee. More than this, it declared that the voices of dissenters exercising their American right of free speech would not be tolerated. Needless to say, this seriously irked Tim and Susan. The man who played a rather dense pitcher with the war themed name of "Nuke" LaLoosh in Bull Durham wrote a letter of reply, in essence, telling Mr. Petroskey that he should be ashamed of himself, stating that he did not realize baseball was "a Republican sport", and expressing dismay that Petroskey had chosen to use baseball and his position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement.