He is Right and They are Wrong

Gary Sheffield has told the Yankees that trading him is the wrong move. Gary Sheffield has told Al Selig that encouraging players to take part in the World Baseball Classic, an international tournament in which players are to compete for their counties, is the wrong move. Gary Sheffield has told Boston that the days of the Red Sox challenging Alex Rodriguez physically or verbally are over. Things will be different.

In each case, Gary Sheffield is right and those who question him are wrong. Trading Gary Sheffield for Mike Cameron would have been the ultimate in stupidity. Sheffield is one of the best players in the game while Cameron is a journeyman player who averages almost a strikeout a game, has a .248 lifetime batting average, and has never batted higher than .267 in any season. Sheffield doesn't stop there.

"I would go play for them (the Mets). It doesn't mean I'm going to be happy playing there. And if I'm unhappy, you don't want me on your team. It's just that simple. I'll make that known to anyone."

Sheffield pulls no punches. His candor resulted in Yankees' manager and Donald Trump golfing companion Joe Torre telling the world that the Yankees rejected a possible trade with the Mets involving Sheffield and Cameron. Whether the Yankees rejected a trade the Mets initiated or one they initiated has never been clarified but that is not where lies the controversy.

A baseball player had the temerity to reveal that he would be unhappy if he were traded and that no team, not only New York's other team, wouldn't want an unhappy Sheffield to play for it. Sheffield is telling the truth and Selig, the baseball moguls, the media, and most fans do not want to know the truth.

Sheffield signed a contract to play for the Yankees, a contract that contains almost $14 million in deferred payments but one that does not contain a no-trade clause. His statements have effectively created such a clause, at least for the near future. Gary Sheffield is right and those who question him are wrong.

The media are dangerous, a fact that celebrities must learn quickly or suffer the consequences. A headline in a tabloid that is more misleading than some used car dealers states that "Sheff Now Mad at the World."

The article reveals that Gary Sheffield has no desire to play in next spring's World Baseball Classic. Sheffield says what other will not. He is not mad at the world. If he is upset, it is because those in power allow one agenda to get in the way of another and that they lack common sense.

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