A Bad Christmas Tale

Bad news gets released, or buried, on a holiday. Take Peter Gammons’ Christmas-Eve piece on Tony LaRussa (please!) in today’s The Athletic. Twenty-five paragraphs, starting with the tale of how Gammons caught popups for then-new Sox coach LaRussa “at old Comiskey Park.” It’s always “old Comiskey Park” for people who don’t understand what “old” means. Gammons devotes one paragraph, barely eight lines, to LaRussa’s recent DUI trouble and ends it with, “He also underwent counseling.” He notes the “racial issues raised” after LaRussa’s hiring by the Sox given the criticism LaRussa leveled at NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick back in 2016. And you know what? “One of the smartest baseball persons on the planet [along with Peter Gammons and Tony LaRussa, no doubt]0 Eduardo Perez, responded emphatically on MLB Radio, ‘I played for Tony LaRussa, and I know he is absolutely not a racist, but he is also the best manager I ever played for. Period.’” Well, certainly settles it, then. But here’s the line that really gave me pause: “LaRussa and [Bill] Belichick, 68, have a long-standing relationship.” Do they, now? Thanks for letting me know, Peter, because that explains a whole lot. I can’t wait to see what Gammons has saved up for New Year’s Eve. Shagging flies with Dave Kingman, maybe, or the forever misunderstood Barry Bonds?