TOM was hit by a Randy Johnson fastball for uttering:
 TY> And Albert didn't have to put up with a tyrannical g.m who could and
 TY> would and did cut his salary when he did not improve each year.
Mantle didn't have to put up with the probing press that was LOOKING for 
anything to screw him. Mantle had it a lot easier because most, if not all, 
events were staged.
 TY> Nobody back then did.  I agree Mantle was an alcoholic, heck even he
 TY> agreed.
LONG AFTER the fact.
 TY> most part the media as a whole will present the player in a favorable
 TY> light, unless the player's actions dictate otherwise.
Puhleeze. Unless a player stages public events to show how much of a 
humanitarian that he is, the press is probing for something in his past.
 TY> Strawberry, Gooden, Howe, Welch, Ferguson Jenkins, et. al. have not
 TY> committed the boneheaded on and off field actions Belle has.
Really? I'm sorry but if you think that their transgressions weren't equal to 
or worse than Belle, you're either naive or you're trying to give Belle your 
own special slant. To even include Howe in your list of "angels" is beyond 
ludicrous.
 TY> that with the offer they had already made for Belle, Cleveland would not
 TY> have matched Chicago's offer if they really felt Belle could put them
 TY> over the top?
That's a ridiculous statement. Do you think that Montreal let Alou go because 
they didn't think he could put them over the top? Do you think that Finley 
let Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter go because he thought that they 
couldn't get the A's over the top? Cleveland made it quite clear that their 
definition of loyalty only pertained to player and his loyalty to the team.
--- TrekEd 1.00
---------------