While the rain offers a 55-minute delay to this afternoon's game at Busch Stadium, here's a riddle to spend some time considering: Is Marty Brennaman right?
In today's Post-Dispatch, columnist Bernie Miklasz gave a reasoned and well-written view of the assertion that that Cardinals are the most despised team in baseball, an assertion made the other night during Brennaman's Brandon Phillips-esque riff about a "whiner" pitcher and "infantile" coach. Miklasz makes the point that if team's dislike the Cardinals it's because they are jealous. The Cardinals win. The Cardinals have won. The Cardinals don't often pick fights, but they do often finish them -- or at last escalate them.
Brennaman said they might be the "most disliked team in baseball." Some that certainly stems from success, as Miklasz detailed. Some that obviously stems from the public view/cliches about manager Tony La Russa. Some of it stems from actions or attitude.
To find the other side of the argument and see if the Cardinals are truly "disliked" or just merely envied, I went through the Post-Dispatch morgue and some other online archives to find testimonies from outside the organization, even from beyond the Cardinals-Reds rivalry du jour.
The prosecution calls the following witnesses:
ADAM LaROCHE, infielder for the Washington Nationals, who was there when a spring training misunderstanding became an exchange of bean balls and an unusual bench-clearing fracas in the middle of a Grapefruit League Game.
"It's very typical of playing these guys. I'll leave it at that," LaRoche said of the Cardinals. "I've played against them a lot. And for whatever reason, you run into this same situation."
BRANDON PHILLIPS, instigator extraordinaire :smug:, whose casual shinguard tap turned into a full-on brawl last year after he called the Cardinals names in pre-series rant.
"I'd play against these guys with one leg," Phillips told Hall of Fame writer Hal McCoy. "We have to beat these guys. I hate the Cardinals. All they do is (kvetch) and moan about everything, all of them, they're little (Eeyores), all of ‘em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals."
BRANDON BACKE, the spirited Houston Astros starter who has pitched some emotional games against them and once got into a shouting match with Albert Pujols before his manager hauled him off the field.
"It's apparent we don't like each other, and that's OK," Backe said. "There's plenty of other people I don't like in this game. It doesn't matter. That's just baseball, that's the way it goes. The competition between he and I just escalated, and it's no big deal. That's what makes if fun."
MARTY BRENNAMAN, whose recent extemporaneous rip on the Cardinals got most of the attention, but had just as compelling things to say this offseason when he visited Marshall University for a little baseball talk.
"I'm not a big St. Louis fan, because I'm not a big Tony La Russa fan," the broadcaster said, according to The Charleston Daily Mail. "I refer to him as
'Mr. Baseball' on the radio, because he acts like he invented the game."
BRONSON ARROYO, who was peeved that the Cardinals suggested he was using a foreign substance on his fingers or that he preferred baseball's lacking the usual pre-game rub-up so that he could better use his sliders and such.
"It's from playing in every other park where there's so much mud on the balls that that black stuff comes off on young fingers every time," the righty said. "I guess (Dave Duncan) said I went to my hat time after time. Yeah, I do 8,000 other twitches. What you want me to do about it? That's how I pitch. I guarantee when I pitch against the Cardinals next year, I'll call over
and tell Dave Duncan I'm wearing a brand new hat."
At this point, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker would like to make the following entry into evidence: Julian Tavarez's hat.
"If anybody should know, it would be Duncan," Baker said to reporters in 2009. "I remember they had Julian Tavarez over there. They threw his hat out, remember that? His hat was all messed up. It's not like it's something new."
PRINCE FIELDER, the Milwaukee Brewers first baseman doesn't say a whole lot about his distaste for the Cardinals, but he has felt in the past that they've purposeful pitched -- how to say it? -- aggressively inside on him.
NED YOST will speak on behalf of the first baseman, having already made his case at the time by yelling across the diamond at La Russa and seeing one of his one pitchers ejected in the same 2007 game for, ahem, losing control of a pitch.
"It sure looked like it," Yost said of the pitch that hit Fielder. "But I'm not a mind reader."
At this point, the defense would like to enter into evidence that La Russa, on the day, "swore on the lives of (his) animals" that the pitch that hit Fielder was accidental. It also should be noted that the act of retaliation cost Milwaukee in the standings.
KELLY JOHNSON, the Arizona infielder who took the brunt of Chris Carpenter's frustrations in Arizona when the pitcher was still furious over a high-and-tight pitch and went in high on a double play. The dugouts emptied as a result.
"Just turned it, and it's just competitiveness boiling over," Johnson said. "He obviously wasn't happy about getting hit and he was still fired up, he wasn't settled down yet. Once it's done it was done and there wasn't going to be anything lingering."
(The prosecution quickly realizes too late that this is not a good witness and on cross-examination, Johnson confirms that Carpenter twice apologized for the play, including once to the first base coach.)
CARLOS LEE, the Houston Astros outfielder, who received a lecture from Carpenter that same season for his reaction to popping up on a pitch.
"I guess he's allowed to yell and say anything he wants because when Lance got that hit, he was screaming and yelling and saying all kinds of stuff out there," the left fielder said. "But as a hitter, we can't get emotional? Why? I got a pitch to hit and got mad because I should have hit it and I popped it up. I got mad at myself."
LLOYD McCLENDON, the former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates whose staff was involved in a physical pre-game confrontation with pitching coach Duncan several years ago and once met La Russa jaw-to-jaw for a screaming match at PNC Park's home plate -- during a game. His view of the Cardinals has been presented in a transcript from a 2004 game story written by Rick Hummel:
"Lloyd was saying, 'Don't yell at our players. I said, 'Would you rather we hit somebody in the head or yell?'" La Russa said. "I'd rather yell than hurt somebody. 'Yell at your pitchers to get the ball down."'
It appeared that McClendon might have motioned for La Russa to continue their debate in the tunnel after both were ejected. But La Russa, nearly 60, cracked, "I don't think he wanted to (challenge) a senior citizen."
Asked if he had regretted what happened, La Russa said, "What I wish hadn't happened was the excessive number of balls at our hitters' heads. There's no place for that in the game. Now, that's the last we're going to talk about it."
McClendon confirmed he was only mad about La Russa yelling at his players.
"I don't believe in saying anything to players on the other team, " McClendon said.
"I have never ordered a pitcher to throw at anybody and I never will."
Pirates rookie Mike Gonzalez said, "I think (the Cardinals) probably were trying to intimidate me a little."
LANCE BERKMAN, the former rival who has now turned into an essential and beloved teammate.
"When I played against (La Russa) I wanted to fistfight him, but it's totally different than you would think," Berkman told St. Louis radio station KFNS about his view of the skipper before changing sides. "I've always respected him and the way that the Cardinals have approached the game. They always play with an intensity that I think you can attribute directly to his influence and to the tone that he sets. ... I was like, 'Man, these guys are our No. 1 rival, always winning the division and if you wanted to do anything you had to beat them.' Almost like a big bully. They play with an attitude of superiority, which is helpful when you're on their side, but playing against them it rankles you."
(The entirety of his testimony is available in Miklasz's column.)
You're welcome to offer up your evidence.
The New York Yankees with their fat wallets and overloaded trophy case are often picked as the most-hated team in baseball. That's cliche. But in recent years they've become almost ... loveable. That aging Core Four, their warm-hearted redemption storylines and the fact they aren't bludgeoning teams with their payroll anymore makes it harder for even the ardent Yankees Haters to moan. (Or not.) The Boston Red Sox are a favorite team to despise with their literati fan base, regal airs, and constant exposure on television, but are they the most-hated? In some boroughs to be sure, but everywhere?
The case goes to the jury with the standings on one side, the testimonies on the other and Miklasz's column as their judicial guide.
The "most disliked" team? Perhaps not. But clearly not well-liked.
And that usually means two things.
As Miklasz points out, a disliked team is usually a good team.
It is also, always, an entertaining team.
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