As the World Series shifts to St Louis for Game 6 of the Fall Classic tomorrow at Busch Stadium, the focus on the off day swirls around alcohol- specifically, alcohol in the clubhouse.
Should Major League Baseball ban alcohol in clubhouses ?
The impetus for the examination grew out of reports that some Boston Red Sox pitchers drank beer in the clubhouse on days when they were not starting.
There have been denials out of Boston pertaining to any such issue with the Red Sox and their pitching staff, and while I’m not doubting the sincerity of those claims, I’m suspicious, and it doesn’t take much imagination to visualize the potential of such a scenario in a Major League clubhouse
Apparently many teams already ban alcohol in their locker-room, and a consistent policy from Major League Baseball could take the bat out of the hands of individual clubs when it comes to their policy or the decision making process.
And truthfully, even if it becomes a Major League policy, there will still be alcohol in the locker area, trainers room, players lounge etc- let’s not be naive here.
The issue here is both in reality and in perception.
The reality of alcohol, in baseball and in life at large, is how well can you handle it and when someone can’t handle it, or an incident occurs, then you’ve got an issue
The perception issue stems from the message being sent from the performers, are they at their best if they’ve consumed alcohol prior or during a ball game.
Pretty ironic too, don’t ya think, that this issues precedes Game 6 of the World Series which will be played tomorrow at ” Busch ” Stadium.
I’m Fred Wallace