Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Statesmanship in Baseball

Kudos to the President of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Dale Petroskey. Petroskey canceled a 15th annieversay celebration of the film Bull Durham because of the anti-war views of co-stars Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Petroskey was an assistant Press Secretary in the Reagan Adminstration

Jay Leno summed up the controversy well: "Officials at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, have canceled a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the baseball movie "Bull Durham" because Susan Sarandon has these anti-war, anti-Bush views. Even worse news for Pete Rose. Turns out he bet on Iraq.

I guess the head of the Hall of Fame is an old Reagan guy, I think he was the press secretary, and Tim Robbins sent a letter. Robbins said he "did not realize baseball was a Republican sport." Do you think baseball is a Republican or Democratic sport? It’s got lots of multi-millionaires so it could be Republican; then you’ve got switch hitters who grab themselves, so it could be Democratic"

Petroskey possesses at least two of the four cardinal virtues, prudence and courage.

Discussions - 8 Comments

Not sure if you saw any of Robbins’ diatribe at some function last night but he has now displaced Alec Baldwin as the poster child for the saying "It is better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt". Apparently this nitwit believes the First Amendment gives him the right to express his views wherever and whenever he pleases while remaining entirely free from criticism of any kind.

Yeah, I read Robbins’ remarks invoking the 1st Amendment. He claims that the Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t believe in the 1st Amendment because it canceled his invitation. That is an interesting interpretation of the 1st Amendments seeing that the Baseball Hall of Fame isn’t the government. In addition, the Baseball Hall of Fame has a right not to listen to Tim Robbins. What a curious little man that Mr. Robbins.

I can’t help thinking this is some sort of Orwellesian (if a may coin a brand new adjective) prank on the order of Wells infamous War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938.

After all, Welles is Robbins’ hero. And as seen with Rob Riner’s This is Spinal Tap and Moore’s Bowling for Columbine spoofs, this sort of dupe-thing is becoming popular among the enlightened Hollywood left.

Funny how these folks view their fans, eh?

Yeah, the Denver Pravda, er, Post today has an editorial defending Robbin’s constitutional right not to be disagreed with.

Oh, you guys are just still pissed about "Bob Roberts."

On April 18, Dale Petroskey apologized to Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon and admitted he made a mistake for politicizing the Hall of Fame. When are you going to do the same?

This commentary by writer Daniel Fierman sums up the situation nicely:

"Few American Institutions outstrip Hollywood in their ability to flamboyantly shame themselves. Major League Baseball is one of them - the betting scandals, the All-Star games that end in ties, the designated hitter. Recently, however, National Baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey took the national pastime’s singular talent for embarassment to a new level when he canceled a special 15th anniversary celebratiobn of Bull Durham. Scheduled for April 26-27, the event was supposed to feature appearances by director Ron Shelton and stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and Robert Wuhl. Sarandon’s and Robbins’ antiwar statements, Petroskey claimed, ’ultimately could put our troops in even more danger.’"


"Let’s get something straight here: Bull Durham is the greatest baseball movie ever made. Period. Even if you disagree with them, Sarandon and Robbins have the right to express their beliefs. Period. Dale Petroskey has struck a blow against art, baseball, the Constitution, and most egregiously, Robert Wuhl fans everywhere."

I stand by my original points: Tim Robbins, et al, have a First Amendment right to speak, but we are not required by the First Amendment (or any other) to listen, nor are we required to provide him a platform for his speech.

As for Petroskey, he has now proven that he lacks the courage of his convictions - Mr. Robbins, at least, has that going for him.

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