The Billy Crystal thing

A bunch of people have e mailed me asking my take on the whole Billy Crystal at bat for the Yankees.

Some people and some writers have acted like this is the biggest disgrace in sports history.

Um, have they seen Clemens and McNamee in Congress?
Have they seen an NBA ref betting on games?
Have they seen a superstar QB with a killer dog ring?

There have been a few things trumping Jodie Dallas from Soap taking a few cuts in Florida.

How anyone could get upset by the Billy Crystal thing is beyond me
It's a spring training game, he gets the AB out of the way at the top of the game.

There are too may spring training games anyway and they all blend together.

And this isn't in a regular season
3 and a 1/2 foot Eddie Gaedel batted for the Browns and he has an entry in the baseball encyclopedia because it was a regular season game



Minnie Minoso got at bats in regular season games in 1976 and 1980 at age 51 and 55 as another Bill Veeck publicity stunt.


You want to complain about the integrity of the game there, I'll listen.

Then again Minoso singled off of Sid Monge in 1976... so maybe it wasn't THAT bad.

Crystal's at bat was harmless and kind of fun, breaking up the monotony of a spring training schedule.

And if other teams want to do it, why not?
If Ben Affleck wants to take a cut with the Red Sox, so be it. He still owes me nearly 3 hours of my life back for Pearl Harbor.

If Tom Hanks wants to lead off for the Oakland A's, fine. But Billy Beane would then trade him for 3 younger actors.

If Jimmy Carter wants to play for the Braves, why not? Hell, he's younger than Julio Franco who put in some years with them recently.