Ring: On Jonah Keri, and how the domestic violence epidemic is rotting baseball

From Sheryl Ring at Beyond the Box Score on December 5, 2019:

This year, I’ve written at some length about the innumerable problems with Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, and proposed a solution. At the same time, however, it’s becoming increasingly impossible to ignore just how deeply the cancer of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence is spreading – or has already spread – throughout the league.

Just this year, we saw the Pirates’ Felipe Vazquez arrested for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old. Roger Clemens is being considered for the Hall of Fame with little or no discussion of the fact that he allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old. Former Astros assistant General Manager Brandon Taubman thought nothing at all of shouting “thank f*****g God we got Osuna!” at Sports Illustrated reporter Stephanie Apstein, simply because she wore a bracelet bringing awareness to intimate partner violence. Most recently, former Rangers and Giants reliever Sam Dyson was credibly accused of abusing not only his girlfriend, but also their cat.

It’s important to note that the fault for domestic abuse lies – in each case – uniquely and entirely with the abuser. That said, however, it’s impossible to examine the league without wondering what, exactly, contributes to this cultural lack of accountability which continues to permeate the sport. Unfortunately, we don’t need to look far to realize just how complicit we in sports media have been in excusing this behavior.

Read the full article here: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/12/5/20993713/on-jonah-keri-and-how-the-domestic-violence-epidemic-is-rotting-baseball



Originally published: December 5, 2019. Last Updated: December 5, 2019.