Mientkiewicz Shows His True Colors

I often tell people that when I first saw Doug Mientkiewicz play first base for Florida State in the college world series, I instantly fell in love with his high-socks, no-batting-gloves style of play. But it only took one interview with him to have that image shattered. Dougy Baseball's behavior concerning the Red Sox World Series championship baseball reiterates the point I try to make.

For the clinching out of the World Series, Keith Faulke tossed the ball to Mientkiewicz. It ended the Red Sox 86-year championship drought. After catching the ball, Mientkiewicz was sure to hang on to that ball--a good move because of its significance. But then he did something really stupid. He refused to give it to the team when they asked for it.

Why Mientkiewicz thinks he has any right to that ball is beyond me. He caught it for the last out, that's it. Maybe if David Ortiz or Pedro Martinez had wanted to keep it I could at least understand their thinking. They had a lot to do with the Sox winning the series. But Mientkiewicz? He wasn't even a regular in the line-up. He's such a liability at the plate that the only time he saw the playing field was pre-game batting practice and as an occasional late-inning defensive replacement. And he thinks he deserves it?

Obviously, I don't think anyone is dense enough to believe that. Which leaves only the possibility that Mientkiewicz thinks he has legal rights to the ball because it was in his glove when the last out was recorded. And he's adopted the childish thinking along the lines of "If I don't get my way, I'll sue you" or "Finders keepers, losers weepers." Not only does he have no rational, mature thinking about the situation, but he has no legal grounds either.

You can't just take whatever you want. He didn't supply the ball, major league baseball did. The league owns the ball. If it goes into the stands, it is out of play and the fan who catches it can keep it. But when it's in the field of play, it belongs to the league. Not Mientkiewicz, not even the Red Sox. The league. If Bud Selig, as much as I despise the guy, wants to take it from the Sox to display it in Cooperstown, he would have every right to do that.
The league owns it. The Red Sox are second in line. One of the superstars on the team is next. Mientkiewicz? He's not even on the chart. He shouldn't be compensated for giving it back. After the way he's acted, he shouldn't even be thanked. Dougy Baseball needs to get in touch with reality and simply give the ball to its rightful owner....Major League Baseball.