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MLB should rebuke Delgado

by Tony Basilio

Former Tennessee Smokies catcher Carlos Delgado is catching heat these days for his anti-war crusade. For the past 14 months, Delgado, now a megastar for the Toronto Blue Jays, has refused to stand for the customary playing of God Bless America in select U.S. ballparks. The 27-year-old Delgado may have good reason for holding the Bush Administration, and even the United States, in contempt. But there is a time and place for everything. And now it’s time for Major League Baseball to hold its own protest—of Carlos Delgado.

Delgado is a decent, introspective guy. I got to know him when he passed through Knoxville in the early 90’s, and he struck me as a thinking man’s athlete, quiet but amiable. A native of Puerto Rico, he has spoken on behalf of his homeland on several occasions, lobbying for the elimination of the U.S. Navy’s testing in Vieques.

The Navy has used the island paradise as a testing site for its Atlantic fleet since WWII. And for years now, Delgado has been leading a movement to rid Vieques of the maneuvers, and of the toxic ordnance that some believe is responsible for abnormally high rates of cancer and other serious illnesses in the vicinity.

In that instance, Delgado saw a cause, and has used his fame to help affect change. But now he’s misusing that platform, disgracing the heritage of the very fans that gave him his bully pulpit in the first place.

Delgado is young and idealistic, so I understand why he would act as he does. What I don’t understand is why Major League Baseball would put up with it. The commissioner of baseball needs to send a memo to Delgado, something on the order of: “We appreciate the fact that you have an opinion, but you are not free to express it on our time. In keeping with the mores of our game, you are to respect the wishes of each respective city we play in.

Delgado has been outspoken in his opposition to the conflict in Iraq outside the ballpark as well. In a recent Toronto Sun article, he called it “the stupidest war ever.” I have no problem with his criticisms; dissent is an essential component of the freedom we enjoy. When he makes those comments, he does so as a citizen of the free world. But when he refuses to stand for the playing of God Bless America, it is a slight to every fan who has lost relatives in this and other wars that give Delgado the freedom to express himself in the manner of his choosing.

Delgado isn’t the first athlete to take an aggressive political stance using the platform of a sporting event. One-time LSU basketball legend Chris Jackson was a shooting guard in the NBA when he converted to Islam, changed his name to Mahmood Abdul-Rauf, and would no longer stand for the National Anthem. And Division III hoopster Toni Smith put Manhattanville College on the map with her refusal to face the flag during the National Anthem, as a way of protesting the beginning of the war in Iraq. Abdul-Rauf was booed out of the league shortly thereafter, while Smith was rebuked by the president of the college, who called her actions “shameful.”

That Carlos Delgado is committed to the people of Vieques is beyond question; each winter he flies there from his native Aquadilla, Puerto Rico, to hold fund-raising baseball camps. He has a great love for his people, and that’s commendable. But it’s time for Delgado to show the same kind of respect for the people of this country. Delgado needs to learn the difference between taking a stand and just standing. When he does so, both he and Major League Baseball will be the better for it.

July 15, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 29 © 2004 Metro Pulse