Sometimes the contradictory attitudes that exist within the sports world become very annoying. Is it ‘winning is the only thing’, or is it fair play that should be held above all else. In football, a player is praised for his intensity and toughness when he plays, ‘through the whistle, not to the whistle’ but the NHL awards a Lady Byng trophy to the player who exhibits excellence in play tempered with sportsmanship. Are we as sports fans to pick and choose which one of these ideologies apply to which scenario and to which player?

Yankees up 7-5. High pop up to 3rd base. Recent call up Howie Clark camps under it. As Alex Rodriguez is rounding the bases behind Clark, he lets out a scream which Clark mistakes as shortstop John McDonald calling for the ball. So he lets up. The ball drops in. All hands are safe and the Yanks go on to score 3 more runs in securing a 10-5 victory.

The desire to win or breaking the baseball code? You make the call.

Tom Hanks’ classic line in the movie, A League Of Their Own, ‘there’s no crying in baseball’ obviously did not apply to the Blue Jays and their reaction to the incident. McDonald and Toronto manager John Gibbons were furious. Blue Jays colour man Pat Tabler called the move ‘Bush League’.

Give me a break!

The fact of the matter is that Rodriguez did not do anything contrary to the rules of the game. It’s unfortunate that the youngster Clark had to learn such a lesson in such a harsh manner but AROD didn’t cheat Clark and the Jays, he outsmarted them, plain and simple.

Rodriguez’ high octive yelp wasn’t an attempt to make Clark think that he was being called off. If that were his intentions, he would have called out ‘mine’ the universal baseball call that indicates that another player is in a better position to make the play. On field microphones picked up the squeal 3 times – once to Clark, once at 3rd base, and once while Rodriguez was jogging into the dugout at the end of the inning. The second and third screams were, in all likelihood, AROD’s answer to inquiries from 3rd base coach Larry Bowa and from his Yankee teammates as to what exactly he yelled. In all 3 scenarios it was a nonsensical, albeit girlishly high pitched squeal. Rodriguez made a playful effort to distract Clark, an effort that succeeded.

Gibbons and company can complain all they want but it’s the ‘game within the game’ aspect of sports that been present forever. Games cannot be played in silence or in a bubble. How is this incident any different from a hockey player on the backcheck, rapidly slapping his stick on the ice in the hopes that the player he is chasing will mistakenly assume it to be a teammate and drop pass? Or a basketball player inbounding the ball off the back of an opponent, then catching it himself for an easy layup? Or even baseball itself with its hidden ball trick? Not to mention the myriad of gadget plays in football.

One can’t help but wonder whether such a firestorm of criticism would swirl around a player committing this act of baseball sin if his name was not Alex Rodriguez. Let’s not hold a pity party for AROD just yet. After all, a quarter of a billion dollars and a medically enhanced blonde bombshell in every city is good for a lot that ails you. When it comes to situations like this however, it seems that heavy is the head of he who wears the crown as best ballplayer of his generation.

All that being said, Clark, regardless of his inexperience, still should have known better. Much like the fake pick off at 1st then throw to 3rd, these efforts work every once in a long, long, long while. And it’s situations like this that in a nutshell, explain why the Yankees, slow start notwithstanding, are who they are, and teams like the Blue Jays are who they are.

Gotta go, ‘This Week In Baseball’ is on.