The following is going to be a bit rantish, but I’m okay with it. Over the last few days, we learned that Alex Rodriguez “begged” the Yankees to re-sign outfielder Melky Cabrera. Melky isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, so I’m glad they didn’t heed A-Rod’s talent evaluation and acquisition advice, despite Brett Gardner‘s performance (or lack thereof) to start the year. In the comment section of that RAB article, and the comment section of my piece about Gardner from yesterday, people brought up the fact that Melky and Robinson Cano were good friends when they were both on the Yankees. This, of course, was in the context of my least favorite Yankee narrative: Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano goofed off together too much and it led to Cano’s bad year in 2008 and Melky’s absence skyrocketed Cano to superstardom in 2010. Shoot me in the face. Gag me with a spoon. Whatever.
Why do I hate this narrative so much? I’m not sure I can accurately put it into words but it’s just…annoying. And non-sensical. It takes all the responsibility off of Cano’s shoulders and makes him look dependent on something outside of his control for both his success and failure. I…just freakng hate it.
Here are two pieces of entertainment that succinctly sum up my point:
AND
But to expand:
If Melky Cabrera was such a damning influence on Cano, then how come Cano was able to have good/great years in 2006, 2007, and 2009 when the two friends were teammates? Maybe, just maybe, Cano had a bad year in 2008 because he was a younger player and sometimes, they have blips in performance. Maybe, just maybe Cano had his best year in 2010 because it was his age 27 season, when many ballplayers peak. Maybe, just maybe, Robinson Cano is an extremely talented baseball player whose success on the field has nothing to do with the people he hangs out with after the game and what he does with them. Please, let’s work hard to kill this narrative. It’s lazy at best and unfounded at worst.
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6 Responses to Trying to destroy a narrative
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In this particular case, the narrative might be fiction, but there is something to removing distractions from a clubhouse. Blaming one player for another’s behavior might be making excuses, but not everyone is strong willed. Peer pressure can lead to bad influences, even in a major league clubhouse.
I don’t know if Melky was a distraction to Cano (it could have been vice versa, but the star gets benefit of the doubt), but I can’t say he wasn’t. The only people who know that are the ones who were able to witness their relationship on a daily basis.
Great post. There never was any evidence that this was ever an issue, it was just an assumption made by many. Again, I’m curious whether the same assumption would have been made if it was two white players. Honestly, I doubt it.
I never saw a racial component to this particular issue, and I’m surprised that so many people do. As two young professional athletes living in NY, it’s not inconceivable that they might enjoy the nightlife . That some people asked questions about what could have caused them not to perform to standards they (really only Cano) had set is more of mark of lazy reporting (disregarding that Melky and Cano had been teammates even when Cano had good seasons) and ignorance of more advanced statistics (such as babip) that would have helped to explain that Cano’s 2008 was fluky.
People never questioned Jeter’s personal life because he performed every year, and Jeter’s certainly not white. I think there are plenty of cases where sports media use lazy racialized thinking, but don’ see it in this Cano and Melky situation
I am usually very sensitive to such issues, but in this case, I don’t think Melky and Cano being hispanic played a role because teams seem to want to pair fellow spanish speakers together. Also, there are examples of white players being bad influences. It isn’t recent, but Billy Martin comes immediately to mind.
Well if you want to talk about party guys who were of different races you have to look no further than Daryl Strawberry and David Cone on the Mets. The stories in Straws book about the two of them going out to bars until the same came up and heading straight from a stool to the field was classic. He told a story about being half drunk, with a huge headache having to run the bases to leg out a triple and looking in the dugout seeing Coney ducked down in his coat laughing his ass off because he knew why Straw looked like he was about to throw up.
Cano and Melky partying would have much more to do with being young, celebs, with money, and no matter what your race that usually leads to a few roudy nights.
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