Honesty the Best Policy?

On the opening pitch of Sunday nights game Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels beamed Washington Nationals 19 year old rookie sensation Bryce Harper. When asked if Hamels did it on purpose, he said that he did and that it was him welcoming Harper to the Big League. After his explanation he received a 5 day suspension and a lot of grief from the sporting world fan base, and not just for hitting Harper but for actually admitting that he meant to do it.

I find it crazy the double standard that seems to be going on here. First off I can believe after listening to the Dan Patrick Show and hearing their opinion on what they had more of a problem with, either Hamels hitting Harper or actually admitting to it they thought admitting to it was worse. Dan Patrick said that if asked a pitcher should be coy and lie to the media. This seems very odd to me after him and much of the other that care about sports complain when an athlete doesn't admit to wrong doing. One prime example was back when the "anonymous" player for the New York Jets was bashing their head coach Rex Ryan. I know the examples are like comparing apples to oranges but in the end I think players should man up for their actions. Although I may not totally agree for Hamels reasoning for hitting Harper, and that it wasn't the smartest move to avoid suspension, I respect the fact that he was man enough to admit his actions and quite frankly not being chicken shit about it. Which now thinking about it, also reminds me of the Metta World Peace incident a couple weeks ago, where Metta tried to coward away in his actions in his press conference.

The other move that is kind of a double standard that is going on here is the move made by Major League Baseball. They suspended Hamels for 5 day suspension for beaming Harper and admitting it but when Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmerman retaliated later in the game by hitting Hamels nothing happened, why because Zimmerman did not admit to hitting him on purpose. I think this is a bad move for Bud Selig when he is trying to promote his players to be honest. Selig was very upset after the hearing of Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun steroid hearing that he might be lying and I am not sure what the updates on this are but he said that baseball was going to be further investigating and make sure Braun wasn't lying to get out of his 50 game suspension. It seems like the message that they are sending after the Hamels suspension is that don't be honest for your wrong doings or else. I think the best move would of been to either suspend both pitchers or neither of them, exactly the opposite of what actually happened.

So I have to wonder if the main reason that the backlash from the media and the commissioner was because of the fact that Hamels hit a fan favorite. I wonder if the same outcome from both parties would of happened if this same situation played out if Hamels hit a guy like Barry Bonds, but I guess we will never find that out. Again I think that even if someone doesn't do the right or popular thing, they shouldn't be punished for being honest about it.