The Ripken ethic

The Tidings - Los Angeles, CA, USA - In "Men at Work," George F. Will began his celebration of baseball defense with a tale of Cal and Bill Ripken turning a rally-killing double-play while their father watched from the visitors' dugout in Toronto --- and concluded with an appropriately blue-collar ending:

"After the third out the two Ripkens ran off the field, same pace, arms held in the same position, forearms cocked slightly above parallel to the ground, eyes straight ahead, looking into the dugout. They ran past their father, the third-base coach. It was just another night on the factory floor for the Ripken men..."

Cal Ripken's induction into the Hall of Fame last month --- along with Tony Gwynn, the San Diego Padres' hitting machine --- was a cleansing moment in baseball's ongoing season of shame. Yes, the steroid use is way down (as is the musculature of players I won't mention). But the memory of decade-long cheating lingers and festers, the wound made worse by denial on the part of some and scurrying-for-the-high-grass on the part of others.