Nixon: It's dirty pool

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Trot Nixon, his words dripping with anger and sarcasm, said he has not received a directive from Major League Baseball instructing him to wipe off the pine tar obscuring the "B" logo on his batting helmet.

"That's the biggest laughingstock [sic] I've ever heard of in my life," said the Red Sox right fielder. "Why don't they poll the fans to see if it really upsets the fans?

"The reason I put pine tar on my helmet is so I don't have to put as much on the bat. Manny [Ramirez] was the first one to suggest I do that. What next? When I slide headfirst and get dirt on the `Boston' on my jersey, are they going to make me change my jersey?

"It's a joke, that's what that is. An absolute joke, and you can quote me."

At Tuesday's All-Star Game in Houston, a source in the commissioner's office, discussing a dispute with Nomar Garciaparra over the Sox shortstop covering the MLB logo on the back of his helmet, for which he was fined and threatened with suspension, said MLB also planned to issue a directive instructing players such as Nixon and Ramirez to clean their helmets so the team logo would be visible. It was a marketing issue, the source said. "You'll see a difference at the start of the second half," the source said.

Nixon said yesterday he had heard nothing from MLB, and if he does, he plans to defy the directive.

"They're just trying to control everything," Nixon said. "This ain't football. This isn't the NFL. I'm supposed to worry about that? What about getting hits and winning ballgames. That doesn't have anything to do with whether I put pine tar on the `B' on my helmet.

"I don't care what they say. I'm not paying any fine."

Players use pine tar to improve their grip on their bats. Often it is applied directly to the bats; Nixon said he puts it on his helmet so he has better control over how much he gets on the bat handle.

"It would be a different story if John Henry or Larry Lucchino or Theo [Epstein], the team ownership had come to me," Nixon said. "And if the fans had say they didn't like it, that it was ugly, I'd pay attention to that. But I'm sorry, I don't think this should be such a big deal."

A couple of years ago, Nixon won the praise of then-Toronto manager Buck Martinez for being a "dirt dog," not for his fashion sense, but for the all-out way he plays, which of course results in grime and grass stains.

"Look at Craig Biggio," Nixon said, referring to the longtime Houston Astros star. "He's been wearing his helmet like that for 17 years. I'm not knocking Biggio, either. I have a lot of respect for him."

This is not the first time the Sox have run afoul of MLB officials trying to assert authority over uniform issues. Closer Keith Foulke was informed, with the threat of a fine, that he could no longer wear a small American flag decal on his cap (he was wearing it in batting practice yesterday). Then there is Garciaparra, who was threatened with a suspension last week if he did not display the MLB logo on the back of his helmet. Garciaparra had taken the logo off, then covered it by rubbing his helmet in dirt.

Garciaparra waved off reporters seeking to talk to him before last night's series opener against the Angels. The shortstop still had dirt on the back of his helmet, covering the MLB logo.

With a lefthander, Jarrod Washburn, pitching for Anaheim, Nixon was not in the starting lineup. He came into the game with just four hits in his last 26 at-bats. His sore quadriceps is still not fully healed, and he also absorbed a good shot to his knee during the last homestand when he slid into the low barrier of the grandstand along the right-field foul line. "My knee jammed into the concrete facing," he said. "That killed me.

"The [All-Star] break was more beneficial mentally than physically. I keep fighting myself at times. It was a tough first half, trying to get healthy. There are things I have to play through. I lost a lot of strength this spring, because I wasn't able to lift [weights because of back problems], and I lost a lot of weight.

"I'm struggling with the bat a little bit, but the key thing is I'm fighting myself too much, instead of enjoying the game. I'm getting furious."

It's not doing anything for his mood to hear of pine tar and helmets.

"It's almost as if [commissioner] Bud Selig is saying, `I'm bored, let's do something, let's stir up something.' Let's play the game.

"Nit-picking is what it is. There are so many more important things to worry about at the ballpark security-wise, to keep fans from fighting. How about stop selling beer after the third inning?"