Sox get with the program
Gabe Kapler spent about a season and a half in a Red Sox uniform and played a key role in the team's title drive in 2004 before electing to play full-time in Japan this season. But Kapler may have left an unforeseen but lasting legacy in Boston when he and his wife, Lisa, shared their story of how he helped her break free of an abusive relationship in high school.
Lisa Kapler said her boyfriend beat her over the course of a three-year relationship, once held a gun to her head and pulled a knife on her. Gabe Kapler helped her to end the cycle of violence, and also insisted she go to therapy. She spoke out last season, telling her story to benefit other victims of domestic abuse, and when Peter Roby, executive director of Northeastern's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, approached the Sox about their Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, he cited Kapler's story as an example of why Sox players could benefit.
"That was a perfect example of how guys, sensitive and loving, can change people's lives," Roby said last week, when he and two associates met with Sox minor leaguers in Fort Myers, Fla., to introduce them to the MVP porgram. "She was in a relationship that was bad, she met him, and he helped to turn her whole life around.
"And think about last summer, when Curt schilling called 911 [when he saw another driver weaving on the highway], then followed him until police arrived. This was a perfect example of a bystander not dismissing it as someone else's business."
The program is designed to assist players in handling an array of social situations without resorting to violence. The Patriots signed on to the program nearly seven years ago, and the Sox, who were scarred most notably by the Wil Cordero wife abuse incident in 1998, recently gave their blessing to the Northeastern group to work with the club.
Last weekend, using what they call their "playbook" -- which sets out a number of scenarios a player may encounter -- the MVP mentors spoke to more than 150 minor league players and staff. The crew also took a ride up to Dunedin, where Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi was sufficiently impressed that he invited them back to fall instructional league.
"We want to get them thinking," said Roby, "reframe the issues to understand that, `The one option I can't use is doing nothing.' "We're giving guys social permission to challenge each other and to help each other. On teams, culture develops, sometimes a negative culture, especially the way players may talk about women, about their conquests or about maybe having slapped a woman. We try to show them that's not appropriate anymore, it's not acceptable in our culture anymore, get them to understand that could be someone's daughter or sister, your daughter or sister." Roby, whose people also have visited college and high school campuses, is hoping to arrange followup visits during the season.
Dispatches from the alumni bulletin
With a week to go before Opening Day, here's an update on some of your favorite ex-Red Sox:
Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe are scheduled to pitch the openers for their new teams, the Mets and Dodgers. Martinez's presence in Queens, along with that of fellow Latino center fielder Carlos Beltran, prompted Banco Popular, the largest Hispanic-owned bank in the US, to sign a five-year deal as official bank of the Mets.
Nomar Garciaparra is having a ridiculously good spring with the Cubs, entering the weekend batting .500 (20 for 40) with 6 home runs and 14 RBIs, and making nice with Chicago-area reporters.
Orlando Cabrera came into the weekend hitting just .185 in 10 games, but the Angels are thrilled to have him, no one more so than his old friend from Montreal, superstar outfielder Vladi Guerrero, whose locker is next to Cabrera's.
Gabe Kapler took $2.7 million to become the everyday center fielder for the Yomiuri Giants, who are often compared to the Yankees and like the Bombers are under pressure to win another title; their last Japan Series championship came in 2002. Kapler will be playing alongside former Sox minor leaguer Tuffy Rhodes (he made a cameo in Boston in '95).
Framingham Lou Merloni was hitting over .300 but was on the bubble for a bench job with the Angels, who he said have more talent than he's ever seen.
Ramiro Mendoza, who had shoulder surgery in January, is in minor league camp with the Yankees, rehabbing, and isn't expected to pitch in a game until May.
Pokey Reese's name has popped up in trade rumors with the Nationals, but he is expected to be the Opening Day shortstop for the Mariners. Aaron Sele, who signed a minor league deal with Seattle, has thrown 15 scoreless innings and is making a strong bid for a spot in the rotation. Dave Roberts is back home in San Diego and projected to lead off for the Padres; Adam Hyzdu will be given a chance to be his backup. Scott Williamson is in Cubs camp, rehabbing after another Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Mike Myers is trying to win a spot as the second lefthander in the Cardinals' bullpen.
Hanging around managers' corner
A quick primer on the 30 men managing in the big leagues this season:
Four teams have new managers: Arizona (Bob Melvin), Philadelphia (Charlie Manuel), Seattle (Mike Hargrove), and the Mets (Willie Randolph). Only Randolph has never managed in the big leagues before.
Bobby Cox, who is beginning his 16th season with the Braves, has the longest tenure with one team. Bruce Bochy of the Padres is next with 11, and Joe Torre (Yankees) and Tony La Russa (Cardinals) are beginning their 10th seasons. Only two other AL managers are beginning at least their fourth season with the club, Mike Scioscia of the Angels (sixth) and Ron Gardenhire of the Twins (fourth). In the National League, Lloyd McClendon of the Pirates and Jim Tracy of the Dodgers are both beginning their fifth seasons, and Clint Hurdle of the Rockies and Frank Robinson of the Nationals are beginning their fourth.
Last season, Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox used the sacrifice bunt 90 times, more than any other AL manager. Terry Francona used it the fewest times (20). Only the Red Sox (70 percent) and Rangers (71.9 percent) had a worse success rate than the White Sox (78.9 percent). Hurdle led NL managers in sacrifice bunts with 133. Dave Miley of the Reds bunted the fewest times (80) of any NL manager present for the full season.
No AL team attempted more steals than Scioscia's Angels (189). Ken Macha's A's attempted the fewest steals in the AL (69). Ned Yost's Brewers led the NL with 178 steal attempts; Felipe Alou's Giants had the fewest steal attempts (66).
Carlos Tosca, who was fired in midseason as manager of the Blue Jays, called more pitchouts (42) than any other AL manager, in just 111 games. Dusty Baker of the Cubs called more pitchouts (68) than any other NL manager. Macha called just two pitchouts, Robinson none.
Melvin, who managed the Mariners last season, used the most lineups in the AL (151). Lee Mazzilli of the Orioles used the fewest (104). Alou used the most in the NL (138); Jack McKeon of the Marlins used the fewest (90). Twenty-one managers have at least some college education, including Francona, who was drafted in his junior year out of the University of Arizona. The nine managers who do not: John Gibbons (Toronto), Guillen, Hurdle, Manuel, Mazzilli, Tony Pena (Royals), Randolph, Torre, and Alan Trammell (Tigers).
Three managers never played in the big leagues: McKeon, Buck Showalter (Arizona), and Miley.
There are six minority managers, the most since 1993: Alou, Baker, Guillen, Pena, Randolph, and Robinson. The six in 1993: Alou, Baker, Tony Perez, Don Baylor, Cito Gaston, and Hal McRae.
Three managers are eligible for Social Security -- McKeon is 74, Alou is 69, and Robinson is 69 -- and Torre will be 65 in July. Eric Wedge of the Indians, at 37, is the only manager under 40.
Etc.
Tempe institute denounces steroids
Athletes Performance Institute, the training center in Tempe, Ariz., used by Curt Schilling and Nomar Garciaparra, among other elite athletes, sent a letter distancing itself from the pro-steroid views expressed in this column last week by Jose Antonio, executive director of the International Society for Sports Nutrition. API, whose company president, Mark Verstegen, was athletic trainer at Georgia Tech when Garciaparra was there, had hosted a symposium conducted by ISSN. But in a letter signed by Dan Burns, API's chief operating officer, and Amanda Carlson, API's nutrition and research manager, they made it clear that they did not share Antonio's views.
"Athletes Performance has a firm stand on the use of anabolic steroids in sport, which is that we don't support their use among athletes, period," they wrote. "The use of anabolic steroids for performance enhancement is illegal and unethical. At Athletes Performance, all athletes we train must sign a statement pledging to avoid all performance-enhancing drugs if they are to maintain the right to train with us. If athletes will not sign or violate this pledge, they cannot train with us. And yes, we have refused to train athletes for this very reason.
"Education on the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs is a major component of our program. Athletes leave here armed with the knowledge and tools they need -- across performance training, therapy, nutrition, regeneration, lifestyle topics, and everything else that impacts performance -- to thrive without resorting to illegal or unethical substances."
Salad days for Rose
Pete Rose is promoting a new line of salads for a Cincinnati-area chili chain, Gold Star Chili. Rose did ads for Gold Star from 1967-69, when he endorsed their cheese dogs with the slogan, "Dem dawgs are good." Slogan for the new campaign: "Dem salads are good."
His predicament was all the buzz
Former Sox pitcher Darren Oliver speculated that his coconut oil-based hair gel may have attracted a swarm of bees that chased him from the mound and caused a premature halt to a Rockies-Diamondbacks exhibition game in Tucson Thursday.
"In the beginning, it was funny," said the Colorado reliever. "Then, I started to get a little nervous. I love baseball, but I like myself more.
"Maybe I can go on a National Geographic special and talk about bees. I ended up as the center of attention. I'm sure it will be all over ESPN, and my phone will be ringing."
See you next time
Randy Johnson will throw in a minor league game Tuesday in Tampa rather than face the Red Sox just five days before he is scheduled to face them in the season opener next Sunday. It should be of little comfort to Sox fans that after the Big Unit struck out eight Braves in six innings in his last start, Atlanta slugger Chipper Jones said, "I think he'll win about 25 over there, with that offense."
Ponson is scraping by
This is your life, Sidney Ponson: The regular season can't come soon enough for the alleged ace of the Orioles' staff, who already has been passed over for the Opening Day start for Rodrigo Lopez. Let's see, there was the Christmas dust-up with a judge on a beach in his native Aruba, which won him an unscheduled layover in jail; he showed up in camp the other day with a bruised hand -- hurt, he said, in an altercation in a restaurant in which he was harassed by another patron; and a day later it was learned that he was arrested two months ago on a DUI charge. The pitcher failed the field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer. Because Ponson was a first-time defendant who refused to take a breath, urine, or blood test, he surrendered his driver's license in accordance with Florida law. He posted bond at the Broward County jail.
Swing and a miss
Barry Bonds's woe-is-me act the other day won few sympathizers, particularly since he showed no inclination to accept any accountability for his actions, instead choosing to blame his troubles solely on the media. Bonds's thinly veiled suggestions that he might retire rather than endure any further public vilification came in the wake of allegations made by a former girlfriend that, if true, could mean charges of income tax evasion as well as perjury. Giants trainer Stan Conte, for one, isn't buying that Bonds is through. "Anybody who thinks Barry Bonds is going to quit doesn't know Barry Bonds," he told reporters. "There's no way. When somebody has a second surgery, it's a little discouraging. And that's called being a human being."
Dropoff may get him dropped
Outfielder Bobby Higginson has played 10 years in Detroit, the longest tenure of any current Tiger, but the team may be on the verge of releasing him, even though that would mean eating the $8.85 million owed him in the final year of a four-year, $35.4 million contract. Higginson, who hit 30 home runs in 2000, has a total of 36 home runs over the last three years, and a batting average of .253 in that time.
Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report. 