Columnist Ron Kantowski: Baseball needs to take a look in the mirror

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 10:16 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

So four more crackpots made their way onto the field for another Royals-White Sox game at the (sort of) new Comiskey Park/U.S. Cellular Field Tuesday night. One left in a police cruiser with cuts and bruises after halfheartedly attacking an umpire.

And this surprises you?

It was the second crazy incident to transpire at Comiskey since Sept. 19 -- third if you count changing the name of the stadium -- when that father and son tag team tried to bond by burying their fists upside of then Kansas City first-base coach Tom Gamboa's head.

As a nation, perhaps we are edging slightly ahead in the war against terrorism. But there can be no doubt we are losing the battle against idiocy in our own back yard.

Our morals have gone to pot (and/or Budweiser). Or maybe there's a harmful agent in tattoo dye that causes the infected to run amok.

We live in a time and place where someone named Squeaky can squeeze off a few rounds intended for the Chief Executive, so it's almost surprising that someone hasn't capped an obnoxious slugger or overrated shortstop by now.

After all, and sad to say, there probably are more Americans who believe baseball is more important than politics. Look at all the column inches that have been dedicated to Tim Robbins' thoughts on the war in Iraq. And he only played the game in the movies.

Regardless of how many snipers you put on the upper deck roof, you're never going to make a ballpark completely immune to hooligans. But there's already a built-in safeguard. Anytime a lunatic runs onto the field, the other 50 people on it immediately race to his rescue.

The guy sitting with his wife and kids in the bleachers should feel so protected.

Baseball is portraying itself as a victim in these disgruntled fan episodes, but it needs to look in the mirror. Take Tuesday, for instance. On the very night a mental midget tried to turn Laz Diaz, the Man in Blue, black and blue, there were three bench-clearing incidents around the leagues. One occurred in Chicago. All were dignified with coverage on SportsCenter.

Baseball complains about fans acting up, yet it tacitly condones these silly bench-clearing incidents by permitting them to continue. Name another sport that allows entire teams to join in a fracas when a disagreement occurs.

When it comes to law and order, hockey ranks just this side of the O.K. Corral during cattle rustling season. Yet, the third man joining a fight is immediately banished to the hoosegow for the remainder of the game.

Usually, fans who run onto the field at baseball games only do so after being served mass quantities of hops and malted barley, courtesy of the home team. That's never an excuse for acting like a fool, but at least there's a cause-and-effect there that you can understand.

But how do you explain 50 multimillionaires running onto the field to swear at each other? What, one threw the baseball too close to the ribs of another? My, what better reason to push and shove and act like a tough guy.

Baseball is setting a poor example. It demands its fans behave, but not its players.

All I know is that if Wally threw the ball too close to Beaver out on the sandlot, Ward most likely would have told The Beav that he shouldn't stand so close to home plate. And June would have scolded Wally to watch where he throws the ball.

Under any circumstances, I don't think Whitey, Lumpy and Eddie Haskell would have found it necessary to help the Cleaver boys settle their differences.

Baseball fans need to learn some manners. But so do the players.