NO ONE HERE BELIEVES THE ASTROS ARE GETTING DEATH THREATS...

And that's the problem when you lie and cheat and get caught. You're reputation is questioned... you live in a world of doubt. You are not trustworthy. In short... no one believes you. We don't believe the Astros who are clearly scrambling for sympathy.

Both Carlos Correa and Josh Reddick have come forward to state that they have received death threats, another story put out in the midst of the chaos that is the #AstrosCheatingScandal, created by them... now covered-up by Rob Manfred and Jim Crane, and protected by Tony Clark.

Photo: Josh "Loser" Reddick

Reality would tell you that death threats are serious, but here's the thing; the Astros players, clearly feeling pressure and clearly with their backs against the wall are playing victim. But they aren't the victim, they are the enemy in this entire scandal. They took integrity from the game, and sadly, they are trying to find public support for something that I believe NEVER HAPPENED... death threats.

KHOU 11 writes:

"Josh Reddick said he and his teammates are even getting death threats on social media. Reddick said his wife Jett has also been threatened. One Instagram commenter even said he hopes the couple's twin sons, 4-month-old Ryder and Maverick, get cancer, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan."

And the Houston Chronicle writes this:

Carlos Correa: "When you open social media these days, it’s the norm. You don’t see positive comments anymore. You just see ‘If you come to New York, you better watch out. Your wife better watch out.’ They start talking about raping, killing.” - https://t.co/rq1ErHchDA

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 21, 2020

Notice they are Houston publications which means one thing... it was planted, it was editorialized on purpose. It written for sympathy. Don't buy it. My opinion of course... but I'm pretty good with judgement of character and the Astros character? It's out the window.

You want to know about death threats? Talk to Rachel Robinson who experienced it on the daily when husband Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in a world where black men were not accepted in the major leagues.

That's real problems. That guy just wanted to play the game he loved, but wasn't accepted.

The Astros? They cheated, got caught and now are crying about it because social media is having a field day with these losers. They're not receiving death threats... they're just being mocked and ripped apart verbally and on the daily.  They need tougher skin... especially because the consequences of their cheating scandal is now too big for them to handle.

Own it losers.

BEING JACKIE ROBINSON

This Sunday, FOX will premiere a documentary in celebration to the great Mariano Rivera entitled Being Mariano.  I have been anticipating its release for weeks, but before Mariano, there was Jackie Robinson and I had the privilege to meet his daughter, Sharon Robinson, at an event held at my university this week as part of its Unity Days 2013.

The second child of Jackie and Rachel Robinson, Sharon is an intelligent, well-read, educator and an authentic storyteller.  Robinson is an award winning author and the educational consultant for Major League Baseball.  Specifically, Robinson manages Breaking Barriers In Sports, In Life, a baseball centered character education program aimed at helping students face and overcome challenges in their lives much like the challenges her father faced in his short life and career in baseball.  Her talk this week focused on her father, his legacy and her role in educating both baseball players and all of us of the true essence of Jackie’s impact on our lives.  She stated that her father’s Nine Values to Live by include “courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment and excellence.”

Robinson said that the movie 42 was accurate with a little poetic license here and there. “That scene when my father signs the contract with Mr. Rickey on August 28, 1945 was authentic,” she said.  The film enabled today’s players to see first hand the challenges her father overcame to help the game of baseball grow as a sport and as conduit to equality. 

“My father played baseball under an enormous amount of pressure,” she stated in front of a crowd of college students, staff, and community members.  She was surprised at how many current players didn’t immediately see the linkage of Jackie to their present role in baseball.  When she took on her role at MLB in 1997 and her father’s #42 was retired, she had a big job to do- she needed to help current baseball players see the connection between themselves and Jackie.  Ken Griffey, Jr. was the first player to ask to wear #42 on Jackie Robinson Day and that emotion swelled as now all players are #42-for-the-day.  Jackie Robinson Day in baseball “went from a video being played on the screen of Jackie Robinson to players now thanking Jackie for all he has done,” Robinson shared.

Her presentation was filled with a series of incredible stories and pictures of her father throughout his career in baseball and later in his life before his death at 53 in 1972.

There were shots of him in the Negro Leagues, playing for the Montreal Royals and Brooklyn Dodgers, in front of his new Connecticut home with his family and as a civil rights’ activist, where he spent his final years.

Robinson narrated over a series of shots of Jackie famously “stealing home” in the 1955 World Series against the Yankees.  “Yogi says he was out, but clearly, my father was safe,” she laughed.  “Look, Yogi doesn’t even see Jackie coming down the base path.”  

Robinson’s greatest memory of her father was when he went out onto the ice-covered lake in the dead of winter to ensure that it was safe for ice-skating for his kids and their friends.   You see, Jackie couldn’t swim because black people were banned from the community pool where he grew up in all white neighborhood in Pasadena, CA.  Her father always said, “Did they think we didn’t get hot?”   Jackie wasn’t afraid to take risks whether it was stealing a base, retiring from the game when he was traded to Brooklyn’s rivals, the New York Giants, or putting himself in danger in order to yield a greater result.  And in a year where we saw the greatest closer who ever played be celebrated by his rivals and peers in his final season, I can’t help but see the connection between Sharon’s words this week about her father and the amazing legacy that Mariano, our modern day #42, has given to the game of baseball.

“Jackie Robinson was a great man," Rivera said (over the weekend before a game against the Baltimore Orioles). "I have always said that wearing this number is a privilege and a great responsibility & to represent what Jackie represented for us, as a minority, and for all of baseball in general, it's tremendous. For me, it's just a privilege to wear and to try to keep that legacy. It makes me want to be at my best. And that's what I tried to do my whole career."

 Both #42s gave by just being who they are- spirited, passionate ball players.  And baseball is better for it.

Please take a moment, go to Sharon Robinson's website:  http://www.sharonrobinsonink.com/index.htm

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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