Everybody Wants Some
Media’s beanball on Trevor Bauer could be professionla baseball’s first cancel casualty, and its biggest error.
By Lance Crayon
A witch hunt is underway in Los Angeles. The highest-paid pitcher in Major League Baseball, Trevor Bauer, is facing sexual assault allegations. The accuser, Lindsey Hill, a San Diego native in her late 20s, has claimed Bauer assaulted her in two seperate incidents, and both at his home in Pasadena, California. The second tasualt allegedly happened when she was unconscious.
By then, Hill was a former member of the San Diego Padres “Pad Squad” after having been kicked off cheer squad for violating a policy prohibiting members from dating the club’s players.
Since Hill filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) in May, the Los Angeles Times (LAT) has painted a negative picture of Bauer. Although formal charges haven’t been filed nor has an arrest been made, the allegations alone haven’t discouraged the LAT and other media outlets from participating in a cancel campaign aimed at Bauer.
A local baseball prodigy who attended Hart High School and UCLA, growing up, Bauer dreamed of playing for the Dodgers. As a young student, he overcame bullying and peer isolation. Unfortunately, none of that matters as the LAT has led the charge in vilifying Bauer for his alleged bedroom behavior and outspokenness on social media.
On Twitter, Bauer voiced support for former US President Donald Trump. He also questioned climate, two sensitive issues in today’s liberal media landscape.
After the Dodgers signed Bauer, LAT sports columnist Dylan Hernandez said the Cy Young Award-winning acquisition was an “internet bully.” Supposedly, Bauer’s Twitter activity was a concern as he had made disparaging remarks about transgenders while sharing his thoughts on conspiracy theories.
The Dodgers baseball team is owned by a nine-member consortium, including former world tennis champion and LGBTQ activist, Billie Jean King, and former Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Bauer once tweeted, “the climate changed before humans and will change after. For us to think we can control it is extremely ego centric.” In China, it’s against the law to spread misinformation and people are arrested for writing about sensitive topics on social media. In the US, citizens are protected by the First Amendment and free to voice their opinions, but only in theory.
Bauer’s viewpoints do not fit the popular narrative and have upset many people, which is something he enjoys doing. He would often interact online with fans and haters, a rarity among professional athletes. Since the allegations emerged, Bauer has remained off Twitter.
The Washington Post has recently joined the “Cancel Bauer” campaign. The newspaper reported that Bauer had experienced similar legal troubles in Ohio. The WaPo story omitted key details while offering a salacious image of the pitcher. It seems the notion of innocent until proven guilty no longer exists, and certainly so for white men who hold right-leaning opinions. A few hours after the story dropped, Bauer returned to Twitter after a two-month hiatus to defend himself.
As the Bauer saga was warming up, Kevin Merida officially replaced Norman Pearlstine as the Los Angeles Times executive editor. Merida would be the first person of color to lead the newspaper since it was founded in 1881. At ESPN, Merida created the Emmy award-winning series, “The Undefeated.” Given Merida’s sports journalism pedigree, it’s surprising he hasn’t tried to balance the Bauer narrative being manufactured by the LAT. At ESPN, Merida was adamant about journalists not allowing politics to influence their work, but it seems that only applies to those who work at the sports network. Sexual assault allegations, whether true or not, can and will destroy a professional sports career, and Merida knows this.
LAT sportswriter Mike DiGiovanna observed that Bauer’s teammates had yet to defend him publicly. The strange thing about this was how it’s not uncommon for baseball players to avoid speaking with the media when a teammate becomes embroiled in legal problems. It seemed DiGiovanna was baiting the Dodgers clubhouse, and if so, it was a cheap move.
In 2019, pitcher Julio Arias was arrested for misdemeanor assault for pushing a woman in a parking lot. Arias was handed a 20-game suspension. His Dodger teammates did not comment on the incident. A woman also sued former outfielder Yasiel Puig who claimed he sexually assaulted her in 2018. According to the allegations, Puig masturbated in front of the woman and against her will in a bathroom at the Staples Center during a Los Angeles Lakers game. The woman never filed a police report and Puig wasn’t charged with a crime. As the baseball season was gearing up this year, Puig was still without a job, and it was because of the allegations. Since he was first accused, Puig’s teammates haven’t discussed the matter publicly. When have athletes been expected to comment on the personal matters of their teammates?
The New York Post joined the cancel campaign and referenced DiGiovanna’s story and said, “A majority of players do not want Bauer back under any circumstances.” This speculation was accepted as truth, which seems to be the latest journalism trend. The reality is that given the nature of the allegations and Bauer’s online comments, there isn’t one professional baseball player who can come forward and defend Bauer without jeopardizing their career.
DiGiovanna’s story also mentioned, “Questions remain about the Dodgers’ vetting process, and why an organization that President Biden described as ‘a pillar of American culture and American progress’ in a White House ceremony on July 2 — the same day Bauer was placed on his first paid administrative leave — would sign Bauer in the first place.”
What are the questions that remain about the team’s vetting process and who are the people asking them? By DiGiovanna’s account, it would seem the Dodgers had never encountered problems with players in the club’s franchise history. Is the public supposed to believe that acquiring Bauer was the result of a broken recruiting system?
After ten years in the Major Leagues, the closest thing Bauer has come to violating a law was when he operated a drone in his hotel room. The incident occurred in 2016 during the American League Championship Series. Bauer sliced his right pinky finger which would later prevent him from pitching a full game. The Indians would advance to the World Series but lose to the Cubs 4–3.
DiGiovanna also claimed, “two people with knowledge of Dodgers clubhouse dynamics, who are unauthorized to speak publicly about the situation, said that a majority of players do not want Bauer back under any circumstances.” Read this a few times, but slower, and see what happens. The notion that most of the Dodgers clubhouse would not like to see Bauer again is categorically false and misleading.
The ongoing Bauer saga is how cancel culture is infecting professional sports. Bauer is strong-minded and talented, and US society doesn’t like that combination. In today’s America, a good citizen is one who lives in fear and on their knees, with professional athletes as no exception.
Bauer doesn’t feel climate change is a threat. Who cares? He didn’t vote in the 2016 US presidential election, but he supported Trump while he was in office. Is that illegal? Bauer is single and doesn’t want a girlfriend or a wife. Would more people like him if he was married and miserable?
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Bauer said, “People pull the role model card. The way I see it, I am a role model because I show people it’s O.K. to stand up for yourself. That you can stand up to a bully.”
Does anyone find it unfair how a person can be accused of a crime, and before they’re proven guilty or innocent, their fate is decided? As wrong as it may seem, US society doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to change this. Photos of Hill’s bruised face have gone viral. If the photos were intended to serve as evidence against Bauer, wouldn’t it help if it was known when they were taken and if they were photoshopped? Also, who leaked the alleged victim’s photos and why?
Why would Hill, who lives in San Diego, file a restraining order against Bauer who lives 130 miles north of her hometown and had never visited her home? It’s doubtful he knew where she lived. Also, what’s peculiar about this case is how the timing couldn’t be better for Dodger opponents. With Bauer out of the rotation, the Dodgers have become vulnerable.
It wasn’t until six weeks after their second encounter and one month after their last text message exchange that Hill filed a TRO. Bauer’s attorneys recently argued this would indicate she did not “see an imminent concern about hearing from or seeing [him],” thus undermining Hill’s credibility. They also said, “Considering that [the woman] claims that she was choked unconscious for 30 minutes, the fact that this CT scan of the neck found no injuries is certainly relevant.”
In a text message to a friend, Hill said her attorneys thought Bauer might “try to settle with me[,] offer me major cash then make me sign [a non-disclosure agreement].”
“Trust me I know what I’m doing,” Hill texted.
After Hill’s first encounter with Bauer, she texted a friend, “my hooks into him.” When the Dodgers lost a game to the Padres, she texted the same friend, “Ur welcome for getting in his head,” and followed the text with a dollar smile emoji.
In a text message to Bauer, the accuser wrote, “Buttttt offff when it’s time to choke me out. You’re the best.” Does this sound like a victim?
One of Hill’s text messages reveals that she knew San Diego Padres pitcher Mike Clevinger, a former teammate of Bauer’s when they both played for the Indians (Guardians). Clevinger probably didn’t like it that his name wasn’t redacted from the text messages.
Former Dodger pitcher Dave Stewart recently announced he would boycott the ’81 World Series reunion because of Bauer. Stewart’s decision was out of character considering how he played alongside Steve Garvey, Pedro Guerrero, Steve Howe, Steve Sax, and others who grappled with personal legal problems. At the time of the announcement, Bauer had not been charged or arrested, and he still hasn’t, yet Stewart’s actions indicated otherwise.
As Stewart explained, “The Dodgers organization that I grew up in under the O’Malley family would never stand for that. The Dodgers should have stepped up in that situation, and they didn’t. You’ve got to have character standards.” Alzheimer’s is a serious health condition that affects millions of elderly Americans annually. Stewart, at the age of 64, is clearly no exception.
In 1984, Stewart revealed he knew Dodger teammate Steve Howe was using cocaine while pitching and even shielded him when he was snorting it during games. Stewart didn’t want to tell on Howe because he wasn’t a “snitch.” The following year, when Stewart was pitching for the Texas Rangers, he was arrested in Los Angeles for having sex with a male transvestite prostitute on Skid Row. Three days later, Stewart would appear at a team banquet where he was honored with the annual Good Guy Award.
Before a room of 500 attendees, Stewart said, “My decision in coming here was difficult because I did not want to embarrass anyone further. All I can say is good guys make mistakes, too.”
