In case you missed the news, everyone's favourite former Blue Jay, Esteban Loaiza (also known as Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, et al), was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence and for reckless driving. According to the reports, Loaiza was driving his brand-new Ferrari 130 MPH at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. He failed the road-side sobriety test, though his blood alcohol content was not released. (In California the legal limit is .08.)
I have driven the stretch of road where Loaiza was arrested,
and I must say it is a borderline miracle that he wasn't killed—or, what would have been far worse, that he didn't
kill innocent people. Thankfully it was so late that the road—a narrow,
sinuos, two lane highway with numerous connections to other, busier freeways—was
likely deserted except for truckers, who in any event would have survived any
sort of collision. The highway is difficult enough to negotiatie while sober and driving the
speed limit, let alone at 120+ MPH.
For all the ballyhoo major-league baseball makes about
steroid usage, the real victims are the players who use them. It is a quintissential victimless crime. But what Loaiza
is alleged to have done is a serious crime, much worse than de-spoiling your
body for the sake of a few extra pounds of muscle. It's worse than what Delmon
Young did. It's worse than spitting in an umpire's face. It's worse than bumping an umpire.
It will be an interesting test for MLB if Loaiza is
convicted. I realise that other players have been arrested for DUI and
have
been slapped on the wrist, but the degree of recklessness that Loaiza
has
engaged in, even if he's not convicted—the speed, the type of road he
was driving on, the alcohol—seems to
have passed beyond the pale of "ordinary" recklessness. I'm aware that
nobody is perfect, that we all make mistakes, that we all have exceeded
the speed limit, etc. But it scarcely needs pointing out the permanent
gulf that exists from going 74 MPH in a 65 zone and going 120+MPH in
the same zone while under the influence of alcohol.
I'm not saying one way or another what baseball should do, but if they're going
to take the moral high road for a single-person "crime" like taking
steroids, then they had better be prepared to stay the course with an actual
crime that has killed thousands of innocent people over the years.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060615135635701