[One day in 1987], New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was
watching his team play the California Angels on television, and was shocked
when the camera zoomed in to show close-ups of what appeared to be a small
bandage on the palm of the left hand of Angels pitcher Don Sutton. The Yankees
television broadcasters brought it up whenever the pitcher appeared to grind
the ball into his palm between pitches. It was, they said, probably why
Sutton's pitches possessed such extraordinary movement that day. He was in all
likelihood scuffing the baseball.
Outraged, Steinbrenner called the visitors' dugout at Anaheim Stadium
and lit into [the Yankees' manager at the time], Lou Piniella. Was he aware,
asked the owner, that Sutton was cheating? "Our television announcers are
aware of it," yelled Steinbrenner. "I'm sure the Angels are aware of
it. You're probably the only guy there who doesn't know it. Now, I want you to
go out there and make the umpires check Don Sutton!"
This wasn't exactly breaking news about Sutton. He had been thrown out
of a game in 1978 for scuffing. By 1987, he was among the most discussed
ball-doctors in the game.
"George," Piniella responded, "do you know who taught
him how to cheat?" Steinbrenner confessed that he did not. "The guy
who taught Don Sutton everything he knows about cheating is the guy pitching
for us tonight," Piniella said. "Do you want me to go out there and
get Tommy John thrown out, too?"
So what do we do when it seems like everyone else is cheating? And not just in baseball. Do we we give up and give in, joining the ranks in doing whatever it takes to get ahead? Or do we trust God, take a stand for honesty, and do what's right even if it costs us?
source unknown
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