European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Thu Fidy november 25. 1903 commentary th6 stars and stripes Page 17 Case distorts truth about victims Ann Quindlen shopping rolex Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents. There is no disputing that. In the Den of the family Home in Bev Erly Hills calif., they fired 15 blasts from two shotguns heart blowing off their father s head and shooting their Mother As she crawled across the Thev sit in a courtroom in los an Geles fighting for their lives facing the Gas chamber the Only matter tissue is Why. At first the answer seemed apparent. The Menendez Brothers stood to inherit millions after their parents were dead the went on a Rich kid spree watches an sports cars. But during their trial the two Youngmen have testified that Money had Noth ing to do with the say that their father a wealthy entertainment executive sexually abuse them when they were children. Erik told a harrowing Story of being pushed Down onto his Knees to perform Oral sex. Lyle s eyes filled with tears As he recounted being sodomized in what his father told him was a male bonding so the question has become venal Rich kids or tormented victims which Are the Menendez Brothers few seem to consider a third possibility maybe both. The victim mentality May be the last uncomplicated thing about life i America. It teaches that As surely As a Man in a Black hat twirling a Long mus tache ties a Sweet innocent with ringlets and a White dress to the Railroad tracks those in trouble must be Cut from whole cloth. It s Why a sex crimes prosecutor once said that his perfect rape victim was a shy Virgin living at Home. Jack the rip per knew what be was doing when he picked on prostitutes inconvenient unconvincing objects of empathy. The . Supreme court took on this Issue in a different Guise recently in a unanimous ruling on sexual Harris a manager at an equip ment rental firm in Nashville had a bos who thought let s go to the Holiday inn and negotiate your raise was a Clever riposte who made demeaning comments Day after Day week after week. A Strong woman Harris put up with this nonsense for two years for the Sake of a Good Job then quit and promptly filed , she made an unsatisfactory victim. The lower courts were looking for Little Nell on the Railroad tracks weak and wan. They ruled against Harris because her Boss s conduct was not severe enough to have caused psychological injury. What was wanted was hysterical collapse a ruined life the inability to work. Nonsense said Justice Sandra Day o Connor who concluded that Lega Protection comes into play before the harassing conduct leads to a in other words you can be a victim of sexual harassment without being a victim. Society s standards admit to fewer variations and complexities. You can t help wondering Reading the court papers whether Harris was Ever. Tempted to help her Case by hewing tothe View of her proper role and simulating a Case of the Vapours. Until she reached the supreme court it was an either or situation either she had been destroyed by the harassment or she had not been harassed. The defense lawyers in the me Mendez Case Are clearly hoping to make the either or approach work for them both in How they have portrayed the defendants and How they have portrayed the two people they shot and killed. Kitty and Jose Menendez were not a Story and song would have mom and dad no heart to heart talks no cookies baking in the Kitchen. He was savagely dismissive and verbally abusive she drank and did clean the House or comb her hair. This is their posthumous Are Good victims who must be avenged or bad ones who somehow deserve to die. The television movie and there will be one and soon will have to purify or de Monize them for the Sake of plot. And Lyle and Erik will become in the script either tormented abused child men or coldblooded climbers in both. Never both. The ultimate either or decision belongs to the jurors in the Menendez Case. But perhaps they will consider things that we Overlook when we Are turning Public tragedy into social mythology sometimes bad things happen to Baa people that it is possible to be Bot victim and victimized life is so Messy that the temptation i straighten it up is very Strong. And the results always illusory. I cleanup Man flood finally slips on Glove of Fame Curt flood a 165-Pound whippet of a Cen Ter fielder could outrun most Fly balls but it took him 24 years to catch up to his 1969 cold Glove Story is Rich with lessons about courage Freedom and the conceit that we can predict Freedom s consequences. He had a career batting average of .293 in 15 sea sons 12 with the cardinals. But nothing so became him in baseball As his manner of leaving he played 13 games with the 1971 senators he really left after the 1969 season when the cardinals traded him to Philadelphia and he said hell no i won t ballplayers have done much to move Freedom Forward. In 1944,11 years before Rosa Parks refused to move to the Back of a bus in Montgomery ala., a lieu tenant in Texas faced a court martial for a similar Refu Sal on an army bus it. Jackie Robinson. A similar spirit dress made flood help win for play ers the elemental right to negotiate their terms of employment with was born in Houston in 1938 and played his Way up through minor leagues in the South in the1950s, before Public accommodations were de Segre received food at the Back door of restaurants that served his White teammates and he relieved himself behind the bus on the shoulder of the Highway. In the 1950s and 1960s, pitchers were driven to Dis traction by Black players such As Henry Aaron and Frank Robinson who played with an implacable intensity that suggested the controlled venting of indignation tired up during Many minor league and Spring train a l experiences in a South in transition. The cardinals of the 1960s were fuelled partly by the fierce Pride of four Black men who were taking out the Ranger on the Ball and on opponents flood Bill White now president of the National league and two Hall off amers Lou Brock and Bob Gibson the take no prison ers Pitcher who once drilled the ribs of a Rookie who had the impertinence to hit a Long foul off him. When the cardinals traded flood he challenged baseball s Reserve clause which bound a player to a team until that team traded or released him. Seeking to win for players the right to sell their labor in a free Market he challenged base Ball s anti Trust exemption. He lost the 1970 season an lost in the supreme court but he had lit a fuse. In 1975, the clause was Over turned by an arbitrator. Loud were the lamentations predict ing the end of baseball s competitive balance a few Rich teams would buy the Best play ers and a decline of attendance. Well. The decade 1978-87 was the first in baseball history in which 10 different teams won the world series. Until 1990, there had been no worst to first volatility in this Century no team won a Pennant the year after finishing last. The twins and braves did in 1991, an the Phillies did in 1993. The 1993 a s were the first team since 1915 Thea s Philadelphia ancestors to finish alone in last place the year after finishing 1993, the team with the wont attendance the padres with 1,375,432 Drew More fans than the St. George p. Will Louis Browns Drew in the entire 1930s 1,184,436. The orioles lowest attendance for two consecutive regularly scheduled games was 83,307 More than the Browns who became the orioles in 1954 Drew in All of 1935. In 1954, the year Jacques Barzun wrote that anyone who would know America must know baseball the average attendance was 13,000. This year the padres averaged 17,191, and the major league average was 31,337. The new Colorado Rockies Drew 4,483,350, More people than live in Minnesota or 31 other states. Major league attendance was 70,257,938, More than the combined population of 32states. But no one last year bought a ticket to see a owner. Because of what flood started the players who largely create baseball value now receive their share of that value. In 1969, the players average salary was $24,909. In1993, it was $1.1 million much More than flood earned in his entire Gold gloves Are awarded annually to the nine players in each league voted Best defensively a their positions. Flood won in 1969, when this could have been said of him two thirds of the planet is covered by water and the rest is covered by in the turbulence of his rebellion he never collected his Glove. He got it last week at this year s award ceremony. He once said i am pleased that god made my skin Lack but i wish he had made it friends of baseball and of Freedom Are pleased that he did t
