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COLUMN NINETY-FOUR, JULY 1, 2003
(Copyright © 2003 The Blacklisted Journalist)

CHICAGOLABOR&ARTSNOTES

BASEBALL AND THE HALL OF SHAME

Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins had been invited to a Cooperstown celebration of their baseball flick "Bull Durham" - but the Hall of Fame president canceled it because of their outspoken anti-war activism.
AP 
April 11, 2003 --- The Baseball Hall of Fame president has pulled the plug on a 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham  because of anti-war criticism by co-stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

Dale Petroskey sent a letter to Robbins and Sarandon this week, telling them the festivities April 26-27 in Cooperstown had been called off.

Recent comments by the actors "ultimately could put our troops in even more danger," said Petroskey, a former White House assistant press secretary under President Ronald Reagan.

Robbins responded in a letter to Petroskey, saying: "You belong with the cowards and ideologues in a hall of infamy and shame."

Robbins plays an up-and-coming minor league pitcher in the 1988 film and Sarandon plays a fan who helps him focus his erratic talent. Kevin Costner also stars. 

Instead of commemorating the movie, the Hall canceled the celebration in a letter sent Tuesday.

"In a free country such as ours, every American has the right to his or her own opinions, and to express them. Public figures, such as you, have platforms much larger than the average American's, which provides you an extraordinary opportunity to have your views heard---and an equally large obligation to act and speak responsibly," Petroskey wrote. "We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important---and sensitive---time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger. As an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict."

Robbins and Sarandon, his longtime partner whom he met in the filming of Bull Durham, have been active in rallies to protest the war in Iraq.

In his letter, Robbins said he'd been looking forward to "a weekend away from politics and war." He said he did not realize baseball was "a Republican sport."

"I am sorry that you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement," Robbins wrote. "I know there are many baseball fans that disagree with you, and even more that will react with disgust to realize baseball is being politicized.

"To suggest that my criticism of the president put the troops in danger is absurd . . . I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan administrations."

Robbins signed his letter: "Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets---all improbable, glorious miracles that I have always believed in."  ##

* * *

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: COOPERSTOWN MUFFS ONE


Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:12:13 -0400 (EDT)

Maybe it's the stress of war, or maybe it's bad judgment.

In any case, people thousands of miles from the front lines are behaving strangely in the name of patriotism.
First came the New York Stock Exchange's ill-advised expulsion of Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, because of its reporting from Iraq. Now comes an equally knuckleheaded decision by Dale Petroskey, president of baseball's Hall of Fame, to cancel a 15th-anniversary celebration of the classic baseball movie Bull Durham, scheduled to begin April 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Mr. Petroskey said he was offended by antiwar criticism by Tim Robbins, who starred in the film along with his real-life partner, Susan Sarandon, also a vigorous critic of the war. Their "very public" criticism, Mr. Petroskey said in a letter to Mr. Robbins, could "undermine" the war effort and ultimately "put our troops in even more danger."

It's hard to know where to begin with this one. First of all, there is the little matter of free speech, one of
the fruits of democracy we are supposed to be fighting for.

Apparently it is O.K. for ordinary people to speak their minds but not O.K. for actors, who, Mr. Petroskey
said, bear "a large obligation to speak and act responsibly." 

Then there is the politicizing of baseball, which is, after all, a "national pastime" that is supposed to belong
to everyone. "I had been unaware that baseball was a Republican sport," Mr. Robbins observed in his return 
letter, adding that he had "looked forward to going to Cooperstown and getting away from politics."

Mr. Petroskey, a former assistant press secretary in Ronald Reagan's White House, also seems to be suffering
from a short memory. His own boss, Mr. Reagan, was not the least bit shy in using his prominence as an actor to advance his ideological agenda. Our guess is that this whole thing is not about anybody's politics but Mr. Petroskey's.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/opinion/12SAT4.html?ex=1051286333&ei=1&en=7f79c8ea6e29d495 

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * *

PETROSKEY WOULD HAVE HANDLED IT DIFFERENTLY

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Baseball Hall of
Fame President Acknowledges Mistake
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:23:42 -0400 (EDT)

Baseball Hall of Fame President Acknowledges Mistake

April 12, 2003

By IRA BERKOW

In hindsight, Dale Petroskey, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame said yesterday, "I would have handled
it differently."

Petroskey was referring to his decision earlier this week to cancel the 15th-anniversary celebration of the
baseball movie Bull Durham at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., because Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, two stars of the film who planned to take part in the event, have been outspoken in their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Petroskey's decision, which he appeared to make on his own, created a stir around the country, with a spokesman for the Hall of Fame saying yesterday that some 5,000 phone calls and e-mail messages, both pro and con, had been received by the Hall.

Yesterday, in interviews with both The Associated Press and Chris Russo of WFAN's "Mike and the Mad Dog'' radio show, Petroskey tried to explain his action and, to a certain extent, admitted he erred.

In both interviews, Petroskey said he was concerned that Robbins and Sarandon would have used the Hall of
Fame event as an opportunity to publicize their antiwar views. "As much as the Hall of Fame honors our armed forces, this institution should never be used as a platform for public pro-war sentiments, nor public antiwar sentiments,'' Petroskey told The Associated Press.

But in the radio interview, when Russo asked Petroskey if he knew for a fact that Robbins and Sarandon
would have used the Hall of Fame as a platform for antiwar statements, he admitted that he did not. 

Asked if he simply could have called Robbins and Sarandon to get an assurance that they would keep politics
out of the event, Petroskey agreed he could have done that.

"If I had to do it over again, I probably would have picked up the phone and called them,'' he said.

"That's an admission of making a mistake,'' Russo said.

Petroskey, a former White House assistant press secretary under President Reagan, said, "Well, I make
mistakes, you know.''

Robbins, when asked in a telephone interview to respond to Petroskey's statements, said, "I don't buy his
backpedaling on this issue.'' He noted that the Hall of Fame had invited the current White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, to speak at the Hall a year ago and that the news release announcing Fleischer's appearance quoted Petroskey as saying the Hall would hear Fleischer's "perspective on life in the White House and the current political scene, which of course includes the war on terrorism.''

In that instance, Robbins said, "Where was the discussion about baseball?''

And what would Robbins and Sarandon have done if Petroskey had called them and asked them to refrain from political comments while they were in Cooperstown?

"I don't know,'' Robbins said. "If someone had asked us a direct question, I might have said: 'This isn't the time
or place. We can't talk about it.' But I might also have answered a direct question with a direct answer. This is, 
after all, America. But, look, I'm a big baseball fan. I would have found it a ridiculous assumption to think I was going to Cooperstown to make a political speech. Some of us can separate our political views from our social life."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/sports/baseball/12fame.html?ex=1051287022&ei=1&en=2e8c993cc8366a5a 

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * *

TIM ROBBINS TALKS ABOUT BASEBALL AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

At 9:09 AM -0400 4/17/03, Arceee@aol.com  (Rich Capalbo)wrote:

From: Arceee@aol.com 
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 09:09:28 EDT
Subject: Fwd: league-discuss: [Fwd: Tim Robbins Speech to Press Club]
Reply-To: hartley@tcimet.net

Daymon J. Hartley
daymonjhartley.com 
Freelance Photography/Web Design-Construction/Digital-Video/DVD
http://www.daymonjhartley.com 
Subject: Tim Robbins Speech to Press Club

'A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...'
Transcript of the speech given by actor Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2003.

TIM ROBBINS: Thank you. And thanks for the invitation.

I had originally been asked here to talk about the war and our current political situation, but I have instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and show business. (Laughter.)

Just kidding. Sort of. I can't tell you how moved I have been at the overwhelming support I have received from newspapers throughout the country in these past few days. I hold no illusions that all of these journalists agree with me on my views against the war. While the journalists' outrage at the cancellation of our appearance in Cooperstown is not about my views, it is about my right to express these views. I am extremely grateful that there are those of you out there still with a fierce belief in constitutionally guaranteed rights. We need you, the press, now more than ever. This is a crucial moment for all of us.

For all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was a brief period afterward where I held a great hope, in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked at Ground Zero, in the midst of my children's terror at being so close to this crime against humanity, in the midst of all this, I held on to a glimmer of hope in the naive assumption that something good could come out of it.

I imagined our leaders seizing upon this moment of unity in America, this moment when no one wanted to talk about Democrat versus Republican, white versus black, or any of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public discourse. I imagined our leaders going on television telling the citizens that although we all want to be at Ground Zero, we can't, but there is work that is needed to be done all over America.

Our help is needed at community centers to tutor children, to teach them to read. Our work is needed at old-age homes to visit the lonely and infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild housing and clean up parks, and convert abandoned lots to baseball fields. I imagined leadership that would take this incredible energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity in America born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would send a message to terrorists everywhere: If you attack us, we will become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified. You will strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by your inhumane attacks on us. Like a Phoenix out of the fire, we will be reborn. And then came the speech: You are either with us or against us. And the bombing began. And the old paradigm was restored as our leader encouraged us to show our patriotism by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn in their neighbor for any suspicious behavior.

In the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred. Basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state.

This past weekend, Susan and I and the three kids went to Florida for a family reunion of sorts. Amidst the alcohol and the dancing, sugar-rushing children, there was, of course, talk of the war. And the most frightening thing about the weekend was the amount of times we were thanked for speaking out against the war because that individual speaking thought it unsafe to do so in their own community, in their own life. Keep talking, they said; I haven't been able to open my mouth.

A relative tells me that a history teacher tells his 11-year-old son, my nephew, that Susan Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another teacher in a different school asks our niece if we are coming to the school play. They're not welcome here, said the molder of young minds. Another relative tells me of a school board decision to cancel a civics event that was proposing to have a moment of silence for those who have died in the war because the students were including dead Iraqi civilians in their silent prayer. A teacher in another nephew's school is fired for wearing a T- shirt with a peace sign on it. And a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war activist.

Death threats have appeared on other prominent anti-war activists' doorsteps for their views. Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy, who has done nothing to anybody, has recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes---or, rather, scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt. Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam, and various other epithets by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by their fair and balanced electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox. (Laughter.) Apologies to Gore Vidal. (Applause.) Two weeks ago, the United Way canceled Susan's appearance at a conference on women's leadership. And both of us last week were told that both we and the First Amendment were not welcome at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A famous middle-aged rock-and-roller called me last week to thank me for speaking out against the war, only to go on to tell me that he could not speak himself because he fears repercussions from Clear Channel.

"They promote our concert appearances," he said. "They own most of the stations that play our music. I can't come out against this war."

And here in Washington, Helen Thomas finds herself banished to the back of the room and uncalled on after
asking Ari Fleischer whether our showing prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay on television violated the
Geneva Convention.

A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent through the White House and its allies in talk radio and Clear Channel and Cooperstown. If you oppose this administration, there can and will be ramifications. Every day, the air waves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And the public, like so many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit in mute opposition and fear.

I am sick of hearing about Hollywood being against this war. Hollywood's heavy hitters, the real power
brokers and cover-of-the- magazine stars, have been largely silent on this issue. But Hollywood, the concept,
has always been a popular target. 

I remember when the Columbine High School shootings happened. President Clinton criticized Hollywood for
contributing to this terrible tragedy---this, as we were dropping bombs over Kosovo. Could the violent
actions of our leaders contribute somewhat to the violent fantasies of our teenagers? Or is it all just Hollywood and rock and roll?

I remember reading at the time that one of the shooters had tried to enlist to fight the real war a week before
he acted out his war in real life at Columbine. I talked about this in the press at the time. And curiously,
no one accused me of being unpatriotic for criticizing Clinton. In fact, the same radio patriots that call
us traitors today engaged in daily personal attacks on their president during the war in Kosovo. Today, prominent politicians who have decried violence in movies---the "Blame Hollywooders," if you will---recently voted to give our current president the power to unleash real violence in our current war. They want us to stop the fictional violence but are okay with the real kind.

And these same people that tolerate the real violence of war don't want to see the result of it on the nightly news. Unlike the rest of the world, our news coverage of this war remains sanitized, without a glimpse of
the blood and gore inflicted upon our soldiers or the women and children in Iraq. Violence as a concept, an abstraction---it's very strange.

As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening battle scene of Saving Private Ryan, we cringe at
the thought of seeing the same on the nightly news. We are told it would be pornographic. We want no part
of reality in real life. We demand that war be painstakingly realized on the screen, but that war remain imagined
and conceptualized in real life.

And in the midst of all this madness, where is the political opposition? Where have all the Democrats gone? Long time passing, long time ago. (Applause.) With apologies to Robert Byrd, I have to say it is pretty embarrassing to live in a country where a five-foot-one comedian has more guts than most politicians. (Applause.)

We need leaders, not pragmatists that cower before the spin zones of former entertainment journalists. We need leaders who can understand the Constitution, congressman who don't in a moment of fear abdicate their most important power, the right to declare war to the executive branch. And, please, can we please stop the congressional sing-a- longs? (Laughter.) In this time when a citizenry applauds the liberation of a country as it lives in fear of its own freedom, when an administration official releases an attack ad questioning the patriotism of a legless Vietnam veteran running for Congress, when people all over the country fear reprisal if they use their right to free speech, it is time to get angry. It is time to get fierce. And it doesn't take much to shift the tide.

My 11-year-old nephew, mentioned earlier, a shy kid who never talks in class, stood up to his history teacher
who was questioning Susan's patriotism. "That's my aunt you're talking about. Stop it." And the stunned teacher backtracks and began stammering compliments in embarrassment.

Sportswriters across the country reacted with such overwhelming fury at the Hall of Fame that the president of the Hall admitted he made a mistake and Major League Baseball disavowed any connection to the actions of the Hall's president. A bully can be stopped, and so can a mob. It takes one person with the courage and a resolute voice.

The journalists in this country can battle back at those who would rewrite our Constitution in Patriot Act II, or "Patriot, The Sequel," as we would call it in Hollywood. We are counting on you to star in that movie. Journalists can insist that they not be used as publicists by this administration. (Applause.) The next White House correspondent to be called on by Ari Fleischer should defer their question to the back of the room, to the banished journalist du jour. (Applause.) And any instance of intimidation to free speech should be battled against. Any acquiescence or intimidation at this point will only lead to more intimidation. You have, whether you like it or not, an awesome responsibility and an awesome power: the fate of discourse, the health of this republic is in your hands, whether you write on the left or the right. This is your time, and the destiny you have chosen. We lay the continuance of our democracy on your desks, and count on your pens to be mightier. 

Millions are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope---hoping for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution, and to defy the intimidation that is visited upon us daily in the name of national security and warped notions of patriotism. Our ability to disagree, and our inherent right to question our leaders and criticize their actions define who we are. To allow those rights to be taken away out of fear, to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access in the news media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy's defeat.

These are challenging times. There is a wave of hate that seeks to divide u---right and left, pro-war and anti-war. In the name of my 11-year-old nephew, and all the other unreported victims of this hostile and unproductive environment of fear, let us try to find our common ground as a nation. Let us celebrate this grand and glorious experiment that has survived for 227 years. To do so we must honor and fight vigilantly for the things that unite us---like freedom, the First Amendment and, yes, baseball. (Applause.)   ##

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