“He’s getting killed,” said Eckersley. “I can’t help but think a lot of it is because he’s old. It’s the age we live in.”
Here’s the background: Leading, 15-4, in the top of the ninth inning of Monday’s game, White Sox manager La Russa gave the take sign to Yermin Mercedes as Mercedes prepared for a 3-and-0 pitch from position player Willians Astudillo, who’d been summoned to pitch for the Twins.
Mercedes, a 28-year-old rookie who’s batting .358, either missed the sign or ignored it, and swatted a home run. After the game, La Russa apologized to the Twins and called out his own player, saying Mercedes “made a mistake” and “there will be a consequence.”
Mercedes used the “I have to be me” defense and La Russa was buried from coast to coast, hearing complaints from players around baseball, even some White Sox (Lance Lynn and Tim Anderson).
Eckersley was La Russa’s Hall of Fame closer for many seasons with the Oakland A’s. Eck was often demonstrative on the mound, celebrating after punching out his victims. He is 66 years old, remains loyal to La Russa, and sees both sides of the argument, but said, “Once you put a position player out there to pitch, everything seems to go out the window to me a little bit. If somebody’s throwing lollipops out there, who gives a [expletive] what the hitter is doing? I’m kind of not with Tony on this.
“The problem is that if the manager gives him a take sign, the batter is supposed to take regardless.”
Eckersley doesn’t push back on bat flips after home runs.
“I gave up enough homers,” he said. “I got you, you got me, whatever. I didn’t really mind. When you give up home runs in money time, that’s life. They’re happy. They’re glad. You can do whatever you want to do. It’s the ninth inning, for [expletive] sake.”
What about the unwritten rules of diamond decorum?
“I think time has sort of made them fade away,” said Eck. “But what rules? This one in particular, this 3-and-0 [expletive]? What I don’t know is if Tony talked to the player before he went off on him with the media. He must have said something to him about the take sign before he talked to the media.
“But these days it gets out of hand with the players’ Twitter accounts and whatever. How do you control that? It’s a tough job to manage today.”
When Lynn came to the defense of Mercedes, La Russa responded with, “Lance has a locker; I have an office.”
“Tony used to say that to me,” Eckersley said. “I love that line. Basically, he’s saying, ‘Shove it. I’m the [expletive] boss.’ And that’s where we come from. That’s where I come from. Do what the manager says. And he did give you the take sign.
“I go both ways on this,” Eck said with a sigh. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t pay attention. Being oblivious can be a beautiful thing.
“I know nobody wants to hear us say, ‘Poor Tony’s getting buried.’ But he is old — and so are we! That’s the message here: If you’re old, you’d better duck!”
▪ When it comes to female sports broadcasters, NESN reminds me of a Triple A ball club prepping talent for the big leagues. Ever notice how many good female reporters leave NESN, then show up in a better place? Tina Cervasio, Heidi Watney, Hazel Mae, Jenny Dell, Kathryn Tappen, Elle Duncan, Jade McCarthy, Nikki Reyes, Kacie McDonnell, Jamie Erdahl, and Wendi Nix come to mind.
Now you can add Leah Hextall to the list. Hextall, who worked at NESN from 2012-14, signed with ESPN this past week and will become the first female NHL play-by-play announcer for a national outlet.
▪ Quiz: Name the only two big league players who won a World Series MVP, a regular-season MVP, and an All-Star Game MVP (answer below).
▪ One of my favorite quotes of all time was uttered this past week when NESN analyst and former Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft told the Globe’s Matt Porter, “As soon as you leave Boston, no one knows you play in the league anymore.”
▪ David Krejci collects soccer jerseys and once told the defunct Improper Bostonian, “I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened — because I quit soccer because of hockey.” My soccer friends insist that Krejci must have worn No. 10 when he was a young player in Czechoslovakia.
▪ Is spin rate a God-given talent? Is it enhanced by substances that improve grip? Asking for a friend.
▪ How bad was the play-in game between the Pacers and Hornets? I called an NBA vice president at home to ask about the rules governing stat-keeping for play-in games. In the course of getting my answer (play-in games are neither regular-season nor playoff games; they are their own category), I asked the league rep if he was watching the Charlotte-Indiana farce and he said, “No, I switched to the Penguins.”
▪ Why are there so many more quads and lats and other assorted baseball injuries that we never used to hear about? Giancarlo Stanton was sent back to the IL this past week with a strained left quad. Two days later, it was Mike Trout going on the shelf for 6-8 weeks because of a strained right calf.
My theory is too much year-round conditioning. These guys look great at the beach, but give me a George Scott, who played in 152 or more games in nine of his first 12 big league seasons, never fewer than 124 in that period. Bad body Mickey Lolich averaged 35 starts in his first 14 big league seasons, making fewer than 30 only once. Have another doughnut, guys.
▪ Joe Thornton, who turns 42 in July, is still going but has never hoisted the Stanley Cup.
▪ Tim Hortons fans, rejoice: The Canadiens and Maple Leafs are engaged in their first playoff meeting since 1979. Dating back to 1918, it’s the 16th time they’ve met in a postseason series. Montreal leads the all-time series, 8-7.
▪ Congrats to Ryan Berardino, grandson of both Dwight Evans and former Red Sox coach Dick Berardino, who hit .489 for Bentley this year, striking out only four times in 94 at-bats. Berardino homered in his final collegiate at-bat against Franklin Pierce. The Red Sox drafted the slick-fielding first baseman in the 34th round in 2019 and would do well to go after him again in June and give him a shot in the minors this summer.
▪ Congrats also to the Boston University softball team, which went 36-2 and carried an 18-game winning streak into Friday’s NCAA Regional against Mississippi State in Stillwater, Okla.
▪ May 21 was the 40th anniversary of St. John’s Frank Viola vs. Yale’s Ron Darling in an NCAA tournament regional opener, attended by Roger Angell and Smoky Joe Wood. Darling fanned 16 and took a no-hitter into the bottom of the 12th of the 0-0 game before losing, 1-0, in New Haven.
▪ May 21 also was the 50th anniversary of the release of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” According to the New York Post, Gaye’s pals from the Detroit Lions — Lem Barney, Mel Farr, and Charlie Sanders — sang backup on the hit, as did Detroit Piston Dave Bing.
▪ Does Kemba Walker’s ubiquitous Yankee cap bother any of you?
▪ Brockton honors the late Marvin Hagler Sunday at Brockton High School starting at 2 p.m.
▪ Globe baseball scribe Julian McWilliams is the voice of Willie Mays in the audio version of John Shea’s outstanding biography with the Say Hey Kid.
▪ Speaking of books, now is the time to pre-order (Amazon or your local independent) “Remember Who You Are: What Pedro Gomez Showed Us About Baseball and Life.” Everybody’s favorite ESPN baseball guy died unexpectedly in February, and those who knew him best (including Terry Francona, Eckersley, Peter Gammons, and Tim Kurkjian) contributed 62 personal essays to the tome.
Pedro’s son, Rio, is a lefty pitching prospect in the Red Sox system and was just called up to Double A Portland. Rio also wrote a piece on his dad.
▪ Not enough scorn can be heaped upon TNT for its amateur-hour broadcast of the Celtics-Wizards play-in game from the Garden Tuesday. The great Marv Albert deserved better for one of his final broadcasts. Albert and analyst Grant Hill sounded as if they were broadcasting from bus terminal bathrooms in separate locations.
▪ After a 14-month hiatus, the Sports Museum will begin offering private VIP tours June 1. To schedule a tour for your group, e-mail Maria Kangas at mkangas@sportsmuseum.org.
▪ If you are on Twitter, do yourself a favor and follow tennis legend Chris Evert. She’s smart, irreverent, and hilarious. Asked by one of her followers to list the top five women’s clay-court players in history, Evert wrote, “I would say, in no particular order: Steffi, Monica, Martina, Serena, moi … ”
▪ Quiz answer: Brooks and Frank Robinson.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.
