Baseball Makes a Reinstatement
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Troubled utility player Tony Phillips will be back in an Angel uniform tonight after an independent arbitrator overruled the team’s suspension of him during a three-hour hearing in New York on Wednesday.
Phillips, arrested in an Anaheim motel on felony possession of cocaine charges Aug. 10, flew from New York to Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and if Manager Terry Collins deems him physically fit, Phillips probably will start at designated hitter in tonight’s series finale against the New York Yankees.
This is how most believed the Phillips situation would be resolved, despite the Angels’ decision to suspend him with pay Monday night after Phillips refused the team’s request to enter an inpatient drug-counseling center.
Doctors representing major league baseball and the players’ association cleared Phillips to play Saturday, but the Angels wanted him to undergo more extensive treatment than the random drug testing and outpatient counseling for which Phillips volunteered.
Union officials claimed Monday’s suspension was a clear violation of baseball’s drug policy, and they filed a grievance on Phillips’ behalf Tuesday. Arbitrator Richard Bloch ordered the Angels to reinstate Phillips, ending a brief legal skirmish the union considered superfluous.
“I read where Angel officials said they expected to lose, so why did they go through with it?” said Gene Orza, associate general counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Assn.
“If they are trying to say they care and are concerned more about drug use than we are, that’s just not true, and it amounts to a cheap shot. But it’s free, so they can take it.”
Orza was upset because he felt the Walt Disney Co., which operates the Angels, was more concerned with its reputation as a promoter of wholesome family values than it was with following baseball’s rules; that Disney was holding itself to a higher standard than baseball in regards to drug use.
“I applaud Disney’s attempt to stamp out drug use in the U.S., but it’s not applicable in the Tony Phillips situation,” Orza said. “Disney was effectively told [by the arbitrator] that baseball’s drug policy prohibits disciplining first-time offenders.
“Aside from a conformity in the reading of rules, we feel it’s equally important that clubs abide by the rules. I don’t see how it’s in Disney’s best interests to encourage people to be renegades. The only relevant fact here is that a panel of doctors determined Tony is eligible to play.”
General Manager Bill Bavasi said the Angels “did what we thought was right. . . . We understand the union’s position and we appreciate Gene’s point of view.”
The Angels, in a prepared release, said they “plan to continue to work within baseball to develop a stronger drug discipline policy than presently exists.”
The Angels had virtually no chance of winning Wednesday’s hearing when the owners’ executive council, in a conference call Tuesday night, instructed its lawyers to side with Phillips and the union. But Bavasi said the team was still “deeply” disappointed in the ruling.
“Whether it’s on the field or off, we go to win,” Bavasi said. “We asked Tony to get help because that’s what we felt was best for him. We suspended him, it was overturned. We could continue playing with 24 guys, but that puts a hardship on the other 24 guys. . . . At this point it’s over.”
Will Phillips harbor any animosity toward the Angels because they tried to prevent him from playing?
“No, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Bavasi said. “I’ve talked to Tony a lot on the phone, and no one knows better that whatever mess he’s in, it’s not because of the club. His biggest problem might be the long layoff. It’s not easy for him to make adjustments in his swing, and he’s going to have to overcome that.”
Bavasi acknowledged that Phillips’ presence could be a clubhouse distraction for a team that is battling the Seattle Mariners for the American League West championship, but he believes Phillips, who is batting .279 with a .390 on-base percentage, will be a welcome sight.
“Nobody’s happy with what has happened, but [Angel players] want him back--he’s not just a player, he’s a friend,” Bavasi said. “They want to help him get things straightened out, and they feel he’s better off with them than being alone. Plus, they want to win. . . . I don’t think Tony is going to have any problems with the players.”
Phillips, 38, was arrested shortly after midnight Aug. 10 when, according to Anaheim Police Lt. Dave Severson, he was found “with a loaded pipe in one hand and a lighter in the other.”
Phillips allegedly bought $30 worth of crack cocaine in Room 52 of the Ivanhoe Motel on Katella Avenue as the deal was monitored by an undercover officer and surveillance equipment.
An informant, who sold Phillips three rocks of cocaine, alleged she had sold drugs to Phillips in the past. Phillips left the team immediately to return to his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., but he returned to the Angels on Aug. 12 in Chicago.
The Angels withheld Phillips from the lineup pending further review of the case, and he spent last Thursday through Saturday in New York being examined by baseball doctors.
“He sounds like he’s very saddened about what has happened,” Bavasi said. “But he has said over and over, he has nobody to blame but himself.”
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