I’ll be taking my children to other ballparks this summer. Have fun without us.

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Dear John,

Thank you for your email regarding the announcement that the Seattle Mariners have signed Carl Everett to a one-year contract. We welcome your comments and appreciate the passion with which you have expressed your opinion.

We believe Carl Everett will be an asset to the Mariners both on and off the field. We are aware of the issues that Carl had in the past, but we believe he has dealt with them and has successfully moved on. We hope fans will give him a chance here in Seattle.

As with every player we sign, Bill Bavasi and his staff have done a thorough job researching Carl. They have talked to numerous people throughout the game of baseball, including Ozzie Guillen, his manager last season. They are confident that Carl’s intensity, enthusiasm and competitive spirit will be a good for our team both on the field and in the clubhouse. As a switch-hitter, he will provide our lineup with versatility and the left-handed run production we need.

In addition, we like that Carl was a big contributor to a World Series Championship team in Chicago last year, when he batted .251 with 23 home runs and 87 RBI. In the post-season, he batted .300.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts. We are looking forward to the 2006 season. We believe we have a good foundation in place with exciting young players like Felix Hernandez, Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez, and experienced veterans like Jamie Moyer, Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre and Raul Ibañez. We still have work to do, but our goal is to become a championship caliber team as quickly as possible. We hope you will be there with us for all the excitement of Mariners baseball in 2006 and beyond.

Seattle Mariners Fancare

Carl, when you come to Seattle, maybe you can tell Rick Rizzs, Ron Fairly and Dave Henderson to explain the game better. Then we’ll have “a better idea of what we’re watching.” Maybe he really thinks everyone in the world IS on steroids.

Now Jose Canseco may be a bitter, ignorant individual, but when a comment like that comes from Carl Everett (assuming he wasn’t misquoted), don’t you think that’s like, for lack of a better expression, the pot calling the kettle black?

Wednesday, June 15, 2005
White Sox’s Everett opines on gays, Wrigley, steroids

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ESPN.com news services

Chicago White Sox designated hitter Carl Everett, infamous for his run-in with umpire Ron Kulpa in 2000 while playing for the Boston Red Sox, sounds off on a number of issues in the July edition of Maxim magazine. Some of the highlights, as reported by The Chicago Tribune.

Everett

• Everett has had gay teammates, whom he has accepted, but: “Gays being gay is wrong. Two women can’t produce a baby, two men can’t produce a baby, so it’s not how it’s supposed to be. … I don’t believe in gay marriages. I don’t believe in being gay.”
• Wrigley Field is the worst park in the majors: “They need to implode Wrigley.”

• Most baseball fans don’t know diddly: “Fan is short for fanatic — he’s crazy about something he really doesn’t know about. And it’s proven that 99 percent of baseball fans have no idea what they’re watching.”

• Jose Canseco is a “bitter, ignorant individual.”

• The congressional hearings examining steroid use were a waste: “We have a war going on — I have family in that war — yet we’re talking about steroids. … If everybody in the world got on steroids, we’ll still lose more kids to a war than we will from steroids.”

But, one pebble on the upside is that he gave hated Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy the sarcastic nickname by which he is now often known, “CHB”. Shaughnessy REVELED in making fun of Everett’s unusual religious beliefs. R-E-V-E-L-E-D. It was pretty disgusting. But Everett got a measure of revenge when he was recorded telling another Globe writer ” . . you or your curly haired boyfriend”. And the tape was played on both radio and TV in Boston as the Boston Medea was in full attack mode toward Everett. Dan Shaughnessy, by the way, is apparently NOT gay. But his hair does look like Bozo the clown’s with a perm. The irony of the macchiavellian slime Shaughnessy getting his joke nickname from an unsophisticated guy he picked on is kind of pleasant.

I’m all for people being given a chance to redeem themselves, but Everett isn’t talented enough to take the risk on.