Bobby V bans beer in clubhouse

[Divinity]

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox have banned beer in the clubhouse, manager Bobby Valentine announced Saturday afternoon.

 

Beer consumption also will be cut off on the last leg of road trips, he said.

 

Valentine said he informed the team of the change Saturday morning during a meeting of the full squad, with the Red Sox owners and the baseball operations staff in attendance.

 

"It's just what I've always done, except in Texas, I guess," Valentine said in explaining the decision. "I'm comfortable with it that way."

 

The ban applies to all alcoholic beverages, the Red Sox confirmed

 

In other news, the price of flasks in the Boston area has tripled in recent days

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Authority, I love it.

[User Name]

In other news' date=' the price of flasks in the Boston area has tripled in recent days[/quote']

 

While you single-handedly keep flask prices down in the State of New York.

[jung]

Wow Bobby V puts a leash on the party animals. That probably went over like a 2 ton bag of you know what. Good for V. The players want their entitlements.....earn them! You say you don't think you should have to earn them.....get real! Join the rest of us poor slobs, lucky to e able to get a beer somewhere off the company property and after work.

 

Probably says V did not think the old guard of entitled stars would have controlled themselves. I am less thrilled with that but frankly I did not expect much better regardless of what they were saying.

[a700hitter]

I think this is just stupid.

[mvp 78]

I think this is just stupid.

 

Pretty much. Yaz smoked and drank in the clubhouse.

 

What's next, ankle bracelets making sure they don't sneak into Remy's?

[jung]

I don't get the thing of disallowing it on the final leg of road trips as they are returning home. I don't quite understand what the point is there.

 

I have a suspicion about the clubhouse though. I suspect that some players were going to make a point of proving that they were still entitled to do as they please and that is using a privilege as a tool to prove a point. If V had a sense of that happening, given what happened last year if that is the case then I don't think V had a choice.

 

The truth is Managers have very little control, far less than I think we give them credit for on this board from some of the postings I have seen. Once the genie is out of the bottle there is no way to get it back in again. I think V sensed something he did not like and snuffed it out before he ended up skewered for allowing exactly the same stuff that turned into a lightning rod and a theme for the frustration of an entire blown season.

 

If he did it just because he did it in Texas then that does not make much sense. He was going down the road of using that rational and then simply backed away from discussing it. When I saw his interview it suggested to me that there was something more there than "that is what I did in Texas and that is what I am comfortable doing". That was not a "comfortable" look on his face at all.

 

Conjecture for sure but "this is what I did in Texas" as the rational does not pass the smell test.

 

Ya' can't pound Tito for being to lax and then pound V for being to strict. What the hell is that?

[seabeachfred]

This shouldn't even have been necessary. However, we all know what went down last season in the clubhouse with the fried chicken and beer. I see nothing wrong with a brewski after the game when the team tries to wind down from that contest. I remember as a kid seeing Brooklyn Dodgers like Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and others enjoying a Schaefer and those scenes got into the papers. No one blinked an eye. If the owners were at this meeting as was stated you can bet your last dime that this is exactly what they wanted. I wonder if this is going to be a hard fast rule or whether there will be a change to flexibility as the season wears on and the team performs as it should.

[redsoxrules]

As it should be .

 

I'm sorry but when you're getting paid millions to play baseball by you're employer you shouldn't drink while you're at work .

[jung]

Well it is not like the Sox are he only team that has banned beer in the clubhouse. In fact we learned last year (if we did not know it already) that their chief rival in the East does not allow beer in the clubhouse. That is probably particularly galling to ownership when you consider how that whole thing got blown out of proportion and became an embarrassment for everybody involved.

 

This might also be one of the facets of the 100 year Fenway anniversary that nobody really counted on either.

 

Here is what I think happened, again all conjecture. I think that Sox Management was willing not to make a hard and fast rule as long as the players could be counted on not to drink during games or during workouts. However if they got a sense that certain players were still going to do that then they were going to make a hard and fast rule. In other words Sox Management wanted no drinking during games or workouts but was willing to let the players decide that would be the case. However as soon as Management got wind that certain players were still going to drink during games and workouts, that was the end of the players having control of that decision. I could be wrong but I would not be surprised if that is what happened.

[mvp 78]

The problem wasn't Beckett and Lester's actions in the clubhouse, it was that they completely let themselves go and got fat. They needed to be held accountable for not being in shape. The beer and fried chicken was a symptom, not the disease.

[a700hitter]

Pretty much. Yaz smoked and drank in the clubhouse.

 

What's next, ankle bracelets making sure they don't sneak into Remy's?

Yaz smoked in the dugout before games, and I think that was against league rules. He came to play every day and prepared himself more than any player.

 

Funny story about Yaz and Ted Williams and beer. Williams invited Yaz to go fishing on his boat during Spring Training. Yaz showed up with a cooler of beer. Williams was serious about his fishing. It wasn't just a couple of guys having fun. Williams points to the cooler and tells Yaz that there is no beer allowed on his boat. Yaz told Williams: "See ya later, Ted" and he walked away. I am sure that's how a lot of the players feel about this stupid rule.

 

In Girardi's first year managing the Yanks, he had the ice cream machine removed from the clubhouse and candy was banned and replaced with dried fruit and nuts. I thought that was stupid too.

[mvp 78]

He seems like more and more of a short term manager. No way is he here in 2014. You need to walk the line as a manager. Tito was too far to the left. Bobby is too far to the right.

[a700hitter]

The problem wasn't Beckett and Lester's actions in the clubhouse' date=' it was that they completely let themselves go and got fat. They needed to be held accountable for not being in shape. The beer and fried chicken was a symptom, not the disease.[/quote']Exactly, and banning things from the clubhouse is not he best way to get control of the clubhouse. I didn't think Bobby V needed to resort to this, especially after his remark the other day. I think it was Ortiz who was talking about his diet and health and mentioned that he had given up drinking, and Bobby V. said that jokingly that he had given up drinking too... until his next meal. That doesn't sound like a guy who would ban beer. Maybe this was a FO recommendation.

[SoxSport]

It looks like the players will have to go to the press room to get their free booze from now on.

 

Now there's the rub.

[Spudboy]

Yawn.

 

Who f***ing cares?

[a700hitter]

It looks like the players will have to go to the press room to get their free booze from now on.

 

Now there's the rub.

That is funny.

[Spudboy]

It looks like the players will have to go to the press room to get their free booze from now on.

 

Now there's the rub.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[a700hitter]

Yawn.

 

Who f***ing cares?

What if Vodka got banned in your town? How would you feel about that?

[a700hitter]

Yawn.

 

Who f***ing cares?

Beer banned from MLB clubhouses? This is the the Civil Rights issue of our time.

[jung]

The fact that the drinking and to some extent eating during games was emblematic is what makes it an issue. It does not matter whether it is causative or not.

 

As for what V resorted to, if as I am suggesting, Management including V got wind that players were not going to take it upon themselves to take a decision that would not force their hand then in effect it forced their hand. Do you honestly think there is any chance that the Sox would have been allowed to tolerate that behavior this year after last? They would have been skewered in the press and by the fans. It would have been the story of the season, not the 100 year anniversary or anything else for that matter. We all said it this whole off season. The Sox would be under a microscope for just this sort of thing.

 

Sure if they went out there and dominated the league with their baseball, all of that stuff finds its way to the bottom shelf but do you really think the Sox can afford to take that chance? Would you bet on them going out there and just dominating the league or even dominating the AL East? They might win it but they are not going to cake walk anywhere.

 

Unbelievable. Geez its like we are forgetting where the hell we are! This is the world of the Boston Red Sox where perception is reality.

 

V being a short term solution should not be a surprise to anybody. I can't remember a soul even those that were rabidly in favor of bringing in V commenting that he would be around for more than a couple of years.

 

No wonder it is such a tough town to manage in or play in or be in the FO in. We want one thing one week another thing the next and three weeks ago....hell that is ancient history. We have no idea what we wanted or thought three weeks ago.

[Elktonnick]

The vast majority of teams including the Yankees ban beer in their clubhouses. This should have been expected and accepted without comment by the players.

[SCM33]

Imagine that, beer banned while at your place of employment.

 

OUTRAGE!!!!

[mvp 78]

So if they win the division, will everyone be sprayed with champagne and Bud Lite still? Seems weird that it's ok to glorify the tradition at one point, but say it's wrong elsewhere. I know that at the end of tax season, I'm not covered in horrible beer in my office.

[ibot2much]

We're not talking the local factory or body shop where the boss may drink with you. This is a professional organization, dependant on the good will of their fans. You don't drink at work in a normal professional environment...so BV dropped the another bomb that he was given by the front office.

[ibot2much]

So if they win the division' date=' will everyone be sprayed with champagne and Bud Lite still? Seems weird that it's ok to glorify the tradition at one point, but say it's wrong elsewhere. I know that at the end of tax season, I'm not covered in horrible beer in my office.[/quote']

 

Come on, the two things are not even close

[mvp 78]

I'd rather the guy playing baseball get hammered at work than the guy fixing my brakes.

[mvp 78]

Come on' date=' the two things are not even close[/quote']

 

Why not? They glorify it every year as some rite of passage. If it's so horrible, don't do it then.

[VA Sox Fan]

Exactly' date=' and banning things from the clubhouse is not he best way to get control of the clubhouse. I didn't think Bobby V needed to resort to this, especially after his remark the other day. I think it was Ortiz who was talking about his diet and health and mentioned that he had given up drinking, and Bobby V. said that jokingly that he had given up drinking too... until his next meal. That doesn't sound like a guy who would ban beer. Maybe this was a FO recommendation.[/quote']

 

From an article in the Globe:

 

But Valentine may have done it anyway, saying that alcohol was banned from the Mets clubhouse when he managed the team from 1996-2002.

[Elktonnick]

From an article in the Globe:

 

But Valentine may have done it anyway, saying that alcohol was banned from the Mets clubhouse when he managed the team from 1996-2002.

 

Hey folks most teams ban beer in the clubhouse these days. It is unusual for a team to allow beer.