That thing that resides in people who bully and threaten and harm probably won’t go away because of 30 games. A man with his arm raised or his fist full of someone else’s collar isn’t likely to stop because Aroldis Chapman’s career was held up for a while. But we can hope.
That’s the sad part about Tuesday’s news, which shouldn’t bother itself with what the New York Yankees will do with their ninth-inning leads or even what Chapman’s plans are today or until May 9. There was a woman crouching behind a bush on the night of Oct. 30, according to a police report, because the father of her child had become mean and irrational. He had a loaded gun. He fired it. A lot, according to that report.
How different this story could have been. How completely tragic. How terrible it is as it stands.
It’s trimmed up into 30 games, the cost of allegedly scaring a woman out of a house and away from her child, and the cost of having such a tenuous hold on one’s own disposition.
Imposed by baseball’s domestic-violence policy, Chapman’s punishment reflects the hazy process of gathering facts laced with emotion, humiliation and self-preservation, even regret. The police report has parts of the story. No arrests were made. No charges were brought. Chapman, presumably, had his story. The woman had her story. Witnesses scattered. It lands just like that on desks at Major League Baseball and the Players Association. An investigation of going on three months runs out of ideas for where the truth might be.
Still, two weeks ago Chapman told reporters he would appeal any discipline. Tuesday, he accepted a 30-game, unpaid suspension. Something happened between then and now. Chapman, it appears, granted in a meeting with league officials that he did not act appropriately that night. He may also have agreed to counseling, given the wording of the league’s announcement.
A statement from Chapman read, in part, “I want to be clear, I did not in any way harm my girlfriend that evening. However, I should have exercised better judgment with respect to my actions, and for that I am sorry. … I have learned from this matter, and I look forward to being part of the Yankees’ quest for a 28th World Series title.”
There’s probably a decent conversation to be had about whether his girlfriend was “harmed,” and if there must be blood or bruising in order to qualify as being “harmed.” She allegedly felt compelled to run.
Said commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement: “I found Mr. Chapman’s acknowledged conduct on that day to be inappropriate under the negotiated policy, particularly his use of a firearm and the impact of that behavior on his partner.”
The statement also said, “Mr. Chapman has taken responsibility for his conduct” and “agreed to comply with the confidential directives of the Joint Policy Board … to ensure that a similar incident does not occur in the future.”
In the end, whatever the discipline, the best we can hope for is for her to be safe and her child to be safe. And maybe for someone else to think, “Am I that guy? Should I get help?” And maybe for someone else to think, “This isn’t right for me. I need to go.”
Before the raised arm. Before the threat.
But does it deter?
Probably not. Sadly not. I don’t know. It does say again that we – as a league, as a union, as a society – won’t abide this sort of violence. It solves regrettably little.
Aroldis Chapman will serve his 30 games. He’ll get his job back. That seems fair enough.
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