Rob Manfred Apologized For Calling The World Series Trophy (The Commissioner's Trophy) A 'Piece Of Metal'

Rob Manfred just wrapped up his second Spring Training press conference in less than a week's time. He usually does one in Florida and one in Arizona so this isn't out of the ordinary. There was, however, an agenda to this press conference, rather than just fulfilling a requirement. During the presser over the weekend Manfred referred to the World Series trophy as a 'piece of metal' and that it would be futile to take back the Astros championship over that piece of metal. WRONG ANSWER ROB. 

What a clown. Imagine being the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and referring to the trophy given out to the World Series champion as a 'piece of metal?' I'll do you one better. Imagine doing that when the trophy is actually called the COMMISSIONER'S TROPHY?

When Manfred dropped that line over the weekend I gasped. How do we have this guy running the sport we love so much when he himself doesn't give a rat's ass about it? He's sorry his thoughts slipped out of his head and people were upset by them. He's not actually sorry. Same thing with the Astros in that they're sorry they got caught and not for the actual cheating. 

As you can assume, Manfred disparaging the trophy did not sit well with the players. Justin Turner ripped him to shreds, calling for the commissioner's name to be taken off the trophy all together. Honestly not the worst idea I've heard lately. So much respect to Turner for laying into the man.

Jon Lester…

Bauer of of course

2019 World Series champ Sean Doolittle shared his thoughts as well…

"It bothered me, man. I hated it. It made him sound really out of touch. That's the holy grail of our sport. That's what we show up for in the beginning of February, thinking about and working towards. I just can't believe how out of touch that is. You're the commissioner of our game. You're the steward of this game. That's a really special thing. It's an iconic symbol of our game. Please don't say that, even off-hand, even tongue-in-cheek." 

"We saw how much that 'piece of metal' meant to the fans, going up and down the streets of D.C. We all know what it means to guys who have spent their whole career in the league, grinding, and they finally got to hold that thing."

Pittsburgh's Joe Musgrove wasn't happy either

"They don't just hand those out; there's a lot of work that goes into getting one of those. So I can understand why they're upset about it, For me, personally, I think the ring is something that everyone takes with them and that's a special piece you can carry with you forever. There's only one trophy that gets made. That might be more important to the manager than anybody. But at the end of the season, as a team, getting to hold that thing up is pretty special. I understand where their frustration comes in."

I mean we can't have the commissioner referring to the championship trophy like it's some toy. People spend their whole lives, and mostly fail, to get the opportunity to hoist that trophy in late October. Everything Manfred says these days just makes it worse and worse. The non-Astros players have banded together to fight back against Manfred and it's a beautiful sight to see. Judge, Bellinger, Trout, Harper, Turner, LeBron. The list goes on and on. 

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#JustMyThoughtsComingFromASportsJunkieRegardlessMyOwnSportIPlay

I'll just leave this here