Roberto Alomar
Remember the allegations of homosexuality lobbed at Mike Piazza when he played for the New York Mets? Well, the scuttlebutt around sports journalism was that teammate Roberto Alomar was actually the guy fond of cruising gay spots. This wasn’t the kind of thing that responsible journalists felt they had to set, um, straight.
Now, with news of a $15 million lawsuit by Alomar’s former girlfriend, one has to wonder what should be done with that sort of knowledge.
Of course, Alomar’s AIDS crisis doesn’t prove Piazza to be the hardcore hetero. In a perfect world, none of this would matter. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Our residence is down-low central. And people get hurt on this planet.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:26 am
This thing should be bigger news than it already is, but the A-Rod saga has almost made it seem like a footnote. Which way Alomar swings (remember, he was a “switch” hitter), shouldn’t be a big deal, like you say. It should be more about Alomar’s character and it confirms suspicions that he was a lowlife prick.
Robby was an undeniably great player (Shit, I had him on my fantasy team one year!) but I always thought he carried a bit of a whiff of being a punk (Remember the Hirschbeck incident). Whether he’s gay or bi or neither is salacious but misses the ultimate point regarding his reckless behavior. It’s just about criminal.
Regarding the subject of AIDS in baseball, I don’t think Alomar will be the last of it. Considering how many guys have gotten their strength from the needle, which teammates could share, is there a possibility that a bigger epidemic could break out? I’m just sayin’.