Tempers & Reputations (One Sixty-Two: Day 65)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day Sixty-Five: Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

We learned, at a very young age, just how important it is to hold our tempers. Big Bird taught us; Barney taught us; Mr. Rogers taught us. We listened, and we tried to heed that advice.

Sometimes we follow through in keeping our cool, and sometimes we don’t. When we do lose our tempers, we hope that the steam we’ve blown off doesn’t impact anyone else: our spouses, children, parents, friends, colleagues. It’s quite rare that we lose our cool and feel good about it afterward.

It’s hard to imagine that Carlos Zambrano felt good about the explosion he unleashed in the Chicago Cubs’ dugout yesterday after giving up four runs in the first inning. He embarrassed himself, his teammates and an organization that has made him a very rich man. He looked like an individual with absolutely no self-control. His team suspended him indefinitely for this outburst.

At age 29, Zambrano has had more public temper tantrums than most professional athletes. He has not heeded Big Bird’s advice. And so the Big Z, as Zambrano is called, finds himself on the outside looking in as baseball is played today. It’s not a fun place to be, and I doubt Zambrano likes it. The question now is whether he’ll get another chance to redeem himself with those whom Mr. Rogers would call his “neighbors.”

As we graduated from preschool TV to literary characters, we learned a thing or two about the importance of reputation. “I have lost my reputation!” Cassio shouted in Othello. John Proctor, in The Crucible, bellowed similar words: “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!” These characters lamented the loss of their honor in society, and felt the deep loneliness that comes with this.

Carlos Zambrano is real, not fictional, and his outbursts have surely soured his own reputation. The question now is whether or not he can save it. He’s got his work cut out for him.