Lastings Straw?

By Professor Joe Janish
Posted Thursday, May 17, 2007

Can a CD break a camel’s back?

The latest bombshell from Mets camp - nearly as big a story as Lino Urdaneta’s 50-game suspension - is Lastings Milledge’s debut as a record producer. Or, as he’s called in the liner notes, “L Millz”.

Let’s get a few things out of the way. First, Lastings Milledge has every right as an American to pursue happiness, and if producing hip-hop artists is what will make him happy, god bless and good luck. Secondly. “L Millz” is protected by the US Constitution to enjoy freedom of speech, and that includes recording “n” words and speaking in a demeaning manner toward women. And “lastly”, Milledge is human and therefore has interests outside of baseball - and that’s great, because one-dimensional people are boring.

Now, with the preliminaries covered, let’s get to the meat of the matter: Lastings Milledge’s decision to become a hard-core rap mogul is doing nothing for his baseball career as a New York Met. In fact, it may be his ticket out of here.

Before you start with various defenses in support of L Millz, CEO of Soul-Ja Boi Records, please go back two paragraphs and re-read. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

For just a moment, let’s pretend you are not a baseball player, but a “regular Joe” at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder in some multimillion-dollar company (oh wait, I guess that might be reality, huh?). Let’s also pretend that the CEO of the company is a god-fearing, reactionary conservative, who often projects family values, good citizenship, and a “clean cut” image as ideal attributes in his employees (warning: this could be getting too real for some). With me so far?

OK, let’s go another step further and pretend that you, the lowly worker bee, are motivated to move up the corporate ladder, perhaps one day be a star employee in the company. Even if you had a bit of maverick in your personality, wouldn’t you consider conforming just enough to stay under the radar? For example, you wouldn’t be walking into the office wearing cutoff jeans, flipflops, and a sleeveless T-shirt that reveals multiple tattooes, would you? You wouldn’t let the whole world know you just opened a “gentlemen’s club”, and be passing out free drink coupons for the Grand Opening. Even though you have the right to get tattooes and wear cutoff jeans, you’d be smart enough not to do it at the office, in the face of the CEO. And though it’s perfectly legal to run a go-go joint, you wouldn’t make a public display of your involvement - not if you were truly interested in getting promoted at your day job.

You see where this is going, I’m sure, so no need to insult your intelligence. The argument for Lastings is that he isn’t in a typical corporation, and baseball players, as celebrities, have different kinds of opportunities. It’s fairly common, in fact, for pro athletes and musical artists to mingle and cross-promote. Allen Iverson, for one. So, what Lastings is doing is not that big a deal.

Except to Fred Wilpon, who happens to control Milledge’s destiny for the next several years. People claim that Milledge is a bright kid, but publicly slapping Wilpon’s face does not show much intelligence for someone who claims to be interested in playing for the New York Mets. OK, you might not think it’s a slap in the face, but Mr. Wilpon does. Remember, this is a guy who exiled Kris Benson to Baltimore because his wife wore a racy dress to a Christmas party. How do you think Wilpon feels about Milledge 1.) producing a CD that will require a parental advisory sticker; and 2.) singing derogatory lyrics on same CD?

Some may point to Paul LoDuca’s extramarital exploits of last year and suggest that if Wilpon can live with that, he can live with Lastings the rap producer. But it’s not the same, not by a longshot (and no, it’s not a racial thing). When the stories of LoDuca’s affair became public, Paulie had already been a 10-year Major League veteran, an All-Star, the starting catcher on the Mets, and one of the team’s leaders on the field and off. The public smear on LoDuca’s record came after he had established himself, and after he had made many positive deposits in the banks of trust and character. In other words, the strength of LoDuca’s perceived character, built over many years, was strong enough to withstand a fling with a young co-ed.

By contrast, Lastings Milledge has been making withdrawals from those trust and character accounts. Even before he was drafted, there were questions about Milledge’s background, specifically because of an issue with an underage girl. Granted, he was a kid and the incident was overblown, but it was something that would always be back there, lingering, and would return to the forefont if and when Lastings had any issues in the future.

Throughout his minor league career, Lastings Milledge has been praised for his raw skills, but there have always been whispers about his attitude, immaturity, and off-field incidents that were embarrassing to Fred Wilpon’s organization. The aforementioned camel was nearly brought to his knees last year during Milledge’s various incidents. Coming into spring training in great shape, with a seemingly more mature attitude, may have lightened the load - slightly - on the camel’s back but this latest gaffe - combined with the surprising emergence of Carlos Gomez - has done nothing to help Lastings Milledge jump to the next level.

Additionally, Milledge’s timing could not be worse. The broiling steroid controversy currently surrounding the Mets has Fred Wilpon bristling as it is and he doesn’t need any other issues marring his Mets’ squeaky-clean image. While many may think it’s a really cool thing that Lastings is trying to be the next Russell Simmons, the one person who matters most in his baseball career is not condoning the project. The upcoming Manny D. CD may be the first for Soul-Ja Boi Records, but it may also mark the last chapter of Lastings Milledge’s career as a Met.