It’s a dramatic scenario as old as Homer. The Young Hero (YH) lets his ego get in the way of his judgement, and the Old Pro (OP), now graying, diminished and wobbly, sets him straight with a cuff to the head, a sympathetic smile, and some tough love. Years later, the YH, now established and successful, credits the OP, now dead and perhaps forgotten, with making the difference in his life.

This isn’t just movie and novel stuff, as you know: it really happens. It may have happened to you. I know I’ve played both roles, and more than once.

In 2010, however, the plot is a little different.  After the Frank Heart to Heart (FHH), and the Young Hero sees the light, the Old Pro, desperate to recapture some of his lost fame, goes to the Ubiquitous Media, and tells the whole story, thus making it clear the YH would have continued to be a Big Jerk (BJ) without the OP’s intercession.

I hate that version.

But its the one recently played out in Miami, where the baseball Marlins’ young superstar shortstop, Hanley Ramirez, got himself benched by his manager for loafing after a ball during a game. Ramirez refused to apologize, and even mocked his manager’s lack of major league experience, as if there was some secret excuse for not giving one’s best effort that the manager hadn’t been told about.

This conduct was unacceptable, of course, especially so from the team’s most prominent and highest-paid player. Team standards are set by their leaders, and when the best player behaves unprofessionally and challenges the team’s manager’s authority to discipline him, the consequences can be disastrous. So the Marlins asked two former stars on its payroll, Hall of Famer Tony Perez, and almost Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, to have a little chat with Ramirez. After they did, Hanley went locker to locker in the Marlins club house, and apologized to everyone on the team. He also issued a public apology.

Then Dawson revealed the entire content of the meeting with Ramirez to the press, resulting in the detailed account published here.

He betrayed Ramirez’s trust. Such conversations are personal, frank, and uncomfortable; Ramirez had every reason to expect that the two great players going out of their way to set him straight would not then embarrass him publicly by revealing what was said. He undermined his own advice, telling Ramirez to be a role model, and then behaving as a bad role model himself. Dawson turned what should have been a selfless act into a selfish one. The next time, if there is one, that Hanley Ramirez needs some wisdom from an OP, will he be willing to listen? I don’t know.

You see, the OP explaining to the YH why he has an ethical obligation not to act like a BJ can’t then go off and act like a BJ himself.

It ruins the story.