As much as I try to keep my personal politics off this blog, the Toddler-In-Chief makes it really difficult at times. Trump was supposed to welcome the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the White House today, only to abruptly cancel it and throw the team under the bus in the process. Instead, he held some ridiculous event "for Eagles fans" where evidently all they did was sing the national anthem.
But I'm NOT going to give that idiot any more attention by devoting an entire post to another one of his me-first, publicity-seeking stunts. Instead I'm going to focus on a topic that's controversial for another reason. Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich is likely to be selected at some point during the MLB Draft (he might even be taken while I write this), which will draw a whole lot of negative reaction towards whichever team ultimately ends up drafting him.
I was vaguely familiar with Heimlich's story, then I read the excellent Sports Illustrated cover story that detailed his situation very well. Heimlich withdrew from Oregon State's NCAA Tournament roster last year (when he almost certainly would've been a first-round pick) due to a personal legal matter, which obviously soon became known to everybody.
When he was 15, Heimlich plead guilty to sexually assaulting his niece. To this day, his story has never changed. He claims his innocence and says he only agreed to the plea deal because it was in the best interest of his family. None of that, frankly, is relevant. What is relevant is the fact that, as a part of the plea, if he met all the terms, his juvenile record would be expunged after five years.
That five-year time frame expired last summer, and he no longer has to register as a sex offender. Heimlich has fulfilled all the criteria and, as far as the legal system is concerned, is free to go about living a normal life without any restrictions. His future almost certainly includes professional baseball, which rubs a lot of people the wrong way.
Obviously, the feelings about Heimich are mixed. There are a lot of people who view him as a pariah and won't change their opinion. He's the equivalent of Michael Vick to them. And there are others who think he's entitled to a second chance. They're unlikely to change their stance either. Neither side is "wrong." I get both of their points.
Here's the thing that bothers me about the whole situation, though. Heimlich's juvenile record is supposed to be sealed, and it would've been had the story not broken last June. And the only reason the story broke in the first place is because The Oregonian fell into it while working on a feature about Heimlich for the NCAA Tournament. I don't blame The Oregonian for reporting it at all. But had they not been working on that feature, Heimlich would've been drafted by somebody last year and none of us would've been the wiser. He might even be in the Majors by now.
Instead, he missed the 2017 NCAA Tournament and was simply undraftable. He returned to Oregon State this season (where he was welcomed back by his teammates) and continued to put up solid numbers. There was some backlash at Beavers games, but Heimlich was allowed to play and didn't have to serve any sort of suspension, either from the school or the NCAA. (I also highly doubt that he's the only Division I baseball player who's had past legal issues. He's just the only one we know about.)
Yet that hasn't stopped the headline writers of every article written about Heimlich from using the splashy words that make people just assume he's some guilty scumbag instead of letting them make their own judgment (since "criminal" means "a person who commits a crime," yes, he is technically a criminal). Which I think is completely unfair to him. Because there's a lot more to the story.
Is it a complicated situation? Absolutely! But whatever happened to second chances? Do you want him to just curl up in a ball and die? He made a mistake. And he's paid for it. But he's also a 22-year-old kid who deserves a chance to live his life. A life that will almost certainly include professional baseball.
Some teams have taken Heimlich off their draft boards, which is their prerogative. But I guarantee that he will be given a chance. Whether or not he's drafted doesn't make that much of a difference, because he'll catch on as a free agent if he isn't.
Do I agree with what Luke Heimlich did? Of course not. But he shouldn't be forced to wear it like a scarlet letter, either. We're a society based on second chances. Whether you like it or not, he deserves at least that. And if that second chance includes the opportunity to play professional baseball, so be it.
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