Game in Need of Clean-Up Hitter

Frustrated and disappointed by the Angels’ inability to discipline Tony Phillips for his refusal to enter an inpatient drug program, Michael Eisner, chairman of the Walt Disney Co., said there is a crisis in baseball and that his organization would work within the system to produce changes in the game’s image and policy.

“I’m disappointed that baseball doesn’t have the kind of discipline that I think would be a good idea for an industry presenting itself as a role model for kids,” Eisner said in a phone interview.

He referred to the arbitration decision that reinstated Phillips after the Angels had suspended him for rejecting inpatient treatment.

Eisner acknowledged he participated in the suspension decision and said it was unfortunate that a club can’t control its destiny.

“This has been a learning experience for me and I couldn’t believe that a club can’t act quickly, authoritatively and with the kind of discipline necessary to set an example,” he said.

“We had to go through a process [with the suspension] that, in hindsight, was doomed from the outset. There was no recourse from it and it isn’t even addressed in the collective bargaining agreement.

“I’m not saying we wanted to predetermine Tony Phillips’ punishment. All we were trying to do was act quickly and clearly to take him off the field for an appropriate amount of time and get him the help he needed, but that was impossible.

“I talked to a lot of people in other sports and was told that only baseball would act this way.”

Phillips was arrested by Anaheim police Aug. 10 for felony possession of cocaine, but cleared by doctors for baseball and the players union to rejoin the team.

Disney responded with the suspension when Phillips refused to go on the disabled list and enter a counseling program.

The union filed a grievance against the Angels, citing baseball’s drug policy, which prohibits disciplining of first-time offenders.

Even the owners’ executive council came down on the club, instructing its player relations committee to throw arbitration support behind the union.

Phillips rejoined the team Thursday night. His future?

“We have no choice but to abide by the rules as they were delivered in arbitration--inappropriate as I believe they are,” Eisner said.

“We have no chance at going to court and getting a restraining order, we were told, or otherwise we would have done that.”

Likewise, an Angel official said, the club would certainly lose again in arbitration if it tried to release Phillips, possibly facing the loss of draft choices as punishment.

“We certainly don’t want to over-penalize Tony Phillips or make him the scapegoat for baseball’s inefficiency,” Eisner said.

“At the same time, he has to be responsible for his own actions, and I don’t think a 15-day leave of absence with pay was asking too much.

“He chose not to do that and baseball chose to reinstate him, so we’ll have to make our decisions as we go along.

“I can assure you that, to the best of our ability, we’ll not have a player play for the Angels if he’s on drugs.”

The union portrayed the suspension, in face of baseball’s drug policy, as a “cheap shot” and “public relations” ploy.

Eisner said he was angered.

“This wasn’t about Disney holding to a higher standard,” he said. “Everybody should hold to a higher standard. Unfortunately, America’s pastime is saying that drugs are more important than baseball. It’s inappropriate. I mean, every young player should know that if he gets in trouble with drugs he can’t go on the field. He can come back, but there has to be a discipline. No one wants to win more than I do, but it can’t only be about winning. There has to be a dignity and spirit to it.”

Eisner said he doesn’t regret the suspension attempt, that he would do it again, but he has been left “totally frustrated” by it.

“I personally think the game is in crisis and will remain so until the [drug policy] and other things are dealt with,” he said.

Eisner refused to be specific in regard to those “other things” but compared baseball’s problems to those of the NBA before David Stern became commissioner and generated significant changes in image and policy. Did he blame acting Commissioner Bud Selig for the problems he sees in baseball? Eisner said a strong commissioner is needed, but he didn’t blame any one person or thing for the crisis.

Can Disney affect changes quickly?

“I’m an optimist, but the more I learn about what’s going on, the more daunting I think it is to make changes and make them quickly,” he said.

“But I know there are many well-meaning owners who would like to see the game brought into some kind of modern criteria with the kind of impeccable moral compass necessary if the sport is to serve as a role model.

“At some point, I assume there’ll be a commissioner, and hopefully he’ll be a strong one whom the owners are willing to let lead them, and the situation will right itself. It’s still a fabulous game on the field.”