Wife-beating Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers signed a three-year, $25.75 million contract today. A few comments:

1) I've criticized mandatory/presumptory arrest laws in domestic violence cases, which have led to large numbers of arrests in cases where it is questionable whether the men actually committed any abuse. Worse, "no drop" prosecution policies mandate prosecutions in these questionable cases, where the evidence is so lacking that, were it any other crime, the prosecutors wouldn't dream of prosecuting. Domestic abuse charges (as well as DV restraining orders) are sometimes used as child custody maneuvers by unscrupulous women.

Often the women involved in DV arrests seek to have the charges dropped, because the men did nothing wrong, the women take responsibility for their role in the incident, or the women believe the incident was blown way out of proportion. Prosecutors often refuse to believe these women, and insist on prosecuting their husbands or boyfriends anyway.

Feminists counter--at times correctly--that these drop requests can at times be motivated by economic dependency, because women are unfairly made to feel guilty for nonviolently "provoking" violent men, because they're in denial about the seriousness of their husbands' or boyfriends' violence, or other reasons.

Though I haven't noticed any feminist making this point, the Brett Myers case is the feminist vision of these cases come to life. Abuse charges against Myers were dropped after Kim Myers, his wife, said she did not want her husband prosecuted for hitting her in the face during an argument near Fenway Park in Boston. Kim Myers said:

"'There's no violence in our family. That night in Boston we had both been drinking...I was not hurt. I was not injured."

I believe that, when women claim that the domestic violence incident in which they were involved was blown out of proportion by the police and prosecutors, they are usually correct. In this case, I don't buy it for a minute. Several witnesses saw Brett Myers beating the hell out of Kim Myers. This wasn't a child custody maneuver or a setup--this was wife-beating.

2) Feminists often claim that our society accepts wife-beating, or that wife-beaters suffer no consequences for their actions. I think that's preposterous. However, in the Myers case it's true up to a point--Myers was booed by fans, skewered in the press and suspended by his team. However, after the initial media attention, the incident has been almost completely forgotten. I have had "Brett Myers" on my Google news alerts ever since the July incident and have rarely seen any reference to Myers and domestic violence.

3) If Brett Myers has gotten help for his problem, if he and Kim have worked out their issues, then that's great. But in an era when so many men are arrested on flimsy domestic violence charges, it annoys me that the one guy we can be sure is actually guilty is the guy who gets off largely scot-free. I discussed this issue in my co-authored column Brett Myers Case Obscures an Important Truth About Domestic Violence Arrests (Delaware County Daily Times [Philadelphia], 8/2/06), noting:

"An important truth has been lost in the controversy over the way the Philadelphia Phillies handled pitcher Brett Myers after his recent arrest for spousal abuse. Mrs. Myers’ injuries and the accounts of several witnesses leave little reason to doubt her husband’s culpability. Nevertheless, the Phillies at first reserved judgment about the case, and allowed Myers to pitch.

"This was wrong, as the team admitted after widespread criticism, and Myers was given a leave of absence. However, in many domestic violence cases the men arrested do deserve the open mind and support which the Phillies mistakenly extended Myers...

"Contrary to the charges leveled by the Phillies’ numerous critics, the club wasn’t wrong in its desire to afford its player the benefit of the doubt. The problem is that in Myers’ case there is no doubt. However, the next time an athlete is arrested for domestic violence, there probably will be. Will the team involved turn its back on its player because of the precedent set in the Myers case?"

4) I know I shouldn't be surprised, but is this how much a decent starting pitcher costs these days? Myers is pretty good--gets a lot of strikeouts and can pitch 200+ innings without injury. But his record last year was a good but not great 12-7 with a 3.91 ERA, and he has a career ERA of 4.34.

Then again Barry Zito, who also is not that good, got a $126 million, seven-year contract, which is even sillier. During baseball's endless labor wars I've been (and remain) very much on the side of the Players Association, but I would like to see more of baseball's money trickle down to young players, minor leaguers and stadium workers.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 11:47 am and is filed under Family Law, Feminism/NOW, Domestic Violence/DV System, Baseball/Sports, Marriage, Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police, False Accusations, Men and the Media, Divorce/Separation/Child Custody, Restraining Orders/Protection Orders, Misandry, Misogyny. You can trackback from your own site.