Why Baseball Needs Ozzie

Over the past 8 years, I have come to hate Ozzie Guillen. His history of homophobic slurs, on-field tirades, and offensive twitter mistakes have worn me down and jaded my view of the current White Sox manager.

But after his abrupt ejection from Monday night’s game against the Cubs, I have come to a stark realization: baseball needs him.

Watch the show put on by Ozzie last night in a 6-3 defeat to the visiting Cubs.

As we venture further into the worn-out spectacle of interleague play, baseball needs more intrigue.  That’s not to say that the Red Sox-Padres (14-5), Rangers-Astros (8-3), and Orioles-Pirates (8-3) games weren’t incredibly entertaining (insert sarcastic look).  But with roughly 89 games remaining on the season, the game needs more than an occasional sliding catch or walk-off single to entertain most fans.  Ozzie provides that, and more.

Let’s not pretend that the Venezuelan manager is solely a side-show clown either.  As a player, he was a three-time All-Star selection and the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year with the White Sox.  And in 2005, Ozzie became the first Latin American manager in history to win a World Series.

So before you write off Ozzie and call for the White Sox to fire him, think about what you will be missing.  Think about what baseball will be missing without his charismatic and unfiltered approach to managing.

If anyone should be offended by his spirited on-field display last night, it would be Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto.  His catcher’s mask was the victim of a right-footed kick during Ozzie’s tirade.  But even he appreciated the entertaining display put-on by Guillen.  He laughed throughout the event, and so should you.