FIU athletic director Pete Garcia declined to comment on the arrest, saying he was still in the process of sorting through information. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The above information was taken from an article by the Associated Press and used under the fair use copyright law for informational purposes. Being fair to Garrett Wittels, he is only being accused of a crime and has not had a trial yet to prove guilt. I strongly believe in innocence until proven guilty by a court of law. However, thinking about the consequences of a conviction are impossible to ignore.
If he's convicted, he will definitely serve jail time. He will lose his scholarship and probably not be able to play any more college baseball. A pro baseball career would be in serious jeopardy for him as well. Here is the kid who is currently on a 56 game hitting streak, just two shy of Oklahoma State alumni Robin Ventura's NCAA record 58 game streak.
Why would a baseball player with so much right in front of him, do something like this? This really is the basic question of why does anyone commit a crime. People commit crimes of passion, crimes of revenge, crimes of necessity, crimes of malice, crimes of fear, crimes of protection, crimes of power, crimes of intolerance.
In the history of Major League Baseball, some players have found themselves convicted of crimes. Most of the crimes were drug related, including possession and testing positive for drugs, like Dwight Gooden. Some players get involved in gambling issues like Pete Rose and Denny McLain. A few other players have committed assaults, which I will discuss further.
A famous assault conviction occurred in the 2010 season. New York Mets closer Francisco K-Rod Rodriguez was convicted of misdemeanor assault of his girlfriend's father. He was kept out of the lineup for two games and forced to forgo two games' salary. He pitched on August 14th, after missing two days. He would not pitch again for the rest of the 2010 season. It was later revealed that he may have torn a ligament in his right thumb during the assault. The Mets placed him on the disqualified list, which forces him to sit without pay until he is physically fit to play.
Another famous assault and attempted murder crime was committed by Ugueth Urbina. Urbina played pro baseball from 1995-2005 for Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Phillies. On November 7, 2005 Ugueth Urbina was arrested in Venezuela for attempted murder of five workers on his family's ranch. Urbina claims he was sleeping when the incident happened but in 2007 the former pro baseball pitcher was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Urbina and others attacked the workers with machetes and poured gasoline on them.
I do not know why players would commit crimes off the field and give up their baseball careers and their lives. I guess it's just the same with any other criminal and crime committed. You are left to wonder why someone would commit such a senseless act and throw their life away. If Garrett Wittels is truly innocent, hopefully he would be able to get himself acquitted of the crime. If he is guilty, then hopefully he would come to the justice he would deserve for the crime. I will not make a judgement until facts come out in a court of law.
We must remember the rape case of the Duke Lacrosse players. Everyone including the media, pronounced them guilty and never gave them a chance to explain their side of the case. They were raked over the coals relentlessly day after day in newspapers and on tv. Later, everyone was made to apologize as the girl admitted to making up the rape accusation and lying about the whole thing.
What those men lost during that ordeal was a crime in and of itself. They lost a year of Lacrosse, their good name and respect. The entire school got a black eye from the incident, undeservedly so. Nobody should make that mistake again in any future cases. That is why we have trials in a court of law. We must also remember the Kobe Bryant rape story, and how it went from rape to just cheating on his wife after the woman admitted she was not raped.
We can also look to the De Anza College rape scandal that occurred in 2007. Three members of the school's women's soccer team say they witnessed a 17 year old girl at a party hosted by a member of the college's baseball team being sexually assaulted by 2 or more men. They state that they pulled the girl away and took her to a hospital. After an investigation, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Dept said there was insufficient evidence to press charges. 20/20 did an episode on this story and the three girls stated that "if three witnesses aren't enough then why is rape even a crime?"
The California State Attorney General's office conducted their own investigation and found also that there was insufficient evidence to press charges. The victim was characterized as having no memory of the incident after her arrival at the party. The report concluded that these factors made proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as required for a criminal trial, impossible The report further indicated that widespread intoxication among the party's attendees hampered the accuracy and reliable of their memories of the event.
As for Garrett Wittels, I don't know how his immediate college career will be affected but he will certainly have to miss time for the trial. Kobe played during his rape trial for the Lakers, but I do not know if Florida Int'l will let Wittels play. If he is able to play in some games next year, he could certainly break the record, which is probably least high on his list of important things right now in his life.
As a big fan of college baseball(namely the Arkansas Razorbacks), I always assumed that the 58 game hitting streak by Robin Ventura would stand forever. Seeing Wittels come close last season, I will admit to(in retrospect in poor taste) rooting against him extending his streak. I revere Ventura as a former White Sock and all around good guy.
If he is found innocent, he will have a bright future as a prospect in MLB. He can certainly hit, he can field a middle infielding position(short stop) and he even pitches. He was nominated for an ESPY award this year for Best Male College Athlete Of The Year. He will probably be a top 10 pick, probably top 5 and maybe even top 3. I foresee great things for him. It all depends on his status, and whether or not he committed the rape along with the other man accussed. We'll just have to see how this all pans out.
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