Brett Myers met the media today in San Francisco. He spoke for 45 seconds and didn't take questions. According to Myers, his lawyer won't allow him to discuss the events that led to his arrest June 23 in Boston on charges that he hit his wife.
Here are the highlights:
"I've been humbled greatly by this problem and I deeply regret any incident that happened. Over the last several weeks I learned a lot about myself and I have a lot more to learn.
"I want to apologize to my wife, my family, my teammates, the entire Phillies organization and especially the fans. I would like to thank you for respecting our privacy. We've both decided it is time for me to rejoin the team.
"Through the EAP program I have been guided to all the right resources. Kim and I are committed to continue with these resources, and will work through any problems."
Your thoughts?
3 comments:
He is a piece of human feces.
Read this and decide for yourself if he shoulod be playing.
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BRETT MYERS might still be pitching today against the Orioles if he hadn't crossed paths with Sly Egidio. Although Myers might dispute it, it was probably in his best interests that they had an encounter.
Egidio can usually be found during Boston Red Sox home games outside Gate A at Fenway, where he sells Boston Baseball Magazine. But that's not where he ran into Myers.
The Sox were off last Thursday, so Sly joined a buddy and his pal's new girlfriend at a place called the Pourhouse for dinner and a few pops. Meanwhile, a block away, the Phillies checked into the Sheraton Boston, on Dalton Street in the Back Bay section not far from Fenway.
Last call for Sly and his friends was midnight. They walked out of the Pourhouse and heard a commotion that he said was just a few feet away. Egidio, a self-described "street kid from East Boston," told me in graphic detail what he says he saw:
"We were crossing the street, kind of scooted across to get before the traffic, and we saw and we heard the yelling, screaming, and a little bit of tussle. That's what got our attention.
"Then we walked over there, and at that point we saw a really big guy, and I know most of the players no matter what team they play. I work around baseball, I kind of knew it might have been a player.
"And then, at that point, I saw him rag-dolling a small blonde woman, girlfriend, now we know it's his wife, and throwing her around.
"We ran over there, I watched him step back and just haul off and open-hand smack her right across the face, and I heard the smack right across the face.
"The next thing I remember is, and I think I said this when I called in on 911, he grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and yanked her back so hard that she fell out of her sandals. I remember that because I told Boston police, 'Look for a woman walking with no shoes on.' So, that's what we saw when we ran over to break this thing up... and... as you know, he's a pretty big guy.
"So, when we got over there, and we tried to get between them, I'm not as big as he is. Neither was my buddy, and we tried to break this up. This guy was going nuts, he was yelling, he was screaming. She was yelling, she was screaming, she was crying.
"She had a huge slap mark on her face, and we tried to intervene the first time. 'Hey, you need to calm down! Hey, you can't do that here!' And he wasn't having any of that - he was swearing, he was yelling, and at that point we stepped in.
"He grabbed her again, and he threw her down, and he started dragging her, and there was another women there... I don't know what her affiliation was, but she knew both parties.
"Now, we had crossed the street... and the Hynes Convention Center is where all this took place, which is right next to the hotel where your players and various teams stay. So, it was a few feet, maybe eight feet, 10 feet."
Although Egidio suspected the big guy was a ballplayer, he didn't recognize Myers, nor his wife, Kim. He did tell Boston police what he saw, and so did his friends. Soon after, Myers was arraigned on charges of assault and battery.
Brett Myers has since issued a statement that says "I dispute that the facts are as alleged." Presumably he is talking about Egidio and company.
Egidio himself knows a little something about physical altercations. In 2001, at 25, he got in what he called a "bar fight" and found himself on the receiving end of an indictment for first-degree assault, which he said was thrown out of court. At the time, he was serving in the 1st Battalion, 25th Division of the Marines.
"I was never convicted of a crime in my life. I was a young Marine when that happened. I earned an honorable discharge in the Marines after eight years. I received many awards and was part of three deployments. A lawyer told me that people might try to trash my background, but I'm ready to testify as to what I saw."
No matter what happened, the episode is a sad chapter in the Phillies season, compounded by the team's delayed reaction. It was inexcusable for the ball club to allow him to take the mound 36 hours later for a sold-out, nationally televised game. And, after the game, Brett Myers still didn't get it. When asked if he was embarrassed, he replied, "I'm sorry it had to get public, that's it."
Brett Myers has issues. The good news is that those issues will now be addressed, avoiding, we hope, a more catastrophic outcome. And, if he's repentant, I suspect he'll be pleasantly surprised by a public willingness to forgive, as long as that's the case at home.
And maybe someday even Brett Myers will think Sal Egidio was in the right place at the right time.
Just to give credit where it's due, the column above was written by Michael Smerconish for the Philadelphia Daily News.
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