by Nick Fishman

Houston Astros Pitcher Shawn Chacon has been suspended indefinitely for grabbing the General Manager, Ed Wade, by the throat and throwing him to the ground.  For those of you playing at home, this is not the correct way, even in Major League Baseball, to move up the corporate ladder.  And while professional sports has been abnormally tolerant of aberrant behavior, even they have their breaking point as it looks like Chacon has most likely disqualified himself from ever playing again as a result of this workplace violence issue.

I found the following excerpt from an article written by baseball writer, Richard Justice revealing, because it shows that the Astros performed some type of background check (at least an employment verification).  They evidently just chose to ignore the signs that such an incident was predictable.

Choking GM likely ends Shawn Chacon’s career

HOUSTON — It was both frightening and surreal to those who saw it. Houston Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon rose from his chair, wrapped his hands around general manager Ed Wade’s throat and threw him to the floor.

After all the tantrums and all the dumb stuff and all the people who have forgiven Chacon through the years, he finally crossed the line Wednesday. He might long regret the day he likely ended his own big league career.

Chacon did it himself. He’ll look for scapegoats. He’ll blame others. He’ll look everywhere except the mirror. That’s what people like Chacon always do.

In the end, though, everything that has happened to Shawn Chacon has been because of Shawn Chacon. This incident can’t be forgiven or forgotten. Not by the Astros. Not by any other club.

Wade had approached Chacon and requested a meeting after the pitcher lashed out at Astros manager Cecil Cooper for demoting him to the bullpen.

Chacon refused. He challenged Wade to say what he had to say. Wade did. Loudly.

This wasn’t Wade’s finest hour, either. To ask for a meeting is one thing. To resort to yelling and cursing reflects a lack of maturity on Wade’s part as well. Some who have known Wade through the years have thought he had a large streak of insecurity and a little man’s complex.

View the full story here . . .

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Workplace Violence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.