Former Teammate Said Physical Abuse Kept Him In Line
23 February 2015
By A.F. James MacArthur
Agitator In Chief
On Twitter: @BaltoSpectator
MACARTHUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SERVICE
Is getting beaten up in the club house good for an athletes career? Apparently former Baltimore Gregg Zaun seems to think so. How far did his career take him again?
Zaun says, the best thing that ever happened to his major league career, was when his Orioles teammates — notably Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. — would keep him in line by using physical abuse.
The nephew of another famous Oriole -- Jack Dempsey -- describes a wrecking crew of players working him over. Beating the brash, cocky attitude out of him. One kind of wishes Johnny Manziel would find the same reception in Cleveland.
Allegedly Cal's posse included Ben McDonald, Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles and others who were not named.
Zaun describes an incidents sounding more like a bus full of school kids or college frat boys, than the public would imagine happening with professional athletes:
"I’ll never forget it: I was out in the stretch circle, I played catch with Chris Hoiles every single day, and I lobbed the ball to him — and he was paying attention, but he pretended like he wasn’t. He head-butted the ball and all of a sudden I had what was called “the posse” all over me. Cal Ripken, Ben McDonald, Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles, all of the above. They beat me on my ribcage, physically abused me on my way to the training table. They taped me spread-eagle to the training table, they wrote “rookie” on my forehead with pink methylate, and they shoved a bucket of ice down my shorts. I missed the entire batting practice, and you know what? Phil Regan, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, he did not care, because he knew that what those guys were doing was ‘educating me.’"
"If I had a dollar for every time Cal worked me over, physically, I'd be a pretty wealthy guy. He still owes me a suit! He told me flat out, he said, ‘You are never to come past this point into the back of the plane, under no circumstances.' So, I'm in my first suit that I paid for myself as a Major League player, feelin' real frisky, and Cal says, ‘I need you to come here.'
And all of a sudden I crossed over that imaginary barrier line. He tackled me, wrestled me to the ground. They had just got done eating a bunch of blue crabs in the back of the plane, so there was nothing but mud and Old Bay seasoning everywhere. He throws me to the ground and he tears my suit off of me, and I'm like, ‘What are you doing?' And he goes, ‘Remember when I said that under no circumstances do you come back here?' I'm like, ‘Well you just told me to!' ‘I said under no circumstances, and that includes when I ask you to come back here.' "
Read more from Andrew Stoeten
As Director of the MacArthur Institute Center For Advanced Analysis and Critical Comparison; occasional media critic, researcher, independent investigator, and entrepreneur, A.F. James MacArthur is Baltimore's most well known independent journalist contributor. A member of the underground news network for over 20 years. During this time, he's been a frequent subject of attack by government under the guise of law enforcement. Although closely watched and followed, he's often boycotted from being given any credit for his work by mainstream media.----------------------------------------------------------------
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