Columnist slams player for attending childbirth

Texas Rangers' starting pitcher Colby Lewis (48) throws a pitch during a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday April. 19, 2011, in Arlington, Texas.

/ AP Photo/Brandon Wade

It's a safe bet that Dallas Observer columnist Richie Witt won't be sending Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis a congratulatory cigar after the birth of his daughter.

That's because the Texas pitcher drew the columnist's ire for choosing to be in the delivery room instead of taking his turn on the pitcher's mound.

Here's an excerpt of what Witt wrote in his Monday column:

"Don't look now, but since Josh Hamilton's dumb dash for home Tuesday in Detroit, the Rangers are 1-4 and tied with the Angels atop the AL West. They start a three-game series with the Angels tonight in Arlington.

In Game 2, Colby Lewis is scheduled to start after missing his last regular turn in the rotation because -- I'm not making this up -- his wife, Jenny, was giving birth in California. To the couple's second child.

Don't have kids of my own but I raised a step-son for eight years. I know all about sacrifice and love and how great children are.

But a pitcher missing one of maybe 30 starts?"

To drive home his point, Witt points out that the Grizzlies' Shane Battier opted to suit up for a playoff game on Sunday (and hit the game-winning shot) rather than fly back to Houston to witness his daughter be born.

As Witt concedes, Lewis was in line with new MLB paternity leave rules but the columnist argues that professional athletes who make millions of dollars have no right to miss work for childbirth.

"If that means 'scheduling' births so they occur in the off-season, then so be it," Witt writes. "If it was a first child, maybe. But a second child causing a player to miss a game? Ludicrous."

Who do you think is being ludicrous - the player or the writer?

[ASGT]

Colby Lewis is right, Richard Witt is wrong. In the big scheme, the statement he made to his wife and child, that they are most important, was the thing to do. It is wonderful that we live in a country that allows this and that the league recognizes the importance of this.

I coach volleyball and love to win. I appreciate committed players but at the end of the day, it is a game and family is the structure of our society.

Witt isn't a POS because he got it wrong. He just has poor judgment and mixed priorities!

[htimsr40]

First, the player did not skip a "game" to attend the birth of his child, he skipped a day of work. He works in the entertainment industry. It's a Big Business.

Second, the player had his priorities in the correct order. Vince Lombardi used to state priorities as God, Family and Packers, in that order. Anyone who chooses to move the Team ahead of Family has his priorities wrong.

Third, every business, including baseball, has to be ready to respond when an employee is unable to perform on a given day. The League recognizes family leave to attend the birth of a child to be an acceptable use of time. They didn't have to ... they chose to. If an outsider like Mr. Witt-less wants to criticize their choices he is free to do so ... but he looks like an idiot.

One game out of 162 is not going to make or break the team's season ... so I don't see this as "letting the team down" in any meaningful fashion. Failure to attend the birth of a child, by contrast, would let his wife and family down.

It's an easy choice ... or should be. God, Family, Team. One a minor inconvenience in a 162-game season ... the other a major milestone in the life of your second child. If you can't put two and two together, I recommend a good remedial math course.

[texbelle123]

Let's see now...
A game (that makes no difference in the spinning of the universe)
or
A miracle - birth is always a miracle as the child it produces.

A game ... or a miracle?
A game ... or a miracle?

Tough call.

DUH! Shouldn't even have to ask the question!!

The sports writer is WRONG! And kuddos to an athlete who understands that the important things in life are NOT ballgames!

[BoJet]

Was Lewis giving birth? No, his wife was. Can a pilot land an airplane because his wife is giving birth? Can a surgeon halt an operation because his wife is giving birth? Can a soldier lay down arms because his wife is giving birth? NO!

Guys have a duty to look after their families. Let the women deal with the really tough stuff.

[lloydbest1]

"Guys have a duty to look after their families."

Yup! Totally agree.
But an essential part of that duty is being with their mates (wives) during special times. The single most important person in your life is your wife (husband, boy/girlfriend, significant other) and when need calls, his duty to her supercedes duty to anything else.

It took a busted marriage and God knows how many failed relationships for me to get that one simple rule of life.

[lloydbest1]

Occassionally someone writes something so outrageous that I have trouble believing the author is serious. The Dallas Observer is the "ugly stepchild" in the DFW journalistic family and Witt may be writing this piece of bovine detritus simply to hook people into reading it out of morbid curiosity. I hope so.

I read the column and it isn't just a mean spirited jab at Casey but an unrealistic lament that at 10-5, one of the strongest Ranger teams in years isn't 15-0. C'mon dude, be happy these guys are above .500; most of the time, they weren't.

[slatep]

I commend this baseball player for having his priorities straight.

WITT is apparently wit-less.

[documemts]

People who have an obsession with ball-sports are usually desperate conservatives, like Witt?

[technocoffee]

PLEASE tell me this writer was joking...can someone REALLY be such an insensitive pig??? "Don't have any kids"...yep-and doesn't have any heart or brain either....

[mitch0927]

I would hope he will lose his job over it. Having your own child and being there for the birth, regardless if it is the first or 10th. I raised two step children and had a daughter of my own as well. NOTHING is more important than children.

[JusticeWarrior]

And I hope you suffer, disgusting piece of ****!

[BoJet]

The kid is gonna have a great lifestyle...why? Because daddy is a baseball player. Daddy just bit the hand that feeds em!

I agree with Witt.