For the parents and coaches here is some information on the Ethical Issues Major Baseball League Face from Matt Bruback.
Parents and coaches they have to understand major league baseball runs the draft. Major league baseball runs the minor leagues.
Major league baseball picks and chooses picks and chooses who they are going to draft, where they are going to draft them, who the prospects are, and pretty much everything to go with it.
When you ask the question about how does a player, how can a player stay out of unethical types of situations?
The reality is the way that the system is set up, with the U.S. government granting major league baseball the anti-trust situation, one of my most well respected coaches, actually said to keep your head down and mouth shut. He was almost saying turn a blind eye to it. That it is going to happen.
That is a guy I respected and it really bothered me. Because at the end of the day when you have truly evaluate the way major league baseball is set up and has an anti-trust, there is really nothing a player can do other than write it down, take notes, and have those contemporaneous notes that will hold up in court.
At the end of the day, if people are asked to do stuff that is against their morals or values or ethical code, you can always take it to a higher level. It might not be within major league baseball. Kind of like my book of having to expose things after the fact.
I give you a little situation. I had come out with the balance sports belt. One of the Baltimore news stations wanted to interview me. The Baltimore Orioles were okay with that. Before practice I went up and the reporter told me, “Hey, I just want you to know this,” and he immediately wanted this to be on live feed. He said they are not going to let us do that and I just wanted you to know that the Baltimore Orioles said no to that.
During that interview, the reporter asked me, and this was obviously planted from the Baltimore Orioles, the question was, “Who would you side with? Would you side with Congress or major league baseball when it comes to the steroids that have been going on? Who do you trust more Congress or major league baseball?” At the time, I said, “Well, Congress makes the rules of our country, so I am going to have to say that I would side with Congress.”
It wasn’t a week later that they sent me down to High A. That pretty much, at least for affiliated ball, that was kind of the hasta luego, see you later.
Bruback played professional baseball for nine years and created a weighted sports called the Miracle Belt to help improve balance for athletes. In 2006 this application was found to help infants and children with developmental disabilities including autism, ADHD, and many other sensory related disorders. The sports belt was redesigned at Community haven with the help of occupational and physical therapists.
Ethical Issues Major Baseball League Face