Haven't read the article, but I'm disinclined to think Theo's dad's a jerk.

Can you imagine how difficult it must be to toil as a social worker while your brother is grabbing headlines and multi-million dollar offers to do something countless young men would do for free? Theo's dad is helping both of his sons to keep their perspective. I'm certain that if Theo hits a rough patch his dad will be there for him.

Today's America needs more people like the Epstein's.

The guy is a jerk. You dont say that to the press. You want to help you son keep perspective, have the balls to sit down and talk to him face to face, not through some jerk-off headline seeking reporter.

We need more people with common sense and integrity.

We have no idea what Theo's dad said to him or how he handles their relationship. We just know what he said in the press. What he said to the press should help put baseball in perspective for people like us reading the story. Whether it will or not is up to us.

so, looks like in theo's nice rich family, daddy clearly loves one son so much more that he's more than happy to spit on his other son to the newspapers. bruce, that is hardly "putting baseball in perspective" even if daddy disapproves of sports, he didn't have to put down his own child like that. it's not like sports is baby raping or something.

i know that parents often have a favorite child, but they don't usually proudly say that to the freaking press.

humiliated by your own father like that. what an (piece of toilet paper)

lucchino is just some business rival. but your OWN father. man. poor theo...

Perhaps, instead of cherry-picking quotes to fit a theme for a post (and making outlandish character assumptions about the man's father), you should actually read the number of articles out there which detail Theo's family (and, in particular, his brother Paul). Or heck, read the original article where the quote was from.

You'll find that Theo himself has said as much regarding his brother Paul's social work -- that all the success in the baseball world wouldn't come close to the same kind of importance.

But, since that would work with your sanctimonius tone, and your claim of Theo's father being a "jerk" -- I wouldn't expect you to.

This is the kind of writing I've come to expect of Shaugnessy -- not Baseball Musings.

Theo has some famous relatives, but his immediate
family is not well-to-do. If you want to help people, you
can do it quite well making a large salary. You start a
foundation, use your celebrity and success to help kids,
maybe build some baseball fields, donate to other use-
ful causes. Parents are not perfect. They run the gamut,
sometimes are jealous.

Frankly, it sounds like Theo's Dad is jealous of Theo's success. I've certainly known parents who grow to prefer children who do not threaten the parent's self-image and dislike children who are more successful then the parent. It's unusual, but it's more common than some may think, especially in a culture as generally hostile to worldly success as Boston's is.

It's probably true that Theo's dad envies Theo's success. But there's really no excuse for saying what he said, especially in public and/or to the press. Even if you try to find a context for that horrific quote (i.e. if you want to say it was taken out of context), I can't see any situation in which it would be appropriate to say something like that about your own son. The fact that Theo himself considers his (former) job so much less valuable than his brother's work is proof that his father's opinion has had an effect on Theo.

It doesn't seem sanctimonious to call Leslie Epstein a jerk. Seriously, any parent who draws such a comparison between their own children is doing something extremely hurtful. I'm certain that Theo's father's attitude is playing a huge role in Theo's decision to walk away.

Yeah, it might seem that Theo's Dad is a jerk for saying that to Theo or to anyone else, but in all reality, what he is saying is true.

The importance placed on professional sports is absolutely astounding.

With legitimate problems in health care and education, how can people really justify spending multi billions of dollars on professional sports?

I'm just as baseball crazy as anyone, but at the end of the day, what really has any of us accomplished by putting so much time into analyzing and thinking about baseball, football, basketball, etc.

Just something to think about.

Creating jobs. Bringing happiness to people's lives. An interest in statistics gets people using math skills. Evaluation of trades and free agent signings gets people using critical thinking skills. It teaches them about negotiations. In fact, and interest in baseball opens up a world of practical business decision making that many people might not otherwise see (how many people read the business section vs. the sports section.)

Savant, you're also assuming that the problems in health care and education are monetary problems. As the Moneyball approach shows, throwing more money at a problem isn't always the way to fix it.