The Odubel Herrera situation is a fascinating one, incorporating the best and worst of an evolving society that’s heavily influenced by the social media echo chamber.

In this case we’ve got a man who hit his girlfriend, that woman forgave him, and charges were dropped. He apologized, served a lengthy suspension, and donated money to charitable causes. For all intents and purposes, he’s said and done the right things since the Atlantic City incident of 2019.

Ten to fifteen years ago, that would have been it. The end. We would have forgiven the guy, given him a second chance, and welcomed him as a changed man, as we did with Michael Vick, who went to jail for much worse – a role in the dog fighting operation that resulted in countless horrific things being done to innocent animals.

The intriguing thing about Odubel is that people don’t seem to want to forgive him. Or, if they do, don’t want him in Philly anymore. They say, “he can have a second chance, just not here,” which doesn’t make much sense, because it’s generally understood that a “second chance” means you get another opportunity to do what you were currently doing. Anything else is typically a first chance at something different.

David Murphy makes some good points while challenging this line of thinking in a recent Inquirer column, writing this:

…it still doesn’t answer the question that sits at the crux of the Phillies’ current dilemma. If you don’t want Herrera employed by your baseball team, why would you want him employed by your auto mechanic, or your call center, or your car dealership, or your hoagie shop, or whatever other business might be excused for hiring someone who was arrested for what Herrera did? Sure, Herrera will retire with $30 million in career earnings even if he never plays another game. But it does not matter whether he himself needs further gainful employment. What matters is the principle.

Is there some hierarchy of professions that ranges from suitable to unsuitable for somebody who was once charged with domestic violence? And if we contend that there is, what are we saying to all of the members of those professions who have never been accused of domestic violence, the ones who share our sentiments on the despicability of such acts?

What we’re saying is that their jobs aren’t important. That we can simply dump a former abuser into their profession instead.

Herein lies the problem with this line of thinking, which branches from the cancel culture tree. If you don’t want Odubel in a Phillies uniform, is it okay if he delivers the mail instead? Only one of those jobs is essential, and it’s not playing baseball. Furthermore, in saying that Odubel can do “other” things, you’re suggesting those occupations are lesser, which is insulting, is it not?

What if your mailman beat his girlfriend?

That’s the legitimate and rhetorical question Murphy is presenting here.

And again, Odubel slinging packages is not what a “second chance” is. A second chance is when you screw up at your McDonald’s job and blow off a shift. Your boss, in giving you a “second chance,” is allowing you another opportunity to work at McDonald’s. He’s not saying, “you can have a second chance… at Burger King.” Yes, one could argue that being able to work in fast food again constitutes a “second chance,” but that’s not how we’ve traditionally viewed the concept.

It seems as though a lot of Phillies fans want Odubel out of here, and they’re certainly justified their approach. Anybody can form any opinion they’d like about him as a person and a player. The pitiful thing is that he’d be a shoe-in for center field if he hit the ball like Bryce Harper. We’d turn our heads and ignore the transgression if it was committed by a superstar player, because deep down we know we’re all hypocrites.

The bigger picture is this –

At some point, we as a society drew a line in the sand and began to prescribe to the idea of zero tolerance, which sounds good in theory, but isn’t always practical outside of Twitter, or on the radio, where posturing and virtue signaling take precedence. In the real world, people are going to make mistakes and commit crimes and do things they ultimately regret. We used to try to accept these people back into society if they made an honest and good faith effort to change themselves and own up to their mistakes, but we now seem averse to that, for whatever reason.