Re: Joe R. Howry's June 28 essay, "Cheating pays for Manny":
I thank Howry for his essay regarding the demise of baseball as we once knew it.
For decades, baseball was the "national pastime" that upheld fair play, sportsmanship and honest endeavor. With fan approval, baseball now carries the slick sham of drugs, ego, wealth and false adulation. Manny Rodriguez and others are thumbing their noses at all of us -- and the fans roar their approval.
Baseball has slumped into the morass of "immoral morality," teaching us by example that it's OK to break the rules if you are a superstar and that the way to become a superstar is to break the rules.
A faint hope exists in me that the Dodger organization will realize the gnawing sore that exists in the game and bench Manny until the end of the season. I take no bets.
-- Jo Ann Goff, Thousand Oaks