In October last year, Joe West sued Paul Lo Duca for defamation when MLB and horse-racing analyst (actual thing) Lo Duca made a claim on a podcast that Joe West accepted a bribe from Billy Wagner in 2006 or 2007. The alleged bribery was that Wagner would loan West his 1957 Chevy, and in return, West would widen “open up the strike zone” for Wagner in a game against the Phillies.
As bribes go, it is definitely an interesting one. It ranks above parental bribes of offering cookies, candy or ice cream for literally five minutes of peace. But it doesn’t quite reach the level millionaire parents bribing colleges to get their kids into the best schools, or John Boehner handing out checks from tobacco companies in the House of Representatives. It’s a C+ bribe if I were going to give it a grade. You could have definitely done better, Billy. Your team deserved for you to do better.
