Mayor needs to return to reason

One day after I declared here that Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera is baseball’s most exciting active player, Cabrera was the star of perhaps the season’s most exciting play.

Before he got to the plate to bat in last Sunday’s game, Cabrera started noticing things, just as he does before every game. He’ll be looking for a hitch in a pitcher’s delivery that will tell him what’s coming, some faulty footwork in the opposing shortstop or a center fielder who runs slower to his left than he does to his right.

He notices things.

Last Sunday, Cabrera noticed that young Dodger pitcher Chad Billingsley was taking an awfully long time to complete his delivery.

Billingsley would put his head down and appear to be reciting the Lord’s Prayer about six times before pitching the ball.

So when he reached third base in the third inning, Cabrera waited for Billingsley to drop his head, then took off for home.

He got so far so fast that he slid into home before Billingsley even noticed he was no longer on third. It was so quick that although he slid home, he could have run across the plate.

That’s what happens when you keep your head up and notice things.

The curious part about Cabrera’s steal was that in all the distance he had to travel (90 feet is a mile in baseball), not one of his teammates or anyone in the dugout yelled at Billingsley to wake up and throw the ball to the catcher.

Teammates help each other. They point out things that other teammates have not noticed.

Yes, there is a local point to this baseball story. But then, everything in life relates back to a baseball analogy, doesn’t it?

On Monday, the Daily Pilot reported the development of a new political action group known as “Return to Reason. “ Among the members reported are former Mayor Joe Erickson and former police chief Dave Snowden, still two of our most appreciated civic leaders, even thought they have not made the news in a very long time.

Return to Reason is said to include school board members Dave Brooks and Dana Black. If this is true, this is a long overdue and welcome development. It is long past the time that the members of our school board became more active in city politics, and Brooks and Black should be congratulated for taking the initiative.

Apparently, Return to Reason wants to turn the city’s clock back to the days when major changes were discussed in a thoughtful manner before decisions were made; back to the days when being a good listener was more important than being a good talker on the “John and Ken” show; back to the days when leaders understood that it isn’t about them, that it is always about the people they serve.

Upon hearing of the new group, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who continues to beat the law-and-order drum as justification for dividing the city, said of the new group, “It sounds to me like it’s a ‘return to unreasonableness’ by not wanting to uphold the laws.”

Mansoor should have consulted Orlando Cabrera before his interview with Pilot reporter Ana Facio Contreras. Cabrera would have noticed that the group never said they did not believe in upholding the laws of the land.

The mayor’s colleagues ? Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever ? as his teammates should be pointing out to him that the issue in the city is not about upholding laws, it’s about upholding statesmanship, about upholding one of the basic American values: that everyone has a voice.

The teammates should be telling Mansoor that there is a significant population that is incensed at what they perceive to be freeloading on the part of illegal immigrants but who do not believe that the way to resolve the issue is a greater police presence or tougher enforcement of existing laws.

What that segment of the population (three-quarters of the state, according to a recent Los Angeles Times poll) wants is dialogue, not divisiveness. They want consensus, not confrontation. And most of all, they want civility, not silliness.

I think Orlando Cabrera would have noticed the development of Return to Reason and its formidable membership, and before dismissing it the way Mansoor did, he would have made the smart move and said something like, “We have many important issues before us. If this group can bring any new ideas to the table, they are welcome.”

That’s how you steal home, Mr. Mayor.