The guys over at Nationals Enquirer directed my attention to this Tampa Tribune story about former Rays and Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes. Seems that Dukes is now a rapper known as “Fly Eli.” He’s got an album ready to drop, as the kids say, and has concerts scheduled and all of that. Oh, and like Jose Canseco, he believes Major League Baseball has blackballed him:
Maybe Elijah Dukes was exposing wrongdoing. But Dukes was also given a bunch of chances by Major League Baseball and he always -- always -- ended up alienating his teammates or worse. There was promise there once, but he was never worth the baggage, and I find it rather hard to believe that baseball went after Elijah Dukes the whistleblower as opposed to simply cutting ties with Elijah Dukes the enormous pain in the ass.
In several interviews, including one at his home and one at the studio, Dukes talked about how the police are out to get him, the difficulties of being a black athlete in Tampa and how he was “thrown under the bus” by Major League Baseball.
He says he was blackballed by baseball after he came forward last year with allegations that fellow ball players were smuggling drugs onto chartered aircraft, using drugs in hotel rooms after flights and how he would sometimes smoke marijuana before home games when he played for the Washington Nationals.
Maybe Elijah Dukes was exposing wrongdoing. But Dukes was also given a bunch of chances by Major League Baseball and he always -- always -- ended up alienating his teammates or worse. There was promise there once, but he was never worth the baggage, and I find it rather hard to believe that baseball went after Elijah Dukes the whistleblower as opposed to simply cutting ties with Elijah Dukes the enormous pain in the ass.
But hey, good luck storming the hip-hop charts, Fly Eli.
