He’s a Star Who Needs to Be Struck

In the most important start of his season Wednesday, Kenny Rogers threw two quick strikes.

Then, grabbing his ego in pain, he skulked away.

Rogers finally publicly apologized for manhandling two cameramen in an infamous videotaped incident last week that earned him a 20-game suspension and $50,000 fine.

But he didn’t finish his sentences.

He said he was sorry ... but didn’t say he was sorry enough to turn down an invitation to next week’s All-Star game.

He said he had regrets ... but apparently not enough to avoid making a Rasheed-sized spectacle of himself in Detroit.

The Texas Ranger pitcher walked away from the microphone after balking the remorse, bouncing his explanation in the dirt, avoiding the only issue that mattered.

Somebody call the bullpen.

You down there, Bud?

If Commissioner Bud Selig has the power to determine an All-Star game’s outcome, then he can certainly determine its roster.

If he can personally halt a game, then he can surely halt a knucklehead from pitching in it.

Three years after declaring an All-Star no-winner, he needs to act on this All-Star no-brainer.

Kenny Rogers does not belong in the game, and baseball should prevent him from being there.

Representing your sport in its annual fan celebration is a privilege, not a right.

By knocking around two fan representatives, hospitalizing one, Rogers forfeited that right.

What is this, The Midsummer Jurassic?

Rogers’ suspension has been appealed, but why not rush the appeals hearing? He was earlier voted in by the other players, but isn’t baseball less a free country than a private business?

Allowing him to pitch would be like allowing the high school valedictorian to give a speech the week after covering the gym with graffiti.

Doesn’t matter if he’s the best person for the job. Doesn’t matter if he has spent all year proving it.

The walls are still stained and the symbolism is still fresh.

Major league officials would not publicly comment, but they seem unwilling to dirty their hands in the union soil, and are simply hoping that Rogers doesn’t show up.

If he does, hold your tripods.

As TV beams this game around the world to millions who will never see one in person, baseball will embrace a guy who attacked ... cameramen.

This sport needs more boos like the Texas Rangers need more heat.

Yet Rogers will be booed, awfully, loudly, literally stealing the thunder from the players who so deserve it, from Willis to Clemens to every Podsednik in between.

Did you see the video? Rogers attacked the cameramen for having the audacity to do what cameramen do every day.

For having the nerve to relay the image of a baseball player to a fan.

For selling his sport.

These sorts of news-gathering cameramen are so reluctant to make news, it was difficult finding any full-timers in Los Angeles to comment on the situation.

“The last thing they want to do is be involved in the story,” said Greg Dowling, news director of FSN West. “They want to stay out of the players’ way, shoot the video, get it right, and go out there the next day.”

There didn’t appear to be taunting -- such cameramen rarely speak to the players.

There didn’t appear to be hounding -- Rogers had to stalk across the field to attack them.

Rogers wasn’t angry at them, he reportedly was angry that cameras had captured a recent dugout outburst during which he broke a finger.

And he has been this angry before.

This is the same Kenny Rogers who, 11 years ago, physically carried a young reporter out of the Ranger clubhouse in similar anger.

That doesn’t make it a pattern, but that does it make twice as many incidents as most other baseball players combined.

Yet, for now, he’ll be in Detroit on Tuesday, stomping through the one evening allowed fans all season, irritating the hosts and muddying the carpet.

“I think he should go to the game,” said Scott Boras, Rogers’ unfailingly loyal agent. “The rules allow him to attend. The players voted him there. It’s only right.”

Boras said preventing Rogers’ attendance would be setting a dangerous precedent.

“You have guys in the game who have thrown baseballs at other players, you have guys who have gotten into fights,” he said.

“If there were rules that determined a type of conduct that would prevent someone from attending the game, fine, but, right now, there are no such rules.”

Boras said Rogers’ absence would be unfair to the American Leaguers who believe he can help them win home-field World Series advantage in the All-Star game.

“I say, ‘You should go, the players want you there, they put you there, you answer questions, you show regret, you show that it’s an isolated incident, and it’s over with,’ ” Boras said.

Well, not quite.

Boras negotiated a clause in Rogers’ contract that pays him $50,000 for an All-Star appearance.

That is, remember, the exact amount of his fine.

So if he shows up for baseball’s annual fan celebration less than two weeks after attacking their eyes and ears, Kenny Rogers breaks even.

It is baseball that again goes bankrupt.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. For previous Plaschke columns, go to latimes.com/plaschke.