Heroes have flaws too, U-M professor says

Updated 1:00 PM June 24, 2003

Heroes have flaws too, U-M professor says

By Jared Wadley
News Service

A recent scuttle regarding professional baseball player Sammy Sosa using a corked baseball bat is another example that heroes make mistakes, U-M professor Christopher Peterson says.

"We don't like to see heroes stumble," says Peterson, professor of clinical psychology. "But we shouldn't let the occasional mistake affect our judgment of everything a person has accomplished."

Peterson has studied heroes, including sports figures, and has had a particular interest in the Sosa incident because he grew up as a Cubs fan on Chicago's north side.

"In our research on people's character strengths, we find that even the most praise-worthy individual is best described with a profile of characteristics, some laudable and others less so. Consider Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy. The world is far better off for their roles in it, although each had flaws."

Baseball has a long history of players who bend the rules, such as pitchers throwing spitballs or base-runners stealing signs from opposing catchers. Many fans regard these transgressions the same way they think of speeding on the interstate–a problem only if one is caught. In Sosa's case, his shattered bat during the game revealed that it had been hollowed out and filled with cork.

"Sosa may not be a moral saint, but he remains a hero, and we need heroes," Peterson says.

Heroes have flaws too, U-M professor says

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