BASEBALL – America

Baseball as we know it in America had its beginnings in the mid to late 1800s. Somewhere around 1860 baseball replaced the British sport of cricket as the most popular sport or game in America. Baseball in this era was actually played for the sport or fun of it since most if not all of the organized teams of this time frame were non-paid amateurs. Man, has baseball come a long way baby!

Today the sport of baseball is no longer a “Childs game” played professionally but it is in reality a big business. As players salaries reach astronomical proportions it seems that the mystique that was once baseball is rapidly ebbing away. Players no longer communicate with team owners or general managers but have agents who do all of the talking for them. Although they profess to be playing for the fans, none of them would consider playing for less than the minimum. I don’t know about you but I know plenty of solid baseball players who would!

I understand that what baseball has become didn’t just happen overnight. I also know that for baseball to have become the huge national spectators sport that it has become here in America there were obviously going to be some sell-outs to the people who pay the bills; the advertisers. The problem I have and I believe a majority of fans have is that these already gifted and blessed athletes will do anything up to and including cheating to gain that edge needed for the next huge contract!

I have to wonder what kind of signals we send to the players of tomorrow, our children, if we continue to pay homage to these players who believe it is okay to bend or break the rules as long as it gets you where you want to go? Is a simple apology enough or should they all go the way of Pete Rose? If we banned all of these players who chose to use performance enhancing drugs do you think we would have a hard time replacing them? I think not since there are thousands of great players who are turned away every year because they weren’t “super great”.

Does that sound too harsh? Why shouldn’t these people who are automatically put on a pedestal when they sign a pro contract be held accountable for their actions? Why shouldn’t their privilege (and yes it is a privilege) to play a game for a living be forfeit? Do we not make embezzlers pay like this? Is there any difference? If we don’t take a stand now what will the sport of baseball evolve into in another twenty or thirty years?

Have we, the American baseball fan, been betrayed? The answer is definitely yes! The boys of summer have become the masters of deceit and they will not quit with just a slap on the wrist the money is just too great!