Let’s begin with the “DAY’S OFF” practice of today. WOW! We say WOW, because
today’s players all claim to be in better shape than the players of yesteryear. They
even have their own personal trainers. Why not? They certainly can afford them
with the millions of dollars that they’re paid.
The baseball players of the early years of baseball right on through the 80’s never
even heard of taking a day off. And they traveled all around the country on very
uncomfortable buses and trains, whereas today the millionaires travel by special
comfortable, air conditioned jets. With custom made lounge seats! Wow, they even have beautiful people to handle their every need.
The fans of today pay their hard earned money to see a lineup filled with the best
players. They don’t want to see substitutes take the field. They want to see the home
team win, and we believe the players do too. They are really not in favor of sitting on
the bench. Just ask them.
So why do the Managers sit them down? The media tells us that the managers of today
do it so that the player can make it through September?? But, where did this silly idea
come from? THE TRAINERS! These guys are the new breed. They believe in stretching
instead of sprinting. They believe in just about the opposite of what old schoolers were
taught. Whereas the Tigers had one trainer not too long ago they now have a host of
them. Plus all of the personal trainers running around. With a direct line into the mana-
gers ear is it any wonder that they influence the team’s conditioning program.
There you have it. Management has brought into this new theory hook, line and sinker.
All that we old schoolers can do is sit back and either laugh or cry. As for this author,
I’m not laughing! That’s for sure, because I think that the fans are getting the old
“SHORT END OF THE STICK”.
the manager’s ear…so, there you go.
The fans of today pay their hard earned money to see their favorite lineup take the
field, but instead of Placido Polanca
I guess I don’t begrudge anyone for making as much money as they can. However, management has a whole different mindset as how to handle their players. Big money, agents, contracts amd the “media” have dictated the players playing and life style. Bring back old time and hard nose baseball. Lou Gehrig played 2,130 consecutive games from June 1, 1925 thru April 30, 1930 when the Yankees lost to the Washington Senators 3-2. The following series in Detroit he took himself out of the line-up ending his consecutive games. He like other players in his era played with many injuries and illnesses. His lifetime .340 batting average, 7 times driving in 150 or more runs and his 23 grand slams are indicative of what baseball used to be. It’s a great game so let’s bring back old time BB…….
I hate to see the fans get the short end of the stick, but in a way they are asking for it. There came a time for me when I said: “enough is enough “, ticket prices are more than I am comfortable paying.
We are the customer, we have some degree of control as to what kind of product they are putting on the field. Everyone in sports will continue to rake in large amounts of money as long as we continue fall all-over ourselves to pay eight dollar for a beer, and whatever they are charging for tickets today.
Until the fans say STOP, nothing is going to change (just ask any Lions fan).