Originally Posted by
OldFatGuy
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and if they wish to abandon baseball because of this, then by all means do so. Enjoy other sports, or, since they likely aren't pure either, perhaps you could get into reading or writing. Though if you're reading, better not look into the author's past much. You might get disappointed by some their behaviors as well.
I hope those that leave the game find enjoyment in something else, as life is much too hard and disappointing to not have some pleasures, so I do wish you the best. But please, if you can admit to wanting to leave the game, you should also be man enough to admit that this perception of the game is "less pure" today than some fantasy age years ago is just that, a fantasy.
In the 60's and 70's, the drug of choice was speed. And at some point I'll wager my last dollar that nearly every great we've heard of used it at least once. Most more. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, and the list goes on. You can believe they're all pure until the end of time, but believing it doesn't make it so.
Babe Ruth, the most famous name in baseball, broke the laws of this country so many times if he were ever held accountable, he'd have to live 5 lives to serve the time. In fact, he used to brag about breaking those laws. Not to mention rumors of other stuff he may/may not have done. And how many of those players from those times went out every night and broke the laws of our country, and supported organized crime by doing so???? Why, with their lifestyles and income, one could make a plausible case that were it not for ballplayers, organized crime may not have become near as big as it did. But that doesn't matter right? Fine, that's your right.
I love the game. Always have, from the first time my father threw me a ball and I tried to hit it with a bat, to the first time I smelled the grass and peanuts at the balllpark, to the faster paced, 30 channels of action on my DirectTV today. The game is pure, the players that play it not so much. Never have been. Because the players that play it are men, and like men in every other industry, they are imperfect.
And that's another reason to love the game IMO. When I see Manny loaf out if left or running to first I want to scream, then when I see him swing that bat like almost no other man alive and hit a pitch an inch off the ground soaring over the left center field wall, I want jump in my TV screen and touch him, because he must be a God.
When Roger Clemens throws a broken bat at another player I want to wring his neck, then when as a 40 something (whether on drugs or not, once you get to be in your 40's you'll see) he's throwing strikes, with less velocity than he used to have but with just as much guts and guile and cleverness he works 7 innings of three hit ball against men half his age (many of whom are taking the same drugs), I marvel.
I could list a thousand reasons why I'm disappointed in baseball, and then start over and list a thousand more. And one could lists millions of reasons to not like the players that play them, the owners that own them, and the umpires that call them, because they are all men.
But when I hear those words for the first time in spring, "Play Ball", and see the spit, and hear the crack of the bat, all those thousands and millions of negatives float out of my old memory, and for just a little while, I'm a kid again. And at my age, that is priceless. I'll love this game until I die. And I'll miss those of you that choose to abandon it. Good luck.
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