It Ain't The Same Anymore

There was a time, and those who went to grade, junior, and high school will testify to this---this was my time of year.

"Son, the house is on fire!"

"Just a minute, Mom.  It's the bottom of the sixth and the bases are loaded."

Yes, I was quite a baseball addict, especially when it came to the playoffs and World Series.  I even was fortunate to go to two games of the Series in 1985.

But something changed.  Perhaps I did.  I dunno.  I know for a fact baseball did.  The playoffs are now longer than "War and Remembrance" in order to bring in more television revenue, and they're actually talking about lengthening them again.  In short, what they are saying is this:  "Okay, we're already letting a second-place team a la the wild card into the playoffs.  Let's do it again."  What they are really saying is it doesn't matter if you get first place or not. 

Look at the bats they use.  My stars.  They shatter like the glass in a shop that has a bull running through it.  Why?  They're light, as everyone wants a quick swing.  Go to the Louisville Slugger Museum and see the bats the great hitters used.  They aren't the toothpicks they players use today.  It should make today's hitters ashamed of themselves.  Most batters today use a bat in the low thirties weight.  Babe Ruth's bat weighed 54 ozs.  It didn't seem to hurt his hitting.

Yesteryear's players also played in flannel uniforms.  Enos Slaughter wrote of losing nine lbs in a doubleheader.  I cannot even fathom today's players attempting to do this.

They played through their aches and pains.  Carl Erksine popped his shoulder his first major league game and never said a word, not wanting to lose his job.  He pitched in pain his entire career, throwing two no-hitters along the way.  Lou Gehrig broke every finger in his hand during his streak.
Today's players would be on the disabled list.

Now it's labor unions, and are they on steroids.  I miss the days when the worse argument was a ball or strike or artificial turf or grass.

The players are fun to watch, but the innocence has been lost.

It just ain't the same.