63 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
63 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
My View: Baseball
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Copyright (c) 1994, Thomas Van Hook
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All rights reserved
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[Each month, a reader/writer is offered the opportunity to give his or
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her viewpoint on a particular topic dear to them. If you'd like the
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chance to air *Your* views in this forum, please contact Joe DeRouen
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via one of the many ways listed in CONTACT POINTS elsewhere in this
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issue]
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It Ain't Over Till It's Over And It's Over Now
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by Thomas Van Hook
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I can vaguely remember the first time I saw a Major League Baseball
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game. At Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio), I got to watch a
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double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Montreal Expos. It was
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the first time that Tony Perez would play against his former teammates on
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the Reds. On that sunny July afternoon in 1978, I got to see some of the
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greatest players in the game. Cincinnati had the great Johnny Bench playing
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catcher, the infamous Pete Rose playing third base, and a young
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superstar-in-the-making in Ken Griffey Sr. in the outfield. Montreal had
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Gary Carter behind the plate, and Tony Perez on first base. Of these
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players, only Pete Rose will not make the Baseball Hall-Of-Fame, and not
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because he wasn't one of the greatest players the game ever saw. It was a
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very special time in the life of a 13-year old kid. My eyes were wide open
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with the awe of the "greats." There were no "work-stoppages" looming over
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the horizon, no "collective bargaining agreements" to ratify. But the times
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did change.
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Now, instead of watching Major League Baseball players with a
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reverent awe, I stare at them with a wide-eyed look of shock. While the
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fans have clung to baseball as a cherished part of their lives, the players
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dismiss it as nothing more than "a job." The fans have watched game after
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game, knowing that they are watching history-in-the-making that they can
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pass down to their kids by word of mouth. The players look at each game as
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"another day at the office." There is no excitement and love for the game
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of baseball in the spirit of the players. Instead, the spirit of the
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players is driven by a greedy desire of money. That greed has forced the
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cancellation of the World Series for the first time in ninety years. Major
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League Baseball is rotting away from the inside.
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The question that is frequently asked of me is: "What will become
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of baseball?" I am not sure. A prolonged strike by the players will result
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in some of the most devastating financial situations for the owners since
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the advent of the "Brotherhood War" in the early 1900s. Several teams look
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poised for a collapse. There could be as few as three teams bankrupt at the
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end of a prolonged strike. There is also the possibility that the next
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elected Congress will break the Anti-Trust exemption that was awarded to
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Major League Baseball by the Supreme Court. If this does happen, then
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there will be a potential for the creation of a new "Player's League."
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Saddly, the times are mirroring the attitudes and events in the Brotherhood
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War. The loser in that fiasco was ALL of baseball. I just wonder how much
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longer the fans are going to put up with the nonsense they are being fed by
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the both sides in this "Baseball War." There is one thing that is certain.
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Baseball will never be the same once the dust from this fight settles.
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Goodnight baseball, you will be missed.
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