Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?
I don't know whether I'm disappointed, disillusioned or mad this morning. Can you be all three? And the thing that just galls me to no end, I'm beginning to realize that nobody cares anymore but me......
We've become brainwashed, institutionalized, jaded, out lasted or ridiculed into believing that bigger is better, expansion is the cure for all ills and our industrial might is the direct result of growth, planned management and expanding world markets. "Merge and keep going" has become the national by-word! We have "global" news. And "international" weather reports. Toyota has invaded NASCAR tracks!
What happened to "down home", "round yonder", "ya'll sit a spell", "handshake agreements" and "mom and pop operations"?
Major league sports are not immune to this world wide expansion hoax.
I'm the biggest baseball fan in the world. I eat hot dogs and Cracker Jacks out of loyalty. I built a locker room in my house. I assigned numbers to my children. I took a vacation to Donora, Pennsylvania, because Stan Musial was born there. My door bell plays the last out of the 1964 season. When the sun comes up in the morning I see stitches on it. I've read biographies on Moe Berg, Bo Belinsky and Carl Mays. I subscribe to Baseball Digest, The Sporting News, Baseball America, The Redbird Review, Sports Illustrated, Abe Schear's Baseball Newsletter.....
I have withstood expansion, the designated hitter, insane salaries, prima-donna all stars, steroids, mascots dressed like overweight Ninja turtles, female reporters, middle inning relief specialist, corked bats, spoiled owners, all-purpose stadiums, powder blue double knit uniforms, inner league play and t v announcers that tell you nothing-or way too much! I have tried to uphold the tradition. I have put forth every effort to remain loyal and true. Even as my friends pointed out the greed, the avarice and the "business" aspects of the game I was quick to respond that it was still 90 feet from home to first base. You've still got to throw it and catch it. There is no time limit. And there is still nothing like a shot up the right field alley and the ensuing race between runner and ball!
But Major League Baseball has stepped over the line this time. Big time! I can't even help them. They opened the 2008 season in Japan! Japan!! Can you believe it! I am so thankful my Father was not alive to see it. He had some dealings with the Japanese years back and he almost ended up visiting there......
It's a betrayal, plan and simple. I feel like someone has kicked sand in my face; left me at the alter; bounced me over to the curb like a worn out shoe lost in the middle of the road; dropped me like a hot potato; voted me out of the fraternity......
Don't give me all that jazz about baseball, motherhood, apple pie and Chevrolet. Has tradition gone the way of the dinosaur? What happened to the "National Pastime"? I don't think baseball is hearing the song they so ostentatiously play before every game.
And listen, no one here is blaming this on the Japanese. I think it was more of a case of baseball wanting to go there than them begging for us. But a regular season game! And the first one of the year! You talk about "dropping the ball", "kicking one in to right field", "throwing to the wrong base", "poor pitch location", "bad call", "getting picked off", "bonehead play", "ninth inning error"......
I blame Bud Selig and ESPN. Selig, as Baseball Commissioner, must be on a global link crusade. Major League baseball has expanded to Canada. They have played regular season games in Mexico and Puerto Rico. I assume Mr. Selig sees this as the next logical step. 'Course, maybe we're having to go to Japan to create enough cash flow to help with Bud's 15 million plus yearly salary. ESPN is a most willing conspirator. They will advertise and broadcast it no matter where the venue.
The game started at six in the morning local time. Wasn't that just dandy! We sent them the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics. I guess there is some consolation in the fact that the Japanese would be more interested in this match-up than most of America anyway.
It is still not right. Things should be done decently and in order. The Major League baseball season is supposed to begin in Cincinnati at one o'clock in the afternoon. The Red Stockings have been around as a big league team since 1869 and baseball had honored their longevity by allowing them to open the season a day before the rest of the teams. I reckon they're going to dump motherhood and apple pie next......
If you can't feel my pain, at least, you should understand it. Who could forget opening day in the Queen City in 1956! The St. Louis Cardinals were at Crosley field where a sell out crowd was treated to a masterful pitching duel between Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell and Joe Nuxhall. Stan Musial's two-out, ninth inning, two run homer off Nuxhall won it for St. Louis. My beloved Cards were in first place.....for a day!
How many people do you think will remember the score of last week's opener between Boston and Oakland 52 years after the fact? There is just something inherently wrong about starting the big league season half way around the world!
England doesn't start its cricket season in Kansas City. The bullfights in Madrid don't begin in Westchester, New York. The Alpine downhill racing season doesn't kick off in Sweetwater, Texas.
Japan has got its own professional baseball league! They can schedule their own games! And let the folks at Standard Oil, U. S. Steel and American Telegraph and Telephone work on globalization. Let's sell the world computer chips and Seinfeld reruns, not baseball!
I boycotted opening day here in America. It doesn't appear that Bud Selig, ESPN or Major League Baseball noticed. I sat through an entire episode of "Matlock" and got ten minutes into "Murder, She Wrote" and realized they had me...... Tradition, love, memories, the wind I can still feel on my face from rounding a base half a lifetime ago......they know I'll be back!
Respectfully,
Kes
