Baseball is a game of bats, bases, gloves and balls. It has been called a child's game, a game that is played for the love of it. There are thousand of kids everyday that play baseball in their backyards. Go to the local athletic field and watch the children play in their leagues. Each one of them has the dream of one day being in the Major Leagues.
Baseball has become a game of numbers. There are numbers that document every part of a player's career. Batting average, on base percentage, runs batted in and now even more important is the number of home runs hit. It seems that everyday a new player hits a home run further than the player before him. Every player judges himself against a player from the past.
Players of the past were much different than the players of today. When baseball was a game of men, it mattered and was played that way. The men played because their livelihood depended upon it. Most players had to get a second job in the off season; they could not live off of their salaries from their baseball season. Nevertheless they would do whatever it took to make sure that they could play the game of baseball come spring time. Most players would stay with the same team for their whole career, not because they had to but because of their sense of loyalty.
Players today have a different set of goals and priorities. About eighty percent of players are worried about bonuses, contracts and promotion deals. The players are not the only ones to be blamed for this kind of mentality; the owners do their part as well. Every owner wants to win and will do or pay almost anything to accomplish this goal. This in return makes the players and their agents very greedy. The players know that the owners want them and will raise their prices sky high. They also know that the fans will not come out unless the owners have a winning team.
Most of today's current and up and coming players don't know what a team means.
