Baseball’s antique legacy needs new coat of varnish
Matt Wilhalme
In recent years it has become ultimately clear that Major League Baseball has completely lost control of America’s favorite sport.Steroid abuse has run rampant throughout the MLB and it feels as if baseball never really laid down the law and made sure that the sport remained drug free and a true test of an athletes natural ability.
What happened to natural god given talent?
Well, since baseball is the national pastime, athletes will do anything to make it to the “big leagues” and steroid use is not an uncommon method.
Faced with the possibility of not being recognized by scouts and being forced to give up their dreams, young athletes turn to the only thing that has proven to be a success to those who went before them.
Athletes are always on the look out for any edge to play a little bit better than the next guy, whether it be different training methods or techniques or drills that professional teams use. The dream is to stand in front of a crowded stadium and knock one out of the park.
Emulating the major leagues, MCC’s baseball team runs a complicated series of drills that one can find the Tampa Bay Rays practicing on a daily basis.
The MLB has messed up big time and allowed players to get away with using performance enhancing drugs for too long and that has changed the culture of baseball entirely.
Take the Alex Rodriguez situation for instance, through a random sample of testing A-Rod tested positive for steroids in 2003, however, the public only found out about this information in early 2009.
Why was this information not brought to light immediately in 2003?
Why did he not immediately receive a suspension, pay cut or be removed from his team?
The answer is that the MLB is too far behind the times.
Baseball is in desperate need of a change, other sports have already made changes and enhanced their games.
The NFL has implemented play challenges and booth review of any play that has no clear ruling on the field.
Hockey has basically eliminated icing so the game is much faster and teams can pass the puck all the way up the ice without a two-line pass penalty to slow the game down. Scoring has gone up in the NHL as a result.
These other sports have adjusted to the times and are gaining bigger following than ever.
Progress, it is the calling of every generation and we try our best to adhere to its will. Baseball is now at a junction in its life where it must forge a new path beyond its history.
Changing the game does not mean that all of the mystique and reverence of the game will just disappear.
Fans will appreciate baseball living up to its legacy standing up in front of the crowd and acknowledging the crowds presence and giving its fans what they deserve and making baseball pure again.
Without a sweeping effort from the top to bottom from Major League Baseball people will lose the awe they had as children entering the stadium for the first time and seeing the way the diamond looks underneath the crisp stadium lights.
Give the fans what they deserve and take responsibility for the errors that have occurred in the past and take the steps necessary to improve the game.
Don’t let America’s pastime disappear into the past.
