By Josh
MLB Players
Players aren’t innocent in all that is going on in baseball. Hearing players talk about how hard their life is when they are only offered a 100 million dollar contract instead of the 300 million dollars they were asking for. There are players that make enough in ONE game to pay off my mortgage. So do I feel bad for those guys. Not at all.
Now if you ask me about minor league baseball players that is a different story. Those players are flat out taken advantage of by Major League Baseball. That is on the owners for not paying these guys fairly and on the Players Association for not standing up for players who build the foundation of Major League Baseball. I know some of you are saying ‘but they are playing a game they love.’ Yes they are, a game in a multi billion dollar industry that can require players to be at spring training without having to pay them a wage. Then during the regular season pay them peanuts.
I digress, that is a topic for another time and has been written about by far smarter people than I.
I will say that this year, more than any before, I have seen players of all levels of talent taking more time to be with fans. Guys like Mike Trout and Aaron Judge playing catch with fans in the stands. Players assisting with baby gender reveals and a lot of great fan/player interactions all across the game. As fans we see those things and it means SO MUCH even if it isn’t us getting to experience it first hand. We need even more of that at every level of baseball.
Players need to set aside time to do stuff for the fans. Whether that is signing some autographs, taking photos with fans, playing catch with fans, or even just talking with fans for a few minutes. The more connection fans feel to the players, the more they fall in love with the game and cheer on the players who they follow.
Ken Griffey Jr is my 2nd favorite player of all time. Want to know why? Yes, he was extremely talented and fun to watch, but to me he is my 2nd favorite player because one day when I was a kid, before a game at the old Kingdome in Seattle, Ken Griffey Jr and his father Ken Griffey Sr. stopped and talked with me and my dad for 30 minutes.
My dad and Griffey Sr talked about the Cincinnati Reds. My dad grew up in Ohio and saw Sr play when he was a rookie. I talked with Jr about the fact that he kicks with his right foot but throws and hits left handed. I cheered for Griffey because I was connected to him as a fan.
Players sometimes think they are above the fans. I could name you more than a few who felt and acted that way to all fans. Those guys hurt the game. Thank goodness for every player like that I know of a dozen other great guys for the game.
I also wish that players would take a stand for what is right, and I know in this era a lot of us can see what is right in a very different way. However, when a man physically beats a woman and is found guilty of that they shouldn’t be welcomed back like a wayward brother. When adult men use racial slurs to mentally attack others it shouldn’t be chalked up to ‘oh that just happens in the game.’
There is probably more I could go on about but that won’t help the situation.