Baseball, the great sport of baseball, is dead as we know it. Hardball is no more. There is no joy in Mudville, the national pastime is deceased. It’s over. Last one out turn off the lights.
Baseball will cease to exist because Yasiel Puig will not be in the All-Star Game. The game’s demise is upon us, or at least that’s what the national media and pockets of seam-headed fans will have you think.
This is the latest worst thing ever to happen to the game. Nothing brings out hyperbole in media and sports fans like baseball. Nothing makes someone hop on their high horse like baseball does. We go through this all the time, and this is just the latest example of that. Being outraged by something that happens in baseball is now more common in the game than keeping score.
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But here’s the thing: Baseball won’t die because one so-called “phenom” doesn’t play three innings in a freaking exhibition game. Can we stop with the apoplectic attitude? Can we stop with the indignation? Can we stop pretending that the inclusion of one exciting baseball player will make the Major League Baseball All-Star Game that much better? Can we stop pretending that if Puig is in the All-Star Game everyone will once again look at baseball in the romantic way these scribes with rose-colored glasses view the game?
I love baseball, always have. So I don’t need Yasiel Puig to justify to me how great the game is. I already know that. However, if you think that Puig’s inclusion in the All-Star Game will spark so much interest in the game that it will attract new fans and followers, you are a fool. In fact, it’s that sort of simple-minded thinking that has baseball in the place it’s at — staring up at the loaded back pockets of the wildly popular sports of basketball and football.
Baseball isn’t going to magically become the most popular sport in the world just because Yasiel Puig is playing in the All-Star Game, a game that shouldn’t even count. The people who are going to supposedly turn the game on because Puig piques their interest aren’t going to decide they love baseball because they watch him play. If they do that, they’re stupid. Also, what’s going to happen when they turn on a game on July 18 and are forced to sit through at-bats of guys like Mark Ellis before they see Puig? I mean, come on.
One man can’t save baseball, so let’s stop feigning outrage when some so-called “phenom” doesn’t make the All-Star Game. The sun will come up tomorrow, guys. And the next day. And the day after that. And you know what? Baseball will still be there. One player’s inclusion in the Midsummer Classic will not solve all of baseball’s problems. Instead of soap-boxing, maybe we should try to fix some of the antiquated ways that have baseball’s popularity dwindling by the day.
Baseball might be dying, but it has nothing to do with who does or doesn’t play in an All-Star Game.
Related articles
- Yasiel Puig’s Poor Plate Discipline, Similarities With Jeff Francoeur Could Put Sudden End to ‘Puigmania’ (nesn.com)
- Freddie Freeman, Steve Delabar Win MLB All-Star Game Final Vote Over Yasiel Puig, Koji Uehara, Others (nesn.com)
- Yasiel Puig won’t apologize for the way he plays (ftw.usatoday.com)
- Report: Yasiel Puig’s Interpreter Reprimanded for Asking for Woman’s Phone Number on Behalf of Outfielder (nesn.com)
