Yesterday I posted this article on Bleacher Report. I stand by it.
It got it’s far share of strong responses, both for and against, but some folks took the time to email me about it. Here is one:
Dick,
I just read your article on the Pujols deal. You say it’s business and not to take it personal. But it’s hard not to. I had to fight back tears when I read it this morning on twitter. A grown man. 33 years old. Fighting back tears. Over a baseball player.
I could spend time trying to explain to you just how much the Cardinals mean to me and why they do. Or how things that Pujols has done in a Cardinals uniform has strengthened friendships and connected families. I could go on and give details, but you’ll never understand.
The same way I’ll never understand how you can treat it as business decision.
We have two different perspectives that neither could fully understand or appreciate.
So if you expect me to take the emotion out of Pujols decision to leave the Cardinals, then it’s only fair for you to understand why I am now removing any emotion I had for Pujols.
At one point he was my hero. Now he’s just a former business colleague.
Dave,
First off, unless you meant it intentionally, my name is Dirk—that’s an R not a C.
I don’t think you need to take the time to explain to me what a sports team means to you. You aren’t the only one out there that has expressed similar sentiment. Also, I can understand your loss from personal experience. I wont say I ever followed a sports team close enough to be hurt by the departure of a player, plus, I live in Cleveland and part of residency here is knowing that your favorite player will eventually desert you… I guess you could say it can happen only so many time before you get immune to it. But I do want you to know that I understand what you’re feeling because I’ve cared about things that are not sports to the point that it’s touched me emotionally. Like when the artist that provided the source of joy for me left. For example, when Michael Jackson died, that hit me pretty hard because I grew up listening to his music. Not dancing, because I suck at that, but listening. I also, strangely, felt really emotional when Steve Jobs died. I mean, he’s changed and defined a great deal of my life through his work. I don’t mean to down play any emotional hurt losing a hero brings fans, but I do mean to chastise folks who suddenly feel they have a right to be vicious or hateful to a player when he takes a better deal in a different town.
From the players standpoint, I can tell you that baseball is a business. If it didn’t turn a profit, it would fold like any other industry in this capitalist world of ours. However, for those who love it—for those who love anything for that matter—the sterility of the business is removed and the focus is shifted to the passion side of it, the artistic side. We get tied to it. I can tell you that when it comes time for me to leave the game forever, I’m not going to see it as a business move, but as an emotional closing of something that has defined my life since early childhood. But I can’t play forever so I don’t have much choice but to move on. That being said, I can also tell you that players don’t look at fans uncaringly when they move. I’m sure Albert is remorseful to leave his baseball roots, the fans, and the memories. I’m sure, 30 Million dollars or not, it’s tough for him to walk away from so much. I’m sure he still cares about the people he’s meant so much to. I would.
But, he’s going. And just because he’s moving does not make him a terrible person. The article was about betrayal, and I whileI think you have every right to be hurt by his departure, I don’t think any fan has the right to attack him or villainize him for making his decision. He didn’t go with the intention to hurt fans. He is not a bad person for taking a better deal. He was not doing it to screw his admirers. Thats why I say people shouldn’t take it personally, at least not to the degree where they get nasty about it. Thinking Albert is saying FU to everyone in St. Louis is just isn’t true, and perpetuating that idea is a shame because it tarnishes a legacy that has given so much to so many.
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