The ability to flatten a catcher who is blocking (or, lets face it, close to blocking) home plate has been in baseball since near time immemorial. Outlawing or otherwise mitigating home plate collisions, or any part of the game that’s been around as long, is bound to ruffle a few purist feathers. Baseball is a game steeped in history and tradition, and it does not change easily.
There will, of course, be those who find this borderline sacrilegious, citing that baseball has always been played a specific way and to change that way is an abomination. And there will be those who say that continuing to do something just because that’s the way it has always been is one of the worst reasons to continue doing anything.
I get both sides of the argument, but I agree with only one.
At the beginning of every game here is an announcement played over the stadium’s PA system that declares “baseball is an inherently dangerous sport”. And it is. Men use clubs to hit things; things that are flying at their bodies at 100mph. They train themselves to run as fast as possible, then routinely run into walls or barriers. They wear metal spikes and slide purposefully into one another. They charge each other when their egos are threatened. They promise payback when homers are celebrated incorrectly. They even throw at one another as a consequence to being snubbed at public events. Baseball is not a contact sport, but you can still get your fair share of contact, malicious or accidental.
But it’s not like the players don’t know the danger exists. They’ve been watching since they were children, they know what it means to play in the Big Leagues. So why start Nerfing a part of the sport now? Just because a couple million dollar bonus-babies got ran over at home? They’re big boys, they knew it could happen, they’re still getting paid… What’s the problem?
The problem is, some injuries in sports are unavoidable while others are. Take off the “baseball players are commodities” glasses for a second and understand that they are people. Some of them very well compensated, playing a game for a living, doing something that makes us think irrationally about how they should behave, but people all the same. People who will have life after baseball. Lots of life since the average career ends around their late twenties and early thirties. And the quality of that life can be in severe jeopardy thanks to something like a needless concussion, or a destroyed knee or ankle.
While there are many big leaguers who have guaranteed money coming in should they get injured, there are a great many more who do not. The fastest way to find yourself out of the game forever is to get hurt and not bounce back. Why risk a career, the amount of sacrifice it took to get it, and the quality of life a player has after it’s over on something that can be avoided? While baseball is “inherently dangerous” it also must be inherently accountable to the safety of those who play it.
I mention the compensation of players in tandem with their humanity because, Ironically, the anatomy of many arguments against home plate collision rule changes always seems to include at least one part, “they’re paid enough, they can take the risk.” Actually, they are paid so much, it makes sense to avoid the risk. This bravado of, “I’d get ran over for a million dollars” reeks or provinciality since, if your favorite team’s catcher got ruined for a season—or a career—and cost your favorite team a chance at a title, you’d probably feel completely different about what has always been and should always be part of the game.
It’s also worth noting that objections to player safety related rules changes are not new to baseball. It took roughly 50 years after the first hitter was struck in the head and killed by a pitch to make batting helmets a full time part of the game. Even after witnessing a string of horrid line drives into pitcher’s heads in the last few season, the pitchers would still rather risk their health than be encumbered by protective headgear. Beyond safety, baseball has been slow to enact change. Slow to ban steroids. Slow to add instant replay. Slow to ban stimulants. It’s a very traditionalist sport that does not like breaking from its course.
But it must. It must be willing to adopt things that make it safer, fair, and more economical. Not just for the players in the game now, but for the organizations that pay the players massive sums, and the economies that exist around those players and their teams. What ever perceived excitement it loses by preventing collisions, it gains by preventing the loss of talented players from competitive line ups.
Dirk’s next book, Bigger Than The Game, out February 25th. Pre-Order and save 15-25% off the cover price.