[T]here is little doubt but that this big money that is being paid to the players has had its effect on the playing end of the game. In those other years every player in the game was in there because he loved the game and liked to play baseball and would rather win a ball game than do anything else in the world, as there was nothing else in those days to attract him to being a ball player. Today, boys are attracted into the game by the money they can make by playing it, and the mere playing of the game or the winning of games is of secondary importance.Jim Nasium, "The Golden Age of Baseball -- And Those Who Were Born Too Soon", The Sporting News, November 4, 1927, page 3
July 29, 2010
Yet Another Dispatch From The Good Old Days
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During the season, I have noted my agreement with a number of opinions (most baseball-related, but a few that have been slightly political) expressed by Peter Abraham in Extra Bases.
He may slip up and make a stupid WEEI-esque dig at a player (like he did against Drew, as Zen noted yesterday), but then he will write something like this (in preparation of Johnny Damon's return to Fenway as a non-Yankee):
"Bemoan the modern athlete and excessive salaries all you like, but Damon didn't invent free agency, he only took advantage of it. We all look for the best deal we can regardless of what we make or what we do. I was happy at my old newspaper but when the Globe offered me a better deal, I took it. Unless you've had the same job all your life and never once asked for a raise, you can't complain about what Johnny did."
Sounds like I wrote it.
Zen also mentioned this SoSH thread about Jeemer and his isolation on the team. I looked at only the first 10-12 comments and look forward to reading the rest soon. It seems hard to know how much of this is his own desire to be alone and how much his teammates have tried to bridge the gap.
Damon might have taken more guaranteed money when he went to New York, but i ddin't see him in many commercials, or doing anything oustside of baseball. If he stayed in Boston his career after baseball, as if it matters, would have been longer. He was hitting iconic status in Boston, but that all left when he did, in New York he was just a footnote....
Wait, the article is by "Jim Nasium"? Seriously?
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