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Caban
Sports Column
As we discussed last week, I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is buying a 1989-1990 Utah Jazz team basketball card set.
Fellow Thunder fans please don’t blame me for indulging in my first hoops love. After all, I was five years old and lived in the suburbs of Salt Lake City.
The thing that is instructive to me about that time was how much the pictures of the players on those cards are burned into my mind.
I don’t simply mean superstars like John Stockton or Karl Malone. I also mean lesser known guys like Mark Eaton and Thurl Bailey. At the time, they all seemed larger than life.
This sentiment is relevant to another defining moment in my early fandom.
Flash forward five years to the summer of 1994. The exact date was August 12, 1994. That date lives in infamy for fellow Major League Baseball fans.
The reason is simple: it was the day the games stopped. All MLB players went on strike at midnight that night.
Within a month, the owners and headquarters of Major League Baseball announced that the World Series would be cancelled for the first time since 1904.
This week marked the 25th anniversary of that boneheaded move.
I choose that word knowing full well it makes me sound anti-player. However, the reality is the decision to go on strike probably cost baseball its status as America’s pastime.
Maybe it was the long 162-game season or the fact that more kids were playing football, basketball and even soccer.
Whatever the reasons, baseball was never the same. The players looked greedy for not wanting a salary cap in place.
Then, the use of retired players and minor leaguers during Spring Training in 1995 made the owners look rightfully cheap.
The home run explosion of the late 90s brought some excitement back to the game. I remember being a young teen in 1998 and wondering if it would be Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa who would break Roger Maris’ homerun record.
We now know the home run eruption was fueled by steroids and human growth hormone so it’s no wonder baseball has seen attendances drop.
It’s funny when Mr. Hand from the 1982 film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High says everyone is on dope.
It’s another thing when kids like me see their heroes get labelled as cheaters due to the Mitchell Report or other investigate action.
The luster that once was further erodes when pro athletes with years left on their contract ask for more money or simply do not show up for games.
These days I still watch as much baseball as I can. However, there is part of me that wonders why it costs $20,000,000 a year for a pitcher not named Clayton Kershaw. Then, I remember that baseball like so many other professional sports became a business a long time ago.
Then, I take a breath because before long my kid will ask to play catch and a pure version of the game will live on.