National Pastime Sets Tone For Values

The majority of us are disappointed, frustrated and fed-up because baseball has lost its status as America's beloved game. It currently is just another profit-seeking business. To gain a greater fan base in large metropolitan areas the game is no longer following its own rules.
The "fix is in."
Baseball is not keeping the traditions and the purity of the past. Selling off the character that has made this sport the national pastime to the highest bidder is eroding the best of American values. Unfortunately baseball has fallen to the vulgar notion that the institution should be turned into merely phony entertainment like the World Wrestling Federation.
In the past, baseball was as American as apple pie. Baseball was played during the day and only under safe weather conditions. Children hurried home to play ball outdoors with their friends. Choosing teams that played their hearts out to win. Everyone learned the underdog could win when they played together as a united team. The games in the sandlots as well as in the major leagues were honest and competitive.
Everyone watched the seven game series to see which team would play the hardest to overcome their limitations to be crowned the world champions. The World Series is the culmination of watching your team fighting to gain the best winning record in the league. Fans felt the gratification of witnessing two teams being judged by the same rules and striving for excellence. Win or lose, people appreciated outstanding effort, skill and shrewdness displayed by the players and coaches of both teams.
The beauty of the game became sharper as the season unfolded. Everybody had a favorite team to root for, even if it was not the local team. Baseball fever was contagious because knowledge of the game bred enthusiasm. Everybody felt this "game of inches" meant a fan only had to "wait for next year" for his team to be in the World Series.
Moving the focus away from the sport to the revenue has cheapened today's institution of baseball. The multi-million dollar prima dona players, with guaranteed multi-year contracts, have been given significantly more money than the president of the United States. These obscene, hardly earned salaries have made them arrogant and ungrateful. Millions of fans would gladly trade places with these spoiled brats just for a chance to play the game.
This "all about money philosophy" by the commissioner of baseball and major league team owners is strangling the spirit of the game. Too many games are played at night and start too late for not only the children but for the adults to view. Contrary to tradition, starting late evolved as a way to squeeze out more television dollars. It has also become prohibitively expensive to bring the family to the ballpark. Day games and double headers are becoming just a memory due to maximizing attendance and therefore revenue. Turning a blind eye to player's use of drug enhancements to increase home-run production has decreased the integrity of the game.
The 2008 Phillies/Tampa Ray series has proved baseball is no longer following its impartial traditions as "America's pastime." The third game, the start of which was delayed an hour and a half, and the fifth game, were played in horrendous, freezing rain conditions. This unnecessarily jeopardized the safety of players and fans. The fifth game of the series was suspended only when player injury became an almost certain liability and pools of water on the playing field deteriorated the skill game into a game of Russian roulette.
Any baseball viewer, even a first timer, would notice the officiating was radically different for each team. The strike zone was the size of a keyhole for the Tampa Bay Rays pitchers and as large as a refrigerator for the Phillies. As long as the Phillies catcher caught the ball anywhere behind the plate, it was called a strike. Even with eliminating the television graphic of the strike zone, the checked swings and the missed tag-out calls made any observer question the motives of the umpires and therefore the commissioner's office.
The retention of baseball's special 1922 anti-trust shield and baseball's status as the "national pastime" should depend on whether the league brings back the moral character of the game. Baseball can regain its magic by de-emphasizing television and apparel revenue and stop manipulating the game's outcome to gain more lucrative locations.
Allowing the inherent drama of honestly following the structure and rules of a fairly played game will put baseball back on the pedestal as the "national pastime."
Baseball has a special place in our culture by providing a stage that brings forth the best qualities of sportsmanship through honorable competition. Living the American way is a civic responsibility of baseball that far outweighs the importance of its economic impact. The innocence of losing oneself in a kid's game that role models wholesome moral value sets the tone for us all.