PhilYouIn.com

I was a big Mets fan growing up.
I always hated hearing from old guys about how great baseball used to be in the ‘good old days.’ How baseball just was not good anymore.

Well. One thing I knew back then was that when I grew up (which seemed inconceivable at the time), I would never be like that.

And I was dead wrong. Because baseball was great in the old days. My old days. It is just not good anymore.

Used to be the sport was for the working man. In the 1950s, take the family, have a beer, couple of hot dogs, you are looking at a few bucks, total. When I would go in the early 1970s, general admission at Shea Stadium would run me $1.30. Or, if I cut the Mets logo out of 20 Bordens’ milk cartons, I could get in for free.

Many players back then held off-season jobs to make ends meet. Fans could identify with them; they were working men. During the season, they played the game hard. Catchers were literally upended while blocking runners from scoring. Middle infielders had to make their throw to first base while leaping acrobatically in mid-air in order to avoid the incoming runner’s spikes. Had to play that way if they wanted to keep their jobs: there were no long term, guaranteed contracts.

Winning meant something.

Today, $10 million guaranteed dollars per season is considered a blue collar salary. It is illegal for a catcher to block the path of a runner trying to score, lest someone gets injured. Runners approaching second base no longer attempt to break up double plays; some slide five feet wide of the base just to stay out of the way, while others actually stop running half way to second base and politely duck their heads, so as not to interfere with the flight of the ball. I’m serious.

George Carlin knew of what he spoke.

Winning cannot possibly mean as much to today’s ballplayers. They get paid regardless. Million. And many contracts are for 10 years. With stipulations that state the player cannot be traded without his consent. So where is the pressure to win?

Last May, my wife and I flew to Alabama to see our son graduate from Officers’ Training School. Next day we drove into Montgomery and found a nice ballpark – Riverwalk Stadium – where two college teams were playing for the Sun Belt Baseball Championship. Texas State vs. Georgia State.

We paid $10 per ticket an sat wherever we wanted. Before the game began my wife went out to the Texas bullpen to ask for a ball to bring home to our grandson. The pitcher she spoke with gave her a ball – but not before having every pitcher on his team sign it.

No enormous, hi-def scoreboards to entertain us. No $18 beers. Zero cartoon characters parading down the aisles. Parking was free. The only entertainment offered was the baseball game.

And what a game! The lead traded hands half a dozen times until the bottom of the 12th inning, when a Texas State sophomore blasted a long home run to left field to win it, a bit over two hours after the game started.

It was the most fun I had had at a baseball game in many years. It was how the game used to be.

Back in the good old days.