In baseball, the times they are a-changin’
By Tony Zonca — MikeDragoSports.com senior contributor
As a player, coach, umpire and a beat writer I have been around the game of baseball for more than 70 years.
I have seen the game change and not always for the good. From the moment the big leagues decided to employ the defensive switch a few years ago, I predicted the decision would backfire and turn games into one-dimensional affairs.
Sure enough, games became dominated by home runs and strikeouts. Base stealing, moving runners, anything resembling so-called smallball became things of the past.
I am ambivalent about clock restrictions and enlarged bases, but I welcome the return of the rule that places two infielders to either side of second base and restricts them from positioning themselves on the outfield grass.
Having said this, I began to think about the game I grew up watching and embracing as a youngster.
So let me take you on a trip down memory lane. As in, I’m old enough to remember when . . .
WE COLLECTED baseball cards as youngsters, six in a pack for a nickel, including a thin slab of the worst tasting bubble gum ever produced. However, for every Ernie Banks or Stan Musial you uncovered, you also got three or four Eddie Joosts or Ferris Fains.
POSITION PLAYERS threw their gloves on the field between innings.
THERE WERE just 16 teams in the big leagues, all of them situated east of the Mississippi. With help from The Sporting News weekly tabloid, we knew the comings and goings of each team, each organization. This during an era when baseball was truly the National Pastime.
THE WORLD SERIES, between the AL and NL pennant winners, was played during daylight hours . . . when we were in school.
THERE WERE two All-Star games from 1959-62. Proceeds from the second game went into the players’ pension fund.
NINE-INNING doubleheaders were scheduled and there were Sunday games for the ladies, who got in for half the price of a general admission ticket.
NEW YORK CITY ruled, and arguments ensued over who employed the best center fielder — the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle, the Giants’ Willie Mays or the Dodgers’ Duke Snider. I was a Dodgers fan growing up, but I still insist that Mays was the best who ever played.
PITCHERS FINISHED what they started. For example, one year the Phillies’ Robin Roberts threw 28 straight complete games, one of them lasting 17 innings. Last season there were 35 CG in MLB. Go figure.
NO PLAYERS lifted weights, in season or out. That’s why they were dubbed The Yankee Clipper (Joe DiMaggio) or The Splendid Splinter (Ted Williams).
THE A’S played in Philadelphia, the Braves in Boston and the Browns in St. Louis. All were lousy. Then there was the Washington Senators — first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.
NOBODY WORE batting helmets on a regular basis till the mid-60s. Same deal for batting gloves.
PLAYERS HAD to work in the offseason to make ends meet. They sold insurance, worked for aluminum siding companies and sometimes were hosts in restaurants. Many of them lived within the shadow of their home ballpark. In 1954 the average salary in the big leagues was $9,000.
PLAYERS WERE forced to wear unforgiving flannel uniforms in the dog days of summer. Some inventive players would bring a bucket of ice water to the dugout and submerge cabbage leaves into the bucket. The frozen leaves found their way under the players’ caps back on the field.
PLAYERS WORE stirrups that showed their sanitary hose, a slick, clean look I preferred over today’s mostly ankle-length pants.
CATCHERS BEGAN to use over-size mitts to corral dancing knuckleballs and spitters.
WHEN PITCHERS wore toe plates on their spikes to prevent wear and tear. And home plate umpires used those inflatable chest protectors.
WHEN GAMES were mostly carried on the radio. I grew up in Yankees territory and the most famous home run call came from the venerable Mel Allen: Going, going, gone!
MASCOTS WERE nonexistent until the San Diego Chicken appeared on field in 1974. The Phillie Phanatic made his debut in 1978. David Raymond was the Phanatic for 15 years till Tom Burgoyne took over. Larry Shenk, the longtime Phillies PR director, at first hated the idea of a mascot and let everybody know it from his perch in the press box. Sorry, Baron, you lost that battle.
THE DESIGNATED hitter was used for the first time in the American League in 1973. Ron Blomberg of the Yankees was the first DH. He was walked by Boston’s Luis Tiant. The NL didn’t come around till last season.
THE ASTRODOME made its debut in Houston in 1965. It was called the eighth wonder of the world.
Of course, the pro game changed for the good in 1947 when Jackie Robinson opened up the game for the black athletes that followed. Nobody has had a bigger impact on his chosen sport than Robinson, a marvelous athlete and an even more remarkable human being.
