Chicago Cubs Baseball

Maybe the Baseball Gods were telling us something when yesterday’s Hall of Fame exhibition game was rained out.

Maybe they were saying the time when players gave openly and willingly back to the sport was a thing of the past and to allow this generation of baseball players to step foot on this sacred ground would be tantamount to trespassing.

Maybe they were speaking to major league baseball one drop at a time that the traditions and honor associated with the sport had become as muddied as Doubleday Field itself.

And judging by the lack of enthusiasm exhibited by the Hall of Fame game participants - the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres - maybe they were right.

Yesterday’s game was to be its last. Like all the other mid-season exhibition games before it, the Hall of Fame game too fell to the whims of challenging travel schedules and even more demanding players.

”I’d rather be in Tampa on the beach for a day off,” said Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, regarding the game. ”Still, you respect the game and the Hall of Fame. It’s something you’ve got to do and get through and make the best of it.”

Lee’s summation sounds more like a trip to the dentist’s office than playing a game that honors baseball greats past and present. But his was not the lone voice of apathy. Dos Carlos - Marmol and Zambrano - didn’t even change from their street clothes.

I’m not a major league baseball player so I can’t speak to the demands that travel takes on a player’s body and soul.

But I do know what it’s like to work 16 hour days for weeks on end. There was no beach in Tampa waiting for me either.

I also know that Lee and so many players today will earn more in one season than I’ll earn in my lifetime. They and their families will be afforded more opportunities than I will ever be able to grant mine.

The separation of have or have not does not make me jealous. But the token regard to the game that has given so many so much makes me mad. And sad.

In my lifetime, practicing every minute of every day, would not allow me the richness in talent that these modern players hold. But I am thankful for every minute of every game I’m able to see and marvel at the wonderful game that baseball is.

Baseball has made mine a wealthy soul. Thank you to all the greats.