The 'Wussification' of Baseball

by Matthew Goldstine

       Have you ever wondered how former athletes would play if they were born in a different generation? Take Ty Cobb for example: A first-ballot  Hall of Famer, surely he would have been as dominant as ever, right? Wrong. Though he had an all-time high .367 career batting average and well over 4,000 hits, his whole game relied on violence. Cobb was infamous for sharpening his cleats before games, and then spiking other players during the game to gain an advantage. He was constantly fighting players, and he even fought a fan for  bad-mouthing him during a game. If he played now, he would be fined repeatedly by Major League Baseball, and he would most likely be suspended for a timely length of games. Now lets turn the tables and see how today's stars would play in the MLB of the past. Mike Trout is commonly referred to as the best player in baseball right now, His uncommon mixture of power, speed, and defensive prowess classify him as a 5-tool player, one of only 8 in baseball right now. We, as fans, like to believe that Trout would dominate in any era, though that isn't necessarily true. He would definitely still be above average at any time with his skill set, but he would be a much different player in the past. Ty Cobb would've torn him up any day. Trout would've constantly faced adversities that we overlook now because they don't exist anymore. The roughness of the game creates competition, and that goes for all sports. Countless rules are made that are used to lessen the amount of injuries and coddle players. This can be seen across all sports. Don't get me wrong, rules are the foundation of order, but sometimes the just end up keeping players from playing.
       In the 2015-16 MLB season, the Los Angeles Dodgers were facing off against the New York Competition was at an all-time high for the season as the two teams battled to move on. Veteran second baseman Chase Utley was preparing to make a common play in baseball. He was trying to eliminate the chance of a double play by sliding hard into second base and keeping the shortstop (or second baseman) from being able to get a good throw to first. This play has been executed hundreds of thousands of times in the last 100+ years. As Utley slid into the bag, he slid late and kicked his leg up into Mets' shortstop Ruben Tejada, shattering his ankle and landing postseason him a spot on the Disabled List for the rest of the 2015 and into this young 2016 season. This play ended up causing a new rule to be passed, dubbed the 'Chase Utley' rule. If a player goes into any base late and causes interference with an opposing player, they'll be called out automatically. Boom. As simple as that; well over 100 years of a routine strategic play ended that easily. The rule has already come into play in the first week of this new season. The Blue Jays lost a game to the Rays after Jose Bautista was called out on a quite controversial interference call. If an umpire made that call 100, 50, or even 15 years ago he would've been booed for days by crowds across the country, and most likely suspended or fined.
Mets in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) to compete for a chance to go to the World Series.
       Another semi-recent rule was the home-plate collision rule established in 2014. The main reason this became a rule was due to a damaging collision between the Giants' franchise catcher Buster Posey and Scott Cousins of the Marlins in 2011. Click here to see the injury. Cousins blatantly collided with Posey on a play at the plate in hopes that he would drop the ball and give the Marlins a run. The play shattered Posey's leg and the Giants' season. Since the beginning of baseball, people have caused home-plate collisions. It's a strategic play that enables the offense to give themselves a chance to score. It's just like stealing a base; that's the game. While injuries are a serious topic, players know exactly what they are getting into. Major League catchers are definitely aware of the risk they have in playing a sport, since they play the most physical position on the field.  All other players are also aware of the risk they have to deal with on a daily basis. If we continue to create rules just because there was an injury, what are we going to end up with? Will we even have a sport in the future? Players won't be able to run; they could pull a hamstring or sprain an ankle. They wouldn't be able to throw either; someone could pull a muscle in their arm, or someone could get hit by the ball. Oh, wait! No bats then either! There's too much of an injury risk there. We're left with a group of grown men standing in the sun having a casual conversation about the weather. That isn't a sport. Dictionary.com defines 'sport' as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or a team competes against another or others for entertainment." An excess of rules treat athletes as if they are fragile, not truly representing the grit and toughness in them that helped them reach the level of a professional sport.