To the faint of heart it is hard to watch. Seeing someone bulldoze their way through another person. And for what? To score a run for their team. There are only two other sports that offer more physical plays than baseball. They are of course football and hockey. Do we question when someone gets slammed into the boards? Or when someone is tackled before they cross the goal line?
That is apparently where we are headed if some have their way. Now I understand the financial implications involved with losing your best player. It’s obvious, but it must be pointed out that the team will suffer on the field as well.
Buster Posey did what all catchers have done since the game was invented. Protect the plate. It was an extra inning game. The Florida Marlins had a runner on third and he was the go ahead run. If he hadn’t scored, chances are the Marlins lose. There is saying that goes like this, “you play to win the game.” Simple, but the truth.
Posey’s agent, Jeff Berry, sees this in a different light. Now he is his agent and will do what an agent does best. Protect his client. I just think he went about it the wrong way. In the heat of the moment, I don’t think this is what he meant to say.
“You leave players way too vulnerable,” Berry said. “I can tell you Major League Baseball is less than it was before [Posey’s injury]. It’s stupid. I don’t know if this ends up leading to a rule change, but it should. The guy [at the plate] is too exposed.
“If you go helmet to helmet in the NFL, it’s a $100,000 fine, but in baseball, you have a situation in which runners are [slamming into] fielders. It’s brutal. It’s borderline shocking. It just stinks for baseball.”
If this is how baseball should feel, they would have changed the rule somewhat after Ray Fosse was taken out by Pete Rose during an All-Star game. Alas, that didn’t do anything. This shouldn’t either. I’ve seen far worse hits on catchers in the past. This one is getting a lot of publicity because it’s Buster Posey. One of the reasons the San Francisco Giants are the defending champions.
It’s also because of his agent. He’s right to say that the NFL will fine players a lot of money for helmet to helmet hits. With the concern of concussions in all major sports, the league is taking steps to prevent that from happening as often as it has. However, like I mentioned before how many times to you see catchers getting bulldozed at the plate?
The game is fine. Adding instant replay is the only thing that is missing, but if you want to take away something, it will be a lot harder. Folks have grown up watching those kinds of plays and it is one of the most exciting plays in the game of baseball. They don’t always end up in a collision. I don’t have the stats, but I know they aren’t that frequent. Otherwise it would be a topic every year.
It’s only talked about because of the name. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong to talk about it. We just need to talk about it realistically. Jumping to conclusions gets us nowhere. It just starts an unnecessary controversy. It was a clean baseball play. It was an unfortunate injury. If you asked Ray Fosse if he would block the plate again, I bet you he would say yes.
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