you look today and see a lot of these future hall of famers and(with a few exceptions) you look again and you notice how many different teams they have been on and it makes you wonder why such a solid player would be moved around so much? what is it money? lack of respect or do the players agents have alot to do with it?
2007-10-29 10:21:05 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
my thesis?well Chipmaker last time i checked this was a baseball forum not an english class and i don't think i remember making a reference to a-rod in my question so whatever stick you have up your anus i would recommend you take it out before answering another question. thanks!
2007-10-29 11:08:38 · update #1
If there had been free agency in the old days, you would have seen it then, too. Why should it be held against someone if they want to make the most they can? If you got a better job offer, would your friends and family accuse you of disloyalty to your employer if you took it? It's just real life, that's all. Remember, while we say these guys are playing the game, what they're really doing is working at their jobs.
2007-10-29 10:40:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
All of the Above. The Tony Gwynns and Cal Ripkens of the baseball worlds have all but vanished. You can't just point the finger at the players. The agents and the teams themselves have a lot to do with it, too. There's no loyalty on all fronts. It's all the bottom line and what you can afford and how someone can produce for the bucks that are out there.
Chalk up to innocence lost.
2007-10-29 10:31:49 · answer #2 · answered by pricehillsaint 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The fans of baseball live under the illusion that it's a sports. Baseball is a business, plain and simple. If one is gifted enough to play baseball at the highest level then it behooves one to "cash in".
Whether it's bad sportsmanship or the sign of the times is irrelevant. It's a fact of life..period! As far as lack of respect, well, I'd say it a lack of historical perspective. Players don't care about those who paved the way for them in order that they receive their millions per year. Their agents are the only ones who understand that part of the game. Ask any one of them who the first $1M contact was and they will know who and when it was first written....1980 Nolan Ryan. That started the gold rush!!!
2007-10-29 10:30:38 · answer #3 · answered by The Mick 7 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check the record books. You'll discover that baseball players have moved around all the time. Sure, there have been exceptions, but overall most players have gone from one team to another over the years.
The difference: in the old days, owners had complete control of player movement. Now (post-1976), the players have more control of their own destiny.
Ty Cobb didn't play his whole career in Detroit. Babe Ruth didn't play his whole career in Boston. Hank Aaron didn't play his whole career with the Braves. On the other hand, George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Carl Yastrzemski, Derek Jeter and John Smoltz haven't moved around.
2007-10-29 11:14:52 · answer #4 · answered by wdx2bb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Since free agency started in the 1970s, players who stayed with one team their whole career (whether stars or not) have been the exception. Players before then stayed with one team because they didn't have a choice so you can't really compare them to the modern era.
Money is a big part of it - it's hard to turn down millions more in salary just to stay with one team. The teams themselves contribute a bit too - smaller-market teams will often trade players who are going to command too much salary. Players are also having longer careers, and as one's skills diminish it's more likely that player will have to move to find a team that is willing to take him.
Personally, I'm surprised you get as many stars who stay with one team as you do. Among current stars who've been around at least ten years, you've got Biggio, Jeter, Rivera, and Smoltz who've only played for one team (and Trevor Hoffman, who was only with the Marlins for a couple months before starting his long career with the Padres), and at least a dozen others who've only played for two.
2007-10-29 10:38:35 · answer #5 · answered by JerH1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This would be a much more interesting topic, and your thesis in particular would approach validity, with actual names instead of "these future hall of famers".
Jeter -- hopscotching in and out of ballpark beds.
Biggio -- a uniform gigolo.
Bonds -- 15 years in the same home until, just recently, they kicked him out.
Now, I could name several others, names that would either refute, or support, your thesis. But that is YOUR job to do, not mine. And it could even, maybe, make for a relevant discussion.
But this isn't that. This is just a piss-and-moan session about Alex Rodriguez, clumsily disguised as a more high-minded theory about How Far We Have Fallen, Tsk-tsk
2007-10-29 10:36:08 · answer #6 · answered by Chipmaker Authentic 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
No matter how you cut it, agents and lawyers have ruined society. Agents ruined sports, lawyers ruined life. What happened to playing for love of the game? What ever happened to taking responsibility for your own actions?
Lawyers and Agents suck!
2007-10-29 10:30:30 · answer #7 · answered by RockChalk77 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
GREED,lack of LOVE for the game because it's really not as fun because it's a business now.
2007-10-29 10:24:40 · answer #8 · answered by Tribe of benjamin 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
you will have few players that will stick to a team no matter what,but now money speaks,and it speaks loud.
2007-10-29 10:41:20 · answer #9 · answered by leperfectbelle 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's all only about money as in big $$$$$. Period, end of story.
2007-10-29 10:31:21 · answer #10 · answered by WooleyBooley again 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋