MLB: Watered Down?

That title is very Pyo-esque.

My two favourite sports have always been baseball and hockey, but I’ve lately grown to appreciate baseball a lot more. Though this is blasphemy for a Canadian, I actually prefer baseball to hockey. Unlike the frenetic pace of hockey or basketball, baseball moves at its own measured leisurely pace, unhurried and not bound by the clock. It’s almost archaic in the way it moves, a remant of a slow, calm, more mellow time - a potent contradiction to the fast-paced world in which we live today. I also like the statistical aspect.

Some people say, though, that today’s game is watered down, that the quality of game of today doesn’t rival the days of yore, and that each astounding physical feat must be treated with suspicion, owing to the rise in performance-enhancing drugs. Sure McGwire hit 70 in 1998, but a non-descript Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. And with 30 teams in the majors, one might contend that today’s game is weaker and not truly representative of the best of the best, because the talent pool is spread thin and players who in the past would have been career minor leaguers are now playing in the majors.

I beg to differ. The Majors have seen an explosion in talent from Latin America – the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba - and, increasingly now pitchers from Japan and Korea. This is a talent pool that was once never tapped, for baseball was once an emphatically American game. The influx of Asians and Latinos has made for a more dynamic game.

One unfortunate by product, however, is the precipitous decline in African-American players in the majors. Some of the greatest legends of yore – Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, Ozzie Smith, Ken Griffey Sr. – were African-Americans. I’m thinking of the black greats I used to watch growing up in the early-to-mid 90s, and I’m not seeing any more Kirbey Pucketts or Mo Vaughns or Cecil Fielders or Albert Belles cropping up. Few players today can match the sheer physical prowess and natural athleticism of the aforementioned – and these are guys that never took steroids (here’s looking at you Mr. Bonds). Black athletes are increasingly gravitating towards basketball and football. Even the NHL has witnessed a notable rise in black players in the past 5 years. And this makes me think about how much more of a dynamic game we could have today.