Recently Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, declared that we are currently living in the “golden age of baseball.” It’s always a risk to take ownership of a piece of sports history, or sports present, as in this case, because rare is the sports fan who can be divorced from the period to which he or she is most attached. It is impossibly hard to declare another era the best.
To say that right now is the golden age is, in the eyes of many a disgrace to the game of baseball itself. We are in the age of inflated contracts and steroid controversies. Of course, before this, was the age of corked bats, of throwing games, of insider betting. We are in the age when many records are being reset, Gherig no longer owns consecutive games and Maris no longer holds home runs. Ted Williams’ still has the best season batting average, but it is only in the last quarter century that we’ve seen athletes good enough for initiation in the 40-40 club.
Some could argue that baseball players are not the fully rounded athletes they once were. Some would say that the DH rule has turned American League baseball into a less glorified version of the sport and that all pitchers should know how to hit, just like Babe Ruth did. They’ll recall the days when it was no feat for a pitcher to pitch a complete game, not these days of strategically taking pitchers out to limit an opposing team’s offense. Still, pitchers are throwing over 100 miles per hour, the DH has given a role to aging power hitters and the National League can still win games with small ball. The game of baseball today is at once more powerful and less raw.
The advancements of the 21st century allow us to know for sure when a player is doping up, allow us to zoom in on a pitcher’s hand, and baseball has followed suit, developing new ways of punishing those who break a rule. Though fans of ole may groan at the thought of 200 million dollar contracts, they can rest easy in the fact that ultimately more money has not necessarily meant an uneven playing field. The development of sports TV allows for more fans than ever, just as ever rising ticket prices limit the accessibility of live action for all fans, no matter their economic status.
Even as these things change though, so many aspects of this sport are the same. It is still breathtaking and rare to see a perfect game pitched. It is still a thrill to see a team win in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, just as it is to see a pitcher pitch-out of a bases loaded jam. A grand slam is still the most exciting hit and there is still something special about a perfectly executed suicide squeeze. No matter how developed the statistics are, no one knows who is going to win, and if this year is any indication, the bullies can still lose and the underdogs and still take in all.
So maybe Selig was right to say that we are living in the golden age, simply because we are living in it. Maybe the last person to say it was right also, and maybe the next person to say it will also be right. Though baseball struggles to stay current, there is never a lack of appreciation for the past. No matter how good a shortstop A-rod is, he will always revere Cal Ripken, Jr. Every player from Puerto Rico will name Roberto Clemente as his nation's hero. Winning teams will continue to be honored at the anniversaries of their championship wins, and moments of silence will be observed for former greats who are playing now on the great baseball field in the sky. Baseball, it seems,
is in its golden age, it has always been, and if history is any indication, it always will be.
