Baseball has lost its lore!

I want to start by making plainly clear that this is not about steroids! Call me cold but I have come to accept the fact that in my lifetime steroids have just become a part of the game. I am not sure about how that should affect Hall of fame status and I honestly don't care. Baseball has always been about pageantry and tradition. That all seems to be vanishing slowly as baseball tries to repair its image and erase the huge smudge left by "the steroid era".

These thoughts of nostalgia were evoked by a bar patron and a radio show. Let's start with the radio show. Yesterday on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, the Mikes where talking about Randy Johnson playing for his 300th win as a pitcher. They brought up the fact that this may be the last time we see 300 game winner. That is sad. Of the now 24 300 game winner, Randy Johnson got his win tonight, only nine have come in my life time and 5 of those are guys I actually got to see play. With pitchers getting an extra day of rest and relievers coming in earlier, there is no one out there that will reach this milestone, possibly in my life time. It is sad to think that, with all of the extra workout science and performance enhancers, there is no one mentally or physically tough enough to reach the mark.

The patron at my bar is a former baseball player from a different era. He is not a hall of famer or a famous ball player. He does hold a record in major league baseball. I am not sure that I am allowed to use his name so I won't, but in our couple of visits I have learned a lot about the guys from the old school view the sport. He has never mentioned his salary or his perks of playing ball. He only talks about the legends he faced and the guys he played with. Long before 110 million dollar contracts, baseball was played for pride. Nothing reiterates this better than when I asked what the greatest thing about facing Nolan Ryan was, and he said: "A few years ago they listed all the thousands of guys (Nolan Ryan) struck out, and my name was not on that list." Now that is a sense of pride.

Sports today is full of over paid prima donnas. The only pride involved is who has the most zeros. It used to be that we measure a player by the size of his heart, not his paycheck. I love baseball, but not what it has become. I am very happy for Randy Johnson, but it is a sad day when your era ends. Live like one is watching and have some pride!