The Posey Problem

(Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The end of the school year means strange schedules and random busyness that has put the blog on the back burner).

I have been fascinated by the reaction to Buster Posey's season ending injury last week blocking the plate. There have been multiple calls to look at changing the rules from baseball people in the wake of losing one of the game's young stars. I don't blame them - it seems like a stupidly dangerous play.

But compare this reaction to the concussion reactions in football and hockey. Both of those sports have been hypersensitive to suggestions that the physicality of their respective sports is getting guys unnecessarily hurt. Both sports have resisted rule changes even when the safety of their players is being protected.

Have you heard a single baseball player freak out about the possibility of a rule change? I have not, even though the play with Posey was one that a) doesn't happen that much b) doesn't usually result in serious injury and c) has been a part of the game forever.

There has been no "slippery slope" argument offered about breaking up double plays or pitching inside.Why not? Why does it seem that nearly every baseball person wants to reexamine the rules that allowed the play instead of defending it as good, hard baseball?

Here is why: baseball does not need an occasional violent collision to attract fans or sell itself. Nobody goes to a ball park to see the catcher get plowed over. When it does happen, and it is not often, nobody likes it. It looks dirty and feels dirty. And when a guy like Buster Posey is out for the year, it makes people second-guess it.

Here is why football and hockey should follow suit: they don't need the violence either. I do not understand the argument that says limiting the violence of either sport would ruin it. I don't watch football or hockey because of the violence. I watch because I enjoy the game. I like the skills, the strategies, the pageantry, etc. Could I live without seeing guys crossing the middle of the field/ice getting creamed and concussed?

YES.

The misnomer that violence is what brings people to the NFL and NHL is ridiculous. Football is more popular than ever and is less violent than ever (hockey's lack of popularity has more to do with a terrible television deal and too many teams than any rule changes). Guys used to clothesline each other without penalty. Guys used to play hockey without helmets and get slammed into boards less forgiving than today's. While there is surely a segment of the NFL & NHL fan base that is drawn to the violence, there is a much larger segment that finds the violence troubling and frustrating.

I find it harder and harder to be an NFL and NHL fan when I see guys getting seriously injured and little being done about it. Two of my all-time favorite athletes are Troy Aikman and Sidney Crosby - both sufferers from multiple concussions playing their respective sports. My love of Muhammad Ali makes it tough to watch boxing these days.

If baseball can figure out a way to keep players like Buster Posey safe without radically changing the game or its integrity, I hope it does so. And I hope other sports will follow its example.