Baseball Returning to its Roots

Baseball seems to have finally turned the corner on the “steroid era” and returned to its roots. The game today is full of young talent both on the pitcher’s mound and in the batter’s box. Great players not entering their mid to late 30’s are actually looking like aging ball players and not hitting 70   anymore. The game has turned back to its roots and I for one am extremely excited about it.

It seems to me that the faces of the Sport these days are all young super stars with bright futures ahead of them.  Look around the majors and take any team out there and you will find new young talent across the board  on each team it seems every game I watch the announcer points out the teams new young stud who just got called up to the majors.

 If you’re a fan of a team like the Pirates and feel your franchise is hopeless just have a look at the Tampa Bay Rays. Think about where they were just 5 years ago playing all young talent and losing 100 plus games. But since then they have made a World Series appearance and this year all of their talent has glued together thus far and has them off to the best start in the majors. Granted not all of these players will pan out to be Hall of Famer's down the road but it gives every fan base hope and promise of a brighter future for their team.

Now as for the games aging super stars look at the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Chipper Jones two of the games brightest starts throughout the 90’s and into the 2000’s. Both of these players are All Time Greats at their positions and will certainly be first ballot Hall of Famer's, however age has finally caught up with these two and injuries have plagued them and slowed them down from the once great players they were.

I only mention these two to compare them to the likes of Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds who in their latter years seemed to be breaking every record in the book. Maybe in their primes feats like this might not have been such a shock but these two were doing it from their mid 30’s entering their 40’s. Obviously we both know where I am going with this in discussing steroids and I am for one personally sick of talking about it. My point is that the game finally seems to be back to the way it should be with old ball player’s talent phasing out at normal ages again as it should and the excitement that comes with young talent.

Even the way Managers coach their teams has changed, they seem to no longer be sitting around waiting for the 3 run home run. Just the other day the Texas Rangers, who mind you have been known as an offensive franchise for quite some time now stop 9 bases against the Red Sox. That’s right 9 stolen bases in one game, that is something you wouldn’t have seen in the game just 10 years ago. It’s the little things that have the game back being played the way it was meant to be.