What Exactly Is Old School?

The term “Old School” is tossed around quite a bit. It is used freely and loosely, and many times condescendingly.

Young guys are notorious for statements such as, “Dude, that guy ain't into real sports. He’s ‘old school.’”

Old School is real sports. Old School is real players, real fans, and real careers. Pull up a rock, and I will tell you about it.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far removed, there lived a hardy band of baseball players. They didn’t really have a name for themselves, but as the years came and went, they became known as Old School players.

These weren’t like the players you see, know, and love today. These men loved to play the game of baseball. They would play as hard as they could for as long as they could, for the love of the game. Oh, I know that phrase is as worn out as Aunt Sylvie’s bathrobe, but most of them may as well have been playing for love.

Old School players didn’t have their life settled financially in one year of playing, like the modern players do. A-Rod, Teixeira, Sabathia, and many others make more money by the third inning of opening day than most of the Old School guys made all year.

Old School players had to find a job after baseball season, just to feed the bulldog. One of the Old School guys, Al Kaline, said he had to work after every single season he played, and he didn’t retire until 1974.

Did I tell you that the Old School players were dedicated?

Well, they were dedicated almost to a fault. Those guys didn’t come out of the game early because their thumb was hurting. No, they just rubbed some dirt on it and kept going. They played through the pain.

I guess when you make $50K an inning like modern players, you can play when you want to.

Back in those days they had a unique concept. It was called a doubleheader. No, it was not anything dirty; it was two games on the same day for the same ticket. Two games for the price of one. These were scheduled games, too, not “make-up” games. 

In fact, one of the Old School boys was known by his remark he made one day, “Let’s play two."

Did the players get any reward or anything special for the two games?

No, just less time to rest between games.

Another weird thing about the Old School gang was that they liked to finish what they started. They didn’t expect the starting pitcher to just give ‘em six or seven innings of decent baseball. Unless they got rocked to the point of embarrassment, they would usually finish the game.

Today, it is nothing to see three or four pitchers pool their resources to pitch a shutout. 

Jim O’Toole of the Cincinnati Reds, starter of the 1963 All-Star game, said (and I paraphrase), “If I have a shutout going in the seventh inning, there is no way in hell I am coming out.”

Tom Cheney pitched 16 innings in a game in the early '60s. No, the game didn’t continue; it was over in 16. He still holds the single game strikeout record with 21. It wasn’t uncommon in the old days for a pitcher to pitch 400 or 500 innings in a season.

In the days of the Old School, the word uniform was true to its meaning, “one form.” Everybody dressed the same, all the way down to the stirrups. No one was allowed to have his pants drag the ground.

The authentic Old School players didn’t care much for camaraderie between teams. You didn’t see them hanging out with the other team at the batting cage.

The All-Star game was not a warm and fuzzy thing either. Those guys wanted to win. In fact, it pumped them up to be able to play against the best the other league had.

Old School players didn’t get meal money either.

Oh, you didn’t know that the modern players get per diem to eat on? What a life, huh?  Make $25M, meals paid for, uniforms done for free, fly free in the nicest of jets.

Oh yeah, Old School boys had to ride the rails or a bus to get from the Polo Grounds to Crosley Field.

Those guys wanted to make it to the World Series and win it!  It was more money for them, a huge bonus compared to what their salary was. Oh, I know they get paid for the Series today, but it is nothing compared to their salary.

Now, let’s talk disabled list. There was no DL to go on. You either played or you couldn’t.  Not a bunion or a sore foot. If you could run, wincing or not, you would play. Those guys wanted to play.

Hey kids. You know how certain players stand back and admire the beauty of their long home run?

Come on, you know who I mean. Manny, Ken, and Barry, you’ve seen them. They hit the long one and then stand back and watch it. “Look at that, look what I did,” they seem to say.

Sometimes it backfires. I saw Brandon Phillips of the Reds do that a couple seasons ago.  He admired it and then assumed the trot position as the ball bounced off the wall and into the center fielder’s glove. He was thrown out at second on what could have been a triple had he been running instead of styling.

Old School players would hit it as hard and as far as they could, and run as fast as they could. You wouldn’t see one of them get thrown out at first on a single to right field.

The Old School players were devoted to the team they played on. Stan Musial, Kaline, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Sandy Koufax, and many other stars played their entire career with the team they came up with.

I realize that in some cases it wasn’t just their desire that kept them there. The owners had the rights to them, and if they performed, they stayed.

What happened to the Old School players? 

A thing called "free agency" sunk the ship that the guys were sailing on.

The players then would go to the highest bidder, and thus came the mega-million jackpots that we see today.

When I was a kid, I think maybe only one or two players in MLB were making as much as the President of the United States made. Now, some make more by tax time than the President makes all year.

And that, kids, is what being Old School is all about.

© 2009 Clifton Eastham. All Rights Reserved