Hey look, a show on E! that actually looks somewhat interesting and baseball related, from the Sun-Sentinel:
E! has a rarity tonight (10 PM), a show with "Wives" in the title, that is entertaining
without being sensational or sleazy.
Baseball Wives celebrates women whose husbands have pressure-packed, public occupations, which can elevate you to celebrity status and set you up for
life, or brand you a failure at an age when many people are just getting started
in their careers.
The show offers a taste of the entire spectrum.
Jennie Finch, an Olympic softball gold medal winner, is married to Casey Daigle, who is scuffling to make it in the
Houston Astros organization.
Heidi Hamels, wife of Phillies World Series hero Cole Hamels, gained a measure of fame in her own right when she took off her top for peanut butter on Survivor 6. That was before she met Cole.
I'm sure the thought of Jennie Finch and Heidi from Survivor on TV will be enough for many dudes to watch this show, but this show underscores the difficult life of a baseball family as the husbands are gone for almost six months straight.
Baseball Wives serves as a reminder that fame and fortune do not insulate athletes' families from the hassles, challenges, and heartaches people in less prominent professions endure.
Their relationships hit rough spots and their children get sick, sometimes life-threateningly so.
The women also have to live with the constant knowledge that there are groupies who make themselves available to their husbands and that a trade could force them to move to another part of the country.
The husbands are essentially non-factors in the family's life six months a year. They miss birthdays, weddings and anniversaries that fall during the season. Even when they are playing at home, they are generally gone from noon to midnight.
People love to get on baseball players for earning enormous salaries and playing a game for a living, but there is an entirely different side of their lives that the public rarely gets to see.
This show should give us a glimpse of what baseball players and their families go through.
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