Perhaps MLB Jumped the Gun
by Starting 2020 Baseball Season
By Ed Kociela
Like every other MLB team, the Miami Marlins have a boatload of money that the club is spending to keep players safe as they try to play a baseball season interrupted by Covid-19, which has also severely disrupted NASCAR, the NHL, and the NBA, and threatens the NFL and NCAA sports seasons.
We were assured that every precaution was being taken to ensure the safety of the baseball players and support personnel as they ventured into the season. Still, many of us were concerned that MLB had jumped the gun.
Monday, we learned that something went wrong, terribly wrong when it was announced that 11 players and two coaches on the Marlins tested positive for Covid-19. That’s more than a third of the 33-person traveling party.
These are well-cared-for professional athletes in the best physical shape. Millions of dollars were put on the table to ensure their safety so MLB could have some sort of season.
It didn’t quite work out that way, at least for the Marlins.
So, I beg to ask, do you still think sending our kids back into the classroom shortly is a good idea?
I mean, if we can’t prevent an outbreak among a bunch of millionaire professional athletes, how can we keep our kids, who seem to snap up every germ on the playground and bring it home, from catching this thing?
I get it. Our kids need their teachers and our teachers need our kids. But, at this point, wouldn’t it be prudent to use Zoom or Facetime to take care of daily lessons online to ensure their safety?
Look, the Miami Marlins had a 33-person traveling squad. But, there were pilots on their airplane. Even going through charter terminals they still came in contact with others. There were bus drivers, stadium personnel, hotel workers, restaurant workers, and God knows who else they encountered.
That’s where the ethics of this all comes into play because many people are asymptomatic, even during the contagious stage. Bringing a planeload of ballplayers from a state undergoing horrid increases in the spread of the disease is not exactly what I would call the smartest move. Especially when we were all led to believe that these folks were going to be in pristine condition.
Our classroom sizes in Utah range about the same size as the Marlins’ traveling party. The Centers for Disease Control strongly recommend social distancing of six feet between students in the classroom. How is that going to happen? Will there be triple shifts each day? On/off shuttling of students to classrooms every other day? What about the upper grades where they change classes and bump and brush against each other in the hallways?
What about the playgrounds? How many kids will keep their masks on while at recess? How many macho high schoolers will refuse to cover themselves?
Sports?
Really?
We see what has happened at the pro level in a pastoral sport where the players come into very little contact with one another, but what about football where you are face-to-face on the line or wrestling, where the essence of the sport is getting as up-close-and-personal as possible to pin your opponent? Basketball offers no opportunity for social distancing.
If I had a school-aged child there would be no question that I would opt for homeschooling until this thing has passed.
I’m normally not a fan of homeschooling. It robs a child of the developmental skills required for personal and social growth. It isolates them from the elements of childhood, prevents them from those valuable friendships and interactions, and, of course, that vital one-on-one interaction with their teacher.
But, as we are learning, kids die from Covid-19, too.
I wouldn’t risk my child’s life just to shore up the stock market or make the president look good, which is what this is all about anyway at this point. It can get nasty, people can lose money, but there are stopgaps in place to help keep the market from freefalling. Making the president look good at this point? Hmmmm…we’ll have to think about that one for a while.
Besides, we can always fix a broken stock market. We can’t fix a dead child. And, we can always elect a different president.
I must admit that I watched a couple of baseball games over the weekend, something with the exception of the World Series I haven’t done in several decades.
I grew up a baseball fanatic, especially where the St. Louis Cardinals were concerned. They were the hometown heroes for this kid from St. Louis. I looked forward to every trek out to the old Sportsman’s Park to see my idols – Ken Boyer, Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and, of course, the magnificent Stan Musial.
I was also lucky to see some of the all-time greats from other teams as well, including Roberto Clemente, a rookie Pete Rose, Henry Aaron, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays. I lost interest 20-odd years ago, however, when the talent pool was watered down because of too many teams and I grew weary of millionaire ballplayers going to war with billionaire team owners.
But, out of curiosity, and a desire for something fresh and alive, I tuned in for a couple of games over the weekend and it felt like coming home. It was pretty strange watching a game take place in an empty stadium. I mean, I had watched some NASCAR races run on empty tracks, but the crowd isn’t really a part of that television experience, and I also took in a soccer match from England between a couple of teams playing in an empty stadium. It was very odd to not hear a rowdy soccer crowd cheering, but I watched.
At least I could relate to the baseball games, even if I had little idea who all those guys were on the field. I never heard of most of them. But, it was live, it was pastoral, it was baseball and, well, it welcomed me back, sort of, so I was looking forward to catching up with my old friend. Except, now, I’m wondering if MLB is going to hit the pause button on the 2020 season once again. On Monday, the owners agreed to stagger forward with the schedule, but I’m pretty sure that one more outbreak like the one that struck the Marlins will put a lid on baseball for the year.
It would be disappointing, to be sure. But, it would be the prudent thing to do.
Besides, somebody has got to offer some leadership as we fight through this pandemic.
It might as well be our sports heroes because God knows we aren’t getting it from anybody else.
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