Posted By:
honus3415I too was consumed by the game of baseball in the 60's. I would cut out every boxscore relating to the Tigers and keep track of every statistic which could pull from those numbers. I knew the daily BA of every Tiger player from Gates Brown to Al Kaline. Remember or maybe you'll have to imagine a world with was no SportsCenter. I still have every newspaper boxscore from the 1968 season and a notebook keeping track of every Tiger statistic. My father would listen to the games at night after work on WJR despite the fact we lived hundreds of miles from Detroit. Often the static was so bad that I would wonder how he could tell what was happening, but he never missed a second of the broadcast.
So what happened??
Free Agency....suddenly the game started to be played for the almighty dollar and no longer for the love of the game. Our loyal stars became not-so-loyal pawns in the financial game we refer to as baseball.
I remember when the Tigers wanted to make Al Kaline their first $100,000 a year player, it was towards the end of his career. He didn't want it because he didn't think he deserved it. Think of it today.....somebody thinking they are worth less than what somebody is willing to pay them!!!! Never happen, it's the world today.
Well for the most part that is what has happened in today's hobby, the almighty dollar has replaced the PURITY of collecting. Few transactions are made because we replace things of our past, the majority of transactions involve the hope of a monetary gain either the buyer or seller can foresee. We seek things because they have value, we avoid things because they are worthless.
The hobby will never return to the past, just as players will never play for the PURE "love of the game" in professional sports again. Sure the games will still be played but forever missing will be the love and passion of a Ty Cobb or 1960's Pete Rose.
The passion slips away with each one of us.......hold onto those memories, there are no replays.