Where are you Joe Dimaggio???

Remember the “old days” when guys like Joe DiMaggio were the heroes of every other little kid throwing baseballs in his backyard and dreaming of playing in the majors one day. Joe played and retired before I was old enough to see him personally but his legacy lived on through baseball cards and Sports Illustrated for decades afterwards. Joe like many others enlisted in the Military to fight for his Country regardless of his religious beliefs or the fact that he was a pro baseball player. There was a code of honour back in those days which has mostly been lost in this current day and age. Professional athletes have grown wealthy beyond belief in the past 30 years and the swelling in their wallets has been matched by the swelling of their heads. Sure as they enter into the majors they are ready and willing to talk and sign autographs for all but after a few years of big dollars and the spotlight they suddenly find that they are too important to waste time on the underlings. Mind you, if the PR people and the agents set up something structured whereby you can get in and out fast without mingling too long with the unwashed that could be tolerable. Most of the time these guys are unavailable before and after games unlike the old days when you could wait outside the locker rooms to see your favourite stars. From time to time the old time ballplayers and hockey players would take the time to play charity softball games with teams in the community and spend time talking with all the kids about their sport. They looked like men and acted like men because they were men but I’m not sure I could say the same about the players today. In years past the uniform consisted of a cap or hat, a jersey with your number and team logo on it, matching pants, socks and stirrups and a belt to hold your trousers up. A standard pair of black spiked shoes completed the uniform and rarely if ever was jewellery ever worn. Today you start with the hat which is pretty much the same except that some wear it with the brim curled which used to be standard and others try to imitate rappers with the beak flat and sometimes turned sideways. Heading south the next thing we run into is the ears which hold rings on one or both lobes. The neck can sport anything from the black and white plastic bead necklace to heavy gold chains that would seem to bog you down. The jerseys have the numbers and names on most of them (out of town for sure) as well as the logo and are sometimes worn with the top buttons opened to show a T shirt underneath. While the odd old timer would have a tattoo or two, some of today’s players are covered with ink up their arms from the hand to the shoulder. The pants can be long and drag on the ground or some distance above the shoes with the socks and stirrup showing or in some cases can be as short as right below the knee with the stirrups covering the entire sock. The shoes or spikes can be black or white or team colours with fancy labels and laces to add to the decor. Arm or sweat bands are often covering the forearm and the batting gloves are used on both hands to supposedly help with the grip of the bat. Last are the designer sun glasses with the flip up attachments. The batting helmets are a good thing that have been added to the game but some batters wear them in deplorable condition with a year’s worth of pine tar smeared over the top. At least the spitting hasn’t changed except that seeds have replaced tobacco as the missile of choice. There are still some men who play the game that have not yet been feminized and if you look hard you will find one or two every game but hurry they are a dying breed. Oh man, where are you Joe DiMaggio we need the likes of you today.