BASEBALL WEEKEND
Legends discuss shifts in modern game
Baseball legends were in the Spa City Saturday for the Fourth Annual Hot Springs Baseball Weekend and a hot topic of the day was the way the game is changing from the youth level all the way to the professional diamond.
For a state filled to the brim with Cardinals fans, one of the most packed panels included Jim Edmonds and Al Hrabosky. Both Cardinals legends spoke together on the way the game has shifted since they were professionals from a youth development standpoint to the big leagues as well.
Edmonds said when he grew up playing the game, there was a standard way to play all around. During his youth, for certain age levels, a player couldn’t steal and couldn’t lead off their base. Edmonds described certain youth baseball leagues now as, “reckless baseball at 10 years old.”
“As soon as a kid gets on first base, steals second, steals third, past ball home,” Edmonds said. “So right then and there, you’re starting to develop kids that don’t really want to be out there. Because it’s embarrassing, right? Because now the catcher is missing a ball. Everyone’s yelling at him and throw the ball here. And then who wants to deal with that? So the kids aren’t really learning to play the game.”
Both former Cardinals spoke about the length of baseball games today, new rule changes and a hyper-focus on analytics including velocity off the bat, launch angle, spin rate and velocity on pitches.
“There’s no you know, how to win as a team, how to play as a team,” Hrabosky said. “It’s all individual stuff. And that’s what we’re going to have to change to. We have to get back to having the kids play for the value of what
they’re going to learn. Pride in the uniform, how to work and communicate with others.”
Hrabosky also spoke on the importance of getting youth players interested in watching and playing the sport of baseball again. “The Mad Hungarian” complemented the new Majestic Park fields and how initiatives like the fields can get young people back into baseball.
“I was shocked at how beautiful those five beautiful fields are now, all Astroturf, all LED lighting, you know, there’s benches and concession stands, there’s dugouts,” Hrabosky said. “It’s really
an outstanding area. And that’s what it’s going to take is you gotta get these kids playing baseball.”
Before the two Cardinals greats, the first speaker of the day was Hall of Famer Andre “The Hawk” Dawson. Dawson is perhaps most famous in the area for his time as a Chicago Cub, but he also spent 10 years as a Montreal Expo.
Dawson highlighted many aspects of his career, like explaining the saga of how he went from the Expos to the Cubs and telling funny stories about the pranks Greg Maddux would play on his teammates.
However, Dawson also spoke on prevalent matters in the game
of baseball today like why young Black athletes are choosing to go to other sports and the tinkering being done to the game.
Dawson said players of other sports like Michael Jordan, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders were the players who dominated their leagues and that young Black athletes looked up to.
“It got lost especially in the urban communities,” Dawson said. “Fathers tended to want to gear their kids more toward football than basketball. And I think for the simple reason that there were not a lot of African Americans who would be considered role models, and a sense of being publicized at the major league level.”
Dawson also said baseball has become more expensive over time, making it harder for some players to afford.
Looking at the game today in the major leagues, Dawson is not the biggest fan of some of the changes being made to America’s favorite pastime.
The Hall of Famer is not a fan of a man starting on second base in extra innings and he is not the biggest fan of the major role that analytics have taken in today’s game. That being said, there are positives surrounding the game today.
“I still think the state of the game is in a good position,” Dawson said. “You have a lot of great talent in the game. … The game to me is getting younger and younger. And there’s a great thing to be done by these young ballplayers. So I feel this sense that baseball, baseball is going to be OK.”
The last legend to speak on the day was Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage.
The legendary Yankee pitcher started his talk with a story about growing up in Colorado and getting a shot to play baseball professionally.
Gossage’s father always told him he would make it to the pros one day, but Gossage wasn’t so sure himself.
After graduating high school and getting a local coaching job, Gossage ran into his house to excitedly tell his mother he got a job.
However, the future Hall of Famer missed the fact that a Chicago White Sox scout was sitting on his couch to inform Gossage he had been drafted. From there, Gossage lept into an unknown world that he would eventually thrive in.
“I said, ‘Well, I don’t know what I’m getting myself into,’” Gossage said. “But there aren’t going to be any should’ves, would’ves, could’ves, if, ands or buts. If I’m not good enough, then so be it. Then that’ll be it. But, there are no excuses.”