Leading OFF
No sunflower seeds? Will MLB safety protocols work?
Cardinals All-Star shortstop Paul DeJong pored over the 67-page health and safety proposal MLB sent to players during the weekend, was mesmerized by the exhaustive details and was left with one question.
No sunflower seeds?
“I think it’s a great protocol with everyone getting tested every day,” DeJong said. . “But once we get past that, and into the season, I think things should get back to normal. I just feel like if we pass the exam and the daily testing, we should act freely in the clubhouse and on the field, and have fun.
“You can’t change having guys holding runners on first base. How about the catcher and the umpire and the batter all together at the plate? You can’t highfive?
“And I can’t even think about no sunflower seeds. That’s such a minimal risk.”
This will be baseball in 2020, although it might feel more like a boot camp. Players are being advised to shower only at home or their hotel rooms. No more buffets at the ballpark. No restaurants or bars on the road. No use of swimming pools or saunas. And don’t you dare let a soul into your hotel room outside immediate family members.
“I know we need testing protocols and assurances we’re OK,” DeJong says, “but I don’t know how sustainable all these ideas are. Some of these things are crazy and are hard to enforce. This could be an infrastructure nightmare. It’s not going to be perfect right away, but guys have to ride with it.”
MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association are scheduled to resume negotiations this week, with perhaps the biggest hurdle being economic as owners ask the players to assume part of the financial risk of playing with no fans. There is no hard deadline for negotiations to conclude, but the hope is that at least 82 regular-season games can be played beginning by the July 4 weekend, with a record 14 teams qualifying for the postseason in October.
“I want to play, we all want to play,” DeJong says, “and I’m pretty optimistic now this is going to happen. With all this going on, we won’t take any unnecessary risk, but we’d all rather be out there than sitting home and sulking. We’ll be fine once we agree to a reasonable plan.”
Still, no matter how many protocols, there will always be risk playing during the coronavirus pandemic. MLB will keep clubhouses, dugouts and other areas at ballparks disinfected as much as possible, but renowned chemist Lawrence Rocks, whose son is DeJong’s agent, Burton Rocks, cautions that even cleaning solutions could be hazardous.
“The vapors from the ammonia and chlorine compounds, which are used in industrial cleaning, if used excessively, as with any overdose, can cause cilia damage in mucus membranes,” Rocks said, “and can actually have the effect of making a person more susceptible to virus or bacterial infection. These chemicals, which are often used in a deep clean of a building, can cause loss of oxygen transport in deep lung tissue, which takes the edge off a player considerably.
“Thus, any cleaning of any ballpark locker room, or any hotel room where a player lives, which is necessary given the transmissibility of COVID-19, needs to be done under OSHA standards and with full knowledge that an elite athlete so as not to overuse the cleaners.”
DeJong, 26, a biochemistry and prescience major at Illinois State who graduated with a 3.74 GPA, understands the health risks more than most of his peers.
His agent is a high-risk candidate, surviving issues as an infant with asthma.
DeJong, whose 74 homers in his first three seasons trail only future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols in Cardinals history, is fascinated how this season will play out. Forget the age-old mantra; it’s now a sprint and not a marathon.
Losing streaks might blow up a season. Slumps will feel endless. The separator in this truncated season, DeJong said, might be the mental edge.
“I want to be ready because it’s going to be an adjustment,” DeJong said. “This shortened season will really test ourselves with all of the anxiety. You can’t look at it like, ‘Oh, we just lost four in a row, and now we’re 31⁄2 games back.’ You start thinking about those things, and it brings on an intense state. You have to be fearless, and trust yourself, staying in the moment as much as you can.”
DeJong already started devising ways to rejuvenate his body and mind. He has been practicing cymatics, the study of sound and vibration. He meditates in the mornings, and listening to soothing music while his mattress and pillow vibrate, the pain and stress washed away by sound. He calls it a mental reset.
He is religiously watching the Food Network, particularly proud of his steak au poivre. And he has immersed himself in books, not one about sports, let alone having anything to do with baseball.
He said he is reading five books these days, hoping to finish all by the resumption of spring training in June.
There’s “Sacred Geometry and Architecture” by Arturo Ponce de Leon, “Magnet Therapy Theory and Practice” by Bengali C. Neville, “An Esoteric Cosmology” by Rudolf Steiner, “The Wellspring of Good” by Beinsa Douno and “Holographic Blood” by Harvey Bigelsen.
Just your typical assortment of reading material for one of the game’s youngest stars.
“I like to read all kinds of random stuff,” DeJong says. “I’m really interested in magnets now, how we have our magnetic fields as humans. There can be imbalances in our own magnetic fields, and that can be rectified in therapy, using magnets to balance yourself.
“I’m a very big-picture person, and I’m just trying to get all of these disciplines and bringing them together.”
The reward is a World Series championship, and even if this season tramples all tradition, playing 82 games with no fans in the stands, no high-fives, no Gatorade bath, no sunflower seeds, this season might be forever cherished in baseball history.
“The asterisk may live in the mind of the fan, but none of us will consider it like that,” DeJong says.
Get ready, because if a Major League Baseball season is played this summer, it will look like nothing we’ve ever seen in the sport’s history.
Gone will be the traditional exchange of lineup cards.
There will be no more bench-clearing brawls, or even hitters charging the mound, with fighting strictly prohibited.
No high-fives. No low-fives. No fist bumps. No spitting. No sunflower seeds. No chewing tobacco.
Players will sit in the stands during games and stay 6 feet from one another in the dugouts.
And bringing players back to their Little League roots, players will be asked to shower at home or in their hotel rooms on the road.
This is part of the draft health-andsafety proposal, the “2020 Operations Manual,” from MLB to the Major League Baseball Players Association, and distributed last weekend to all of the players. This is just the first draft, which includes as many as 10,000 COVID-19 tests conducted per week, which will be modified after consulting with the union, clubs and medical officials.
In this 67-page draft, the resumption of spring training would begin in midJune, with teams having the option to stage it at their own home ballparks or at their spring training sites in Arizona and Florida. The 82-game regular season would begin the first week of July.
“At first glance, I think it’s very thorough,” St. Louis Cardinals reliever Andrew Miller, who is on the union’s executive subcommittee, said in a text to USA TODAY Sports. “There is a lot of responsibility put on players and staff to do their part to avoid the virus. The vision for this season is far different than any of us ever imagined we would take part in.
“The challenge to socially distance from our teammates is especially daunting and sacrifices on how we prepare will be constant. I know the players’ association is working right now to make sure nothing is overlooked. It will take time, but we will get it right.”
Yes, the responsibility to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is tremendous.
The proposal, which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports and which was first reported by The Athletic, calls for daily multiple temperature screenings, including at home and on the road, before team members even coming to the stadium. There will be multiple COVID-19 tests during the week given to the players, and even family members.
The league will also offer free diagnostic and antibody/serology testing for health care workers or other first responders.
The proposal says that anyone who tests positive would be immediately quarantined. The player can return only after receiving two negative tests, showing no symptoms and being approved by team medical personnel. It also says that “high-risk individuals” have the option to opt out of playing.
Players will be required to wear masks everywhere except on the field and are prohibited from leaving the hotel on the road to frequent a restaurant or bar or even shop without receiving permission from team personnel. MLB is also prohibiting players from fraternizing or socializing with those on other teams before, during and after games, asking that they remain at least 6 feet from one another at all times.
“The careless actions of a single member of the team places the entire team (and their families) at risk, and teams should agree on their own off-field code of conduct for themselves and their family members,” the document reads, “to minimize the risk to the team.”
Meanwhile, there would be three phases of a three-week spring training. It requires all players and support staff to undergo a screening within 72 hours of their report date, that will require a blood test, nasal swab or saliva and a temperature reading. Those who test negative after a 24- to 48-hour quarantine will be permitted to be in spring training while those who test positive would be placed in self-isolation until they twice test negative.
Pitchers and catchers will arrive first, then the position players a few days later, and a limited number of exhibition games played. The workouts must be staggered throughout the day in small groups. Teams that choose to have spring training in Arizona and Florida will play those games between 7-9 p.m. local time because of the summer heat.
The proposal also limits the number of players and coaches and clubhouse staff on each team. There can be a maximum of 50 players, eight coaches, two bullpen catchers, two trainers, two team physicians and one strength and conditioning coach. They must use lockers situated 6 feet apart, while distancing themselves in the dugout.
The games will still have walk-up songs for the players, but there will be no out-of-town scores shown or replays since there will be no fans in attendance, at least at the outset.
Pitchers are even asked to bring their own rosin bag to the mound, with batters taking their own pine tar and batting donuts to and from the on-deck circle. There will be no bat boys or bat girls.
When players are on the road, their freedom will be restricted. The only people permitted to visit players at their hotels are immediate family members. Socializing with friends or distant other family members is strongly discouraged.
The hotels on the road will be required to have a private entrance for the players or block off times when the players are leaving or entering the lobby. They will also request that all rooms are on lowerlevel floors to reduce the need for an elevator. And don’t even think about using the hotel’s pool, gym or sauna.
It’s all wrapped up in 67 pages, complete with diagrams for social distancing recommendations, whether sitting in the dugout or organizing fielding practices.
It is daunting. Perhaps impractical to fully regulate. But then again, maybe completely necessary if there is going to be Major League Baseball this summer.
A game like we’ve never seen before.