Bill Mitchell's Minor League Ramblings

Minor League Ramblings For the week of :
February 25, 2002

Minor League Ramblings is produced by Bill Mitchell for Minor League Watch.

For The Love Of The Game
March 2, 2002

The money paid to major league players is generally viewed by most fans as excessive. A squabble over whether a relief pitcher is to be paid $3.2 million instead of $2.7 million is unfathomable to ordinary citizens. Salary issues and labor negotiations have become much too big a part of the game, according to many fans.

Anaheim infielder
David Eckstein

That's why it's so wonderful to be able to head to the local spring training complexes each day and watch the ballplayers, with big superstars and young prospects working side by side on the field, enjoying the game of baseball without thought or mention of money.

Two players who stand out in this respect are David Eckstein and Sammy Sosa. While these two men are miles apart in their stature in major league baseball, there's one trait they both possess --- an obvious love for the game.

One of the most pleasurable moments I experienced this spring was watching Eckstein, the Anaheim Angels' starting shortstop, sprint out on the field at the beginning of the first exhibition game. This wasn't just a half-speed trot. Rather, the diminutive infielder, his cap yanked down in his face, ran full bore out to his position, like he couldn't wait to get there and begin the game.

Since that day, I've watched Eckstein several times, both in games and during practice. He's a throwback to the old style player, the kind of guy that gets far more production from his limited physical abilities than he should. With his boyish appearance and abundant zeal, Eckstein looks more like someone from the local high school team who wandered on the field with the big leaguers, and no one has the heart to tell him to go away.

I hope that David Eckstein, now starting his second big league season, has a long career as a major league ballplayer. Baseball needs more players like him.

Then there's Sammy Sosa. Here's a man who is approaching "rock star" type fame. He's already made more money than most of us could even dream of making in a lifetime (even if we all pooled our collective net worth).

Sammy Sosa joking around with teammates during practice

Watching Sosa during a Chicago Cubs' practice session, it's readily apparent that he's a "larger than life" individual. Yet, one can't help but notice that he is truly enjoying himself on the field.

Sosa is constantly moving around, laughing and joking with his teammates, and acknowledging the fans that call out his name.

Even if all of the money was taken out of the game, Sosa would still be doing exactly what he's doing at this moment ... playing baseball somewhere and enjoying the heck out of it.

Another individual who deserves mention is Cubs' coach and former major league manager Rene Lachemann. The Cubs ended last Tuesday's practice with an intrasquad game. Lachemann was given the job of umpiring the five-inning game.

Typical for Cubs' spring training workouts, there were several hundred fans in attendance. Lachemann, in his loud, gravelly voice, just like a carnival barker, started preparing the fans for the upcoming game, urging them to get their hot dogs and grab a seat in the bleachers.

Lachemann's performance during the game was part umpire, part public address announcer and part stand-up comic. He turned to the crowd to announce each batter, usually adding some humorous comment about the player. The best example was when super prospect Corey Patterson came to the plate; Lachemann introduced him as "Baseball America's number one prospect for the last ten years."

He worked the crowd between innings, asking questions such as who was the oldest person, who had the most grandchildren and who had traveled the greatest distance. The winning responses were rewarded with a baseball from Lachemann's pocket.

After nearly 40 years in baseball, Rene Lachemann has not lost his affection for the game.

City of Mesa groundskeeper
Tom Willard

This fanatical love for baseball is not confined to those on the field. Tom Willard is a groundskeeper for the City of Mesa, working at the Cubs' facilities at Hohokam Stadium (spring training park) and Fitch Park (minor league facility). Willard started with the City of Mesa three years ago after relocating from the Seattle, Washington area, where he was working in the beer marketing field. "I was burned out," said Willard about his previous career, "and I got fired because I was burned out."

Willard took his current job because he wanted to be around baseball. The Hohokam and Fitch facilities are used practically year round, either by the Cubs or by city recreational leagues.

But working around baseball 12 months of the year isn't enough for Willard. He frequently hops in his car for road trips to minor and major league parks. He's so fanatical that he'll drive to the U.S./Mexico border at Nogales on a long weekend and hop on a bus to travel through Mexico to watch winter league games. Now that's devotion!

The next time you become disenchanted with the business of baseball, watch players like David Eckstein or Sammy Sosa enthusiastically taking the field at the start of a game, or think of Rene Lachemann tossing used baseballs to senior citizens at the Cubs' camp, or imagine Tom Willard riding a rickety old bus to the stadium in Los Mochis, Mexico.

You'll forget all about labor negotiations, contraction, lockouts and all of those other dirty words of baseball. And you'll remember why baseball is such a grand game.

--- Bill Mitchell