The Diamond Fan

In 1951 the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee investigated various industries to determine if the subject industries were operating as illegal monopolies. One of the industries examined was professional baseball, which was referred to by the Committee as “organized baseball”. The resulting series of hearings and subsequent report provide a fascinating glimpse into the state of the sport in the mid-twentieth century, and the attitudes of people toward it.

A number of significant baseball figures testified at the hearings, including players Ty Cobb, Pee Wee Reese and Lou Boudreau, among others, and many well-known baseball executives such as Branch Rickey, Ford Frick and Philip Wrigley, to name just a few. One of the witnesses was George M. Trautman, then president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. In closing his testimony, Mr. Trautman made this statement:

In closing, I want to affirm that I am proud of my association with baseball, a game which is a precious possession of the American people. One which belongs no more to those of us in the professional field than to the millions of loyal fans, old and young. We in baseball must and do accept the obligation to jealously guard the game, its spirit, its mighty contribution to succeeding generations of our youth as clean recreation, as a teacher of fair play, and as an example of the value of fair, yet earnest, competition.

We could not if we would, and would not if we could, escape our responsibilities. The impact of our game upon the life of the Nation binds us irrevocably to a continuing adherence to high standards. By all that we have been, and all that we are, we are committed to a greater future to the game and its devotees.

Quote is from Study of Monopoly Power: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Study of Monopoly Power, part 6. Page 200. (1951)

It has been 57 years since Mr. Trautman spoke those words. I wish I could say that in those intervening years those in the professional field of baseball had adhered to his commitment to “jealously guard the game” and what it represents to America. Instead we have had owners who show no loyalty to the fans that make their franchises a successful and profitable part of the community, nor to the players whose skill make the game what it is, nor to the game itself. Instead we have players who accept the accolades of an adoring public but listen to greedy “agents” before any consideration of the fans (chumps) who make it possible for them to get wealthy playing a child’s game. They abandon those fans without compunction for an extra buck when they already earn more in a year than many of their fans will make in a lifetime, and stoop to cheating with steroids and whatever other drugs they can get away with, in pursuit of that extra almighty dollar. So much for “clean recreation”, “fair play”, and “fair, yet earnest, competition”. The players show no loyalty to the fans or to the game, either.

A precious possession of the American people? Indeed, it is. If only the current generation of owners and players understood that as well as Mr. Trautman did, or as well as the average Little Leaguer today does.