Politics is the search for truth. And when it is found, you have to bury it quickly, before the opponent finds it”… Joey Adams.
My friend from Caracas, journalist and baseball gentleman, Alberto (Tapatapa) Hidalgo and I, we boasted to the staff of "Últimas Noticias” know all the major league rosters by heart.
There were 16 teams, just over half the current 30, and there weren't that many changes.
The headlines then announced, “AARON PICKED TWO AND TAKES 698” or “ROSE APPROACHES COBB WITH HIS UNCOOKABLE 4021”.
Now the headlines lead stories of this type: “SHOHEI OHTANI WILL SIGN FOR 500 MILLION IN 2024” or “JUDGE SIGNS FOR 40 MILLION LESS”.
It was that beautiful era of baseball, now gone, when most arrived at the stadium wishing there would be an extra inning, since after the ninth the strategy and emotions increased. Now in the tenth inning a ghost runner appears at second, let's see if he scores, to finish early in favor of Rob (Plover Head) Manfred, ESPN and Fox.
Those days were so good that Spanish, logic and good sense were used with purity in the narrations, comments and written reviews of the game.
For example, no one was foolish enough to say that two inputs is "one" input. That is, in each inning, two teams "enter" the field, so an innings is made up of two innings. The regular game is nine innings, 18 innings, if home club hits in the ninth.
Nor was there anyone who said or wrote, "match" instead of "game", referring to baseball, since the stage is not "split" in two, in half, as in American football, soccer, the basketball, volleyball and tennis.
Question of lexicon, dear friends. And a matter of education and good manners.
So, if Roberto Clemente homered in the ninth inning, with three on base, for the Pirates to win 4-3, his teammates would wait for him after home plate, high-fives and grope his back, thus no one was injured.
Which era was better, dear reader? You tell me.
Oh, and there was no pitcher's or batter's clock. They didn't control the shift either, let alone some ballplayer dared to dye their hair.
There was no Manfred, ESPN or FOX.
Speaking of FOX, for the three of us a FOOO! big, as they say.
Thanks to the life that has given me so much, even a reader like you.
Excellent article totally agree with you