CB,
...I don't really follow baseball, but my understanding is that it is a game that is played by well mannered, polite men, what we call here gentlemen, which in America does not mean nobility. "Well mannered" and "polite" for professional athletes. I have never heard of professional baseball players involved in rapes like basketball players or football players, nor massive abuse of drugs.
All professional athletes, all over the world, strive very hard to be excellent. It is a sad fact that some professional athletes are allowed to act like immature jerks without any consequences, but not, as I understand it, baseball players....
You're probably right, on a relative basis, although baseball has its own forms of strange behavior.
In most other sports, exceptional athletes can step right in and contribute, but baseball is too technically difficult for that.
I think the difference in baseball is that NO major league baseball players come directly from high school and very few directly from college. Virtually all need years in the minor leagues to become competitive, and a large degree of maturity must be acquired to survive that humbling experience. The exception would be the large number of Latin players, many of whom will have been through baseball academies since before they were teenagers, and behavioral problems will presumably wash them out in the process.
Also, the sheer workload minimizes the chance to get in trouble during the season. Off days are few and far between and the travelling is constant as 162 games are played in about 180 days.
Regards, Don |
