Easily Alarmed

Baseball Weekly’s Steve DiMeglio must be easily alarmed:

One looks around baseball and sees fewer and fewer players such as [Craig] Biggio, the Braves’ Chipper Jones and the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, who have played their entire major league careers with one team. Meanwhile, stars such as Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, and Nomar Garciaparra have moved on and changed teams with alarming regularity.

Alarming regularity? Sheesh – it’s not like we’re talking about Mike Morgan or Reggie Sanders…

DiMeglio’s article is the latest in a favorite chestnut of the baseball punditocracy: a piece lamenting the fact that not every player gets to enjoy his entire career with one team. How will fans develop a close connection with their team if the players come and go willy-nilly? Who will think of the children?!

Ironically, DiMeglio notes a favorite fact of mine: “Only about 25% of the players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame spent their entire careers with one team.” But somehow, in the minds of many fans, those players moving from team to team is not as alarming as when Nomar or A-Rod move from team to team. It’s tricky the way it works, I guess…