Devereaux

The Best Twins Centerfielder in history? The outfield is a challenge because so many times managers see them as interchangeable parts. But a great Centerfielder must have range and perhaps some flare. The NY press had a great time when there were three teams – and they had Mays, Mantle, and Snider.
 
Lenny Green Was our first year CF and Bill Tuttle backed him up when he was not playing out of position at 3B. The same two in 1962. Green was traded to the Angels for Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall.
 
Green would play 6 years for the Twins/Senators .270/.359/.384/.743. 7 WAR.
 
The phenom Jimmie Hall took over center in 1963 after an injury to Green, but Green started more games. Hall, Allison, and Oliva played Center in 1964 which would make quite an outfield with all three in the same game. Hall had the most by far, but lost time after being hit on the cheek in the All Star game by Bo Belinsky. Hall, Nossek, Oliva in 1965. Hall would play 8 years in MLB. His last four years were a minus -1 WAR. Hall was traded to Angels with Pete Cimino and Don Mincher for Dean Chance and Jackie Hernandez. After the trade his career was terrible. A Sabr article said, “Little is known about Hall’s life after his baseball career ended. He returned to Elm City, North Carolina, and made his living as both a woodworker and longhaul truck driver. When he wasn’t working, he was an outdoorsman who liked to hunt and fish. He also enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. Hall stayed away from the game entirely, even refusing to return to Minneapolis in 2005 for a 40th-anniversary reunion of the 1965 team.” https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6ad8a4ec
 
Hall played 4 years. .269/.334/.481/.815 14.8 WAR
 
Ted Uhlaender took over with Hall and Oliva getting some action and kept the position in 1967, 1968, and 1969 with Tovar behind him. He was traded with Graig Nettles, Dean Chance and Bob Miller to the Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams in 1969.
 
Uhlaender was a Twin 5 years. .262/.306/.354/.661. 3.2 WAR.
 
1970 Tovar was the centerfielder, and I would have had him there all the time, but he was so versatile. Holt was the most frequent CF in 1971, but Jim Nettles and Tovar matched him. Then in 1972 we had Bobby Darwin at CF with Nettles and Brye next in line. Darwin lost the position quickly and Larry Hisle took over in 1973, with Brye having just a few less games there. Hisle divided his time between LF and CF so Brye had the most CF games in 1974. In 1975 Dan Ford dominated the position with Lyman Bostock taking the majority of other appearances.
 
Then in 1976 Bostock took over CF and Brye still had 57 games. 1977 Bostock, Hisle and Norwood shared the position. Bostock had a total of 17 putouts in a doubleheader which is a good example of his fielding prowess, which set an American League record for outfielders. Then in 1978 Bostock was gone from MN and one year later he was just gone. In Gary Indiana while visiting his uncle, the uncle Turner agreed to give Hawkins and her sister, Barbara Smith, a ride to their cousin's house. “Turner drove his vehicle, with Hawkins seated in the front passenger's seat. Bostock and Barbara Smith rode in the vehicle's back seat. Barbara Smith had been living with Hawkins while estranged from her husband, Leonard Smith. Unbeknownst to the group, Leonard Smith was outside Hawkins' home in his car, and observed the group's departure in Turner's car. According to Leonard Smith, his wife was frequently unfaithful to him, and though he did not know Bostock, he later said that upon seeing Bostock get into the back seat of Turner's vehicle with his wife, he concluded that the two were having an affair. In fact, however, Bostock had only met the woman 20 minutes previously, when he and his uncle arrived at Hawkins' home.” Wiki. The gunshot that was intended for the wife, caught Bostock, a killing blow and a great young man and his career were finished.
 
By 1978 Bostock had 3 years and .311/.365/.427 /.791. 10.3 WAR
 
Steve Brye had 7 years in MN .261/.311/.360/.671. 4.7 WAR.
 
In 1978 Dan Ford was in CF. In 1979 Kenny Landreaux was the centerfielder. 1980 was another of those years where it did not seem like we could make up our mind. Landreaux 67, Rick Sofield 51, Dave Edwards, Greg Johnston 14. I liked Landreaux but he was not here long enough to get in the conversation. Of course in 1981 Mickey Hatcher had 86 games and he is not going to be the best and Gary Ward had 19. Bobby Mitchell who I do not remember was in 115 games as our CF in 1982 With Brunansky and Eisenreich behind him. Then the who is Hell is he continued in 1983 with Darrell Brown 76, Bobby Mitchell 44, Tom Brunansky (in center?) 38, and Rusty Kuntz 27.
 
Kenny Landreaux 2 years, .294/.341/.435/.776 1.8 WAR
 
Sigh of relief – 1984 and Kirby Puckett was in Center! Finally. Kirby dominated the CF position in 1985, 1986 with no others having any claim. Then in the WS year Mark Davidson had 20 games behind Puckett. Moses was behind him in 1987 and in 1988. Puckett, Mack and Moses in 1990. Puckett, Mack and Jarvis Brown in 1991. Puckett, Bruett and Brown in 1992. 1993 Puckett had a strong backup with Mack getting 67 starts and Puckett was moved to RF. “Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye.” WIKI.
 
Puckett 12 years .318/.360/.477/.837 51.1 WAR
 
1995 Rich Becker took over CF with Alex Cole and Matt Lawton behind him. Becker stayed in control in 1996 with Roberto Kelly and Lawton behind him. 1997 Becker, Lawton and Darrin Jackson. 1998 Otis Nixon was in CF.
Rich Becker, 5 years. .267/.349/.379/.728. 6.5 WAR. Nixon was gone in 1999 and Torii Hunter was in CF with Jacque Jones getting substantial appearances. Hunter, Jones, Hocking were there in 2000. Torii with Kielty had 2001, 2002, and in 2003 Lew Ford backed up Hunter. Again, Hunter and Ford in 2004, 2005, and 2006 Tyner was behind Hunter and again in 2007. In 2008 Span was behind Hunter. Hunter was a first round pick, one of our best. As a free Agent Hunter went to the Angels, then at the end of his career reappeared in a Twins uniform. He had nine consecutive Gold Gloves!
 
Torii Hunter 12 years, .268/.321/.462/.783 26.4 WAR
 
2008 Carlos Gomez was in CF with Denard Span behind him (no wonder Denard left us). Same two in 2009. Span finally got the position he deserved in 2010 and Repko backed him with Revere. Revere started the most in center in 2011 and Span was second. Then in 2012 Span had most of the games and Revere a few. We traded Span for Alex Meyer.
 
Span had 5 years .284/.357/.389/ .746 17.2 WAR
 
Aaron Hicks took over in 2013 with Clete Thomas in 50, and Alex Pressley 28. Then Danny Santana got the most starts over Hicks in 2014 and Sam Fuld got too many too. Then in 2015 Hicks was pushed by Buxton and was soon to be a Yankee.
 
Who is the Best? Hicks could have been really good, but not for us; Gomez looked good but had a short shelf life, Eisenreich was exciting and faded fast.
 
1. Kirby Puckett 12 years .318/.360/.477/.837 51.1 WAR
2. Torii Hunter 12 years, .268/.321/.462/.783 26.4 WAR
3. Denard Span had 5 years .284/.357/.389/ .746 17.2 WAR
4. Bostock had 3 years and .311/.365/.427 /.791. 10.3 WAR
5. Jimmie Hall played 4 years. .269/.334/.481/.815 14.8 WAR
6. Lenny Green 6 years for the Twins .270/.359/.384/.743. 7 WAR
7. Rich Becker, 5 years. .267/.349/.379/.728. 6.5 WAR
8. Steve Brye had 7 years in MN .261/.311/.360/.671. 4.7 WAR
9. Uhlaender was a Twin 5 years. .262/.306/.354/.661. 3.2 WAR.
10. Kenny Landreaux 2 years, .294/.341/.435/.776 1.8 WAR
 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11386-the-twins-best-left-fielder-in-history/
 

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11380-the-best-third-baseman-in-minnesota-twins-history/

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When I was a young boy, my mom used to get me the fantasy baseball magazines that came out from Athlon Sports and publications of that kind, and I’d devour them cover to cover. For a 10- or 11-year-old, I was pretty baseball obsessed.
 
That actually started around the time I was seven and at my grandma’s house, and we bonded over nightly Twins games as I grew to love the sport more and more over time.
 
In the magazines I previously referenced, they would publish a chart that showed how many games players saw action in and at what positions.
 
In fact, I happened to find a 2003 copy of Athlon Sports annual, and it was just as I remembered. This is how the 2002 Twins divvied up playing time across the diamond:
 

 
Those charts fascinated me for a long time, as I’d scan them to see if any player had seen action at a position I just couldn’t imagine.
 
Now as an adult, I have access to Baseball Reference, and with a few easy clicks I can find players who’ve seen action at positions some of us either A. don’t remember or B. couldn’t have envisioned in our wildest dreams.
 
Such as:
 
Kent Hrbek – Third Base
When? Aug. 1, 1990 against the California Angels at the Metrodome
 
This one was really strange. Manager Tom Kelly had an otherwise mostly healthy Gary Gaetti on the bench — trainer Dick Martin said he was perhaps a bit stiff, but otherwise good to go — yet opted to move Hrbek to third base in the ninth inning of what was then an 8-5 game.
 
The Twins ultimately lost 11-5.
 
Angels leadoff hitter Luis Polonia led off the inning with an ugly bunt single to third — testing Hrbek right away on the first pitch — and came around to score when Al Newman, who had been playing third base to start the game, couldn’t handle a grounder off the bat of Devon White at short. All told, Hrbek fielded two chances — a grounder off the bat of Bill Schroeder where he got the short out at second base — and then what appears to have been a deflection to short. Baseball Reference has the play scored 3B-SS-1B (SS-3B hole) groundout, which seems to suggest Hrbek deflected it to Newman, who then threw it to Randy Bush at first to retire Kent Anderson.
 
Kelly said after the game that he probably should have pinch hit Gaetti for Newman in the eighth. Instead, Newman grounded into a double play to end a rally — in what was then a three-run game, remember — as Angels closer Bryan Harvey came in to neutralize the threat.
 
“But that’s a Catch-22 situation,” Kelly said of bringing in Gaetti in the eighth. “It’s easy to say that now.” That feels like a wholly unsatisfying reason not to bring in Gaetti, and it was openly questioned by a few players in the clubhouse after the game, according to Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter Jeff Lenihan.
 
One player who joked about being bitter that Hrbek getting to play third was star teammate Kirby Puckett. “I’ve always wanted to play there too,” Puckett told Lenihan after the game. “I guess this means (Kelly) likes Herbie more than me. I’m hurt…That bunt (by Polonia) was terrible, but I would have been playing in if he would have put me there. I want my turn.”
 
He’d get his turn, in due time.
 
Interestingly enough, 1990 was Gaetti’s final season with the Twins, and after the season, he signed with who else? The California Angels.
 
This is just a small excerpt of a story that appears in full here! Please click through to read it.

They Played for the Love of the Game
Untold stories of black baseball in Minnesota
By Frank White
 
This is the third book written about black baseball in Minnesota which might be an indication of how important this was to the history of Minnesota and the history of Baseball. Frank White, a St Paul native, is a perfect writer for this topic. His father, Louis Pud White, was an outstanding, if little remembered catcher in the baseball leagues as evidenced by Buck O’Neil, and he was a friend of Dave and Steve Winfield.
 
This is a thoroughly researched and well written book that really uncovers some special experiences and beyond black baseball, shows how important baseball was in all the towns of the Midwest, if not the entire country with semi-pro teams gathering both press and audiences all over. These teams were lucky in one season because Major League baseball created one of the great injustices of all time by excluding blacks from all their leagues which meant that not only are the records suspect before Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers but gave the local semi-pros and eventually the Negro Leagues some real stars.
 
And if you want a villain in this it would be Cap Anson, who deserves to be taken out of the Hall of Fame. If we question the veracity of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, than this is the individual who committed the most grievous offense when he refused to let his White Stocking team play against the Newark Giants of the International League if their two black players played in the game – he set the town for the exclusion of black players in the majors.
 
 
In the first decade the St Paul Colored Gophers were dominate, even winning the fictitious, but still accepted championship of Black Baseball in 1909 when they defeated the Giants of Chicago. Minneapolis had a top team too with the Keystones and great players who would not be recognized without this book entertained the ticket holders.
 
In the 1920’s the Negro National League formed and even though the St Paul Colored Gophers were an established power Minnesota was deemed too far and too expensive and thus was left out. A second injustice, this one much more serious and reflective of the racism that still exists was The Association of Minnesota Amateur Baseball Leagues decision to ban colored players. African Americans had been part of many teams, but from 1927 – 1947 no African American was allowed to play.
 
The idiocy of racism was such that catcher Lee Davis was a Ho-Chunk Indian and Indians were playing MLB, but his skin was too dark, so he had to play in the black leagues. While Billy Williams, who was black, was invited by the Baltimore Orioles to play on their Montreal team as an Indian. The more I read, the madder I become with the stupidity of racism.
 
It is fun for me to look at players who came from my Alma Mater – Minneapolis Central, but it is also crazy to see teams in places like Pipestone, Des Moines, Bertha fielding excellent teams because racism forced these players to the outposts of baseball.
 
After all the struggles of Jim Crow and blatant racism it is sad to see the switch to track, basketball, and football by many top black athletes, but it makes sense. Those sports offered scholarships and new opportunities. Baseball did not exactly open the major league floodgates after signing a few top players. The book captures that demise and baseball would to well to reflect on its missed opportunities.
 
The story of black baseball in the 1950s shifted to three minor league teams – St Paul Saints, Minneapolis Millers, and the St Cloud Rox. With players like Willie Mays, Roy Campanella, Orlando Cepeda, Ozzie Virgil, and Lou Brock among the many great stars that graced the Minnesota diamonds.
 
But since Dave Winfield we have seen very few African Americans from Minnesota get a chance. Thanks to the author who works for the Twins in the RBI program – reviving baseball in the Inner City – maybe the future will take us a step towards the years of great African American baseball players.
 
In the end, we find this most American sport is also a window into our own history and mores. This book is truly a history of African American people in Minnesota through the lens of Baseball just as baseball reflects our racial tensions, our addictions to drugs, temptations to gambling, the challenging aspects of war, and now our need for speed and quickness because of diminished attention spans.

In the wake of MySpace founder Tom Anderson’s offer to pay for Tim Lincecum to return to the Giants, other celebrities have been similarly urging their hometown nines to make moves, and offering to foot the bill. We, at Twins Daily, have intercepted one such offer:
 




 
Seems legit.

To wave, or not to wave. That is not a question. The wave is an abomination in sports, a selfish and childish unexplainable tradition that needs to stop. While it’s easy to point out the stupidity of the wave, there are still those who defend it. I took five defenses of the wave, and aimed to rip them to shreds.
 
In my short time writing about sports, I’ve written a lot of things. I’ve written about the rise of Devan Dubnyk thanks to a developing technique he’s been taught, I’ve ranked every sweater in Minnesota’s NHL history, and I’ve written about the Minnesota Wild player being upset with a locker room wall responsible for breaking Josh Harding’s ankle, in my first attempt at satire. In all of the funny, or unfunny posts I’ve wrote, my focus has remained the same- a fan trying to enjoy the game in my own way.
 
That brings me to ‘the wave’.
 
Last night, during a game between the Twins and Astros, who are both playoff-hopefully teams for the first time in half a decade, Twins fans were doing the wave during the ninth inning of a 3-0 game. A game that could very well decide the postseason fate of both teams, and fans were not hanging on every pitch, but rather watching their creation make its way around the stadium. It was so egregious, it even offended John Bonnes.
 
https://twitter.com/TwinsGeek/status/637458364969021440
 
Do you have any idea how hard it is to make John Bonnes use all caps? In the short time that I’ve known John, he’s easily moved in the answer to “Who is the nicest person you know?”, and though he has undying love for his Twins, he’s not know to fly off the handle over anything, but rather likely offer his signature laugh, as he’s known to do. But this was no laughing matter.
 
It seems to me that we’re reaching a tipping point in sports right now with the wave, a completely useless fan participation event that grates at every real sports fan’s soul like nails on a chalkboard. The root of the problem is as it always is, the money. Sports teams that host beautifully complex contests of athleticism and skill, in state of the art stadiums built exclusively for viewing said contests, rely on attracting the “casual fan” to keep the cash flow rolling.
 
As cutthroat at the entertainment industry is, and this very much includes sports, the scratch and claw for the “casual fan” is as much of a struggle as ever, and you end up with stadiums that have just as much stimulus not related to the game being played as the game itself. In this day in age where entertainment is omnipresent, and people are watching Netflix while attending their child’s soccer practice, its seems as though we’ve lost touch with the purpose of entertaining ourselves with just one form of entertainment.
 
Now, I have no issue with the casual fan. They’re the bread that makes the sandwich when it comes to sports financially, and while they’re seen as either bandwagon jumpers or clueless mouth breathers, they comprise a huge portion, dare I say a majority, of each and every attended professional sporting event around the world. Sports needs the casual fan like animals need food. But with that food, sometimes comes unintended consequences. There’s tons of them, from inappropriate booing, to stupid, misplaced chants and general mob mentality that turns uninformed hot takes into commonly believed ideologies. But for the purposes of this article, we’ll stick to the wave. For now.
 
The wave is simple. It’s easy, it’s a little fascinating, and according to other people’s opinion, it’s “fun”. Now, I understand the attraction, seeing you and 18,000-45,000 people trying to participate in something that unifies and entertains you sounds like a great time, except for the fact that you’re all watching your favorite team play their sport, which should A. Unify you and B. Entertain you. But for some, this clearly isn’t enough, and they’ll defend their right to participate in this sophomoric practice until the bitter end. So for every defense of the wave, I can tell you why it’s wrong.
 
1. Fans pay money to attend sporting events, and should have the right to do whatever they want, being a paying customer.
 
-Fair point, but the problem with you doing whatever you want is that it affects other people. While you see the wave as harmless fun, what you’re really doing is inadvertently taking away from other peoples enjoyment of the game, whether that be lemmings who are now joining you doing the wave and not watching the game, or fans of the game who do not want to do the wave, but are now staring into the back of your Jason Kubel jersey/plumbers crack instead seeing a pitch that could decide the game for their beloved ballclub.
 
The wave is modern selfishness represented as a sports viewing tradition, and for once, millennials aren’t even to blame. If you’re doing the wave, you’re not watching the game, and that’s fine, it’s your choice, but collectively, you and your wave accomplices are taking away from the game experience for literally thousands of other fans. Thousands.
 
Buying a ticket to a sporting event doesn’t give anyone carte blanche to ruin the experience for anyone around them. While you’re having your “fun”, you’re literally taking away the enjoyment from someone else by blocking his or her view. And if your argument hinges on the idea that the people directly behind you don’t mind and/or are also doing the wave, you’re missing the point. The wave is around the stadium, possibly covering every section and every seat. If you’re perpetuating the wave, you’re just as responsible for someone across the stadium from you as the person directly behind you.
 
2. We need to entertain ourselves during a “boring” game.
 
-This might be the one that offends me the most. I realize that I’m a special breed of sports nerd, and that you may not remember where you were when Byron Buxton was drafted out of high school, but I do. To me, the game is everything but boring. It’s a symphony of skill, athleticism, strategy, luck, planning, and all sorts of other things that may make me tear up if I go on too long.
 
I was once told the game of baseball is all about balance, and the rest is just peripherals. It’s about the pitcher vs. the batter, and balance. Playing defense, baserunning, chewing tobacco and 1990’s hip hop walkup music, while all very important in everyone’s eyes, are just peripherals. While this may be an oversimplification, it points to the focus of the game. It’s about the pitcher and the hitter. While you may see the time between stolen bases and ground rule doubles hit off of catwalks as ‘filler’, it’s anything but.
 
I’m not asking every casual fan to become as enthralled with the sport as I am, that’s asking far too much. But for the brief time that you’re at a baseball game, instead of entertaining yourself with the wave, try. Instead of doing your best windy meadow impression, talk to the people around you about the game. Notice what the pitcher is doing, read the radar gun and watch the hitter’s swings. Explain to your child what the infield fly rule is, before they’re ever confused by it. If you don’t know what the infield fly rule is, ask someone around you, and join the brotherhood of baseball nerds, if only temporarily, if only for a few hours.
 
All of this applies to other sports. Hockey arguably never has a dull moment during gameplay, even to the casual fan, and the breaks between are much too short to even consider starting a wave. Football and basketball are essentially the same argument. Soccer, on the other hand, may be the one caveat. I’m not sure where purists stand there, but it seems like much of the experience there IS fan participation, so maybe that’s too close to call, but let’s refrain from the wave there too, just for consistency’s sake.
 
3. Lots of people are not paying attention anyway, it’s a victimless crime.
 
-This one is the most modern of defenses, as every sporting event now features thousands of people buried face first into their phones for at least some portion of the game. However, while that’s plenty factual, it’s not always necessarily what it seems. There are undoubtedly loads of people perusing cat pictures and playing candy crush during a sporting event.
 
However, as one of the guiltiest of phone watchers, I can tell you that’s not always the case. Being in the blogging community even as briefly and likely forgettable as I have been, I’ve developed relationships with many other writers and fans, and every professional game in the state of Minnesota is like a hangout, thanks to social media. I don’t remember what it was like watching games before Twitter, but I don’t care to remember, because the insight, comedy and overall discussion about sports as they’re being played has changed the way that many people watch sports, and while it comes off as rude and inattentive, it’s really not. I realize my example may seem like a slim minority of those nose to phone people, but there are many more fans, not just bloggers enjoying the game with social media the way I do.
 
Furthermore, this is a classic ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ situation. Sure, people are increasingly tuned out to the outside world and generally oblivious, and this also counts at sporting events. But that does not make up the entirety of the crowd, and it goes back to my first point about ruining the experience for others. I don’t want to read a wonderful tweet from one of the Twins beat writers about Miguel Sano’s ball exit speed, only to look up to the game and find your aforementioned Jason Kubel jersey/plumber’s crack in my face, instead of the next batter.
 
4. We’re being good fans, making noise and cheering for our team.
 
-Wrong, wrong wrong. Much like fans chanting Duuuuuubbb after every time Devan Dubnyk so much looked at a hockey puck this spring, it might feel right to you, being a good little participating fan, cheering for your club, you it’s misplaced. Players enjoy it when crowds cheer, absolutely, I don’t think anyone is here to deny that. But much like booing at inappropriate times and starting bad chants, if it doesn’t make sense, then why are you doing it? You’re not being a good fan be essentially yelling gibberish at the top of your lungs for the purpose of noise-making.
 
And whether you prefer to ‘Wooo!” along with your wave or not is kind of irrelevant here, as either way, it has absolutely nothing to do with the game being played, silently or boisterously. You’re not proudly chanting your team’s name, you’re not beckoning for a pitcher’s strikeout, you’re doing a completely unrelated activity to the sport you’re watching, which is proven by the fact that you see that wave at every different kind of sporting event.
 
Being a fan shouldn’t be about just being as obnoxious as you possibly can for three hours on a weeknight, and though there are tons, upon tons of obnoxious things happening at a baseball game, you don’t need to add to them. Drunk fans cheering like idiots and swearing in front of your children is just as distracting to the entertainment that you paid for as your entire section all standing and sitting on cue. Imagine the wave during a major symphony performing and you might get the idea of how offensive it is to not only the people who paid to watch it, but also the people performing.
 
If your response to that is arguing that you don’t cheer loudly for your favorite flutist, but that’s perfectly acceptable at a baseball game, I understand the argument, but it is again wrong. Cheering is as inherent to sports as sitting quietly is to symphonies, as both are the expected behavior for viewing those events. You may argue that the buffoon standing up in front of you and screaming something obscene is just as distracting as the wave, and you’re right. That d-bag is basically a one-man wave, taking away from your enjoyment of the game for a brief period of time. And while he may ruin the play for you, he is only one person, which can’t be said for the wave.
 
The most important point I can possibly make is if you’re doing the wave, you’re not watching the game. It’s as simple as that, and you can argue it all you want, but it’s kind of irrefutable. If you are truly watching the game, why are you doing the wave, and if you’re doing the wave, how can you be watching the game? Instead of paying to watch the best athletes in the world do their job, you’re looking to your right at a section full of accountants, truck drivers and school teachers for the cue to block the view of the fan behind you, who may be there to actually watch their favorite team. The picture I found for this article absolutely sums up my argument. In the foreground, an out of focus ballplayer, while in the background, the fans take center stage.
 
5. It’s fun for the kids! Think of the children!
 
-It’s cowardly, really, to use kids as a human shield, in any instance, and especially when defending a practice that it has been made painstakingly clear is wrong. Using the enjoyment of an oblivious child to justify the wrongdoing of such a selfish activity is absurd to me. Also, if you’re not bringing your child to a game to watch the game (which we’ve established doing the wave is not watching the game), then why did you bring them? While this might be a little hyperbolic, the central point is still valid, which leads to another suggestion.
 
Teach your kids sports. I was a sports late bloomer, having parents that are very much in the casual fan part of the spectrum, and had to learn everything myself. I’ve connected with my parents in other facets of life, but any and every opportunity to teach your children something about the world we live in needs to be taken. The teaching your child the infield fly rule reference above wasn’t a snarky crack, I’m serious. It doesn’t matter if your child has no interest in learning the game being played or will never play that game, or even if you don’t know much about the game being played. Teach your kids what you know, and everything you know, and they’ll be better off for it. I went into recess in 4th grade having no idea what a ‘down’ was in football, because I had never actively watched a football game. Baseball I was even further behind in, and while I’ve done a fine job catching up to the pack, I can’t even imagine the fascination I would’ve had as a growing, inquizative child knowing some of the things I know now.
 

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In the end, this is either preaching to the choir, or falling on deaf ears, I know. Teams will never do anything to discourage the wave, for fear of losing out on those precious, full-price paying casual fans. The wave will go on, because only a select few want to stop it. Purists will go on angrily cursing the Neanderthals standing and sitting during crucial baseball games, and clueless fans will go on entertaining themselves because they don’t fully understand what they’re watching. But if this changes one person’s mind, then it was all worth it. And if that one person will stand up for sitting down, maybe his neighbor with sit down too, and so on, and so on.
 
Photo by Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports