Adam Greenberg to get second plate appearance

I agree. The way to make it to the majors is to earn it with you play and based on merit there are hundreds of players more deserving of that opportunity than Greenberg.

 

So when he appeared previously with the Cubs, did he not earn his way then? What's the "performance" cut off, so to speak? Hit .260 on a team that doesn't really need a left fielder, but will take one when rosters are expanded to get through the grind of the summer? Is that the "merit based" cutoff? Baseball is not a church. The sanctity of the game will not be violated by giving him one at bat, one that he would have received had a wild throw not drilled him in the head. The nameless hundreds who are more deserving, did they not have the same chance previously to get called up that he did? Why didn't they get called up then? Just shitty random luck? Some guys like Adam Greenberg get all the breaks, I guess.

 

Yes, in July 2005 when he appeared previously he earned his way onto the roster. This time it was the result of a gimmicky web-based publicity campaign.

And while not a church by any stretch of the imagination, baseball has always been about meritocracy with a very limited number of MLB jobs and thousands of young players competing for them. Let's put it this way: If I reached the majors I would find it far more satisfying knowing that I did it on the basis of my performance than because someone felt bad for me and started a campaign.

 

Jim Deshaies wonders what the issue is

 

This kind of tone exists only among baseball fans. If a player broke his leg on his first NBA or NHL shot and a team had a chance to let him play briefly and take a shot five years later without any playoff implications in the way, it would be seen as heartwarming. Baseball has a collective stick up its collective ass.

That said, what if he gets hit by a pitch again? How nervous are you if you're the pitcher?

 

And it would still be heartwarming if it was the result of performance not gimmick.

 

He's a Jew. </DelmonYoung>

 

The Cubs brought him in 2005 because they thought he would help them win baseball games. That's how you earn it.

 

I woul like to find one non-journalisticky fan who has any kind of problem with this. I don't think there is one.

This is the killjoy part of the media that people are right to dislike. There is no sacredness to the game. It's entertainment.

 

Sorry, but this point is pointless. Neither "baseball fans" nor "other sports fans" have monolithic opinions like that.

It annoys me when this kind of hoke happens anywhere. You see it a lot in basketball, actually.

 

The excessively pointless generalization is strong in this thread.

I hang out on a couple of Cubs fan sites, and it's about 80/20 in favor. But I don't think the entire 20% is journalists.

 

So you hated the autistic kid who made all those three-pointers in that high school game?