We play because we are wired for joy; it is imperative as human beings.

We know these men are professionals whose services are up for bid and whose bags are packed, and yet we call them our own and take personal, even civic pride in their accomplishments.

The caliber of play suffered and attendance declined year by year. Interest in college football was exploding, and there was this new game called basketball.

And then came the nineties, when management, suddenly frightened that they had ceded control to the players, sought to restore baseball's profitability by 'running the game like a business.'

I'd just like to see - in writing about baseball - more energy and better craft, minus statistical bludgeoning and invective.

For many in baseball September is a month of stark contrast with April, when everyone had dared to hope. If baseball is a lot like life, as pundits declare, it is because life is more about losing than winning.

Donning a glove for a backyard toss, or watching a ball game, or just reflecting upon our baseball days, we are players again, forever young.