Due to the growing fear of the Coronavirus, MLB, the NBA, NHL and MLS have closed their locker rooms and clubhouses to non essential personnel and the news media. All of this is an effort to be proactive about the spreading of the virus, which is completely understandable. In reality baseball means nothing compared to everyone’s health and safety and most reporters understand the reasoning of the ban. What troubles baseball writer, Ken Rosenthal, is that fact that they don’t want this temporary ban to become a more permanent situation in the future. This not only cuts off reporters but leaves fans suffering as well.
What Ken and Joey Votto point our are very valid points. These reporters bridge the gap between player and fan. Fans are always in search of learning new and interesting facts about the players they root for. Even though players will have those news style conference settings for the media, that one-on-one with reporters becomes virtually impossible. Without access, reporters never get to build those close personal relationships with the players. And while good reporters can write articles about what was said during those player group press conferences, some of the best pieces of content come from inside clubhouse conversations. Instead of the cut and dry answers a player may use during a open setting, you’re getting the real deal of what players are going through. We get a glimpse of the players personalities, from the clothes they wear, the good luck charms they place in their locker, to the interactions between their teammates. We hear about their hobbies outside of baseball, or that new pre-game ritual that has lead to their success. Its little nuggets of information like that, that can lead to some of baseballs most interesting stories. As a fan it’s nice to see the fun personalities of these players come to life, especially when they play a serious and stressful 3 hour game before that. It also gives the player a chance to dive deeper and tell a story from their personal viewpoint even if that may be objectionable.
For now this seems to be temporary and it is still unclear as to how long this procedure will last. The most important aspect are the health and safety, of the players, media, ballpark personnel and fans. It’s a nice proactive initiative, I just hope as a fan and as someone who loves talking about all the interesting stories in baseball, it’s not something that becomes permanent. It’s that human component that builds the relationship between fan, player and team. And a major reason why people love hearing players mic’d up during games is because it gives us access to something, as a fan, we would never be able to hear or see. To go inside the mind of a superstar player before a big at bat and hear the reasoning first hand of how his at bat went. Or even if it’s Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo talking about fake alias they used while traveling on the road. It’s this information that the fans would never know about unless through personal conversations and it’s these types of stories that make us admire the players even more.
The Washed Up Athlete 