Continuity

I’m old enough to remember party lines (and our neighbor Mrs. Kats, who always seemed to be on the phone when I wanted to use it), so the whole idea of cell phones is still pretty remarkable to me.  Monday night, we’re streaking down the Tri-State Tollway when Michele calls Clare, and I’m trying to keep my head in the 21^st century.

It didn’t help when Michele put Clare on speaker phone; she had baseball news.  The Red Sox had re-signed first baseman Mitch Moreland to a two-year deal.  “You know what that means,” the White Sox shadow GM said.  “They’re going to keep Abreu.”  And she was happy about that.

Part of what I love about baseball is continuity in the face of business logic, which dictates the comings and goings of players.  If continuity at a position doesn’t exactly defy that logic, it still delays the inevitable, and that’s fine by me.  I like it when the same guy’s been at his position for ten or more years.  We’re thinking about you, Paul Konerko.

With the White Sox, shortstop has been the one position where continuity really sticks out.  Consider that from 1932 to 1970, or from the time Mrs. Kats was young to when I graduated high school, the Sox had all of four starting shortstops—Luke Appling, Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio and Ron Hansen.  That’s it, minus the two years Appling lost to military service during World War II and the one season Hansen lost to injury (to be replaced by that local legend, Lee Elia).  I mean, teams can go through four players at a position in a single year.

With Frank Thomas, Konerko and Abreu, it feels a little bit like Appling et al.  I don’t know if that’s good for business, but it’s good for fans like my daughter and me.