It’s Time We Gave The Shortstop A Base Their Own

Look out at the field of your standard baseball game, and you’ll see the first, second, and third basemen looking as content as can be with their very own bases. But then look just a little bit closer, and you’ll see a fourth guy out there, completely lost. “Where’s his base?” You’ll ask. Well, what you’re witnessing is the oldest, cruelest truth the MLB doesn’t dare talk about: despite the league’s overwhelming prosperity, today’s shortstops don’t have a single white square between them, and that must change today. We must give the shortstop a base of his own. 

Players have their own bats, their own gloves, and for many of them, their own separate wives. Yet when it comes to bases, it’s a world of haves and have-nots? What’s next? One bat per three hitters? One gigantic omni-helmet?

Think of what it does to our kids to watch these homeless shortstops openly weeping out on the field. What kind of message is this sending to America’s children? What’s the point of giving everyone on a little league team a trophy if in the real world, only three people on a baseball team get bases? For shame.

The bottom line is that if you play baseball, you should be entitled to your own base. That’s always been the American League dream, and it’s time we demanded it. Don’t think for a second the MLB doesn’t have the resources to fix this. Until that happens, join the Sports Riot editorial board in urging MLB to stop shorting the shortstop.