We would be a much healthier society if professional sports did not exist. The love of money, or greed, takes all the fun out of sports, demeans the integrity of the games, corrupts the athletes and belittles the fans. In an amateur athletic culture, participation in a sport would be motivated by the athlete’s love of the game or activity. Pure amateurism puts sports in proper perspective.
As a 14-year-old in the summer of 1952, I started a baseball autograph collection of 1950s major league players. I sent for autographs through the mail using a 3-cent stamp, 2-cent postcard and 1-cent envelope. For less than 10 cents, I got the autographs of many Hall of Famers-to-be on self-addressed postcards. It never entered my mind that someone’s signature on a piece of paper would or should ever be worth anything.
In the 1970s, Mike Marshall, ace relief pitcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers, told young fans they should get their schoolteachers’ autographs first before asking for his. Hall of Fame basketball great Bill Russell refused to give autographs during his playing days, saying he felt it was more personal and meaningful to shake the fan’s hand. If Marshall and Russell were playing today, I don’t believe they would be signing their names for money.
I have been a lover of sports all my life. In 1959 I was the 3-Mile champion in the NCAA Track and Field Champ-ionships in Lincoln, Neb., and I was an alternate on the 1960 U.S. Olympic team in the 5,000 meters. I am not naive to the point of believing that professional sports are going to disappear, but I do mourn the passing of the true spirit of sport, the Olympic Games spirit. The Winter and Summer Olympics are less appealing today because of the greed, commercialization and professionalism that encompass the Games.
The love of money is slowly, subtly destroying sports and America. Do we have any hope that the rising tide of greed can be reversed?
