The Value of Hustle:

What do players like Cal Ripken, David Eckstein, Mike Timlin, Jason Varitek, Bill Mueller and Red Sox prize Dustin Pedroia have in common? Hustle.

In today's baseball world, the celebrity is large, the money is larger, and the contracts are guaranteed. Gone are the days where players needed to bust their butts to get to October, where were ignored unless they were debilitating. Gone, too, are the days when a World Series share would help offset the bills in the winter and take some of the burden out of the required offseason employment. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Ballplayers are exceptions athletes, and they are exceptional entertainers, sacrificing their minds, bodies and families for victory in some strange city for people they don't even know. They deserve to be paid and paid well. Their contracts should be guaranteed. But is the era of free agency and high paychecks all good for baseball? When does the bonus baby become a bonus burden?

Manny Ramirez. I love the guy. He hits like no one I've ever seen, but he fields with little interest in being the best leather-lasher he can. He's got so much natural talent that the Red Sox rewarded him with an absurd contract when they signed him. All he needs to do now is show up to the ballpark, and he can collect his paycheck. Numerous times over the last few years Ramirez has opted out of the lineup for shady, ambiguous reasons. A phantom quad injury, a grandmother that has died probably 4 times in the last 3 years, a cold: all of these have kept Manny out of the lineup. Don't misunderstand me when I say that maybe if he knew his paycheck was dependent on his dedication and all-out effort, he would be inclined to play when his tummy hurts.

Again, guaranteed contracts are good for the player, and baseball players had been shafted for near a century before they got the authority they deserve. Nowadays though, it is becoming a rare event to witness a player who sacrifices day in and day out, despite the aches and pains and soreness. It is rarer still to see a player that has that all-encompassing sense of team, of 25 men working as one interdependent unit instead of a mass of independently functionining individuality. My favorite players are the David Ecksteins, the Jason Variteks, and the Bill Muellers of the game, the ones who know that they're there to play ball and that everything else is just dressing. The most exciting sight in my eyes is the undersized, light-hitting scrapper running out every ground ball, throwing himself at every play, pestering the hell out of pitchers and elevating pitch counts just because he knows it all helps the team.

Why is it someone like David Eckstein, who fits that mold perfectly, who inspires this kind of affection and admiration? He's not the fastest, he's not the best basher, and he's certainly not the tallest player on the field, but maybe it's because of his conventional baseball shortcomings that he is so great. Everyone looks at a player like Eckstein and says that he can't hit, can't get to a lot of balls, can't lead off, and can't throw from deep in the hole.

Tell him that.

Every put-down is just another reason to prove people wrong and be the ultimate team player. To me, there is nothing more enjoyable on a daily basis during the stretch of the 162-game marathon than to witness a guy that give it his all every night. That's the kind of player I can root for without reservation, no matter what team he's on. (That being said, he annoyed the crap out of me when he was in Anaheim batting against Boston, but now that he's on a team I like I am vocal in my admiration).

I'm not saying that something official needs to be done to change the mindset of the players and punish those who don't subscribe to this belief. Nor am I saying that the other players, the pure hitters, are less of a player because of their attitudes. (Again, I love Manny.) I'm just saying that maybe some manager should take a stand against indifference and indolence. Play the Dirt Dog and sit the Superstar. Maybe with enough time it could change the way we view the game.