Are Fans Crossing the Line?

Every year as baseball spring training comes around, the public, fans, and baseball writers hear of an abundance of injuries occurring to players. In Bob Nightengale’s, Injury bug reaks havoc at spring training camps, he expresses how spring training is the time that you see most of the injuries happening in baseball players. Chicago White Sox coordinator Dale Torborg states in this article, “This is the time of year you see all of the injuries” (Injury bug reaks havoc at spring training camps. Nightengale reports some of the players that have injured themselves in spring training, one being the Oakland Athletics third baseman, Scott Sixemore who had knee surgery, another being the Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, who had back surgery, and the latter, the new Cincinnati Reds closer Ryan Madson, who has a sore arm now (Injury bug reaks havoc at spring training camps).

Obviously, all of these injuries occuring is a concern to the players themselves, and the public but what seems to be an underlying concern is how detailed the reports of players injuries are and how much the players seem to have to tell the public about their injuries. What happened to people being able to have some privacy in their life when it pertains to personal matters? In Al Filreis’ paper, The baseball fan, he expresses the view of Fred Stein who believes, “Baseball essentially is about the player” (Al Filreis). He is implying here that baseball has nothing to do with the fans, but if baseball has nothing to do with the spectatorship, and all to do with the players, then why do fans insist on knowing everything about a player’s life, especially, something as personal as injuries? It seems apparent to me that since a player is a person as well, fans should realize that they should be able to keep some parts of their lives to themselves. However, fans seem to believe that players on their team “owe” it to them to give details on their personal life, specifically injuries. When are fans crossing the line?

In The baseball fan, Al Filreis also touches on the love that Philip Roth feels in his novel, The Great American Novel, “Philip Roth similarly loved baseball as a young man not just “for the fun of playing it” but for its “mythic and aesthetic dimension” (Filreis, 135). Yes, many fans and players fall in love with the game of baseball, but is this love too obsessive? We all have a right to privacy in this world, especially on personal matters, the question I propose is, are fans crossing the line of a person’s right to privacy when they insist on knowing the details of the injuries of certain players?