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- "The problem with Votto is he doesn't run
- out his grounders," he spat in the dirt.
- He launched into this diatribe, older than time.
- "Today's stars don't get the value of hustle,
- that's for sure - they're lacking in grit."
- Yes, players were different in an earlier age.
- You could listen to the man and guess his age.
- He would argue that a walk won't drive in a run.
- He would get angry with statistics and grit
- his teeth at the suggestion that a kid not covered in dirt
- at the end if the day could really show hustle.
- His game was 50 years old, unchanged by time.
- I thought this conversation would be a waste of time.
- Here stands this old crank (he must be twice my age)
- complaining that these millionaires won't hustle.
- He is going to tell me how a modern team should be run,
- but this ancient fool's ideas are as old as the dirt.
- Next he will probably tell me, "Let's rebuild around grit!"
- I tried not to roll my eyes. "You know who had grit?"
- I saw this coming, it was just a matter of time
- before I was told to ignore all the scandals and dirt
- and discuss all the greatness instead, from an age
- long ago. "You know, I never saw a ballplayer run
- as hard as Peter Edward Rose, ol' Charlie Hustle."
- Here we go again. There is nothing bigger than hustle
- and playing the game the right way, right? Grit
- is the last refuge of the talentless, of the guy who can't run
- fast enough to steal a base unless the pitcher takes his time
- getting the ball to the plate. A player from whom age
- has stolen speed gains grace from a uniform covered in dirt.
- I bit my tongue, sighed, and kicked at the dirt.
- There was no doubt I enjoyed watching hustle.
- I remember playing the game at a younger age,
- summers spent wiping down my face to remove the grit
- I picked up from pointlessly diving all of the time
- to make it look like I was quick, even if I couldn't run.
- I can still hear my coach, "Hustle, son. Run
- it out!" Coach had age on me, but I had time.
- Now, we stand here and stare at the dirt and talk about grit.
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