Tino Martinez would have enjoyed leaving the ballpark in his uniform when he was a slugging first baseman for the Yankees during their last dynasty, so he feels players will have no problem adapting to no post-game showers for baseball’s coronavirus-shortened 2020 season.
Martinez, in fact, believes players would have no trouble adapting to most of the many other rule changes that MLB is seriously considering: no throwing the baseball around after outs, no high-fives, no fist bumps, no finger licking, no clubhouse saunas, no meals at road restaurants, mandatory masks on team bus, etc.
The one rule that Martinez believes will be hard for players to obey is refraining from spitting.
“What people don’t realize is when you’re on the field out there daily, your mouth gets really dry from the clay and stuff and you always have a sandy-type taste in your month and you want to spit it out,” Martinez said Monday on Michael Kay’s ESPN New York radio show. “You don’t want to swallow it. That’s why guys spit so much.
“It’s not so much that it’s a phlegm or something like that. It’s dirt in your mouth that you want to get rid of. So that’s going to be a little tough to swallow. I don’t know how they’re going to handle that.”
Martinez said players should be able to adjust to changing their ways to celebrate with teammates on the field or in the dugout.
“High-fiving is pretty easy not to do,” said Martinez, who hit 192 of his 339 career homers and won four championships playing seven seasons with the Yankees (1996-2001, 2005).
Martinez also thinks players would get a kick out of leaving the ballpark in their uniform because post-game showers at stadiums wouldn’t be allowed.
“I think that would be kind of cool,” he said. “I just watched the end of Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance.” I couldn’t believe how when (the Bulls) won in ’98, they jumped on the bus and drove back to their hotel in full uniforms. So I’m sure baseball players could get used to that as well.”
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.