Confessions of a baseball purist

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) —

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tony Siegle started his big league career as a scoreboard operator at the Astrodome in 1965. He went on to work in the baseball operations departments for Milwaukee, Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, the Angels, San Francisco, Colorado and Montreal/Washington. Now 80, he spent 13 seasons with the Giants before retiring on Dec. 31.

—-

After 54 years and three World Series rings, I have decided to retire from Major League Baseball front offices.

In the summer of 1944 my uncle took me to Shibe Park to see a contest between the Reds and Phillies. That was the start of my lifelong love of baseball.

Twenty-one years later I began my career with the first of eight major league teams, and I worked for 25 general managers and 25 field managers. I worked with numerous Hall of Famers, including Willie Mays and Hank Aaron; countless major and minor league ballplayers; and marvelous scouts and front office people. My memories of these associations are my proudest possessions.

And for the first time in over a half-century, I chose not to watch a spring baseball game or enter a spring training site this year.

Here’s why.

Being a traditionalist and a baseball purist, I long for baseball’s storied past: a simple, engaging and magical game. The Game, once run by a front office of dedicated, seasoned, work-experienced baseball men and women, has morphed into a game of many new owners and many untested general managers who never experienced working up through baseball’s development system. They are not aware of baseball’s rich history and not familiar with those who made the game great. They are aided only by college kids armed with computers, whose efforts have convinced most media types and team owners that personnel decisions...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Confessions-of-a-baseball-purist-15385092.php