Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins returned to a familiar role tonight, when he led off against the St. Louis Cardinals to open the Phillies four-game road series.
It's certainly fair for fans to question his approach at the plate. But, just as no intelligent fan can question his fielding prowess, so too can no sensible fan question the fact that he missed the last three games against the Washington Nationals due to the birth of his daughter.
This veteran has been and remains a true 'gamer'.
Get with it
People who have their priorities straight understand the importance of family. They also never allow their careers to supersede life's touchstone moments.
Large employers (including Major League Baseball) must comply with the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act, where employees can opt to take time off from their professions for various verifiable personal reasons. In Rollins' case, he chose to take paternity leave this week so that he could spend time with his wife and new daughter Camryn, rather than continue to work at his job.
Those who might invoke Rollins salary figures, which thereby infers that he could have easily hired people to be with his family while he wasn't at home, offer a point that skews this simple situation. In so doing, those personality types also reveal their own jealous nature.
Fans who believe that three baseball games in May are more important than the birth of someone's first child openly promote irresponsible behavior. Rollins behaved as any balanced human being, spouse and parent should when he decided that his family deserved his full attention for what was a temporary period of time.
Remembering Charlie's example
During the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, manager Charlie Manuel's mother passed away. He attended her funeral services, but did not miss one game of the Fall Classic. That is all that I ever needed to know about the character of that man.
Many have and will continue to debate his coaching style. In my ebook, he has the heart of a champion and proved it twice during those October days.
If Rollins daughter had been born during the 2008 World Series, would he have chosen to miss some postseason games?
That choice would have been different than these three early season games. But, I have a feeling that the greatest shortstop in Phillies history would have mirrored his skipper's actions in that hypothetical situation.
Rollins has given his team and this town all that he has to offer. All reasonable Phillies fans understood his justifiable choice this week and continue to wish him and his family well.
Sean O'Brien's professional writing career began in 1990, when he first began working in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. He was a freelance sports writer for five years and is currently a Featured Contributor for Yahoo! Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @SeanyOB and read his daily Sports Blog: Insight.
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